A Swiss man came up with the idea of paying 75 francs (70 euros) to exploit a loophole in Swiss retirement regulations to retire one year earlier and receive even more benefits by becoming a woman than he would have received had he remained a male on paper.
Thanks to a new law, Swiss citizens are allowed to change their sex on paper without needing to provide any documentation from a doctor or physician - it only costs 75 francs to be legally referred to as a man or a woman.
Well, as it happens, retirement benefits in certain Swiss states differ by sex.
In the wealthy German-speaking Alpine canton of Lucerne, women are allowed to retire a full year earlier – at 64, instead of the 65 for men.
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In addition, women receive more generous benefits then what men do too.
Local paper Luzerner Zeitung shared the story with the world, and it quickly went viral.
The individual in question lives in Lucerne, where pensions are really high: they can range from around $15,000 to $27,000 annually, depending on factors like age and gender.
There have not been any other reports of men in Lucerne also changing their sex so they can retire a year early. After all, when they turn 66, they can simply change it back if they want (or keep it and continue to enjoy higher payouts).
In response to the report of the sex-change retirement scam, the local media in the Alpine country have dreamed up other ways in which men can exploit the system by legally changing their sex on paper.
None-the-less, it can certainly be expected that many more men on the cusps of retirement will change their sex to female so they can enjoy an extra year off work and the generous benefits that Switzerland offers.
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