pension planning for expats

Pension planner in Germany

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First things first

Effective pension planning requires some strategic choices to be made, preferable with a financial advisor.

Expats face an even more complicated situation than others because they often have existing pension funds or state pensions in multiple countries.

It all starts with an in-depth status check of your current financial situation.

In our daily experience, most people – and expats no different from Germans in this regard – have no clear idea or concept about their future pension.

Pension Planner

Patrick Ott
Patrick Oliver Ott
Expert for insurance and finance
8. March 2022
pension planner

What is pension planning?

Pension planning is not simple even when you are just living and working in one country. This is because it requires some strategic work: first defining your status quo, then determining your goals for the future and then finally setting up a strategy that is going to help you reach that goal in the future from your current starting point. A good and dedicated IFA (independent financial advisor) can achieve that for you.

Pension planning for Expats require experts

However, expats face an even more complicated situation than others because they often have existing pension funds or state pensions in multiple countries already and will now add some new ones here in Germany. You’ll need an experienced advisor to make heads and tails out of that convoluted collection of pension plans in order to plan a solid and sustainable retirement income for you. Plus: certain foreigners like, for instance, US nationals who live in Germany, find their selection of local pension plans severely limited due to taxation and regulation problems here in Germany or at home.

See our video on Youtube about pension planning for expats in Germany:
pension planning for expats in germany
This is where the experts from CR&Cie. come in as your special independent pension planner : we have vast experience in advising clients from all over the world who live in Germany. We know the relevant regulations within the European Union member states about mutual recognition of pensions, we know the most important bilateral agreements from Germany with many countries in the world about the recognition of pensions and other social welfare systems.

We know what a SIPP or ISA is, or how a QROPS transfer can work (and how, in a neutral and unbiased assessment process, it can be determined if such a transfer is actually in your best interests or not). We also have experience in advising clients who have a 401(k) or Roth IRA and can help clients who have those to consolidate or to manage them for you.

How pension planning works?

It all starts with an in-depth status check of your current financial situation. Only if we have concise and complete information about your finances can we offer you really valuable pension planning advice so that you’ll reach your expected pension payouts when reaching retirement age.

Based on your current financial status any serious pension planning attempt for expats in Germany builds on the answers to the following important questions:
  1. How much pension do you want to have when you retire?
  2. When do you plan to retire?
  3. How much pension can you already expect from other pension plans or from capital/assets you have built up in the past?
Why expats trust us

100% English-speaking advisors - "Life is too short to learn German".

Offers from more than 150 insurance companies - with us you really have the choice

Many years of experience and specialisation - we know the needs of expats

the experts for expats
Independent advice for the best cover

In our daily experience, most people – and expats no different from Germans in this regard – have no clear idea or concept about their future pension. This is why we had this very simple pension calculator developed for self-assessing your pension goals.

It is nothing fancy and of course we as your financial advisor use somewhat more sophisticated software for our financial planning work for you. But we talked to a large number of expats and found that the questions this tool places in front of you are the ones you can most likely answer and thus they make a perfect first step into your pension planning.

There are three simple steps which are explained in this tool which lead you from setting your pension goal to looking at what you have already done in the form of setting up pension plans and investing money for the final necessary pension pot: if there is a gap between your expectations and what you already have done in order to build up your pension for retirement, you’ll know now what you still have to invest each month in order to meet your pension target later. You can try it by yourself here.

Get professional advice with pension planning in Germany

Meanwhile, If you'd like to learn more about the different pensions available in Germany, be they public pensions, company pensions or other tax subsidized pension schemes, feel free to browse or comprehensive information about the different German and international pension options on this website.

Or, if you are done with reading and want to see action, send us a short message using the form below.

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