life insurance

If it was only last year that you concluded your life insurance for pillar 3b. The policy therefore does not yet have a surrender value, so you do not yet need to enter anything in the tax declaration. It is only when there is a surrender value, usually after three years, that you get a statement from Helvetia so that you can declare the surrender value on your tax declaration.

The existing value of a pillar 3a does not have to be declared in your assets because no wealth tax applies there. It is only in case of a payment that the pillar 3a pension is taxed at a reduced rate.

As long as you don't yet have any children and you both have an income, your accident insurance, pension fund and pillar 1 contributions are paid by your employer. However, in the case of disability, primarily as a result of illness, many employed people are underinsured. It's therefore worth considering a disability insurance. This guarantees the insured person a substitute income in case the regular income is lost through disability due to illness or an accident.

Disability insurance is what is referred to as a risk insurance. Whole life insurance and life insurance also come under this category. With these policies, those left behind are paid a capital sum if the insured person dies. If you purchase a residential property by means of a mortgage, these sorts of risk insurances serve for the financial protection of you and your loved ones. They are relatively flexible and can be adjusted fairly easily where needs change.

In contrast to pure risk insurance, a capital-forming life insurance includes a savings component. Capital is accumulated using the savings component of the premium. This supplements pension income in old age, for example, and thus guarantees a certain standard of living. At the same time, with the risk component of the premium a lump-sum payable on death or disability pension is insured. In the event of an insured incident, this insured benefit is provided independently of any existing saved credit and helps to provide financial security for you or your loved ones.

As soon as you have children, responsibilities and dependencies change and it becomes all the more important to protect your family. If one spouse spends a longer time looking after the children and cannot work or can only work to a limited extent, he or she will have gaps in their pension fund contributions. With a life insurance, the lower pension can be compensated for once that person retires.

If you are self-employed, it's important to know that bankruptcy privileges apply to the life insurance. That means that in case of death, the benefits paid to your spouse are not reduced in order to repay creditors. Therefore, this capital is protected and is paid to the beneficiary, even if your company is not doing well.

Newly-wed dual-earners often find themselves in a higher tax bracket after marriage. It's therefore advisable to pay into pillar 3a and take out a 3a life insurance. This way you can enjoy substantial tax deductions and at the same time make provisions for retirement. A purchase into the pension fund might also be of interest here.

Important: If you already have a life insurance, then don't forget to appoint your spouse as the beneficiary.