In 2020, 2.8 million people, and not 4.5 million as initially indicated by Bercy, benefited from a retirement savings plan. This product, launched in 2019 to replace PERCOs, Madelin contracts and popular retirement savings plans (PERP), enables the capital built up for retirement to be withdrawn.
32 billion euros saved
In 2020, the French invested nearly 32 billion euros in their retirement savings plans, according to data released by the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance. This amount remains well below that of other popular investments such as life insurance (1,800 billion euros) or the Livret A passbook savings account (463 billion euros). Last year, total retirement savings amounted to 269 billion euros.
Despite the downward revision in the number of policyholders, the government considers the retirement savings reform adopted in 2019 to be a success. In a press release dated June 7, 2021, Bruno Le Maire recalls that the PER was created with the aim of offering "potentially higher-yielding investments for savers".
Target: 3 million beneficiaries by 2022
Contrary to its claims, Bercy has not yet exceeded its target of 3 million beneficiaries by 2022. Nonetheless, the government reports "very strong growth, in an unfavorable context given the health crisis". This growth is mainly due to the advantages offered by this investment, namely :
- an attractive tax regime,
- the option of an annuity or lump-sum payment, or a combination of both,
- the possibility of recovering invested savings early in the event of force majeure (disability, death of spouse, etc.),
- payment of the sums saved to the beneficiaries designated in the contract in the form of a lump sum or annuity in the event of death.
To open a retirement savings plan, there is no age limit, nor any condition linked to the applicant's professional situation. This product can be taken out with a specialized company, more specifically an association that underwrites group life insurance policies.
The PER boom is set to continue in 2021
The latest figures published by the Fédération française de l'assurance (FFA) confirm that the PER market will be booming in 2021. Last April, nearly 74,000 policyholders were registered, and more than a billion euros were paid out, half of them on new contracts.
While many insurers expressed reservations during the debate on the reform of retirement savings, today most are betting on the development of the new retirement savings plans, which are largely invested in unit-linked products.
As a result, the Covid-19 crisis had no impact on employee or retirement savings, which enjoyed a record year.