French financial Update October 2026

After a very long and hot Summer, it looks like Autumn is finally here. With businesses in full swing after the summer, there have been some interesting financial developments.

One of the products we advise our clients to invest in when moving to France is an assurance vie. Its popularity is clear and the amount invested in assurance vies has steadily increased since they were created 40 years ago, reaching € 2162 billion in June 2026 (a 6% increase from last year).

By the end of 2025, over half of French household savings were invested in assurance vies – far more than in savings accounts such as the Livret A or LDDS.

This is hardly surprising given the strict limits of these accounts on both the capital (€22,950 for a Livret A and €12,000 for a LDDS) and the fact that savers can only have one of these accounts each, whereas there is no limit to the number of assurance vies a person can have or on the amount invested. If the assurance vie is set up before age 70, the IHT