7,300 euros gone – in a single moment. This is how much a Riester saver loses in our calculation example because she terminates her contract instead of shutting it down. And she is not an isolated case. With the start of the retirement savings account in 2027, millions of savers are considering terminating their old contract. The clear answer: Don’t cancel. There are better ways.
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From 2027, your Riester balance can be transferred to a retirement savings account with our broker finanzen.net ZERO – all previous allowances remain intact. Register now so you can be ready on January 1st.
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What happens if you terminate your contract
Anyone who cancels their Riester contract triggers what is known as use that is harmful to the funding. This means: All allowances and tax advantages received must be repaid in one fell swoop. For a contract that has run for 15 years, you can easily add up to 5,000 to 10,000 euros, which flow back to the tax office and the allowance office. There are also possible cancellation fees from the provider.
What remains of the paid-out balance is often soberingly little. Particularly in the case of contracts that had high closing costs in the first few years, termination can destroy the majority of the money paid in.
When the retirement savings account starts on January 1, 2027, Hundreds of thousands of savers try to open a portfolio at the same time. The result: overloaded systems, long waiting times for identity verification, delayed activations. And every day of delay is a day without funding – because the allowances do not flow retroactively. Anyone who opens a free account at finanzen.net ZERO nowhas already completed the identity verification and can get started straight away on January 1st – no queue, no missed funding.
Three alternatives that are better
Instead of canceling, Riester savers will have three options from 2027, all of which are cheaper.
Terminate the contract: No further deposits, but the credit remains invested and the previous allowances are retained. Makes sense if the contract has been running for a long time and the closing costs have been paid off. At the same time, a new retirement savings account with more favorable conditions is opened.
Switch to the new system: The existing assets can be transferred to a retirement savings account. Allowances and tax advantages remain intact and nothing has to be paid back. After five years of contract, the change is free; before that, a maximum of 150 euros will be charged. Particularly attractive for singles and high earners who had little benefit from the fixed Riester allowances and can now benefit from cheaper ETF costs and a full share quota.
Keep the contract and let it continue: The old funding system with fixed basic allowances of 175 euros and child allowances of up to 300 euros continues. However, the advantage of the old system has now shrunk significantly: In the new retirement savings account, the full child allowance of 300 euros per child is now achieved from a personal contribution of 25 euros per month. It is only worth keeping it in a few situations – for example, if you have very low personal contributions of less than 25 euros per month and have several children. We show when the old system performs better with concrete comparisons in the guide to retirement savings accounts.
Calculation example: What a termination really costs
Maria, 45, has had a Riester fund savings plan since 2012. She paid a total of 15,600 euros and received around 4,200 euros in allowances and 2,800 euros in tax benefits. Your current balance is 21,000 euros.
| Termination | Decommissioning + new depot | |
|---|---|---|
| Payout/credit | €21,000 | €21,000 (remains invested) |
| Repayment of allowances | −€4,200 | €0 |
| Repayment tax advantages | −€2,800 | €0 |
| Cancellation fees | −300 € | €0 |
| Remaining money | €13,700 | €21,000 |
As a result of the termination, Maria loses 7,300 euros – more than a third of her credit. If she invests the disused contract for another 20 years at a 4 percent return, it will grow to around 46,000 euros. She would have to invest the money from the termination herself and would need a return of over 6 percent just to catch up.
Riester contract transferred and up to 540 € funding secure.
From 2027, your Riester balance can be transferred to a retirement savings account with our broker finanzen.net ZERO – all previous allowances remain intact. Register now so you can be ready on January 1st.
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Conclusion: Anything is better than quitting
There is practically no case in which a Riester termination makes economic sense. Even a poorly performing contract with high costs is better off shutting down than terminating it. Anyone who is dissatisfied will have a real alternative from 2027 in the form of a retirement savings account – without losing their current support. We explain all the options for Riester savers and how the retirement savings account works in the guide.