My wife and I have a 3A Pillar with Insurance with Mobiliar (MobiFonds 60) for 5 years and 4 years respectively. Every year, we have been investing the max allowed into this 3A each. So, the amount invested is approx 32K and 26K CHF respectively (wife and I).
We were actually "conned" into investing in an insurance-linked 3A Pillar scheme that has a 25-year maturity period, and I admit that we had not done our homework then.
Now we wish to exit from this policy - and would like to understand how to go about doing it. And what happens to the money that we have already invested? Do we terminate the policy prematurely, or request for reduced / zero premiums? Our current premiums are CHF 564 per month each.
Grateful for your advice.
Thanks
Amit
PS: My wife and I have a C Permit in Switzerland, and have no plans of moving to a different country. So there is no way we can get our premiums back (atleast now). We have a house in Switzerland, but we have not pledged this 3A scheme against the mortgage.
We both bought into the policy in Nov 2017. For 2017, she had not yet invested into the 3A when she bought Mobiliar's 3A - and therefore she was able to put in the full amount for 2017 (and then 2018 to 2021 current year). That makes it 5 years for her.
And for me, since I already had invested almost a significant value in UBS's 3A, I had just 1 months value in 2017 invested into Mobiliar. So, for me, my count with Mobiliar effectively starts in 2018 - and that makes it 4 years till date.
The point being made was the this is a highly reputable company and the policy is a perfectly legal financial product. You failing to do your homework does not mean you were conned, it just means you did not do your homework.
Now before you make any decisions I’d suggest you evaluate your entire financial situation and consider what it offers, the cost of replacing it and how much you will loose.
Clearly you need to save for retirement and you have an expectation that you will be able to continue saving until retirement by which you will have a nice nest egg to retire on. But what happens if you become incapacitated? Will you be able to continue saving for retirement and so on?
These types of policy do have their uses, particularly for people on minimum legal pensions or the self employed who for various reasons do not have a pension.
You weren't conned. Maybe you didn't buy what you were looking for, but that's an entirely different thing. It's entirely up to you to make sure you get what you want.
What are your alternative plans? What happens if you simply stop paying? Do you value the benefits you gain from the insurance? (do read your contract)
Generally, there will be a cost to shoulder if you cancel the contract prematurely. In order to determine whether that's the best way going forward for you, you need to establish what you're looking for at least now. And an insurance plan will typically give you some insurance protection you won't have if you intend to replace it with (some) bank accounts, you need to establish whether that's important or not.
I think on your yearly statement there should be the amount you would receive 'today' if you were to cancel. And that largely depends on how the insurance is performing. If it did well you may not be down that much. Never the less you will still be down.
But being down is not a reason to not cancel it. If your a few grand down now. You have to compare that to what a 3a fund would generate and compare to the loss you have by not having it in another product.
I have an insurance and with a child and soon to purchase a property I dont think its too bad. But I have split mine. So roughly half is in an insurance and half is in a fund. So perhaps discussing with you provider and decreasing the payments, and you can get the advantages of both products with no losses or perhaps small admin fees