Together for Switzerland and your own business
Slogans like? Together for Switzerland ?, but when it comes to business, everyone seems to be next to himself. This also applies to the insurance companies that have now shown those insured with 3a that they can do different things. So Swiss Life offered a product called? FlexSave Duo? and that should generate investment profits every month. Returns of between five and ten percent were promised, and the indices should not fall into negative territory.
Customers should then only drive a zero lap. The offer was well received, many customers jumped up and even reported on the great returns that have been recorded in recent years. Things went really well on the stock markets, and the fact that profits from 3a products are tax-free was once again well received.
Once upon a time there was a saver?
One insured person was very satisfied with his savings product and now wanted to enable his wife to also make such returns. He made the duo deal. But now everything is different and Swiss Life had to adjust its conditions. She announced this to the insured, who of course were stunned. The new conditions provide that the Kassensturz with subsequent profit distribution is no longer made monthly, but once a year.
A consideration of the performance in a positive or negative direction is also only carried out once a year. The talk here was of replacing the maximum monthly creditable index performance with an annual performance. However, this reduces possible profits in the year. Of course, savers are not happy about this, even if they are promised more stable profits in return.
Another problem with the adjustment: the monthly limit on returns for months in which the indices show a strong negative trend no longer applies, but Swiss Life is assuming that these negative returns can be offset again by the end of the respective investment year.
A bad deal for the insured
Up until now, the annual return was measured against the monthly returns, which were capped and based on the individual indices. However, since February 2020 it has been the case that a maximum annual creditable index performance is to replace this procedure.
For the saver, that means a bad deal, and it was more than annoying for his wife as well. The reason: His investment of 150,000 Swiss francs is bound for another 30 years. Even if Swiss Life were to distribute the maximum possible performance return for the duration of the fixed period, this could result in a zero return. It is already foreseeable that the return will be a narrow-gauge variant, especially since Swiss Life will deduct a fixed sum from the 150,000 francs mentioned.
The guarantee capital is therefore significantly less, whereby we are talking about a few thousand francs. The customer must now start with a minus. The past few years have been good for him, because the returns were still top at that time and there was also protection against zero rounds.
With the new approach, this is no longer possible, because in the best case, returns of two percent are distributed, which of course results in completely different values than double-digit returns.
Swiss Life justified its adjustment with the fact that the persistently low interest rates ensured that net interest income plummeted. Allegedly, analyzes have shown that index participation with an annual return is significantly more lucrative than with a monthly return. Allegedly, only the uses of net interest income were adjusted, which are to be optimized for the customer. Whoever believes will be saved.
Conclusion: Swiss Life unattractive for those with 3a insurance
Anyone who is of the opinion that they can provide the best possible retirement provision with life insurance and service the 3a pillar will now be taught better thanks to the adjustments made by Swiss Life. The yields have been adjusted downwards here, supposedly in order to be able to offer the customer more optimal use of interest. But that is at best a window dressing, because the annual return distributions are significantly lower than the monthly, which were in the double-digit range. Now, in the best case, there is only a two percent return.
