Pensions certainly are among the issues that commonly arise on a day to day basis.
The crisis of the national pension system has meant that ever more people are looking for ways to integrate their pensions.
Thanks also to law reforms, the variety of solutions on offer has increased significantly, such that today some highly valid schemes are on offer which above all can meet the varying needs.
There are a variety of schemes on offer:
· negotiated funds
· open funds
· individual savings plans
All of the above schemes represent the so-called “collective funds”, established by way of contracts and collective agreements, including at company level (or between workers), or set up by labor unions signing national labor contracts, which can be accessed only by those belonging to a given category so that they are also known as “closed funds”. Now it is possible for people doing non-payed work relating to family life, such as housewives, to set up complementary pension schemes through agreements promoted by their labor unions or local associations of some standing, at least at a regional level.
Then, there are the so called “open funds” which are available to self-employed workers, and regular employees who don’t qualify for or who cannot access negotiated funds.
Adhesion to these plans can be arranged on the basis of collective contracts (open “negotiated” fund).
Finally, in compliance with the law decree n. 47 of February 18th 2000, effective as of January 1st 2001, Individual Pension Funds (FPI) were introduced envisaging adherence to Open Pension Funds or contracts for life insurance, that are stipulated with insurance companies.
The FPI’s were introduced because legislators saw the need to provide everyone with the choice of whether or not to apply for a pension, which in some cases can represent a supplementary form of income while in others the only source of future earnings. Individual access to an FPI is in fact open to all, icluding those who do not have an income from work or from a business, or who are not signed up to a compulsory pension scheme, or those who are fiscally dependent on someone else.
This is an interesting instrument, made all the more so by some of the plans being offered by the main players on the market.
Among these there is certainly the package on offer by the SAI Group which, in keeping with its tradition of being a market leader, has introduced a new line called “SAI L’Altra Pensione” articulated in four products:
* Open SAI Pension Fund
* L’AltraOpen
* L’AltraUnit
* FirstFund
These were designed with an emphasis being placed on concrete solutions which are both innovative as well as being designed around the customer. Attention towards the customer is afterall an integral part of this Turinese insurance group’s tradition, which can be aptly summarized in the phrase “SAI The Company of Your Life” which is not a mere publicity slogan, rather a daily commitment to satisfy with specific and flexible solutions all clients’ specific needs, as well as those of the whole clientèle. A commitment which finds solid evidence in the passage from the previous approach towards its products to that of the client line, which is SAI’s current working basis. This change shows clearly how the attention of the company has shifted from product to client, and how this has become the main focus, the only real point of reference.

SAI’s Open Pension Funds
Among the first product offered in 1998, it is designed around three different investment lines, characterized by varying asset allocation, responsive to the varying risk assessment of a client, two policies of which have a minimum guaranteed yield. This fund has been recently modified in order to allow for plans that are taylored to the individual.

L’AltraOpen
It is the first life insurance policy specifically designed for personal forms of pension and is available starting from the middle of February 2001. This product which is tied to the NUOVA PRESS 2000 separate management, forsees a minimum guaranteed yield of 2.5% and is characterized by a considerable degree of flexibility: in fact it is possible to make varying recurring deposits each year which can be suspended or re-activated at any moment, taking into account in other words one’s financial means at any given time, and allowing for the best exploitation of income limits on tax deductions. The client, in fact, will make his payments according to a timetable (annual, half-yearly, quarterly, trimestrial, bimestrial, monthly) established upon the stipulation of the contract. At each annual recurrence of the contract, the client can choose to modify the frequency and size of the payments. It is also possible to make payments, in addition to those stipulated in the contract, of integrative sums not inferior to 500 Euro.
L’AltraOpen is also characterized by an incentive system of the “loyalty” of the client whereby one can choose, at the moment of stipulation of the contract whether to opt for a system of greater recognition of the management results of NUOVA PRESS 2000 linked to the volume of the deposits made or to the continuity of deposits over the years. The coefficients for the convertibility into earnings are guarenteed by SAI in the contract.

L’AltraUnit
It is an individual insurance investment plan designed to act as a complementary pension to the obligatory public system. This plan is developed in two periods. The first period is called, period of establishment, and a subsequent one called period of distribution. The first comprises the period of contractual duration in which the insurance capital formation takes place and this establishes the pension outlays. This period begins at the stipulation of the contract and ends on the day before each yearly recurrence, immediately following the date of communication to the company of the requisites for maturity having been reached for access to pension outlays.
During this period the insurance investment is characterized by the financial risk being born by the contracting party in as much as this is tied to the quotation of the fund .
The distribution period is instead the period of contractual duration during which pensions are paid. This begins on the anniversary of the contract immediately following the date of communication to the company of the requisites for the pension outlays having reached maturity.
L’AltraUnit is, in fact, a linked unit, also highly flexible, linked to three new investment lines (bonds, balanced and stocks) characterized by a bonus for loyalty/long-standing; in fact those clients who choose to stick with the pension plan receive, at fixed intervals, a bonus, - which is invested directly by SAI in the chosen line of investment - of a sum which increases with the passing of the years.

FirstFund
Designed for those with low income or no income at all, this product is also linked to the NUOVA PRESS 2000 separate management, and is characterized by a few additional features. During the accumulative phase, the payment of a sum is forseen in the case of permanent injury and during the 5-year phase of distribution of the pension’s income, a capital outlay for premature death is envisaged.