What happens to my pillar 3a assets in the event of death?

Your saved money goes to your loved ones. This is regulated by the so-called beneficiary order. 

This sequence is strictly defined by law. A widespread misconception is that you can arrange this completely in your will. Unfortunately, that's not quite true. You can only deviate from the statutory standard rule to a very limited extent. 

The law provides that your money goes first and in full to these people: 

1. Your spouse or your registered partner 

If this person is not or no longer in your life, your retirement funds are distributed equally to the second group: 

2. Your direct descendants (children, grandchildren), people you supported financially to a significant extent, or your life partner if you lived together continuously for at least five years before your death or if you have joint children. 

If nobody can be found in this second group either, the next people in line are: 

3. Your parents 

4. Your (half-)siblings 

5. Your remaining heirs (the state gets nothing here) 

Here you can have a say: 

Even though the law strictly dictates the order, there are a few adjustments you can make to customize the distribution of your 3a assets for retirement: 

• Fine-tune Group 2: You can determine who from the second group (children, life partner, etc.) should receive how much. The only important thing is that the shares add up to exactly 100 percent in the end. 

• Change the order: You can adjust the priorities of groups 3 to 5 (parents, siblings, remaining heirs) according to your wishes. 

An important tip: If there is absolutely no one from groups 1 to 5, your savings cannot be paid out and are forfeited. This can easily be prevented: Designate a charitable organization close to your heart under «remaining heirs». This way, your savings will still do good in the end. 

Would you like to make changes to the beneficiary order or the shares? Get the form with all details on how to proceed directly in the app under Profile > Documents. If you have any questions, simply contact our support team by phone, email, or chat. We're happy to help you out.