Savings: why you will have to watch your life insurance this summer

It is, obviously, one of the most popular placements for French women and men. Life insurance, like the Livret A, is indeed one of the products that savers use the most and it is hardly surprising. It has many advantages and has been established over the long term, as the economist Jacques Bichot explained in our columns. This “essential component” of any self-respecting heritage strategy, according to Le Figaro, was built to be effective.

“Life insurance is a product that was a little strange at first but which ended up making its mark. Several tax systems favored it over other investments and it benefited from poor French tools in terms of long-term savings. It was therefore not very complex to fill this void. Yet, it must be said, life insurance has not been particularly deserving; even if it is not the investment of the century”, declared the specialist last March. And to add to his analysis: “It is the good long-term investment of the good father”.

However, however popular life insurance may seem, it is nonetheless under threat, informs Le Revenu. In question ? A particular situation, both economically and politically, explain our colleagues. Summary.

In fact, three specific dangers could worry savers. Some seem inevitable, others could perhaps be amended.

The very operation of life insurance, mostly reinvested by insurers in bonds, implies high sensitivity to rising interest rates. That being said, explain our colleagues, it takes time before the effects of such a situation are felt. This is why some institutions already fear withdrawals that could cause a systemic crisis.

Moreover, we must also deal with inflation, which savers are familiar with. This, as Nathalie Cariou recently explained in our columns, will not allow life insurance to be really profitable…

If life insurance is not a priori directly concerned by the next reforms that the Head of State has said he wants to undertake, it could still prove less attractive following various tax changes.

It is not a question, this time, of reducing the amplitude of the various advantages that life insurance displays today. That being said, insofar as it is a product regularly used to facilitate the transmission of one’s heritage, the Macron reform relating to tax relief in this area could be duplicated.

If the succession is simplified in any case, remind our colleagues, the attraction of life insurance is minimized.