The Rürup fallacy

Why additional private provision is no guarantee of good care in old age   In Germany there are currently 2.5 million people in need of long-term care. About 70% are cared for at home. The benefits of the statutory long-term care insurance in Germany are mostly at the level of a partial cover insurance. Better […]

Loss of purchasing power, demographics and low interest rates destroy supply dreams

“The safest thing about the state pension is the pension gap.” (André Kostolany) If we compare the prospects of past and present pensioners with those of future generations of pensioners, we find that over the decades the legislator has roughly halved the provision via the German Pension Insurance Federation (DRV) in relation to the last […]

poverty in old age

“The pension is safe!” announced Norbert Blüm. Today, people ask, “How much pension is safe?” How political decisions lead to impoverishment.   Old-age poverty is an increasingly frequent topic in the media. What is special about this phenomenon is that it is homemade. According to the impression even put up with. After all, it has […]

Up to more than 50 % less pension for chamber professionals

Around 90 pension funds, also known as pension chambers, are public corporations that collect funds from their “compulsory members” to build up a funded pension scheme. Past and foreseeable pension cuts challenge the system. The Higher Administrative Court of Lüneburg ruled that no compulsory member may stop paying contributions “because of an allegedly erroneous investment […]

Statements in Insurance Industry No. 15

Re: VW 13/2013, Company & Markets, Health Miscounseling: In about 90 pension schemes, also called Versorgungskammer, chambered professionals regularly become compulsory members. Their entitlements to funded pensions have already fallen sharply compared with earlier commitments and will have to fall further if interest rates remain low. It would be a mistake to rely solely on […]

High return, no risk, zero cost, lots of trust

Dr. Johannes Fiala and Dipl.-Math. Peter A. Schramm on the pre-programmed investor bankruptcy   An 80-year-old business widow appears at the bank counter with her savings book. “Young man, I want to take off”. Upon further inquiry, “Everything!”. She didn’t care about the interest on advances. Fifteen minutes later, she returns to the checkout counter. […]

Insurance bankruptcies despite bank bailout

Life insurance as a bet on lower surpluses or insolvency. Even if the banks are rescued by the state, the life insurers may have to pay for it with their own insolvency. At the very least, however, there is a threat of a reduction in surpluses and thus a lower pension provision for privately insured […]