Life insurance is recovering: nearly 16 billion euros were collected in January, a record

Life insurance is recovering thanks to the rise in rates. The January collection was a record. MAXPPP – Leyla Vidal

The performance of this investment since the start of the year is a continuation of those recorded at the end of 2023. Last year, the outstanding amount reached almost 2 000 billion euros. Again a record.

In January 2024, life insurance contributions reached 15.9 billion euros, an increase of 12% compared to January 2023. "A record", according to France Assureurs, the French Insurance Federation, which draws up an initial assessment of the start of the year . Which specifies that "never" the level of contributions "n'had never been so high& ;quot;.

The return to favor of life insurance is all the more true as the net collection (the balance between payments and withdrawals) is positive by +2.4 billion euros. "The month of December 2023 was marked by a relative wait-and-see attitude among savers, comments Franck Le Valois, Managing Director of France Assureurs. This observation round is now over".

Life insurance, the "Swiss army knife"

And for good reason: "life insurance contributions reached an absolute record in January. The French confirm in the first month of the year their interest in this Swiss knife savings product", he adds. In January 2024, outstanding life insurance contracts stand at 1,933 billion euros, up +2.5% over one year.

For Marc Fiorentino, this is a real "spectacular comeback" of life insurance. Indeed, the financial markets specialist, co-founder of the Meilleurtaux Placement site, cites the performance of the month of January alone as proof. "It equals the net collection for the entire year 2023. Never before seen".

Under the leadership of the rise in rates

It must be said that this type of savings, which "is more of a tax envelope than an investment" , has come a long way. "How many times have we been told about the end of life insurance and the death of euro funds ?", he asks. The January results prove that this is not the case. The rise in interest rates has given it renewed interest in the eyes of the French.

As a reminder, life insurance is "an attractive tax package into which all families can today be placed of investments: funds in euros of course, but also shares, bonds, stone paper and, more recently, Private Equity.

It benefits from an advantageous "tax rate"

Today it is "the best envelope for investing in all asset classes", benefiting "from advantageous taxation". The symbol of this renewal is euro funds. "They suffered when rates were negative, observes Marc Fiorentino. At the time of negative rates, they offered a low return of course, but still better than a zero or negative rate.

With the rise in rates, "we can today obtain remuneration for guaranteed capital which goes well beyond the booklet A&quot ;, he continues. "Especially with the boosts that certain insurance companies are offering and which will make it possible to obtain high returns in 2024 and even in 2025".

The PER also performs

But it’s not just life insurance that performs. The PER (Retirement Savings Plan) too. According to France Assureurs, in January, contributions to an insurance PER amounted to 912 million euros, up +6% compared to the same month of 2023. The PER recruited 75 800 new policyholders.

The net collection of the PER reached 652 million euros. "Transfers from old retirement savings contracts to a PER represented 9,300 new policyholders for 299 million euros over the month", specifies the Insurance Federation. At the end of January 2024, insurance PERs counted 5.5 million policyholders, for an outstanding amount of 75.7 ;nbsp;billion euros, up +22%.

"A placement that the French are right to prefer"

For Marc Fiorentino, the success of the PER is not surprising. This is the cousin of life insurance. Linked destinies. And the latter predicts: "we should witness in 2024 a major comeback of an investment, which the French are right to prefer".