11:46 OMG for once a technical question that is related to finances and taxes in Germany does not end with a "it depends"? 😆 Never thought I'd live to see this day
For all of you in the comments mentioning Trade Republic, it's not a savings account. Also warning to any Americans: U.S. Citizens are not eligible to open accounts with Trade Republic. An error message will pop up preventing anyone with a U.S. passport or citizenship from opening an account due to FATCA laws.
Moving from the UK to live in Berlin in a couple months time, and this video is quite timely. It's a shame that Germany doesn't have a tax-free wrapper savings account similar to an ISA in the UK. I am currently trying to figure out what I'm going to do about my self-invested stocks and shares ISA and SIPP, and how best to efficiently move the accounts to Germany. Seems like I could cash these out and reinvest them, or leave them active in the UK and draw from them when needed and accept the tax on it in Germany. If anyone else has had experience with something similar I'd be interested to hear more about it, as the entire thing has been one of many hundreds of other decisions I need to get around to as my move date rapidly arrives!
Those are indeed crucial questions and so individual. We can't answer those questions for you, but if you'd like to speak to an expert who knows both countries (UK and Germany), we talk about it in this guide: www.simplegermany.com/how-to-invest-money-in-germany/#Should_you_seek_advice_from_financial_experts
Warning to any Americans: U.S. Citizens are not eligible to open accounts with Trade Republic. An error message will pop up and prevent anyone with a U.S. passport or citizenship from opening an account due to FATCA laws.
Hello! Thank you for your detailed videos and serious approach to your researches, I know it’s a hard work. I wonder how people transferring their funds from their home country to new German bank account? Are these funds taxable? Do I need to somehow prove that these money were legally earned and I already paid taxes for them? Thank you again for your great channel❤
The provider we use and many others to send money internationally is with Wise (our partner link: www.simplegermany.com/wise/). And no money send from your home country to Germany is not taxable.
Thanks for the video, that was very informative! I was actually wondering if there would be a penalty in “closing” a Tagesgeld Konto with e.g. Commerzbank after one year and opening a new one with e.g. Comdirect. In other words, is it ok to close a savings account after the interest payment cycle is due? What would then happen if, again after one year, one would open again a Tagesgeld Konto with Commerzbank? Would I be considered again a Neukunde?
That depends on the T&Cs of the bank. Some consider a Neukunde if you haven't been a customer in the past 6 months, others 12 months and others if you have never been a customer. Commerzbank currently doesn't focus on the 'customer' but on where the money has been before. Savings account 'hopping' is quite a thing, but definitely nothing to do for long-term.
@@simplegermany thanks for the clarification! That makes sense and indeed I would personally see myself losing my mind keeping up with this "bouncing game" of savings accounts 😅
That is correct. However, it is not a fixed interest and can be changed any day. Some banks have already slightly lowered there interests rates so the trend is probably down and not stable or up. You also need to use the securities options with Trade Republic to benefit from the 4% cash. The options we present secure the interest rate for 6 months without any ties. It is just a matter of preference and it is always good to have choices 😊
As far as our research shows you also need to invest in securities with Trade Republic to receive the 4% on the cash account. It is not a typical savings account.
For anyway thinking this is a good deal, it is not because as long as the interest rate is lower than the inflation rate you are loosing money keeping your money blocked in an bank account for 1 year ... yes you 'earn' 3% but you lose the difference between interest rate and inflation ... so in theory it is better to invest your money in something else
Sparkasse has too many branches in any city of Germany. but it's transactions charges for other bank is 0.60 cents. Too many online transactions make much more charges. Spakasse took 11,12 euros monthly then I shifted from sparkass to Post Bank. This bank has fixed 6 euro charges, no matter how many transactions you send. But post Bank doesn't have too many branches in Germany. So sometimes very hard to find Post Bank near your living areas.
You said that 2000 € is the tax exemption order for married couples. So shall my wife and me set it to 2000 € each in our separate bank accounts? Or we should split it to say 1500 in mine and 500 € in my wife's for example. Can you please clarify?
You have to declare it jointly if > 1000 EUR so all your accounts in the bank will use this tax exemption. So it means the bank should know which persons are attached to the tax exemption whether that person has an account in the bank or not. There is an annual reporting to the German tax authorities of all tax exemptions and non-assessment certificates (Nichtveranlagungsbescheinigung) from all banks so they will know which persons claimed more than the permissible amount (1000 individually, 2000 joint from 01.01.2023, before it was 801 individual and 1602 joint).
@@simplegermanyI do not agree with you, for Germany such a "developed nation", when it comes to public services, in my experience they are unnecessarily complicated and time consuming for no comprehensible reasons. And why do you need to look for worse examples and not look for better ones and be better.
This is crazy from an American perspective. 3% is really low right now, and to get your money, you need to fill out a PDF? What? 😂 Deposits are only insured for 100k euros? Do people with money have 20 bank accounts?
Hello! 😃 I was planning to look for an ausbildung program there in Germany this year, but then I heard about the AfD issue these days. I just want to know if it’s still generally safe for a foreigner to do ausbildung in Germany if the AfD wins? Thank you before, hope you guys have an amazing day! ☺️
Totally depends. How you behave and integrate is key. If you accept german norms and laws you will be socially welcome. Be polite, do your Ausbildung and you are save. Much (often uncontrolled) migration has given us problems which the leading politicians do not like to talk about. That creates no solution and we have been spiraling for the last years. It is kinda sad...
Who would want 3 percent anyways, unless its chump change that you dont plan to do with anything much. You're barely keepin up with inflation if you're holding a large sum like 100k. ETF and other indexed funds might be in drawdown some years, but do average average close to 10 % annual yield in the long run. 3% is such a joke considering banks make 300-400 % yield from your money. No thanks German banks sux the big bag for me.
You are right. Bare in mind that we are talking about savings accounts for short to mid-term savings with a purpose for the money. Long-term investments are a completely different story 😉
![Top 4 Bank Accounts for Foreigners in Germany [2024 Update]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GjRG1IBV5hU/mqdefault.jpg)
I was literally doing this research these days. This is really useful.
Thank you girls ! Extremely helpful video as always!
A wonderful video with good information. I like this video!😊❤
Brilliant per usual ❤
Great video as always. ❤
Thanks Shiva 😊
11:46 OMG for once a technical question that is related to finances and taxes in Germany does not end with a "it depends"? 😆 Never thought I'd live to see this day
Me learning about savings and interest rates: interesting 👀
Also me, who is strapped for cash: *cries in broke* 😭
😅 wait and see how cashflow will hopefully increase once you work fulltime!
@@simplegermany thanks for the vote of confidence ❤️
For all of you in the comments mentioning Trade Republic, it's not a savings account. Also warning to any Americans: U.S. Citizens are not eligible to open accounts with Trade Republic. An error message will pop up preventing anyone with a U.S. passport or citizenship from opening an account due to FATCA laws.
Trade Republic has a bank license and your money are protected up to 100k€
Moving from the UK to live in Berlin in a couple months time, and this video is quite timely. It's a shame that Germany doesn't have a tax-free wrapper savings account similar to an ISA in the UK. I am currently trying to figure out what I'm going to do about my self-invested stocks and shares ISA and SIPP, and how best to efficiently move the accounts to Germany. Seems like I could cash these out and reinvest them, or leave them active in the UK and draw from them when needed and accept the tax on it in Germany. If anyone else has had experience with something similar I'd be interested to hear more about it, as the entire thing has been one of many hundreds of other decisions I need to get around to as my move date rapidly arrives!
Those are indeed crucial questions and so individual. We can't answer those questions for you, but if you'd like to speak to an expert who knows both countries (UK and Germany), we talk about it in this guide: www.simplegermany.com/how-to-invest-money-in-germany/#Should_you_seek_advice_from_financial_experts
thank you so much. great video!!!
You should try Lightyear today interest rate for euro is 3.25% no time limits, daily counting
Great Video
Trade Republic gives 4% pa with English app and instant withdraw etc.
Warning to any Americans: U.S. Citizens are not eligible to open accounts with Trade Republic. An error message will pop up and prevent anyone with a U.S. passport or citizenship from opening an account due to FATCA laws.
Hello! Thank you for your detailed videos and serious approach to your researches, I know it’s a hard work. I wonder how people transferring their funds from their home country to new German bank account? Are these funds taxable? Do I need to somehow prove that these money were legally earned and I already paid taxes for them? Thank you again for your great channel❤
The provider we use and many others to send money internationally is with Wise (our partner link: www.simplegermany.com/wise/). And no money send from your home country to Germany is not taxable.
Thanks for the video, that was very informative! I was actually wondering if there would be a penalty in “closing” a Tagesgeld Konto with e.g. Commerzbank after one year and opening a new one with e.g. Comdirect. In other words, is it ok to close a savings account after the interest payment cycle is due? What would then happen if, again after one year, one would open again a Tagesgeld Konto with Commerzbank? Would I be considered again a Neukunde?
That depends on the T&Cs of the bank. Some consider a Neukunde if you haven't been a customer in the past 6 months, others 12 months and others if you have never been a customer. Commerzbank currently doesn't focus on the 'customer' but on where the money has been before. Savings account 'hopping' is quite a thing, but definitely nothing to do for long-term.
@@simplegermany thanks for the clarification! That makes sense and indeed I would personally see myself losing my mind keeping up with this "bouncing game" of savings accounts 😅
Trade Republic has 4%. It takes one day to transfer back to the current account.
That is correct. However, it is not a fixed interest and can be changed any day. Some banks have already slightly lowered there interests rates so the trend is probably down and not stable or up. You also need to use the securities options with Trade Republic to benefit from the 4% cash. The options we present secure the interest rate for 6 months without any ties. It is just a matter of preference and it is always good to have choices 😊
Could you expand a bit the explanation about the securities option with trade republic? I was planning to put my money there but now idk
1-3 days I would say. 1 day is rare, usually 2 days, sometimes 3.
As far as our research shows you also need to invest in securities with Trade Republic to receive the 4% on the cash account. It is not a typical savings account.
@@simplegermany from the user's point of view it works exactly like a savings account (source: I'm a user)
For anyway thinking this is a good deal, it is not because as long as the interest rate is lower than the inflation rate you are loosing money keeping your money blocked in an bank account for 1 year ... yes you 'earn' 3% but you lose the difference between interest rate and inflation ... so in theory it is better to invest your money in something else
We fully agree! This is only a good option if you have money that you will use in short-midterm and therefore don't want to invest.
Trade republic bank offers 4%
is sparkasse also included ?
How about deutsch Bank ? Do we have some free account facilities in this ?
Investing>saving
13:57 How Germans say they love each other
So if I put 10k euro in commerzbank saving account, after one year I only receives 75 euro ?
Do you guys know if international students can open a savings account in Germany as well? Or make investments?
As far as we know, yes they can.
Hallo I am currently living in Germany now and what about the Sparkasse Bank?
Sparkasse has too many branches in any city of Germany. but it's transactions charges for other bank is 0.60 cents. Too many online transactions make much more charges. Spakasse took 11,12 euros monthly then I shifted from sparkass to Post Bank. This bank has fixed 6 euro charges, no matter how many transactions you send. But post Bank doesn't have too many branches in Germany. So sometimes very hard to find Post Bank near your living areas.
@@babarshabbir1287enjoy N26 without transfer fees. And interest to your parked money. It's a German bank too.
And here I am in Kazakhstan with my 15.2% interest savings account that doesn't cover even half of de facto inflation 🤣
🙈
You said that 2000 € is the tax exemption order for married couples. So shall my wife and me set it to 2000 € each in our separate bank accounts? Or we should split it to say 1500 in mine and 500 € in my wife's for example. Can you please clarify?
As we mention on minute 13:11, you have €2.000 together. So you need to split that up.
2000€ in total
You have to declare it jointly if > 1000 EUR so all your accounts in the bank will use this tax exemption. So it means the bank should know which persons are attached to the tax exemption whether that person has an account in the bank or not. There is an annual reporting to the German tax authorities of all tax exemptions and non-assessment certificates (Nichtveranlagungsbescheinigung) from all banks so they will know which persons claimed more than the permissible amount (1000 individually, 2000 joint from 01.01.2023, before it was 801 individual and 1602 joint).
Germany is such a joke when it comes to financial services
Sorry you feel that way. It always depends on perspective. We could tell you plenty of places where financial services are worse.
@@simplegermanyI do not agree with you, for Germany such a "developed nation", when it comes to public services, in my experience they are unnecessarily complicated and time consuming for no comprehensible reasons. And why do you need to look for worse examples and not look for better ones and be better.
@@simplegermanythat’s comforting 😂
This is crazy from an American perspective. 3% is really low right now, and to get your money, you need to fill out a PDF? What? 😂
Deposits are only insured for 100k euros? Do people with money have 20 bank accounts?
Yes, either multiple bank accounts or (more likely) investments which are not bound to a bank. Or real estate haha
C24 bank has 2.5% with free mastercard
Hello! 😃 I was planning to look for an ausbildung program there in Germany this year, but then I heard about the AfD issue these days. I just want to know if it’s still generally safe for a foreigner to do ausbildung in Germany if the AfD wins? Thank you before, hope you guys have an amazing day! ☺️
Totally depends. How you behave and integrate is key. If you accept german norms and laws you will be socially welcome. Be polite, do your Ausbildung and you are save.
Much (often uncontrolled) migration has given us problems which the leading politicians do not like to talk about. That creates no solution and we have been spiraling for the last years. It is kinda sad...
Nope, sorry, won't engage in Interest :)
Who would want 3 percent anyways, unless its chump change that you dont plan to do with anything much. You're barely keepin up with inflation if you're holding a large sum like 100k. ETF and other indexed funds might be in drawdown some years, but do average average close to 10 % annual yield in the long run. 3% is such a joke considering banks make 300-400 % yield from your money. No thanks German banks sux the big bag for me.
You are right. Bare in mind that we are talking about savings accounts for short to mid-term savings with a purpose for the money. Long-term investments are a completely different story 😉
You know you can have your ETFs and still make some interest on your uninvested cash, right? I’ll happily take it if you don’t want it 🤷🏻♂️