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Mit 40 oder 50? Bitte mach nicht diese 5 Fehler — Transcript

by Deutsche Finanzen mit Georg · 2,654 words · 411 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00If you are currently in your 40s or 50s
0:02, then listen to what a 57-year-old told
0:05me last Saturday. I am 42 and I saw
0:07myself in almost every one of his
0:10sentences. His most important one here.
0:12You have less time than you think, but
0:14more money than you believe.
0:16The man's name is Frank.
0:18He used to be my department head, and at
0:2145, Frank got a raise, € 500 gross.
0:24€ 255 of that arrived in his account,
0:27and 3 months later it was gone. Gambled
0:30away? No, not given away either. They
0:33were simply absorbed by everyday life.
0:35Today, Frank knows exactly what those €
0:38255 could have become. He said the
0:41number annoys him more than any speeding
0:43ticket he has ever received. And there
0:45were quite a few.
0:46I will calculate it for you at the end,
0:48down to the last euro.
0:49It was his 57th.
0:51Birthday. Later that evening, the two of
0:53us sat on his terrace. A terrace that,
0:56by the way, is way too big. We'll get to
0:57that later. And that is when he listed
1:00his five mistakes between 40 and 55. He
1:03made a few of them completely, and just
1:06barely scraped by the others. And by the
1:08way, this is not a retirement video;
1:10it's about the next 15 years, about
1:13yours and, honestly, mine too.
1:15Frank started with a number I didn't
1:17know. Retirement in Germany is at 67.
1:20Being healthy, meaning that nothing
1:22serious restricts you in everyday life.
1:24For a woman in this country, according
1:26to EU statistics, that is on average
1:28only until about 63, and the EU average
1:30for men looks hardly any different. Wait
1:33, let that sink in for a moment.
1:34Retirement comes at 67.
1:36Statistically, the healthy years end
1:38before that.
1:39That doesn't mean it will happen to you
1:42, but "I'll do it later" is a pretty
1:44risky phrase in Germany, because "later
1:46" is sometimes already taken.
1:48That's why Frank didn't start with money
1:50, but with the body. Mistake number 1:
1:53Frank pawned his health for his job.
1:57I know him from exactly that time: mid-
1:5940s, first one in the morning, last one
2:01out at night.
2:02Friday 4 PM. Something else coming in?
2:05I'll do it. No one paid for that.
2:08But he thought, eventually it will pay
2:10off somehow. And honestly, at the time,
2:13I found that admirable. At 49, on a
2:16Tuesday morning, it started.
2:19A ringing in his right ear. Sudden
2:21hearing loss. The doctor didn't beat
2:22around the bush for long. Stress.
2:25Three weeks off sick. And do you know
2:27what was going on at the office? I was
2:29there, after all. Nothing. Absolutely
2:31nothing. Everything kept running without
2:33him.
2:34His colleague Reiner was less lucky.
2:36Same age, same workload. Actually, no,
2:39even a bit more driven than Frank. At 54
2:41, Reiner was finished. Depression, rehab
2:44. Then the application for disability
2:47pension. And sadly, Reiner is not an
2:49isolated case. 175,978
2:53people in Germany received a disability
2:56pension for the first time in 2025.
2:59More than four out of ten due to a
3:01mental illness.
3:02That's number one by a huge margin, even
3:05ahead of cancer.
3:07And in the first half of 2026, mental
3:09illness was the most common reason for
3:11sick leave for the very first time.
3:14184 days absent per 100 insured persons
3:17in just half a year, mind you.
3:20This isn't a statistic about wimps; it’s
3:22a statistic about people like Reiner and
3:24Frank at 49.
3:26People who simply always said yes.
3:29Frank said something that evening that I
3:32wrote down.
3:33If you drop dead tomorrow, your job will
3:35be posted online the day after. The
3:37employer doesn't even mean it
3:39maliciously. It’s just how it is. But
3:41for your body, there is no job posting.
3:44There is no successor for that. And many
3:46forget that this is ultimately a
3:48financial issue, not a wellness issue.
3:51The disability pension in Germany is
3:53anything but generous.
3:54Those who drop out in their mid-50s
3:57don't just lose their health. They lose
3:59the exact 10 years in which they earn
4:01the most and could have saved the most.
4:04Mistake number two: Frank spent money to
4:07impress people who don't even have his
4:10phone number anymore. His neighbor back
4:13then was named Heiko. Nice guy, Frank
4:15says. But Heiko always had the newer car
4:17, the bigger grill, the more expensive
4:20vacation, and Frank kept up. He would
4:22never have admitted that back then, of
4:23course. The patio, the very one we were
4:26sitting on, was built bigger than they
4:29needed.
4:30The kitchen was more expensive than Elke
4:32, his wife, even wanted. She probably
4:35looked at him back then like he was
4:37crazy. And the vacation had to be
4:38impressive enough to have something to
4:40talk about over the garden fence later.
4:42Not for himself, for Heiko.
4:44I asked him how often he thinks about
4:46Heiko today. Not at all. He moved away
4:49six years ago. Frank doesn't even know
4:51where. The whole show has an audience
4:53that went home long ago. And now here is
4:56something that hardly anyone in Germany
4:57says out loud. We are considered world
4:59champions of saving. Private households
5:02here set aside 18.9%of their income. The
5:05EU average is 14.3%.
5:07Yet so many feel anything but rich at 50
5:10.
5:11How does that add up? I think it’s like
5:13this.
5:14A large part of this saving isn't wealth
5:17accumulation at all. It’s saving for the
5:19next status symbol. Four years for the
5:22car, two for the kitchen, one for the
5:25big vacation. You are saving money, but
5:28in the end, it still gets spent. Almost
5:31nothing is invested. And most of it, you
5:33don't even notice. That's why there's a
5:35savings check on finanzengeog.de. Short
5:38questions, no registration, takes about
5:40a minute. Afterward, you'll see the ten
5:42savings tips that help you most and
5:44roughly how much is in it per year. No "
5:46coffee to go" tips, but rather contracts
5:48, taxes, and insurance. Frank did it on
5:50his phone that same evening and was
5:52pretty quiet afterward. Link is in the
5:55description. And now the part I would
5:57like to argue with you about. Feel free
5:59to write in the comments if you see it
6:00differently.
6:01For many Germans, the single-family home
6:04with a double garage is not the
6:05retirement provision they think it is.
6:08It is the biggest status symbol you can
6:10buy on credit.
6:12Where you have to live, sure, but how
6:14big, how expensive, how early—that you
6:16decide.
6:17Well, or in reality, the neighborhood
6:19decides. Mistake number 3.
6:21With Frank, every pay raise immediately
6:23became his new standard of living, and
6:25that brings us to the € 255.
6:28At 45, Frank had two things that were
6:30rattling quite a bit after 15 years.
6:33He said, his Passat and his knees.
6:36He only replaced the Passat.
6:38And not with a decent used car, no, with
6:41a leased car. Bigger, newer, panoramic
6:45roof. The pay raise was there, after all
6:47. The installment fit in exactly. That's
6:50just how one thinks. And I admit, I
6:51think like that sometimes, too. A new
6:53car recently cost private buyers in
6:56Germany an average of € 44,560. A used
6:59one, € 18,310.
7:02That is a difference of over € 26,000
7:04for a car that gets you to work on time
7:06either way.
7:0810 years ago, by the way, the new car
7:09was still at € 29,650.
7:13The nasty thing about an upgrade like
7:14that isn't the purchase itself.
7:16The nasty thing is that it stays. After
7:183 years the lease expires, and you
7:20aren't going to go back to the old
7:21Passat.
7:23Then comes the next lease, and poof, a
7:25one-time reward has become a permanent
7:27burden.
7:28I'll put it this way: a pay raise is the
7:30most dangerous money of your life.
7:33You never had it before, so you don't
7:34miss it either. You could invest it
7:37completely, and nothing in your daily
7:39life would change. You just have to do
7:41it before your life gets used to it.
7:44That happens faster than you think. For
7:45Frank, it wasn't even three months.
7:48So that no false impression is created.
7:49Go ahead and treat yourself. A good meal
7:51, a nice vacation, a new bike. Do that,
7:53but don't treat yourself to every raise
7:55permanently. Split it. Half for life now
7:58, the other half for you at 67.
8:01That, by the way, is one of my saving
8:03tips with its own calculator. Half of
8:05every raise goes into your savings rate
8:07on payday via standing order.
8:09Takes 5 minutes, ideally on the day your
8:12first higher paycheck arrives. After
8:15that, it gets difficult. With Georg Plus
8:17, you can see right there what that
8:19amount can grow to over the years. As a
8:21calculation example, of course.
8:23Mistake number 4.
8:24Frank's pension information sat unopened
8:27in a drawer for years, and he means that
8:29literally. The letter from the pension
8:31insurance arrived. Frank put it on the
8:33stack. Retirement was still over 20
8:35years away.
8:37Why worry about it already? Little
8:39confession: mine is still lying around
8:41unread, or at least it was until
8:43Saturday. Frank finally opened his at 52
8:46and learned what most people
8:47misunderstand about the so-called
8:50standard pension. Since July 2026, it
8:53has been at 1913.40.
8:56Euros gross. Sounds okay at first, right
8:59?
8:59But you only get that if you earned
9:02exactly the average wage for 45 years,
9:04every single month. Today, that would be
9:07around € 43,299.
9:08Gross, without any gaps, part-time work
9:11, or a single day of unemployment.
9:14The real average pension after deducting
9:16health insurance is around € 1,180.
9:20Men around 1370, women around 1000, and
9:23the 48%pension level is only legally
9:26guaranteed until 2031.
9:28What happens after that, no one knows
9:30today. I actually made a separate video
9:33about that. Your pension is a bet. It’s
9:35all about what you can rely on regarding
9:37your state pension and what you can't.
9:40Link is in the description. But—and
9:42Frank meant this very seriously—now
9:45comes the good news. At 40 or 50, you
9:47are not too late. You are in your prime
9:50years. Most are earning more right now
9:52than ever before. The kids are becoming
9:54more independent, the loan is getting
9:56smaller, and until 67, you still have 15
9:58, 20, maybe 25 years of compound
10:00interest ahead of you.
10:02And starting January 1st, 2027, there's
10:04something new for that. The retirement
10:07savings account, which replaces Riester
10:09. The government adds half to your first
10:12€ 360 per year.
10:13And another quarter on everything up to
10:15€ 1,800.
10:17That makes up to € 540 in annual
10:19subsidies, and the money can go into
10:21ETFs without those expensive guarantees
10:23. If you want to calculate what that
10:25brings you at your age, there's a
10:27calculator for the retirement account at
10:30finanzengeorg.de. Takes 2 minutes, then
10:32you have your own number.
10:33Mistake number 5. Frank thought his job
10:36was secure. Until 67.
10:38At 54, there was a letter on his desk.
10:41Voluntary separation program for
10:42employees aged 55 and up.
10:44"Voluntary with severance," it said.
10:47Everyone in the department knew what it
10:48really meant, though. Me too.
10:50And now I’m going to tell you something
10:52many don't want to hear. German labor
10:54laws don’t stop people from wanting you
10:56gone just because you're 55. They just
10:59make you more expensive. And expensive
11:01employees in Germany don't get fired;
11:03they get an offer.
11:04Nearly one in four people with a
11:06social-security-paying job in Germany is
11:09now 55 or older.
11:10And once you're out at that age, it’s
11:13hard to get back in.
11:15In 2025, about 345,000 people over 55
11:18had been without work for a year or more
11:22.
11:22That is about one in three long-term
11:24unemployed people in the entire country
11:25.
11:26Sure, from age 50, unemployment benefits
11:28last longer. Up to 15 months, from 55 up
11:32to 18, from 58 up to 24.
11:35But the German Economic Institute is
11:37already proposing to scrap this
11:39extension entirely. Then it would be
11:41just 12 months for everyone, followed by
11:43basic welfare. So I wouldn't build my
11:45fifties on that.
11:47Frank didn't take the offer back then,
11:49but he didn't sleep that night either,
11:52because he realized his entire income
11:54depended on a single signature—and it
11:57wasn't his.
11:58Afterward, he changed two things. First
12:00, an emergency fund that lasts longer
12:02than half a year, and second, something
12:04that belongs to him. For Frank, that was
12:06a small side business in the evenings
12:08and on weekends. At the beginning, there
12:09was barely any money coming in. Honestly
12:11, almost nothing, he said. But it gave
12:13him something else: the knowledge that a
12:15letter like that on his desk wouldn't
12:17floor him anymore.
12:18The more options you have, the less
12:20anyone can pressure you. Not the company
12:23, not the bank, and not even bad luck.
12:26So, now for the calculation I promised
12:27you at the beginning.
12:29255 euros a month—what was left of
12:31Frank's raise after taxes and what
12:34disappeared into his leased car. Now
12:37imagine he had simply put that into a
12:40broad ETF via a savings plan at age 45
12:42until 67, so 22 years with a 7%
12:45long-term average return.
12:47He would have paid in 67,320 euros
12:50during that time.
12:52The result would have been around
12:54159,000.
12:55He never would have paid more than half
12:57of that out of his own pocket.
12:59And now, if you have that paid out over
13:0120 years while the rest continues to
13:04grow at a modest 4%. That’s about 965
13:07euros extra. Every month for 20 years,
13:10almost exactly half of the standard
13:12pension. From a raise that Frank
13:14wouldn't have even missed at 45.
13:17If the retirement savings account had
13:19existed back then, the subsidy would
13:21have added another 45 euros a month.
13:24Then in the end, there would be around
13:26187,000 euros in the account.
13:28I asked Frank what bothers him most
13:30about it.
13:31The leased car? No, he said. He had it
13:34for 3 years, then the next one was
13:36coming anyway. What bothers him is that
13:39he never made the decision consciously.
13:41The money was simply gone because he had
13:43no plan for it. That was actually it. If
13:46you are 55 today, like Frank in 2 years
13:48, the calculation naturally looks
13:50smaller. With the same € 255, you’ll
13:54reach around € 57,000 by age 67.
13:57Not a fortune, no, but that’s about €
14:00350 extra a month for 20 years. And for
14:04many, that is exactly the difference
14:05between just getting by.
14:07And being able to give the grandkids a
14:08little something too.
14:10So, back to the beginning. Do you really
14:12have less time in your 40s and 50s than
14:15you think?
14:16With your health, yes; it doesn't
14:18automatically last until 67 just because
14:20it says so on your pension statement.
14:22With money, no.
14:24You actually have the best starting
14:25position you’ve ever had. You just have
14:28to use it before your lifestyle eats it
14:30all up. It’s not about just somehow
14:33reaching 67. You want to arrive there
14:35with a body that still functions, money
14:37that works for you, and the freedom to
14:39decide for yourself in the morning what
14:41you do with your day.
14:43If this video helped you, subscribe to
14:45the channel and write in the comments
14:47how old you are and which of Frank’s
14:49five mistakes you are currently making.
14:51I’ll start: 42, number 3.
14:54I’m currently driving a lease myself.
14:56And if, after mistake number 5, you're
14:58thinking, "building something of my own
15:00is all well and good, but with what?"
15:02I’ve calculated 13 side businesses you
15:04can start for under € 1,000, with the
15:07honest answer as to which ones are
15:09really worth it. The video plays right
15:11after this. Georg.

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