Hello,
I have been living in Germany for about 1 year now. Recently, I decided to meet with some financial advisors in order to get some ideas on how to manage my money. Everyone I spoke to gets commission from the different insurances they recommend and some management fees of my investments.
For the insurances I am afraid that there might be better options out there that I could find myself (e.g. by checking [check24.de](https://check24.de)) but they won’t be affiliated with them, so they won’t recommend it.
Investment-wise things get even worse. One advisor says his company usually returns 6-9% year, while another one showed me their average return in the last 20 years which was 7.5%. Meanwhile, just putting my money on S&P 500 ETFs I could get 11%. I read everywhere that ETFs are better since brokers may have higher returns for 2-3 years but eventually the market always wins. So I don’t really see any benefit working with them.
The problem is that since I don’t know many people with experience in the German system, there are things that a financial advisor would have been useful. E.g. Should I invest through extra pension funds? Should I get a private insurance even if I plan to stay in Germany for several decades? When and where should I invest in real estate? And similar questions that might come up through the years.
Is there something like an advisor that I can just book an appointment and pay for his/her hour? He/She will just have to give me advice. If I am satisfied after a few months, I go back to re-evaluate etc.
1 comment
With ETF’s, usually the percentage given for the long term is 8 percent.
As for advisors: what you are looking for is called a Honorarberater. The people working for banks and insurances are really salespeople. And while they may be “free”, you pay for them through fees on whatever they sell you.
Stiftung Warentest mentions in a somewhat older article [this association](https://www.verbund-deutscher-honorarberater.de/de-de/home) of Honorarberater, and [this database](https://berater-lotse.de/) that takes only people who promise they don’t take hidden provisions from companies.
Edit: There’s something called “Bundesverband unabhängiger Honorarberater gemeinütziger e.V.”, but the site I linked to above quotes Finanztest etc. as warning about that one because it’s shifty.