A third of French people’s savings are invested in life insurance! It’s not easy, however, to navigate the plethora of offers when it’s time to choose your first contract…
Several hundred life insurance policies are available on the market today! It is therefore difficult to make your choice, especially since the subscription can correspond to several types of objectives, hence its nickname of the Swiss army knife of savings.
Before turning to life insurance, you must hold enough cash so as not to use this contract as a Livret A. Life insurance must correspond to two investment objectives: in the event of life and in the event of death, warns Valrie Bentz, head of heritage studies at the UFF.
In the event of life, life insurance makes it possible to meet clear needs: additional precautionary savings, children’s studies or even preparation for retirement. With of course advantageous taxation in the event of redemption thanks to the annual tax reduction of 4600 euros or 9200 euros (depending on your marital situation) after 8 years of ownership. Life insurance is also, in the event of death, an exceptional transmission tool, adds Valrie Bentz.
You are looking for a first contract to benefit from higher yields than those of Livret A, currently 3%, or any other term account or bank book? A goal that is not so easy to achieve, when we observe the high rates for these different risk-free savings products.
Term account: early withdrawal, interest removed… Very strict conditions to anticipate
The first reflex is often to turn to your banker to open your first life insurance contract. Problem is, they generally turn out to be expensive: payment fees or entry fees on the one hand, management fees, collected each year, on the other. When it comes to performance, banking contracts have until now very often been lagging behind. For this year 2023, many of them benefited from spectacular rebounds and therefore found themselves among the best on the market for the past year.
To choose your first life insurance contract, you should not only be interested in the contract and think based on your overall assets, as well as the products and liquid assets already held. You must also take into account your appetite or aversion to risk. Naturally, the less liquidity the saver has elsewhere, the less he will tend to expose himself to risk, adds Valrie Bentz.
You want 100% secure
If you prefer to get started with a belt and suspenders, the traditional euro fund offers you the guarantee of not losing money! The 100% fund contract in euros is rare but not impossible to find. Here is also a list of contracts where it is possible to pay 100% into a fund in euros. New euro funds launched in 2023 even promise higher returns than the Livret A.
Two new single-support life insurance policies
The mutual insurance company for the self-employed and liberal professions Ampli Mutuelle created a single-support life insurance contract this summer. To subscribe, you must invest at least 5,000 euros. The performance of this contract reached 3.75% in 2023.
The life insurance contract Direct placement Euro+ was launched in November 2023. This single-support contract is insured by SwissLife Assurance and Patrimoine. The contract is accessible from 500 euros payment. The contract achieved a 2023 annual yield of 4.10%.
Nothing prevents you from opening a multi-support life insurance policy, with a choice of euro funds and higher-risk unit-of-account (UC) funds, while paying the entirety of your investment into the guaranteed capital support.
Please note, however, that insurers strongly favor UC. Welcome bonuses or enhanced returns are regularly conditional on an investment share in UC. Some contracts still allow you to invest everything in the fund in euros.
Two multi-support contracts where 100% euro funds are possible
Evolution Vie (500 euros minimum payment upon opening). Managed by Abeille Assurances (formerly Aviva), this contract has a single fund in euros, accessible without any conditions. In 2023, it posted a minimum performance of 2.44% compared to 1.61% the previous year.
Fortuneo Vie (100 euros initial payment). Two euro funds coexist there: Suravenir Rendement 2 and Suravenir Opportunits 2. Access to the second is conditional on an investment in UC but not the first. Both funds performed well in 2023: 2.50%.
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You want performance but you need help
It is possible to bet on units of account without having any concept of stock market investment. Formerly reserved for private bank clients, pilot or mandated management is now accessible in most contracts. This option involves sign an arbitration mandateallowing the insurer to direct your investments in UC by following the recommendations of a management company (Morningstar, Carmignac, Rothschild, etc.) depending on the chosen risk profile (prudent, dynamic, etc.). Depending on the contract, this option is subject to additional pricing. To compare these costs, it is possible to refer to the summary table of costs, now accessible on the websites of banks and insurers. Finally, certain contracts are only accessible with pilot management.
Two contracts with pilot management
Nalo life insurance is available from 1000 euros, provided that scheduled payments are set up. Otherwise, the entry ticket costs 10,000 euros. This is 100% online life insurance with pilot management. The contract offered a return between 3.10% and 4.12% in 2023.
The Libert Vie best rate contract is insured by Spirica (Crdit Agricole group), accessible from 500 euros. It provides access to two euro funds: the New Generation euro fund and the Long-Term Growth Allocation fund. The New Generation fund obtained a return of 3.13% in 2023, compared to 2.30% in 2022.
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Some brokers also offer profiled or advised management. This allows you to choose your own asset allocation and make trade-offs, but relying on the advice of specialists.
You want to manage stocks or real estate yourself
The free management of life insurance is not necessarily reserved for experts! On the one hand because there are many options to assist you: limitation of losses, security of capital gains, automatic rebalancing, etc. On the other hand, free management allows you to invest in supports which are not always accessible in pilot management, such as real estate funds (SCPI or OPCI) and certain euro funds with a strong stock market or real estate focus.
Investing in real estate via a life insurance contract allows you to benefit from the advantages of real estate without the management constraints, explains Gilles Belloir, director of Placement-Direct.
SCPIs are the real estate assets most popular with savers within their life insurance (or PER) contracts. In 2022, their average yield rose 4.52% according to the French Association of Real Estate Investment Companies (Aspim). Within the available SCPIs, we mainly find offices whose average rate of return is 4.10% in 2023, shopping centers (4.6% on average for retail SCPIs) or even logistics centers which offer an average performance of 5.9%.
It is also useful to remember that SCPIs are products long investment horizon. It is therefore necessary to have at least 8 years ahead of you, specifies Gilles Belloir.
Life insurance: SCPI, SCI… Still a good time to include real estate in your contract?
Finally, several contracts today reference long lists of trackers, or ETFs. These UC supports aim to replicate the performance of a stock market index (CAC 40, Euro Stoxx 50, etc.). A good way to diversify your investments by investing in several sectors of activity or geographic areas. This is also the watchword of free management: diversify, by limiting yourself for example a share of 10% 15% on each family of assets in the overall allocation of its contract.
Stock market: how to select the best ETFs for your portfolio
Real estate and ETF contracts
Yomoni Vie is a life insurance contract insured by Suravenir accessible only in management under mandate. The entry ticket costs 1000 euros. Since June, Yomoni has added real estate to its contract. In 2023, the performance of the Euro fund reaches 2.20%.
Linxea Spirit 2 has replaced its namesake Linxea Spirit since 2020. Multi-support, the contract notably gives access to 40 real estate funds and 42 ETFs and is accessible from 500 euros. The Euro fund of the Linxea Spirit 2 contract posted a performance of 3.13%.
A choice based on your professional situation?
The choice of a life insurance contract obviously varies depending on the objectives of your savings, as explained above. However, it is necessary to take into account his professional situation.
If I am a business manager, if I am a self-employed professional or if I am very young, it is advisable to remain cautious at first. But everything obviously depends on the investments already held, the financial assets and the risks already taken elsewhere, specifies Valrie Bentz. Obviously, it is always possible to change your contract and increase your risk-taking over time.
If I am employed with a comfortable level of income and with a long tenure objective, explains Valrie Bentz, I can afford to take more risk from the start than if I am a young professional who has just started. install.
Compare the best life insurance offers