For our columnist Margarethe Honisch, a Riester pension is out of the question.
The principle sounds good: “You save out of the gross salary, get a state allowance and later have a payment that you can use to top up the statutory pension.”
According to Margarethe, the Riester pension is above all a system that is profitable for insurance companies – here she explains why.
That the interest is not as certain as Norbert Blüm once told us, we all already know that demographic change and the lack of skilled workers are causing empty coffers. The statutory pension insurance is already subsidized with more than 123 billion euros annually. Many know this and take appropriate precautions – often with a Riester pension. There are currently around 16 million contracts and the principle sounds good: you save out of your gross salary, get a government allowance and later have a payment that you can use to top up your statutory pension.
However, a Riester pension is out of the question for me. What’s more, the more I learn about it, the more shocked I am that this system exists in Germany.
Increasing life expectancy thanks to Riester
insurances are often seen as not the most creative industry. In my opinion they are totally underrated in this specialty! The example of life expectancy shows this. Your insurance company calculates the amount of your pension payment based on your life expectancy. After all, the money has to last until the end. While the federal government assumes that if you are in your late 30s today, you will be 97 years old, Insurance companies calculate with up to 150 years of life.