The fear of poverty in old age is growing - especially in expensive cities like Munich.
Those who plan to retire early can have more money in old age.
What is important.
Munich - How secure is our pension?
More and more people in expensive Munich, for example, are afraid that they will not be able to make ends meet financially in their old age - even if the pension is supposed to increase significantly again in the summer.
Expert Phillip Machowski, who runs a pension consultancy firm (www.ihrerentenberatung.de), knows how you can increase your pension entitlements.
"The sooner you take care of it, the better," says the expert.
His seven tips are worth real money.
1. Check times to close gaps
You can apply for your insurance history online or by telephone with Deutsche Rentenversicherung in order to check whether your school and insurance times have been saved correctly.
When all the gaps are closed, don't give money away.
Example:
Correctly saved vocational training alone can add several euros to your pension each month, depending on the training period.
2. Apply for parental leave
The time of raising children improves the pension: not only the mother, but also the father can receive child raising time if he has been mainly raising the child for a while.
For children born before January 1st, 1992, 30 months child-rearing period are set, after that 36 months per child.
Example:
30 months of raising children currently bring in 90.05 euros gross per month and child, 36 months of raising children currently bring in 108.06 euros gross per month and child.
3. Early retirement application
You should plan the start of your pension early: From the time when the entitlement requirements are met, you have a maximum of three months to submit your application retrospectively.
So be careful so that you receive the payment on time when you retire.
Example:
Ms A. (59) meets the eligibility requirements on March 26, 2027.
She wants to take early retirement on April 1, 2027.
In order for her to receive her money on time, she must submit the application by June 30, 2027 at the latest.
If she only posts it on July 1, 2027, she will lose three months of her pension.
However, there are exceptions, especially in the case of an old-age pension without deductions and additional income.
4. Secure the allowance
The portion of the pension that is subject to taxation depends on the year in which the application is submitted.
As a result, the tax-free allowance decreases by one percent with each additional year of application.
Example
: With a pension of 1000 euros, you would not have to pay tax on exactly 17 percent, i.e. 170 euros, in 2023.
In 2024 it will be 16 percent, i.e. 160 euros.
5. Unlimited additional income
So far, an additional income limit of 6,300 euros per year applied to early retirement pensions.
Since January 1st, 2023, there has been no additional income limit.
This means that pensioners do not have to worry that their pension will be reduced if they earn something extra.
You can receive two incomes at the same time: pension and wages.
Example:
In addition to your pension, you will continue to work from January 1, 2023 with a gross monthly salary of 1000 euros.
With this you continue to pay contributions to the statutory pension insurance.
In January 2026 you will reach the standard old-age pension.
From then on, your gross pension will increase by around EUR 30.06 per month.
Makes 360 euros more gross in pension per year.
6. Partial Retirement
A distinction is made between two forms: The equal distribution model, in which working hours are halved and distributed over the entire duration of partial retirement.
Expert Phillip Machowski prefers the block model to get out of work earlier.
In the block model, the maximum duration can be three years.
Means that you work 1.5 years and are released for 1.5 years.
However, a longer period may be provided for by a collective agreement or other regulations.
You waive 50 percent of your salary, but you get money from the top-ups.
The top-up amount is tax and duty-free.
Example:
A full-time employee earns 2000 euros gross per month.
If he works part-time and only earns half of the full-time salary (1000 euros gross per month), the pension insurance contribution is 18.6 percent of 1000 euros, i.e. 186 euros.
The employer must also pay a pension insurance contribution of 18.6 percent of 80 percent of the 1000 euros, which amounts to 148.80 euros.
In total, the pension insurance contribution is 334.80 euros.
The pension insurance contribution in semi-retirement (334.80 euros) hardly differs from the full-time contribution (372 euros).
7. One-off allowance for social security
Since January 1st, 2023, the one-off health insurance allowance has been EUR 169.75.
In other words, only above this level are health insurance contributions due for pension payments.
Example:
A woman of retirement age draws a company pension of EUR 75 and EUR 125 respectively.
These are added together, makes 200 euros.
The calculation basis for the KV contributions is 200 euros minus the tax-free allowance.
However, this does not apply to the long-term care insurance contribution.
This means that the pensioner only has to pay 30.25 euros in health insurance contributions instead of the 32.40 euros previously calculated.
Makes a plus of almost 44 euros per year.