Pension 3.0 - ETFs, Shares and ... ?

Being well secured in old age is one of the most important points when it comes to the topic of saving and finances. Basically, half of my appointments are about the topic of retirement planning.

And rightly so, because as we all know, it pays to take care of tomorrow today. Regardless of whether we are low, medium, or maximum earners, knowing that our future is financially secure also gives us stability and satisfaction in our everyday lives today.

For many other people, however, retirement planning is still a boring topic that is often put off. The problem is, however, that the conventional old-age provision is no longer sufficient so that additional measures are necessary here.

Many of my clients come to my office with this problem, because the gap between the state pension plan and the pension plan that is actually needed should not be underestimated

Especially women with children need old-age provision, but we will come to that another time. So, what measures make sense when it comes to retirement planning? Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worthwhile to start with Plug Power after all?

How much provision do I need to make in the first place?

First, of course, it's important to determine the size of the gap, that is, to find out how much difference there is between the state pension plan and the pension plan you actually need. When you have paid into the state pension scheme for 5 years, you receive a little love letter from it.

This is called "Renteninformationsblatt", which informs us what monthly amount we can expect to receive in pension and what will be paid out in case of disability.

And like most of you probably already know: The payment into the german state pension insurance is capped as soon as the income exceeds a gross of 7,100 euros.

This means that later payments are also capped in total. The figure listed is a prediction of what we can expect to receive if we earn the salary we currently receive by the time we reach retirement age.

Thus, the pension may be higher or lower, depending on how our future develops and what plans we have in this regard. If we look at the amount on the pension information sheet, we will see that this is not a very good deal.

So to determine how much we need to save to have "enough" for ourselves later, we first have to calculate what is "enough" for us. We then subtract the statutory pension contribution from this and get our result.

Invest in your future

And now is the time to act! And there are many possibilities so that I dare to say that there will be something for everyone. Whether it's real estate, gold, stocks, funds, ETFs or so much more - the choice is huge.

And retirement planning is not simply about owning the respective goods, but much more about personal and financial freedom and the good feeling in everyday life.

So at first, the topic of retirement planning may not seem so exciting! We assume that we will become weaker and more immobile in old age.

We have many negative connotations with this topic. It is precisely then that it is important to recognize our own potential.

After all, we can use our time as well as our assets. We can build up an intangible asset in parallel with the material asset. So instead of betting on just one horse with our assets, we can add a second horse. Namely ourselves.

The intangible asset

Every day, many of us even several times, we look at our stock/ETF portfolios and see if they haven't grown by a few percent. But what if we improve ourselves as a person every day instead of just watching our investments?

Nutrition, exercise, intellectual knowledge in the form of books, podcasts, seminars, and more all expand our horizons and productivity.

Always working on oneself and improving continuously means increasing one's own market value and thus we win not only personally but on every line.

And again for motivation for all those who are already investing in their retirement:

Mutual fund and ETF annuity plans with insurance wrappers payout for life after retirement. Why not put that to work for us? For me personally, it's a motivator to have the peace of mind of knowing I'll get my money for as long as I can.

Start your retirement planning now, think about a diversified portfolio, and meanwhile: INVEST IN YOURSELF!