Hello everyone! In January I have to renew my life insurance (300k, pure risk). A friend of mine suggested to have a look at the crowd life insurance model, which should be very cheap when compared with traditional life insurances. I checked it out and frankly it looks too good to be true.
With a traditional insurance company, I paid 313 CHF a year to insure 300k in case of death. With Turtleneck (https://www.turtleneck.com/tn), a crowd life insurance, the price per year would be 107 CHF!
The difference is so large that it looks suspicious. Had any of you experiences with Turtleneck or other similar companies? Is there a legal net to protect the customer? Would you change or stay with the more reputable traditional insurance company, even if it costs three times as much?
It’s true that insurance have high margins. but I still think it quite risky to take this type of insurance.
I don’t really understand the concept:
“Since we charge death cases only when they happen and not based on statistics, nothing could be cheaper than Turtleneck.” -> what happens is the deaths are higher than the statistics ? the price increases.
In fact, the pool risk is on your side.
I’ve had Turtleneck life insurance for 2 years now. The pros are: Squarelife is a regulated life insurance company (in Liechtenstein). You can call and talk to real people, or even drop by their office. The cost is obviously hard to beat. The concept seems sound.
That said, I really can’t say that I have complete confidence in the insurance. The company doesn’t fall under Swiss consumer protection laws. Squarelife is such a small and niche company that there aren’t many (if any) real consumer experiences with filing claims out there. The “policy” is far too basic with too much room for possible litigation. The use of the terms “member” and “membership” rather than policyholder and insurance could cause one to question whether it falls under (FL) insurance laws. I spoke to them on the phone several times and recommended that they provide a policy with detailed T&Cs which customers can download and print, but as of yet there is still just the somewhat vague “membership card.”
I do expect that my beneficiaries will be able to claim the benefit BUT I don’t know if I would bet my life on it, which is kind of the idea with life insurance. I have contemplated getting basic low coverage from a solid Swiss insurer for the crucial coverage and keeping Turtleneck for the non-crucial portion of coverage.
The biggest problem with life insurance is that you won’t be around to file any lawsuits. You have to have total trust in the insurance provider. Naturally longstanding insurance providers with a proven track record engender more trust.
Another issue is that a small company/startup bears a higher risk of failure, and a closure would result in your losing your insurance coverage. If that happens when you are old or sick, you may not be able to get insured anywhere else.
On the other hand, I do like to give the new guys a chance. If the concept works, it could drastically reduce the cost of life insurance.
Still, I would recommend a more expensive but solid insurer for your basic insurance and Turtleneck for the nice-to-have bit.
seems a little weird, indeed… the price different is really huge
if you want accurate information, I advise you to visit some useful websites on life insurance such as https://hellosafe.ch or https://comparis.ch, they helped me a lot when I arrived in Switzerland 2 years ago.
I want to ask about Turtleneck insurance as well because the price is simply so much better.
One point that confuses me a lot is that it doesn’t ask me how long I want to be insured at. Usually insuring 30 years would be much more expensive then 20 years. But with turtleneck, it’s not part of the equation. So what does that mean? Did I miss anything?
I just realized that through safeside.life website I get an insurance product produced by squarelife. And through squarelife.eu I get another insurance product also produced by squarelife, named turtleneck.
The first product is much more expensive then turtleneck, but still cheaper than generali. I wonder if I should go with first one, or tutleneck for generali.
From their general terms and conditions, as of 2024/06/24:
I see one of three things:
the maximal amount is high (which is what you may end up paying);
that “never” means they may default on their obligations if they can’t raise enough inputs by raising contributions to their maximal ;
in order to protect previous members, new members pay higher and higher membership fees, that are meant to compensate for the low premiums of the previous members. This falls into one of the two previous categories if no new members can be found.
You should plan on paying the maximal amount or may have to pay more than planned on short notice.
What happens in case of exceptional mortality year?
The “never” are points of failure. When it comes to insurance, my goal is predictability and ease of use. The lower premium may be worth the added uncertainty to some, for me, it’s not what I would be after.
Indeed. It seems I can’t link to their terms and conditions (the address has “session?hid=randomcharacters” in it so I guess they create unique temporary sessions for each click?). I’ve removed the link.
I’m no expert but that makes me extra wary (feel free to teach me in the ways of websites and general terms and conditions if you have expertise).
and I have no idea what “reinsurance cost on me” means and how much would that be. Super confused.
Reinsurance costs will be debited on your account if the
insurance cover exceeds CHF 100,000; even in special
circumstances, Turtleneck may charge your, Turtleneck Account
for the cost of reinsurance, in this case we will inform you
promptly.
Reminds me of Mobiliar. There you get a part back if Mobiliar had less expenditure than planned. Here, as far as I understand it, you will receive a credit for the following year. The rest is just confusing marketing and unclear terms or poor explanations - which is a red flag for me.
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