Life insurance promises a good pension and protection for the family.
But in many cases it costs more money than it makes.
Life insurance is a classic among insurance companies.
It promises a lot:
security in old age and protection for survivors
if the main breadwinner dies.
But can life insurance also meet this?
It depends on which variant was chosen.
And also how old the contract is.
Risk or capital-forming life insurance: You have these options
Which
life insurance
you choose depends on your goals.
Basically, you have the choice between term life insurance and endowment life insurance.
While
term
life
insurance
aims
to secure the family's income
,
endowment life insurance
acts
as a
private pension insurance
.
The cost-benefit factor is very different for both variants.
For whom is endowment life insurance worthwhile?
Capital-forming life insurance sounds attractive to anyone who
wants to
top up
their conventional
pension *
: You pay in for a certain contract period and at the end either receive your saved capital paid out or
a lifelong monthly pension
. In addition to your savings, you get guaranteed interest and, with luck, a profit from surpluses.
However, some promises sound better than they actually are.
The amount paid out is often less than hoped.
Reason: The guaranteed interest rate has continued to fall in recent years and is only 0.9 percent.
On the other hand, there are often high costs.
These can even exceed the guaranteed interest, so that in
the end you get out less than what you paid in
.
And the surpluses are not guaranteed either.
Also read:
Do you want to know how much your pension will be?
Three numbers tell you.
Endowment life insurance: terminate, sell or hold out?
Stiftung Warentest recommends:
Do not conclude any new contracts for capital-forming life insurance
.
But what should you do with existing contracts?
Termination: Refrain from terminating
your contract prematurely.
In this case, you will only receive the surrender value - namely your deposits minus the costs incurred.
You are therefore making a loss in either case
.
Let it run:
In most cases, the best way to do this is to let the contract run.
Especially
old contracts are still relatively high interest rates
, which is worth taking it.
The highest interest rates are for contracts concluded between July 1994 and July 2000.
In addition, contracts after twelve years bring
tax advantages
.
Sell:
If you really want to get out of your insurance, it can be worth selling.
You will receive more than the surrender value.
But be sure to look out for a serious buyer who will pay you the entire amount immediately.
Who is term life insurance for?
It does not offer security for old age, but term life insurance can still be useful.
And always when a single earner cares for a family.
These insurances are relatively cheap
and guarantee the bereaved compensation for the lost salary.
The disadvantage, however, is that if the policyholder survives the contract, the money is lost.
In addition, this insurance does not offer any protection if the income is lost for other reasons, such as inability to work.
Also read:
Saving Trick: How to improve your pension and save a lot of taxes at the same time.
Alternatives to life insurance
A new endowment life insurance is currently not worthwhile
.
Term life insurance should also be well thought out.
An alternative that could be much more lucrative, on the other hand, would be
unit-linked life insurance
or, even better, a fund savings plan.
These options mean more effort, as the selected funds have to be checked regularly and, under certain circumstances, replaced.
In return, you have a much
better chance of high profits
.
(lrs) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
Also interesting:
Stiftung Warentest: These are the twelve most common mistakes in life and pension insurance.
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