The tricks of the financial advisor
Currency: Is the euro safe?
Question: I am 57 years old and have been paying into two life insurance policies for a long time. Now a financial advisor told me that I should dissolve them. Allegedly there would be a currency conversion, and the insurance would then be worthless. I can barely sleep. What shall I do?
Helma Sick: I am always outraged when I hear the methods used by alleged financial advisors. This is an attempt to do business with people's fear. We have a severe crisis, right. But nobody talks about a currency conversion! Why should there be something like that? The euro is at least as stable as the D-mark. The dollar is fluctuating, but it remains the world's number one currency. So where should the problem be? I can tell you from my decades of experience what it's all about: The "advisor" wants to get you to liquidate your life insurance so that you can reinvest the money with him. This is an old and popular trick of dubious "advisers". Reputable experts do not do that because you can only terminate your life insurance if you are prepared to face massive economic disadvantages. The contract costs are always charged in insurance in the first years. So you paid for these costs. Now you are in the profit phase. With every new investment you have a renewed cost burden, which means you start all over again. Please do not engage in another conversation with the "advisor", but stop the contact.
Investment: Ethically correct?
Question: I can save 150 euros a month. I want to invest the money, but so that I can always fall back on it. It is important to me that my money does not support companies that are morally questionable. And, of course, I want my money to be safe at the bank and not to dissipate in the next financial crisis. What, please, do you advise me?
Helma Sick: If you want to use the money at any time, it is more likely to be an iron reserve. For this only time deposit comes into consideration. If you also want to make sure that you do not support anything questionable with the money, you can open a deposit account with an ecological / ethical bank. Three of them are in Germany. The oldest is the GLS Bank, which was founded 35 years ago. The Environmental Bank has existed since 1994 and the EthikBank since 2002. You can contact all three institutes via the Internet. Money that lies on the Environmental Bank is protected by the compensation scheme of German banks, so that sums up to 50,000 euros are secured. GLS Bank and EthikBank are also part of the security fund of the Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken. It also protects very high investment amounts.
Riester pension: stable contract?
Question: I have a Riester system and I'm happy with it. But what if I become unemployed or seriously ill and have debts? Do I have to dissolve my contract?
Helma Sick: No, you do not have to. A fortune that you save on the Riester pension for your retirement, is basically not attachable. This includes the contributions that you deposit, income from them, but also the state allowances. All this is safe from the creditors' access.
Helma Sick leads her company "frau & geld" together with Renate Fritz in Munich. More tips can be found on their homepage.
