Overview
- The Altersvorsorgedepot (AV‑Depot) will take new customers from 1 January 2027 and lets certified providers offer approved ETFs and funds, features tax deferral during accumulation, a basic subsidy up to €540 a year plus child allowances, and a statutory 1% annual cost cap for the standard product.
- Existing Riester contracts keep legal protection but savers can either keep their plan, opt into the new promotion by declaration, or transfer accumulated capital into an AV contract with transfer fees capped (for example up to €150 in the first five years) and other regulated switching rules.
- Recommendations from the federal Rentenkommission—including a Swedish‑style capitalised ‘capital rente,’ wider compulsory coverage, gradual rises in the retirement age, and ending the penalty‑free Rente‑mit‑63—are in active political dispute inside the coalition and among unions and state leaders.
- Coverage on Monday, August 31, 2026, emphasised persistent distributional and administrative problems such as a large gender pension gap (women about €994 versus men €1,449 at end‑2025), a 1959 cohort timing anomaly that cut 2025 retirements, and hundreds of thousands of retirees who miss entitled subsidies because of bureaucracy or lack of information.
- Savers face practical risks from product details and timing: short‑term fiscal effects could follow from administrative shifts, take‑up will determine the reform’s success, and individual tax timing can make deferred payouts costlier—so consumers must compare fees, subsidy rules and how payouts are taxed before switching.