Surprises in a Growing Market Niche : An Evaluation of the German Private Life Annuities Market

High replacement rates from public old age insurance might lead to the belief that little room is left for private sector life annuities in Germany. Taking a closer look, we find a small market with a surprisingly large variety of products. Due to the recent pension reform and future ones to come the market is projected to grow substantially in the years to come. This paper describes the life annuity contracts available and determines their money's worth for different subgroups of the population