Hey everyone,
My wife and I are in a similar situation. We do not know what to do and seek your advice. Instead of setting up a new topic I thought replying here directly makes more sense.
At the age of 21 in April 2011, my wife signed a 3b life insurance with Liechtenstein Life via i.l. team ag (https://www.ilteam.ch/). She didn’t feel comfortable signing it in the first place. But her (extended) family pressured her in signing-up for it. According to them it was a good idea…a good and safe investment. She eventually caved due to the pressure and since has been paying CHF 200 a month. So far she has paid CHF 25.8k into it.
Once I entered her life and it became more serious between the two of us, we started talking about our personal finances. I discovered that she already had a 3b life insurance, but she didn’t know anything about it. She just kept paying the bills and didn’t look into her policy/portfolio at all. She had no idea what was happening. It didn’t interest her. To her it was something she never wanted in the first place, so why worry about it? This was a big fat red flag to me. So, I started looking into it…
I checked the past yearly asset statements of her policy published by the insurer and was shocked. Basically, every three years they kept changing the funds in her portfolio:
- 2011-12:
- 2013:
- 2014: No idea, because I couldn’t find the asset statement and requested it.
- 2015-16: Structured Fund-Optimal Allocation R (ISIN: CH0199624088)
- All I was able to find was this.
- 2017-19: C-QUADRAT ACTIVE Protect CHF (ISIN: CH0350268584)
- 2020-current: Future Protect CHF (ISIN: LLA026)
I can’t find anything about this fund. Any idea where I can find more about it?
This to me was the second red flag. Why did they keep changing the funds? Except for the most recent, all the funds have been discontinued. I can’t find any information about them, except for the links I shared above. They must have been performing badly. And moving funds every 2-3 years must have been costly too, considering all the fees (issuance, redemption, management) they had (example). This worried me.
Well, then I logged into her life insurance account and saw that her portfolio currently sits at CHF 19.4k. My heart sank: That’s CHF 6.4k less than what she paid into. That’s a whooping -25%. I confronted her with it and she started crying…My hunch that something was not good and her initial gut feeling over 10 years ago were proven right. A very costly lesson in life.
The question now is what should we do about it? I have no idea what the next steps should be. I couldn’t find any information about her life insurance policy on their website. Nor can I find any terms of conditions for the policy she signed up for. All I found was this for a different product that they are offering. Regarding termination of that product they state the following:
Kündigung und Beendigung
Sie können Ihren Versicherungsvertrag jederzeit in Textform kündigen. Ihre Kündigung wird zehn Bankarbeitstage nach Zugang bei der Liechtenstein Life Assurance AG wirksam. Durch die Kündigung beenden Sie den Versicherungsvertrag und den Versicherungsschutz. Der Versicherungsvertrag endet darüber hinaus mit dem Tod der versicherten Person oder mit Auszahlung der Erlebensfallleistung.
Rücknahmekurs
Der Rücknahmekurs ist der Preis, zu dem wir Entnahmen aus den gewählten Fonds und/oder Sondervermögen vornehmen.
Rückkaufswert vor Ende der Aufschubzeit
Nach einer vollständigen Kündigung erstatten wir den Rückkaufswert Ihrer Versicherung. Diesen Rückkaufswert berechnen wir anhand der Anzahl der gutgeschriebenen Fondsanteile und dem Rücknahmekurs dieser Fondsanteile zum Kündigungszeitpunkt, ab dem 11. Vertragsjahr wird zusätzlich der Treuefonds berücksichtigt.
Rückkaufswert in der Rentenzahlungsphase
Falls Sie eine Rentengarantiezeit vereinbart haben, entspricht Ihr Rückkaufswert in der Rentenzahlungsphase dem Barwert der zwischen Kündigungszeitpunkt und Ende der Rentengarantiezeit noch zu zahlenden künftigen garantierten Renten. Zukünftige Überschussbeteiligungen werden dabei nicht berücksichtigt. Nach Ende der Rentengarantiezeit, oder, falls keine Rentengarantiezeit vereinbart wurde, gibt es in der Rentenzahlungsphase keinen Rückkaufswert.
Unfortunately, I do not understand what this would mean for us. I am a little bit out of my depth here.
Clearly, we do no longer trust Liechtenstein Life and i.l. team ag and are considering terminating her policy. Her policy runs till 2041 and the premium is set at CHF 72k. What would it mean for us if we terminated her policy? We are willing to take a loss and be done with it and passively invest in something we feel more comfortable with and have under our own control. Should we contact them and discuss other options?
What do you think? What would you do?
Thanks in advance!