Q: Now that I've retired / stopped working, should I keep paying labor insurance and national pension?

In 30 seconds: Decide everything on return on investment. Taiwan’s National Health Insurance is mandatory and you must pay it (it’s cheap). Labor insurance / national pension are an ROI call: if you have long tenure and a few more years earns you a lump sum, pay (James had paid 18 years at retirement; 7 more years to reach a payout “pencils out”); if tenure is thin and the payout is near 1:0 (early 30s, under 10 years of tenure) it’s a losing bet — don’t pay. No job means no labor insurance, which is normal — it’s insurance, not a tax, not mandatory; skipping it brings no legal problem or clawback. In the US, James also skips Medicare Part B (a few hundred USD/month) and self-insures, paying cash or getting care in Taiwan when needed — but for cancer and other poor-health cases, it’s decided differently.¹

Variants (how people actually ask)

• “I’m semi-retired / retired — should I keep paying labor insurance?”
• “I’m in my early 30s with under 10 years of tenure — does paying national pension / labor insurance pencil out?”
• “Will skipping labor insurance / national pension cause legal trouble or a future clawback?”
• “US Medicare Part B is a few hundred dollars a month — should I take it?”

One principle: run the ROI on all of it

James is consistent — social insurance is just another investment instrument; decide whether to pay by its return, not by sentiment or fear of “not having it later”:¹

• Long tenure → pay. At retirement James had already paid 18 years of labor insurance; 7 more years earns a lump sum, and doing the math it “pencils out,” so he keeps paying. Likewise, a 60-year-old asking whether to pay national pension: “just pay it” — a few more years and the ROI is decent.
• Thin tenure → don’t pay. In your early 30s with under 10 years of tenure (like the member “Braise” that day), the payout is near 1:0 — paying is a losing bet, so don’t. National pension is the same; skipping it is fine.

”Will skipping it cause trouble?” — No

One member worried the government might amend the law later, claw back unpaid contributions, and leave a black mark on their record. James corrected this directly: labor insurance / national pension are insurance, not taxes, and not mandatory. “No job means no labor insurance — that’s completely normal.” At most a clerk notifies you that national pension is unpaid; you simply don’t pay — “I don’t want your money, okay?” Only National Health Insurance is mandatory and it’s cheap. (This echoes the capitalist mindset in don’t sell your life for money: someone who truly gets CLEC — and will one day have a billion — won’t tie themselves down over a hundred thousand.)¹

US version: should I take Medicare Part B?

Same yardstick. Past a certain age James still declines Medicare Part B — a few hundred USD/month, which for him “is a matter of tens of millions, not a few hundred dollars” (opportunity cost). He’d rather self-insure: pay cash for care in the US when needed (every doctor has a cash price — just ask), or get self-paid checkups and care in Taiwan (cheaper, and Taiwan’s medicine is good). But this depends on health status: for high-risk people such as cancer patients, Part B does have benefits — take it if warranted. It’s the same case-by-case ROI-and-risk calculation.¹

Answer log

• 2026-07-04 (00572): Member “Overseas Orphan” (34, just retired, under 10 years of tenure) asked whether he could skip labor insurance → thin tenure, 1:0, skipping is fine; national pension not needed either. SF noted health insurance is mandatory but suggested still paying labor/national pension (fearing future law changes) → James still argued for a pure ROI call: thin tenure doesn’t pencil out. Several US members asked about Medicare Part B → James skips it himself and self-insures, but cancer patients should take it.¹

⚠️ The benefit formulas, tenure thresholds, and tax rules for each social-insurance program change with policy; this page summarizes James’s spoken decision rule (judge by ROI and risk), not personalized financial or insurance advice — verify the latest labor-insurance / national-pension / Medicare rules yourself before acting.

Footnotes

1. CLEC James with members Overseas Orphan / SF / a member and others, 長篇 00572 “Investor’s Declaration of Financial Independence,” 2026-07-04, labor/national pension @50:00–51:00, 1:10:00–1:16:30; Medicare Part B @1:14:30–1:15:30, 1:29:30–1:31:30, 1:40:00–1:44:30. Transcript in raw/transcripts/長篇/00572…; amounts are spoken approximations. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵