September 2019

German women pensioners receive 26% less than men

A study published on Tuesday showed that female pensioners in Germany receive on average 26% less in pension payments than men. The gender pension gap means that retired women receive an average of €140 less per month than men. The study estimates that this means that when entering retirement, the average German woman would need around an extra €25,000 ($27,500) in savings in order to close the gap for their retirement. The research was carried out at the University...

August 2019

Berlin-based mobile savings platform Raisin to acquire pension fintech Fairr

Raisin, the Germany-based savings and investment platform, said it acquired Fairr, a fintech also located there that specializes in pensions and retirement savings. Raisin officials said the acquisition will help its 200,000 customers gain access to fixed-term, overnight and ETF accounts, as well as specialized pension plans. Read also How Fintech Can Make Banking More Inclusive – and Empowering The German pension market is estimated to be more than $13.3 trillion (12 trillion euro) and Raisin said the...

Workplace Pensions In Germany: What You Need To Know

In Germany, paying contributions to the statutory (state) social security pension is compulsory for most employees and their employers. In addition many companies, in particular large and international enterprises, choose to offer employer-financed (second tier) workplace pension schemes to help attract and retain staff. Workplace pension arrangements may be set up using one of five different pension vehicles. Details of each type of vehicle are set out in this note. Since 2002, employers must enable their staff to make employee contributions to...

Early retirement is becoming more and more popular in Germany

To many people, it may seem like a far-fetched dream, but to an increasing number, early retirement is becoming an everyday reality. For some time now, workers in Germany have been able to pay additional contributions towards their pension in order to be able to retire early without penalties. The latest figures show that the scheme is becoming more and more popular - but it costs a pretty penny. Voluntary pension contributions on the up The Deutsche Rentenversicherung, the...

July 2019

Pensions in Germany will be 100 percent taxable by 2040

Many-a-person in Germany breathes a sigh of relief upon entering retirement: “Finally, an end to all that taxation!” It may come as a nasty surprise, therefore, that around a quarter of pensioners in Germany still have to pay income taxes - and the number is set to increase over the next few years. One in four pensioners in Germany paid income tax in 2015 According to official figures from Destatis, the Federal Statistical Office, in 2015 around 21,2 million people in Germany were receiving either a...

May 2019

Poverty risk could increase for German pensioners if pension level continues to fall: study

The poverty risk rate for people aged 65 and over would rise by up to 20 percent if the German pension level continued to fall and the framework conditions did not change, according to a study by the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) published on Wednesday. The DIW study showed that under current laws, the German pension level is expected to fall continuously to around 43 percent in 2045 from 48 percent today. Since the early 2000s, Germany's...

Pensions in Germany to rise by more than 3 pct after annual adjustment

The German federal cabinet approved a decree by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on Tuesday that will see pensions in Germany rise noticeably. The cabinet approval of the annual pension adjustment, which is based on wage developments, will increase pensions in western Germany by 3.18 percent as of July 1, and by as much as 3.91 percent in eastern Germany. German Labour and Social Affairs Minister Hubertus Heil commented that the rise was an "extraordinarily positive development in pensions". The...

April 2019

The Effect of Pension Subsidies on the Retirement Timing of Older Women: Evidence from a Kink Design in Germany

By Han Ye (University of Mannheim; IZA) I estimate the effect of additional pension benefits on women’s retirement decisions by examining a German pension subsidy program for low-pay workers. The subsidies have a kinked relationship with the recipients’ past contributions, creating a sharply different slope of benefits for similar women on either side of the kink point. I find that a 100 euro increase in the monthly benefit induces female recipients to claim their pensions eight months earlier. A back-of-the-envelope...

February 2019

Germany struggles to stop Nazi war payment suspicions

A Belgian bid to stop Berlin from paying pensions to alleged Nazi collaborators has exposed a cloud of confusion and suspicion - including in Germany - over payments still made to 2,000 people worldwide. The controversial law in question is known innocuously as the Federal German War Victims' Assistance Act, or the "Bundesversorgungsgesetz", but tabloid-style Bild daily calls it "Hitler's pensions". The debate surrounding the law exploded again on February 20th when the Belgian parliament voted on a resolution...

Germany. Retirement: income for the pension insurance increased significantly

The revenue of The statutory pension insurance increased significantly in January: With 19.4 billion euros, the level was 5.3 percent year-on-year. According to a spokesperson of the German statutory pension insurance scheme, the development is due mainly to the increase in wages and high employment. However, the so-called Sustainability reserve of the pension Fund decreased in January to 38 billion Euro, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points compared to January, 2018. That’s the equivalent of 1,69 month of...