I'm a bit disappointed. No ETF inside?
(I didn't find any products with ETFs either)
So you start off with 5,7% less than your initial amount. Are there any taxes? (you mentioned upfront taxes of 4%, and I can't believe that the insurance company is satisfied with 1.7%).
The scenario numbers are what they are, if you calculate these in Excel you get pretty much the same amounts. Doesn't say anything about the product.
Looking up the expense ratio of some funds shows them to be between 1.5% and 2%, which is quite high. The selection of the funds seems to be smorgasbord of trending topics, i.e. what performed well in the recent past and caters to people's current tastes. The weird fund mix is probably also intended to suggest that it's diversified, but a single all-world ETF would likely be better diversified.
Are there any other costs involved? Or does the insurance company live only off the kickbacks they get from the funds?
The fund selection has another peculiarity. Almost all big ETFs are domiciled in Ireland, because it has a favorable tax treaty with the US (withholding tax rate of 15% instead of the normal 30%). The funds here are domiciled in Germany and Luxembourg. AFAIK Luxembourg suffers froma 30% withholding tax rate on US dividends. From the
bogleheads wiki
Ireland is the most common domicile for non-US domiciled ETFs, although Luxembourg is another popular non-US domicile for ETFs. Of the two, Ireland has the better treatment for dividends from US stocks. ETFs domiciled in Ireland can take advantage of the US/Ireland treaty rate of 15%, but because of a less favourable US treaty ETFs domiciled in Luxembourg suffer 30% tax withholding on dividends from US stocks.[6][7] In general then, if avoiding US domiciled ETFs you should prefer Ireland domiciled ETFs over Luxembourg domiciled ones unless the ETF itself holds no US stocks.
There is mention of "Profit Sharing" - this could mean that you get some the fund expense ratio back. Ask about that.
I don't know what is meant by "death benefit". If you have kids (or intend to have ones), you might think about whether you want to leave them something after your death. Because a pension usually ends when you die.
One point you might ask a tax accounting or advisor is whether payouts from such products are taxed in other countries (in Austria they might not be taxed, but what about the rest of Europe?). Tax laws can always change of course, but e.g. if the general situation , it is likely to also be that way in the future.
Another thought on the current situation. The main line of thinking among (conversative) posters here seems to be that because equity valuations are currently high-ish, future returns are expected to be low-ish. Of course, no one knows for sure. However, if future returns are low, the added value of such a tax-sheltered product over conventional holdings is reduced because there are not that much gains to be taxed anyway. Returns are not guaranteed, but costs are.
As an Austrian intending to stay here, I wouldn't buy into this product, I think with the costs involved I'm better off with a simple passive portfolio at a broker. You have to factor in your risk/fact of getting the capital gains taxed while moving around. But even then, I'm not sure I would do this, because it essentially means letting the tax tail wag my investment dog, with tax considerations forcing me into an expensive and complex product.
To add something positive (you might guess I'm not partial to financial products): One upside of pension insurance is that it's a longevity insurance. If you happen to live until 100, you still get your pension, whereas a portfolio might be depleted if you draw it down.