Financial test

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Financial test

Area of ​​Expertise Consumer education in the field of financial services
language German
publishing company Stiftung Warentest , Berlin ( Germany )
First edition 1991
Frequency of publication per month
Sold edition 205,000 copies
Editor-in-chief Heinz Landwehr
Web link www.test.de
ISSN (print) 0939-1614

The magazine Finanztest (formerly FINANZtest ) is a consumer magazine . The magazine is one of the three brands of Stiftung Warentest , along with test magazine and the test.de website .

Financial test data

Finanztest has existed since 1991. The consumer magazine has been published monthly since 1997, currently with an average sold circulation of 205,000 copies. Around 174,000 copies of these are delivered to subscribers and around 31,000 are sold at the kiosk. The publication is ad-free in order to guarantee its independence from the providers.

Heinz Landwehr has been the magazine's editor-in-chief since August 1, 2015 , and has been acting as head of the editorial department since August 2014. From 1999 to July 2014 Hermann-Josef Tenhagen was editor-in-chief of Finanztest, from 1991 to 1999 it was Hubertus Primus , today director of Stiftung Warentest. The magazine Finanztest is divided into five thematic blocks: Law and Life, Investments and Retirement Provision, Building and Housing, Taxes, Health and Insurance. It publishes reviews of financial services such as insurance , investment products , and credit, and provides advice on tax and legal issues. A service section compares interest-bearing savings offers, stocks and investment funds , as well as loans, for example for real estate financing and for buying a car.

In the press release of the Stiftung Warentest on the 20th anniversary of Finanztest it is said that the magazine "has become the most successful German business magazine during this time". According to an analysis by the Allensbach Institute for Demoscopy, the magazine is read by 1.3 million people every month.

Despite its high circulation, the magazine is missing from many lists of the best-selling business magazines. They are based on data from the information community to determine the spread of IVW advertising media . The IVW only records publications that serve as advertising media. Finanztest magazine is not included because it is ad-free.

In addition to the monthly magazine, Finanztest publishes special issues several times a year under the Finanztest Spezial brand , which are devoted to topics such as taxes, real estate, old-age provision, insurance and investments. Every year in December, the financial test yearbook appears with short versions of the tests and topics of the year.

All tests and reports can also be called up online - in some cases for a fee. There Finanztest also offers constantly updated data for investment funds and statutory health insurance companies as part of what is known as a product finder .

Working method and effect

The data and test results that are published in Finanztest are based on the work of in-house scientists. The testers examine the financial and insurance offers using scientific methods. Whether car insurance , Riester pension or investment funds - in 2016, 37 studies of financial services appeared in Finanztest.

Since companies repeatedly do not want to be tested and therefore refuse to provide information, Stiftung Warentest has been breaking new ground in its research for financial test since 1997, which makes it less dependent on the companies examined. The scientists also evaluate business reports and databases, for example , use private information providers and use freelance workers as test customers.

Trained testers are also used specifically for many tests of services. In 2010, Finanztest used them to test investment advice from banks and the services of statutory health insurance funds (Finanztest 8/2010 and 9/2010). In 2009, test customers were on the road to record fees when withdrawing money abroad and to test the quality of insurance intermediaries.

The tests have an effect on providers and politicians. "In financial services, consumer-unfriendly products such as some tariffs from private health insurers have disappeared from the market after bad grades and the providers of occupational disability insurance have accepted more customer-friendly conditions for taking out insurance after repeated criticism," reported the board of the Stiftung Warentest, Werner Brinkmann , in the press conference on 40th anniversary of Stiftung Warentest on December 3, 2004.

In 2010, Susanne Meunier and Beate-Kathrin Bextermöller were winners of the Helmut Schmidt Journalist Prize for their contribution "Disability: Rarely According to Desires" (published in Finanztest July 2010) .

In December 2010, Federal Consumer Protection Minister Ilse Aigner announced that she would use undercover state investigators to control banks. This step was preceded by several studies in financial tests, in which the Stiftung Warentest sent covert test customers to investment advice at banks.

Advertising with test results

From July 1, 2013, advertising with test results from Stiftung Warentest will be subject to a charge. The license for advertising on the product, in advertising materials, advertisements and on the Internet can be acquired for one year at a price of 7,000 euros, for two years at a price of 10,000 euros. Including TV and cinema advertising, the usage fee for one year is 15,000 euros; for a two-year period it is 25,000 euros. Before July 2013, a processing fee of only 500 euros was due.

Stiftung Warentest has commissioned the non-profit company RAL, the German Institute for Quality Assurance and Labeling , to issue the license .

Since these logos have a great advertising effect, they are misused by some providers.

Finanztest is subject to the accusation that the license model valid from July 1, 2013 creates the incentive to give as many products as possible high marks. The Stiftung Warentest justified the introduction with the fight against abusive and outdated advertising with test seals. It uses the proceeds to finance systematic abuse control and follow-up tests.

  • Logo of the magazine Finanztest , landscape format, narrow

  • Logo of the magazine Finanztest , landscape format, wide

  • Finanztest magazine logo , portrait orientation

Riester pension - mistakes and consequences

In 2002 the Stiftung Warentest insurance company incorrectly calculated the Riester pension and published it in Finanztest. Thereupon the edition was withdrawn, the test repeated and with correct results published again in the subsequent edition. The correct results were also made available online free of charge. It was the first time in the almost 40-year history of Stiftung Warentest that one of its magazines with test results had to be withdrawn.

Hermann-Josef Tenhagen as head of the editorial department apologized publicly for the mistake. The follow-up issue with the corrected information was the best-selling title in 2002, with over 100,000 copies sold at kiosks.

Since 2005, Finanztest has published up-to-date tests on Riester pension insurance, Riester fund savings plans and Riester bank savings plans every year. Since the introduction of the residential Riester subsidy, the financial experts at Stiftung Warentest have also been testing Riester loans and Riester home loan and savings contracts for Finanztest.

In 2007, the December issue of Finanztest on Riester pension insurance sold almost 100,000 times at the kiosk. Of all the tests of financial services, this test generated the greatest response in 2007, because the study showed that the amount of the future pension depends heavily on the quality of the offer.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b test.de - Financial test circulation figures , accessed on May 28, 2018.
  2. ↑ New editor-in-chief for the magazine Finanztest: Heinz Landwehr heads the financial magazine of Stiftung Warentest , test.de from July 6, 2015, accessed on July 20, 2015
  3. ↑ 20 years of financial test, successful title celebrates anniversary , press release by Stiftung Warentest on December 13, 2010.
  4. ↑ Sold edition of the business magazines in Germany in the 4th quarter of 2009  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( online ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.horizontstats.de   @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.horizontstats.de
  5. ↑ Financial test special provision set: So that everything is regulated in an emergency , test.de of November 22, 2013, accessed on October 7, 2014.
  6. ↑ test.de .
  7. ↑ Who is behind "Finanztest"? In: stern.de .
  8. ^ Annual report 2016, page 9 , test.de, accessed on February 12, 2018.
  9. ^ Insurers boycott Stiftung Warentest , Berliner Morgenpost, February 15, 1997, page 21.
  10. ^ Dreaded testers , Berliner Morgenpost, February 15, 1997, page 2.
  11. ^ Annual report 2009, Stiftung Warentest .
  12. ^ Press conference: 40 years of Stiftung Warentest , Werner Brinkmann, Board of Directors of Stiftung Warentest, December 3, 2004.
  13. ^ Helmut Schmidt Journalist Prize: Prize Winners 2010 , accessed on July 30, 2020.
  14. ↑ Journalist Prize: Klare Words , test.de , accessed on September 11, 2012.
  15. ↑ Undercover agents should test banks , Die Welt, December 28, 2010, page 9.
  16. ↑ Bad notes for the banks , Münchner Merkur, December 28, 2010, page 2.
  17. ↑ Companies should pay for the seal in the future , Der Tagesspiegel, accessed on May 17, 2013.
  18. ↑ Advertising: Stiftung Warentest calls for fees for quality seals , Spiegel online, accessed on May 17, 2013.
  19. ↑ test.de - Abuse , accessed on September 19, 2010.
  20. ↑ http://www.handelsblatt.com/finanzen/vorsorge-versicherung/nachrichten/berufsunfaehigkeitsversicherungen-was-kritisiert-der-makler-helberg/8481862-3.html
  21. ↑ Advertising with test results: What is changing and why . In: test.de from May 15, 2013.
  22. ↑ Blatant errors: Stiftung Warentest calls back Riester-Heft , SPIEGEL Online, accessed on September 12, 2015.
  23. ^ Stiftung Warentest withdraws the "Finanztest" magazine , at welt.de, August 27, 2002.
  24. ↑ Hardy Prothmann: Profit Course , business journalist 06/2002, page 30.
  25. ↑ A comparison of all Riester savings schemes
  26. ^ Riester Test Foundation , Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 30, 2008.
  27. ^ Annual press conference of the Stiftung Warentest on May 29, 2008, speech by the board of directors Werner Brinkmann.