Calculating your Riester-Rente: how much pension will you get?

Philipp Siebert

Published on 2 November 2026 · Publisher and Managing Director, Alsterspree Verlag

This article was written by an author with the support of AI.

How does your balance turn into a monthly pension?

The future monthly pension from your Riester contract follows from a simple formula: the capital built up, divided by 10,000 and multiplied by the annuity factor (Rentenfaktor). The annuity factor states how much monthly pension the provider pays per 10,000 euros of capital^[1]. This calculation gives you a rough estimate of your expected pension before you make any decision about 2027. It applies to contracts with an annuity factor, such as unit-linked pension insurance. For classic pension insurance that promises a pension fixed in euros and cents from the outset, the annuity factor plays no role: the monthly pension is already fixed when the contract is signed^[1].

Your actual annuity factor is in your insurance policy. How much it matters is shown by the case that led to the BGH ruling: Allianz cut the annuity factor from an initial 38.74 euros to 30.84 euros per 10,000 euros of policy value, which is around 20 percent of the possible pension^[1].

A worked example with these two factors: with capital of 40,000 euros, 40,000 ÷ 10,000 = 4. With a factor of 38.74 that is 4 × 38.74 = 154.96 euros a month, with a factor of 30.84 it is 4 × 30.84 = 123.36 euros. The difference is 31.60 euros a month.

All calculation examples in this article are purely illustrative and based on assumptions. They are not a forecast and not investment advice within the meaning of § 1 Abs. 1a Nr. 1a KWG.

Where do you find the capital and the annuity factor?

You will find both figures in documents your provider sends you regularly anyway. Under § 7a AltZertG the provider must inform you in writing every year, by the end of the year following the contribution year. This annual information, colloquially called the Standmitteilung (annual statement), is the reliable basis for your calculation.

• The annual information under § 7a AltZertG states how the contributions paid in were used, the amount of capital built up, the actual costs incurred in the past contribution year, the returns earned, and the capital expected to be available at the start of the payout phase after costs^[2].
• You find the annuity factor in your insurance policy; the Verbraucherzentrale (consumer advice centre) recommends having the policy and the general terms and conditions at hand and reading every paragraph in which the word "Rentenfaktor" appears^[1].

For contracts concluded before 1 January 2027, the previous information duty continues to apply. For new contracts, details of the guaranteed and the expected benefit in the payout phase are added from 2027. How to check your documents systematically for subsidy rate, effective costs and guaranteed interest is shown in the article Vertrag im Check (contract check).

Guaranteed or only projected?

Not every figure in your documents is a promise. For a certified Altersvorsorgevertrag, what is guaranteed by law is that at least the contributions paid in are available for the payout phase at its start and are used for the benefit (§ 1 Abs. 1 Satz 1 Nr. 3 AltZertG). Everything beyond that depends on investment performance.

• Guaranteed: the benefits promised in the contract according to the policy, for classic pension insurance a pension fixed in euros and cents^[1].
• Projected: the capital expected to be available at the start of the payout phase after costs, as shown in the annual information. The calculation uses the investment returns stated in the product information sheet^[2].

So calculate both values with the annuity factor: the guaranteed minimum capital and the projected capital. Note also that, to the extent the later Riester pension is based on subsidised contributions, it is subject to deferred income tax in full^[3]. For comparison with other forms of provision, the net pension is what counts.

May the provider lower the annuity factor?

The clear answer is: not with a clause that only permits cuts. On 10 December 2025 (case no. IV ZR 34/25), following an action by the Verbraucherzentrale Baden-Württemberg, the Federal Court of Justice declared invalid a clause of Allianz Lebensversicherung in Riester contracts that allowed a one-sided reduction of the annuity factor. The clause provided for cuts if interest rates fall or life expectancy rises, but did not oblige the insurer to raise the factor again if conditions improved. That violates the principle of symmetry and is an unreasonable disadvantage^[1].

• According to Allianz, the clause appeared in the general terms and conditions of unit-linked Riester pension insurance concluded between June and November 2006.
• The consumer advice centres are pursuing further warnings and lawsuits against comparable clauses of other insurers; since the BGH ruling, further courts have declared such clauses invalid.
• Unlawful annuity factor clauses affect not only Riester contracts but also private pension insurance, basic pensions (Basisrente) and occupational pension contracts.

Claims to a recalculation or back payment are possible, but not automatic in every contract. What matters is the wording of the specific clause in your contract documents. So check whether your contract contains a one-sided reduction clause without an obligation to raise the factor again, and whether it is unit-linked pension insurance.

Which calculators really help?

An honest remark first: the official Riester calculator of the ZfA shows the allowance and the saving amount, not the future pension amount. Your pension depends on your contract, above all on the annuity factor and the capital built up by then.

1. The Riester calculator of the ZfA at the Deutsche Rentenversicherung works out your state allowance and your minimum own contribution, not the pension amount^[4].
2. The minimum own contribution is 4 percent of the previous year's income subject to contributions, at most 2,100 euros, minus the allowances; at least the base amount of 60 euros must be paid (§ 86 EStG)^[5].
3. The reliable basis for the pension amount remains your own calculation: the capital from the annual statement multiplied by the annuity factor from your policy.

With provider calculators on the internet, look at the assumptions about investment performance, because the result is a projection. For a cross-check, calculate with your own documents and compare the results for guaranteed and projected capital. Whether switching to the Altersvorsorgedepot is worthwhile for your result is covered in the article Bleiben oder wechseln (stay or switch).

How does a payout plan in the Altersvorsorgedepot work?

With the Altersvorsorgedepot introduced from 2027, the annuity factor falls away if you use the payout plan. You can choose between a lifelong annuity (Leibrente) and a payout plan that ends at the age of 85 at the earliest. The payout plan can be recalculated transparently, which makes it much easier to compare with your Riester calculation.

• The monthly payout is set at the start of the payout phase and then recurrently, at intervals of up to three years.
• Each time, at least 80 percent of the capital remaining on the reference date is divided by the number of months until the end of the term.
• Together with a payment due at the end of the term, any remaining capital is paid out^[6]; assets not yet paid out can be inherited, although the subsidy generally has to be repaid then; without deductions it passes to a contract of the surviving spouse^[7].
• For the allowance in the new system, a fixed minimum contribution of 120 euros a year has to be paid.

That makes your Riester calculation of capital times annuity factor directly comparable with the payout-plan calculation of a depot provider: on both sides there is a capital value, and on both sides a monthly benefit. The differences between a lifelong annuity and a payout plan in terms of flexibility and inheritability are covered in the article Leibrente oder Auszahlplan (annuity or payout plan).

For comparing providers, the criteria-based provider comparison of Vorsorgedepot-Lotse offers a neutral, criteria-based overview of Altersvorsorgedepot providers; payout plan and lifelong annuity are among the criteria there. Your own Riester calculation serves as the yardstick. This comparison, too, is not investment advice within the meaning of § 1 Abs. 1a Nr. 1a KWG.

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