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Stiftung Warentest: These are the twelve most common mistakes in life and pension insurance

2020-04-22T10:52:29.350Z


Millions of Germans have a contract for life and pension insurance. Many do not know exactly what their contract does. How to avoid disappointment.


Millions of Germans have a contract for life and pension insurance. Many do not know exactly what their contract does. How to avoid disappointment.

  • Millions of people have one or more life and pension insurance contracts .
  • According to Stiftung Warentest, there are  around 92 million life insurance contracts in Germany alone . Today would be held endowment policies usually private pensions sold.
  • But many customers don't even know exactly what their contract is doing, warns Stiftung Warentest . They are often disappointed with the payout when it finally becomes due after many years of depositing.

Stiftung Warentest: The 12 most common mistakes in life insurance

Such disappointments can be avoided. Stiftung Warentest names the 12 most common mistakes in life insurance :

Error number one : All payments made to my capital life insurance earn  interest and generate income.

"That is not true," write the experts from Stiftung Warentest. Both with a life insurance and with a private pension insurance * only a part of your payments, ie your contribution, is saved. "Accordingly, another part is used for risk protection, another part goes for costs a benefit in the event of disability. "Customers can agree this in the contract. But these additional services cost money, "says Stiftung Warentest.

"The insurance companies also deduct money * from their customers' premiums for the conclusion and management of a contract . Interest is only paid on the money that remains." Guaranteed interest of 0.9 percent for newly concluded contracts initially looks at zero interest for other savings products not so bad, "the experts know. But when expensive insurers, the yield could be negative." the number of new an endowment policy is no longer attractive. "

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Pension insurance according to Stiftung Warentest: has a capital option been agreed?

Mistake number two : When a pension I can opt for a monthly pension * the savings phase for a lump sum rather than to the end.

"Unfortunately not always true," warns Stiftung Warentest. It depends on the contractual terms. "If there is a right to choose a capital for the end of the savings phase, you can decide until shortly before the start of the pension whether you would prefer to have your savings as a monthly pension or in one fell swoop." Her tip: "A partial capital payment is also possible. If you need a larger sum for an acquisition, you can have part of the saved credit paid out for you and get the other part as a pension."

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Stiftung Warentest: Legally required bankruptcy protection

Mistake number three: If you have concluded your contract with an insurer , you will also receive the benefit from it.

"There is no guarantee for this," explains Stiftung Warentest. " Life insurers like Generali sold its inventory of processing platforms. These are also called run-off companies." Not only customers with private pension or life insurance are affected, but also those with Riester and Rürup contracts. "The customers were not asked whether they agreed to the sale. Their approval is not mandatory."

The State Insurance Supervision BaFin had sales of stocks has always approved, experts from Stiftung Warentest. She had previously checked whether the "interests of the insured were safeguarded". "In this way, the surpluses that have been firmly credited to customers so far are retained. However, their future profit sharing is uncertain."

Mistake number four : If my insurer goes bankrupt, my payment is gone

"No, luckily not," reassure the experts. "There is legally required bankruptcy protection. If an insurer becomes insolvent, the Protektor AG security fund takes over the contracts and at least stands for the guaranteed benefit."

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Customers with Riester pension insurance protected against loss

Mistake number five : I can't make a loss with a life insurance policy with guaranteed interest.

"That is not true," writes Stiftung Warentest. Losses are possible with insurers with high costs and poor investment success, both with a capital life insurance and with a private pension insurance. "Then customers even get less than their paid contributions." Customers are protected against loss with a Riester pension insurance. A guarantee applies here that the contributions paid and the state allowances received are available at the start of the pension.

Mistake number six : You can rely on the profit sharing scheme that I was promised at the start of the contract.

"No. You can only rely on the interest on your savings that you were guaranteed when you signed the contract," concluded Stiftung Warentest. The largest share in the surpluses of a life insurance company are the interest surplus. "The total of all customers of an insurer must receive at least 90 percent of the interest income from investments." For each individual customer, his share is uncertain until the end of the savings phase. "The commitments given by the company when the contract is concluded are non-binding."

Unsure was also how much customers from the risk of surplus will get. "This arises when the insurer has to spend less money on death benefits than calculated." The surpluses that each individual customer receives from cost gains at the end of the contract term are "still in the stars" when the contract is concluded, say the experts.

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Stiftung Warentest: Does payment from capital life insurance have to be taxed?

Error number seven : the payment from a life insurance policy must always be taxed.

"No, it comes on to the final year of the contract at" Stiftung Warentest says. "If you completed it before 2005, paid contributions for at least five years and agreed a minimum death benefit, you do not pay any tax on the lump sum payment. For contracts from 2005, you have to pay final withholding tax on the income - unless the contract is have run for at least twelve years and you are at least 60 years old when paid out (62 years when the contract was concluded from 2012). " Then you only have to tax half of the income with the individual tax rate.

Mistake number eight : No health insurance contributions are due for the money from life or pension insurance.

"This is usually correct, but not always," said the experts. "Those who receive a statutory pension who are not privately insured belong to the pensioners' health insurance fundamentally." Insured persons would pay contributions "neither on the private pension nor on a lump sum payment". Anyone who does not meet the requirements for compulsory insurance, but is voluntarily legally insured in pensioners' health insurance, "pays an average contribution rate of a good 15 percent plus long-term care insurance".

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Pension not just for ten years, but for life

Mistake number nine: A ten-year guarantee period means that my private pension is only guaranteed for ten years.

"No, that's not true," writes Stiftung Warentest . "You will not receive your pension for just ten years, but for life." According to the experts, this is "probably the biggest advantage" of a pension insurance. The money will never "all", "the monthly payment flows until the end of life - guaranteed". The pension guarantee period only becomes relevant in the event of death. "Your full pension will then be transferred to your surviving dependents for ten years from the start of your pension."

Stiftung Warentest's tip: "Your contract should definitely include a ten-year guarantee period so that someone whom you can specify in the contract benefits - if you die shortly after retirement." This protection doesn't cost much. "On the other hand, a survivor's pension that would give a widow, widower or other person a lifetime is expensive and significantly reduces your retirement pension."

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Stiftung Warentest: Life insurance to protect surviving dependents

Error number ten: everyone needs a life insurance policy to cover the family in the event of death.

"This is a mistake," said the experts. The right protection for survivors is a  term life insurance . "If the main earner dies, the insured - children, partner or another named person - receive the agreed sum insured. They say: Compared to the more expensive capital life insurance, which combines risk protection and a savings contract in a non-transparent and expensive way, it is risk life insurance pure death protection. It makes a lot of sense and is relatively cheap. "

Mistake number eleven : The contracts with insured guarantees that insurers have been offering for a few years under the generic term "new classic" offer more income than traditional contracts with maximum guaranteed interest.

"This is completely uncertain," warns Stiftung Warentest. Only the guaranteed performance is certain. And that is less than that of contracts with the maximum guaranteed interest. "Our most recent comparison of private pension insurance shows that it is not worth giving up guarantees in the hope of higher surpluses. There were no good offers with less guarantees."

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What should I do if I no longer want to deposit?

Mistake number twelve : If I can no longer or no longer want to make a deposit, I can only cancel the contract free of charge or cancel it.

"No, you have a third option: you can sell the policy ," the experts know. "But if possible, stick to a contract that has been going on for many years. You will still get a good guaranteed return on your savings contribution ." You give an example: "A contract concluded in 2004 guarantees 2.75 percent on the savings contribution. If you still want to or have to make the contract because you urgently need the money, you can sell it on the so-called secondary life insurance market. That can be better than canceling the contract. The policy buyer will then give you more than the surrender value from the insurer. "

The tip of Stiftung Warentest: ".. Get quotes from multiple purchasers and make sure that you immediately receive the purchase price in a lump sum, not in installments addresses of purchasers on the Internet"

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* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.

Source: merkur

All life articles on 2020-04-22

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