Is Riester Rente Still Worth It in 2026?

From 1 January 2027, no one will be able to sign a new Riester contract — the Bundesrat approved the reform on 8 May 2026, it entered into force by the end of that month, and the cutoff for new contracts is now law. If you already hold a Riester policy, nothing forces your hand: existing contracts keep running under Bestandsschutz (grandfathering), with no automatic cancellation and no automatic conversion to anything else. The question this leaves every existing Riester holder with is not “is Riester still available” — it’s “is my Riester still worth keeping, now that I know what comes after it.”

This guide answers that with a decision framework, not a sales pitch. It walks through what “keep,” “pause,” and “cancel” actually do to your money, and where the numbers from the old scheme compare to its 2027 successor, the Altersvorsorgedepot.

Why this decision suddenly has a deadline

Germany’s private-pension reform moved fast once it got moving: the cabinet signed off on 17 December 2025, the Bundestag passed it on 27 March 2026, and the Bundesrat gave final approval on 8 May 2026, with the law in force by the end of that month (Bundestag documentation; Bundesregierung summary; Deutsche Rentenversicherung). Implementation lands 1 January 2027.

Two facts matter to anyone already holding a Riester contract, and they pull in different directions:

1. Your existing contract is safe. Bestandsschutz means it keeps running exactly as contracted — no forced cancellation, no forced conversion. The Zulagen (state subsidies) you’re entitled to under the old rules keep flowing as long as you keep contributing.
2. You cannot get a new one after 31 December 2026. If you don’t already have a Riester contract, this door is closing. If you do have one, the reform itself changes nothing about whether it makes sense to keep it — but it does mean the successor product everyone will compare it to is about to look a lot more generous.

That second point is what makes 2026 the right year to actually run the numbers, rather than leaving a contract on autopilot out of habit.

What old Riester still offers today

If you hold a Riester contract, here’s what’s actually funding it, in the numbers that apply right now:

• Grundzulage: €175/year, paid automatically if you contribute at least 4% of your previous year’s gross income (minus the Zulagen themselves) into the contract, up to a cap.
• Kinderzulage: €300/year per child born in 2008 or later, €185/year for children born before 2008.
• Tax deduction: contributions up to €2,100/year are deductible as Sonderausgaben, with the Finanzamt applying whichever is more favorable — the deduction or the Zulagen (Günstigerprüfung).
• The catch: by law, Riester providers must guarantee you get back at least the sum of your contributions plus the Zulagen received (100% capital guarantee). That guarantee is exactly why criticism of the product has followed it for two decades — a provider that must promise your nominal capital back cannot invest it aggressively, so the money sits heavily in low-yield, low-risk assets, and the product’s fees eat into what little return is left.

That structural tension — guarantee vs. growth — is the single biggest reason Riester’s real-world returns have disappointed for years, well before this reform was ever on the table.

What replaces it: the Altersvorsorgedepot from 2027

The successor product isn’t a rebrand of Riester — it’s a different structure aimed at fixing the guarantee-vs-growth problem:

• Capital guarantee becomes optional, not mandatory, which is what lets the money actually sit in ETFs and funds instead of being forced into low-yield instruments.
• Cost cap of 1.0%/year, addressing the high-fee criticism that has dogged Riester contracts for years.
• Subsidy structure changes shape: 50% of the first €360 contributed per year, plus 25% of the next €360.01–€1,800, for a maximum Grundzulage of €540/year — three times today’s flat €175.
• Kinderzulage stays at €300/child.
• A one-off €200 Berufseinsteigerbonus for savers starting a contract before age 25.
• Self-employed people become newly eligible — a group largely locked out of subsidized Riester contracts today.

The one detail that trips people up: your existing Riester balance does not automatically become an Altersvorsorgedepot. It is a new product with a new contract. If you want both, that means running two separate pots, not migrating one into the other.

For a broader look at how German state pension entitlements interact with private schemes like this, see what happens to your Rente as an expat. If ETF-based investing without a Riester wrapper is on your radar as an alternative, the mechanics are covered in the ETF-Sparplan beginner’s guide.

The decision: keep, pause, or cancel

This is the core of the framework. There is no universally “best” answer here — only which row matches your situation.

Option	Who it typically suits	What you keep / lose	Tax & Zulage impact	Main risk
Keep contributing	Savers close to retirement, those with several children earning Kinderzulage, anyone whose employer or life situation makes the 4%-of-income contribution easy to sustain	Keep full Zulage flow and tax deduction; capital guarantee stays intact	Continues earning Grundzulage (€175/yr) and Kinderzulage; contributions still deductible up to €2,100/yr	Locked into the guarantee-capped, higher-fee structure for years to come; opportunity cost versus unwrapped ETF investing
Stop contributing (leave paid-up / beitragsfrei stellen)	Savers who want to stop adding new money without losing what’s already banked, or who want to redirect new savings into an Altersvorsorgedepot from 2027	Keep all Zulagen and tax benefits already received — nothing is clawed back; contract keeps its guarantee on the frozen balance; contributions can typically be resumed later	No new Zulagen accrue while paused; no further tax deduction on new contributions (there aren’t any)	Existing balance still carries whatever fee drag and Rentenfaktor terms the contract already had; some providers reduce the guaranteed value slightly when a contract is frozen — check your Verbraucherinformation
Cancel entirely	Savers in genuine financial hardship who need the cash now, or those with a very new contract where little Zulage has accrued	Receive the surrender value in cash	Must repay all Grundzulage, Kinderzulage, and tax benefits received to date — DRV-reported repayments have typically run in the low thousands of euros per saver	Surrender value can be below what was paid in once fees and repayment of subsidies are netted out; this is usually the most expensive of the three options

If long-term retirement saving outside a subsidized wrapper is genuinely more appealing to you than any version of Riester, it’s worth reading how that timeline compares more broadly in how to save for retirement in your 20s and 30s before deciding.

What this framework doesn’t decide for you

The table above sorts the three mechanical paths, but the right choice for any one person still hinges on details a generic guide can’t see: how many years are left until your planned retirement date, whether your specific contract has a surrender penalty on top of the Zulage clawback, how many Kinderzulage-eligible children you have, and whether your income and Steuerklasse make the tax deduction or the Zulage more valuable under the Günstigerprüfung. None of that changes because of the 2027 cutoff — it changes because of your own numbers, which is exactly what a licensed intermediary or your Riester provider’s Verbraucherinformation can lay out for your actual contract.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to cancel my Riester contract before the 2027 reform takes effect?

No. Existing Riester contracts are protected under Bestandsschutz and continue running unchanged. The 1 January 2027 cutoff only stops new Riester contracts from being signed — it does nothing to contracts already in force.

Can I convert my existing Riester contract into the new Altersvorsorgedepot?

Not automatically. The Altersvorsorgedepot is a separate, newly created product from 2027. Your Riester balance stays where it is under its existing terms; opening an Altersvorsorgedepot means starting a new, additional contract rather than migrating the old one.

What happens to Zulagen I’ve already received if I stop contributing?

Nothing — beitragsfrei stellen (pausing) does not claw back Zulagen or tax benefits already received. You simply stop earning new Zulagen while the contract is paused, and most providers let you resume contributions later.

Is cancelling my Riester contract ever the better financial move?

It can be, typically for very new contracts where little Zulage has accrued and the saver needs the cash immediately. For most established contracts, pausing preserves materially more value than cancelling, because cancelling repays everything received to date while pausing does not.

Will the new Altersvorsorgedepot definitely perform better than my old Riester contract?

There’s no guarantee either way — performance depends on the funds chosen and the market, not the subsidy structure alone. What’s structurally different is that the Altersvorsorgedepot’s capital guarantee is optional, so a saver who opts out of it can access equity-heavier funds than Riester’s mandatory 100% guarantee ever allowed; that is a design difference, not a guaranteed outcome.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Figures on Zulagen, subsidy caps, and cost limits reflect the verified legislative details of the 2027 reform as of mid-2026 and the Riester rules currently in force; individual contract terms, surrender values, and tax treatment vary by provider and personal circumstances. Compare current pension options via a licensed intermediary such as Tarifcheck before making a decision. Alle Angaben ohne Gewähr.