Pension: ETF, real estate, gold - the best tips for a worry-free retirement   

Many people neglect retirement planning for a long time.

But it's never too late to take action.

We asked an expert.

Let go of fright: You are around 50 and have not yet thought about where your financial situation will look like in old age?

No reason to bury your head in the sand - after all, you usually have up to 17 years * left to do something.

Here is the checklist on how to proceed:

Inventory:

First, check your pension information. Are all contribution times recorded? Clarification brings a clarification of accounts with the German pension insurance *. It also offers pension advice that includes everything else (Riester, private pension insurance, company pension scheme). And that also clarifies how much money you (still) need in old age. You should be honest and detailed. With general forecasts such as “2000 euros will be enough for me”, you can be very wrong. For example, because you did not take into account that taxes or social security contributions would also be incurred in old age.

Pension gap

: If you compare income and expenditure (attention: inflation: with an annual two percent, costs of 2,000 euros in 15 years will turn into 2691 euros!), The result is the pension gap.

Financial advisor Stefanie Kühn from Grafing has a few pieces of advice ready to help you reduce this and what you can still do for old-age provision at the age of 50:

Retirement provision: ETF savings plan and real estate from an expert's point of view

ETF (index fund):

If there is money left over in the future because the children no longer need support, the apartment or house has been paid off or if you have inherited something, then an ETF savings plan is recommended - because even at 50 you still have one that long Time horizon that one could compensate for price fluctuations.

Even those who have not previously invested in stocks should now have the courage to do so.

My tip: take ETFs that are based on the world index - western world plus emerging markets.

Another criterion would be a sustainable expression, so that one contributes to directing capital flows in the right direction.

Property:

At 50 you should think about where and how you want to live in retirement. If you want to downsize later, you could start looking for a suitable property - possibly buy an apartment now and then rent it out. The prices in the greater Munich area are hardly affordable, but that could change. My tip: watch the location - maybe it doesn't have to be the expensive area either. And if the apartment can be rented out well, then there might be an opportunity to pay it off in 15 years. If necessary, you can also sell again. And: Such a purchase increases the discipline to do something. In addition to the ETF and the statutory pension, you have another component for your old-age provision. Real estate is still an investment that belongs in a portfolio. But that meansthat you don't put all your money in ETFs because you need equity.

Retirement provision: gold and pension insurance products?

Not necessarily advisable

Gold:

You should have that as a tangible asset in the range of five to ten percent in your provision mix.

The gold value * does not always rise either.

But gold just had its value at all times.

Annuity insurance products:

One can only advise against this.

I am also skeptical about voluntary contributions to the pension fund, which are often touted very much.

They only pay off when you really get very old.

In fact, nobody knows that.

And I would always be careful not to give up too much money too early, knowing that I would never get it again.