Protect your loved ones

Life insurance offers the opportunity to combine risk protection and retirement provision. You can insure yourself against the risks of death, disability or incapacity to work and protect your family from financial difficulties. You can also build up a cushion for old age and close the gaps in your pension provision from the first and second pillars of the Swiss pension system. There are numerous forms of life insurance available for every personal situation. In addition to the insurance cover, they all have tax advantages in common.

In addition to the selected insurance product and the amount to be insured, the annual premiums depend heavily on your age, state of health and other personal circumstances (e.g. smoker or non-smoker).

Depending on the product, life insurance is suitable for various aspects. Term life insurance provides you and your family with financial security should something happen to you. With savings life insurance (also known as capital-forming or mixed life insurance), you can increase your assets for a specific purpose, such as buying your own home. You can also build up your retirement provision and avoid a pension gap so that you can maintain your accustomed lifestyle even after you reach AHV retirement age.

Taking out life insurance has several advantages. Firstly, you protect yourself and your loved ones against financial risks in the event of death or disability. You can also build up assets for old age and close pension gaps. If you pay the insurance premiums into pillar 3a, you can also save on taxes with life insurance. When purchasing residential property, capital-forming life insurance can also be used for indirect amortization, i.e. for partial repayment of the mortgage.

The Swiss pension system consists of three pillars: The state pension scheme AHV, the occupational pension scheme and the private pension scheme. The first pillar, the AHV, is financed on a pay-as-you-go basis. This means that the working population finances the pensions of retired people. Demographic change means that fewer and fewer working people have to finance more and more pensioners. Benefits from the AHV will therefore continue to fall in the future and will no longer be sufficient to maintain the standard of living in old age. Private pension provision, the third pillar, is therefore of immense importance. With life insurance, you can make an important contribution to a carefree future.

The earlier, the better! On the one hand, you build up a larger financial cushion for old age through many years of contributions. On the other hand, life insurance premiums are generally lower for young people. After all, the risk of death or disability is lower for younger people, which insurers reward with premium discounts. You can also take out pension plans for your offspring from birth to ensure that your children are on the safe side financially from the outset.

The exact amount of tax you can save depends on the insurance product you choose and whether it is anchored in pillar 3a or 3b. In pillar 3a, premiums can be deducted from tax up to a maximum amount of CHF 7'258 (for members of a pension fund) or CHF 36'288 (for people who do not belong to a pension fund). In Pillar 3b, there are tax advantages, especially when the capital is paid out, if the surrender value of the policy is declared as assets in the tax return. Single premiums, for example, are also exempt from wealth tax. Ask an insurance expert for non-binding advice on which life insurance policy will bring you the greatest tax savings.