Life insurance has flown from record to record since the beginning of 2025. In May, the net collection of this savings product reached 3.8 billion euros, a record for 16 years. A harvest that is done at the expense of another very popular savings product, the booklet A, which has collected “only” 2.76 billion euros in the first five months of 2025, more than three times less than over the same period in 2024 (8.91 billion euros).
A passage from one piggy bank to the other fairly logical, since booklet A and life insurance have several common points which can make these two investments interchangeable. They can be just as secure (the part invested in euros in life insurance is guaranteed in capital, in other words, impossible to lose money, as on a booklet A), and they both give you the possibility of withdrawing your capital at any time.
Life insurance supports several layers of expenses
On the other hand, unlike booklet A, life insurance has several costs of costs, which can be difficult to detangle, as the first annual report of the financial sector advisory committee (CCSF), published this Tuesday, July 1, and whose mission is to follow the evolution of the costs and performance of the financial savings of households.
As this report recalls, these costs can be divided into three main categories: costs on payments – which correspond to the costs levied on the amount you pay on your life insurance – management fees – billed by the insurer for contract management -, and the category of “other costs”, which may include a wide variety of additional costs: “Extractive transfer fees to another product, costs on rent payments, as well as buyout costs (punctuated in the event of withdrawals, editor’s note)”, details the report.
Management fees on euros funds amounted to 0.64% on average
Thus, according to data from the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority (ACPR) picked up by the CCSF, the costs on payments amounted to 0.75% on euros in euros in 2023, and 0.55% on account units (UC, risky investment media). Regarding management fees, they amounted on average at 0.64% per year, on the fund in euros, and 0.85% on the part of its savings held in UC.
Finally, the heterogeneous category of “other costs”, displayed average costs of 0.02% in euros funds, and 0.04% in UC. It should also be noted that the savers who have invested in UC (therefore on more risky assets, such as actions, real estate, unlisted companies, etc.) must pay a final category of management fees, specific to each UC chosen. On average, any category of UC combined, they amounted to 1.62% in 2024.
To find out if you pay for these costs more expensive than the average, you can refer to your last annual life insurance statement, which must be sent to you during the first quarter of the year, and which details all the costs charged. Finally, note that several online life insurance contracts are now applying more advantageous costs: no costs on payments, nor with withdrawals, for example.
>> Our service – Test our life insurance comparator
