Welcome to a thriving market! More than a hundred retirement savings plans (PER) are now marketed by financial institutions. You are therefore spoiled for choice, except for this “detail”: the quality of the products varies greatly. How to sort the wheat from the chaff? On the one hand, by orienting your choice according to your saver profile. On the other hand, by knowing how to analyze certain key criteria, as follows.
Start by taking a look at the costs, listed in the contractual notice of the contract or, by law, on the distributor’s website. Whatever your interlocutor, bank advisor or other says, this is a determining point for a long-term investment, which is the PER since it can be kept for several decades. Focus first on the entry fees (also known as payment fees), a drain taken by the manager from your savings before they have even started to grow. They run from 0 to 5%, with an average rate observed around 2.5%. Are they justified? No, unless you get real advice in return. Then target the level of management fees, levied each year on the capital in the account. They are between 0.8% and 0.9% per year on average, a ceiling that should not be exceeded. Many plans distributed by online brokerage sites or mutual insurance companies charge only around 0.6% per year.
The second assessment criterion is based on the financial offer. Is it only made up of financial support from the managing establishment? What is the return on the fund in euros included, knowing that in 2022, the average market rate was 2% net? Concerning the alternatives offered in free management, how many accessible supports are there? Do they cover several asset classes (diversified, unlisted equity funds, pierre papier, growth funds, etc.)? Is it possible to change management methods along the way, or even to combine managed and free management? In your final choice, also take into account the after-sales service of the establishment, in particular the tools made available to you to manage your PER. Pay particular attention to the management actions that you can (or cannot) carry out online as well as the processing times for your requests. Please note: on all these aspects, the quality of response varies greatly from one brand to another.
Criteria to be taken with a pinch of salt
Fees, management and services constitute the essential triptych to make your market. The rest should be taken with a pinch of salt. The solidity of the insurer for example: there is no need to get lost in indecipherable solvency ratios. Stick to the findings of the control authorities, which are reassuring on this point. Also pay attention to the elements highlighted here or there to make the products shine. This is the case with additional insurance offered in certain PERs, for example a guarantee providing for the doubling of the capital paid in the event of the accidental death of the holder.
These devices are both very expensive and of uncertain usefulness. Don’t give too much importance to the exit arrangements either. By the time you retire, market PERs will surely have evolved in these aspects, unless you take out your contract late and plan to draw on it within five years. In this case, take an interest in the conditions for recovering your capital in fractional form as well as the annuity options, if the latter appeals to you.