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Retirement Calculator: Germany

Project your retirement savings year by year, in today’s money after inflation, with the income a 4% withdrawal supports and your financial-independence age.

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Germany: the Rentenversicherung is the larger part

The German gesetzliche Rentenversicherung provides most retirement income in Germany and is not modelled here. That is the first thing to know before reading anything below: for a typical German employee the statutory pension, not a private portfolio, is the main source of retirement income, and the balance projected on this page is the top-up rather than the plan.

The Regelaltersgrenze, the standard pension age, reaches 67 for those born in 1964 or later, which is where the retirement age opens. Earlier cohorts reach it sooner on a birth-year timetable, so if you were born in the 1950s your own age is lower and worth entering.

Because the statutory pension is earnings-related and rests on a contribution history this calculator never asks for, the honest way to use the tool in Germany is backwards. Take the projected Rente from your annual Renteninformation, subtract it from the income you actually want, and enter only the remainder as the income target. Skip that step and the target here will be far larger than you need, at a 3.5% withdrawal rate, every €1,000 a year the statutory pension covers is €28,571 you do not have to accumulate yourself.

The German assumptions are a 6.5% nominal return and 2% inflation, which is a real return of 4.41% a year.

For how the calculation works, the formula behind it and what it leaves out, see the full guide. For help interpreting a result or comparing it with a quote or statement, read the questions and answers.

Data sources

German consumer finance conventionsDeutsche RentenversicherungNot yet in effect

Every document each dataset was read from, its notes and how the figures were checked are listed in the guide's data sources.

This calculator in other countries

Each country has its own rates, thresholds and rules, and its own page that runs the calculator on them and cites the official sources they came from.

CentExactCalculator publisher

CentExact publishes the calculation method, worked examples and available data sources. Automated checks cover reference calculations; they do not certify a result for your circumstances or imply approval by a lender or tax authority.

How we build and test our calculators

This calculator is for general information only and is not financial advice. Results are estimates based on the figures you enter and the stated formula; lenders and providers may round or calculate differently. Check any decision with the institution involved or a qualified adviser.