Tagesgeld

As promised, here is the article on the best possibility to save your money in Germany.

What is Tagesgeldkonto?

It took me some time until I understood this concept, but once I learned about it and read online about it, it becomes quite clear. This is a savings account with full money availability and with higher interest rate than a normal Sparkonto! 

Differences with other offers 

A normal savings account will limit your liquidity, i.e. it will freeze almost all your money. Postbank for example offers you the possibility to withdraw only 2.000 Euro per month from your savings account.  A Tagelsgeldkonto has not limits on withdrawal - all your money are immediately (within 2-3 working days because of the bank transfer time) available. 

Furthermore, the best Tagesgeld banks offer 2,7% - 2,75% annual interest rate. Normal savings accounts offer you a lot less, around 2%. 

Festgeldkonto, on the other hand is a deposit account, in which you completely freeze your money for a given period. It offers higher interest rates: up to 3-4% per year. Generally, the longer the period you choose, the higher the interest. My opinion is that it is not worth the risk to have no liquidity for an additional 0,25% more than a Tagesgeldkonto.

Things to consider

When you are choosing a Tagesgeld bank, look how often the interest is paid: annual or quarterly Zinsgutschrift. This would be important if you invest higher amounts, as you can benefit from the interest effect. Also look at the Einlagesicherung: up to what amount your money will be guaranteed in case of a bank default. Most banks in Germany are members of special security organizations and guarantee up to 1 or even 250 Million Euro per customer. If you have 250 Million Euro in the bank, you should not be reading this blog for financial advice :)

Recommendation

I have been using the Bank of Scotland since 2-3 years and I am so far very satisfied. They have annual interest rate payment and one of the highest interest rates out there: 2,7%. I have tried various other banks that for a short period were offering more than that, but after the initial money gathering round, they have not been able to keep their rates higher than the Bank of Scotland.

Questions? Leave a comment

Opening a bank account

The normal bank account in Germany is called a Girokonto. There are several types, according to the banks you look at. Normally, if you open an account at bank with physical point of sales, there will be fees for the account. Those fees can go up to 5-10 Euro per month! Naturally, to an East-European like me this sounds crazy: as a bank client, they should be happy to have me!

Exception for the fees: students and people who deposit more than 1000-1200 Euro per month in the account. You can just receive your salary in this account and thus avoid those stupid fees.

How to open it?

You will definitely need your Meldebescheinigung for this plus a copy of your ID document. If you already have a job offer, it will help to also bring your work contract with you to show them that you are reliable.

With all those documents, just go to the closest bank and ask them for a Girokonto. Before selecting a bank, consider the following: does the bank have an ATM near your place and near your working place? If you withdraw cash from another bank or banking group, there are fees up to 10 Euro per withdrawal. The most widespread banks are Sparkasse, Postbank, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank.

I would not recommend any of them! Try to get an account at DKB (Deutsche Kredit Bank). There are no fees whatsoever and you get a free VISA debit-credit card with which you can withdraw cash anywhere in the world (incl. Germany) for free! They also give you interest on both the normal Girokonto and on the VISA amount that you have! No other bank will give you interest rates on a Girokonto.

They are not easy though: I tried 3 times until they accepted me. In the end I managed to sneak in through the Lufthansa Miles and More programme. 

Internet Banking

This is the awesome feature that eventually will close the physical banks. Almost every bank in Germany offers it free of charge. You can pay your invoices (Rechnungen) and transfer money in every EU country without paying a cent! Make sure you register for this at your bank of choice.

For every transaction you will need to use a TAN number for increased security. A list of 100 TAN numbers will arrive separately from your username and password. Some banks like Postbank also offer mobile TAN: you get this special number on you mobile phone. Unfortunately, DKB does not yet offer this.

Next article will be about the best possibility to save your money, the Tagesgeldkonto!

Questions? Just ask below

Gas pricing

If you drive a car in Germany, you know how much gas costs here: around 1,5-1,6 Euro per liter. I don't need to tell you that this is quite high, when we know that countries with higher living standard, like Switzerland, have cheaper prices. 


Why so expensive?
The first component is the Produkteinstandpreis, or the price at which the petrol is bought at the Rotterdam stock exchange. This is 56 cent. The next one is the Deckungsbeitrag, or the surcharge for the oil companies to be able to cover their costs: 10,8 cent per liter. This also includes their profit! Then comes the energy tax (including the ecology tax), which is 65 cent. According to the experts, as this is measured by the liter and not by the price, the German state is not profiting from a higher price. The total collected sum is 40 Billion Euro per year...I would call that a good profit. The last part is the VAT, 19% or 25 cent. 


Boycotting
According to Bild, there is a facebook group asking consumers not to visit a gas station on 1st March. Allegedly, the group (or event?) already has 500.000 fans. I could not find this group on facebook, otherwise I would immediately join it!
On second thought, Big Oil has the lowest share of the price! It is against the government tax that we should unite.


Pendlerpauschale
This is the commuting allowance, literally: the money that you get per kilometer (30 cent) on the distance between home and work. ADAC and the Taxpayer Union (TU) have asked the government to increase this allowance, as it is becoming obsolete with the constantly increasing gas price. The TU calculated the yearly cost for an average driver (50km to work, 220 days per year): 4466 Euro, while the allowance sums up to 3300 Euro! The overall car spending could reach 53 cent per kilometer.


The answer from the government is NO. Of course, Germany now needs money for Greece. Dear readers, tighten your belts in Germany so that our Greek neighbours can be saved...


What do you think?

Customer loyalty in Germany

Customer loyalty is something that is quite trendy currently here. There are all possible bonus programmes where one collects points, miles or stamps and then gets discounts, flights or gifts. In this article I will outline the most important things to know.

What programmes are out there?

From Lufthansa's Miles and More to your local cafe's bonus programme, the variety is immense!

Miles and More: every passenger can get the Lufthansa card and collect miles for every flight with Star Alliance. Miles can also be collected with newspaper subscriptions, GSM contracts, online purchases, etc. Once you are a member, you will get an overview of all the partners and partner programmes. The benefit: you can pay flights with miles! Once you have 15.000 miles, you can get a one-way ticket within Europe. You can also achieve the coveted Frequent Flyer status, which grants you access to the business lounges (free food and internet while you wait).

Deutschland Card: with this card you can collect points at food retailers like Edeka, pharmacies, car shops, etc. I used to be a member, but as I was only using it at Edeka, after 2 years, the gift I managed to get was a cheap aroma set. I was so disappointed that I threw this bonus card away. 

Payback: the same as the previous one but with different retail partners. 

Dentists: the latest trend here is to collect stamps at every visit at the dentist, so that if you need a more expensive procedure, you can get a discount. This programme is sponsored and depends on your Krankenkasse. 

Dry cleaning: also there you can collect stamps for every visit and then get a couple of Euros discount once the bonus card is full.

Cafes: Yesterday, I was amazed to see that even cafes have started their stamp cards! Once I collect 10 coffee stamps, the next coffee is free. How ridiculous is that?!

You see, Germans love collecting bonus things with their purchases and making use of the various discounts!

Warning: if you are a privacy freak, avoid the bonus programmes that give you a plastic magnetic card. They track your purchases so that they can offer you targeted advertisement in your post box!

Questions? Ask below

Car service and inspection

As everywhere else, also in Germany there are periodical technical inspections of all vehicles. In this article I will give you a few tips on this topic.

Where to do it?

Avoid private companies like Dekra or the official service providers for your car brand as they themselves are not authorized to do it, but bring in an expert and for that they charge almost double the normal price. The car dealers service will also do "pre-checks" and tell you that unless you repair or exchange some part, you will not pass the inspection. This is often an attempt to sell you unneeded repairs!

The bi-annual inspection is done by TüV experts. Every city has minimum one place where the TüV is doing that. You can easily get an appointment online and even on Saturday!

Costs

The Hauptuntersuchung (technical inspection) will cost you around 55 Euro. The Abgassuntersuchung (emissions inspection) is also done together with the technical one and costs around 30-40 Euro. Depending on the results, you get green, yellow or red Plakette (badge) to indicate how harmful to the environment your car is. The two inspections together should not take more than half an hour.

Car service

Oil change, micro-filter or brake fluid change are some of the most common periodic repairs that you have to do. Also here, you should avoid the official brand repair shops (unless you have a new car with guarantee on it!) and go to other companies like A.T.U. They usually have lower prices: one liter oil can cost up to 22-25 Euro at BMW, but only 8-9 Euros at A.T.U. (same oil in both cases). Getting a couple of offers is also good: just call and ask in advance. Always negotiate and use other prices as leverage to decrease their offer! 

Questions? Leave a comment

Deutsche Post

The German Postal service is a huge organization. It owns not only the normal postal services, but also DHL. PostBank aslo used to be part of the company, but after several postal reforms that started in 1989 the previous Bundespost was split into Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Post and Postbank. The Bundespost itself was created in 1950 as the follow-up version of the Reichspost (before the war). 

The beginnings of the German Post were already in 1490. The "creator" was Franz von Taxis. Since then, naturally, there has been a lot of development. In 1969 three Americans grounded DHL; the letters stand for their family names. From 1998 until 2002 the Deutsche Post bought out  DHL completely. In the meantime (2000), the mother-company went public with its Initial Public Offering at the stock exchange.

Enough history. In 2010 the Deutsche Post brought to the market the so-called E-Brief, of which I am also a proud user. You simply sign up online, go to a postal office to verify your identity and from then on, you can send and receive letters via your own Deutsche Post e-mail. The good thing is that you can send it online and the Post will print it and deliver it to the destination! And this at the price of a normal letter. This "e-mail" that you send is accepted as an official letter and can be used to cancel your internet contract, car insurance and so on! 

On top of that you can send and receive fax to your own private DP number! This service is really great! 

The Packstation is another innovation (although 10 years on the market): if you need to send or receive a parcel, but you are working all day and cannot make it in the normal opening hours, you can register for it and conveniently do it when you have the time!

Did you know?

• In 2011, 95% of Deutsche Post customers were happy with the services!
• On average, it takes 1 day for a letter to be delivered in Germany
• While many things go up in price, the normal letter got 2% cheaper from 1997 until 2010
• There are 13.000 branches, 7.000 sales points, 2.500 Packetstations and around 110.000 letterboxes in Germany

Questions? Leave a comment

Learning German

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to study the language! I was lucky to be in the comfortable position to be able to start really learning German 3-4 years after my arrival here. At the end, I gave up and started. The Germans broke the proud steed...

How to learn it?

It is always useful to take a language course. Many language schools offer the so-called Integrationskurs or integration course. This course is very slow, though, and I would not recommend it. Just go to a school and after making a short exam, they will determine which course is best for you.

You have to watch a lot of German TV. A good start are Pro7, RTL, RTL II, SAT1, etc. Those channels show a lot of movies and reality shows. My personal favorite is Pro7, but outside the prime times, they repeat old TV series without end (bis der Arzt kommt). The cultural content is low and if you are a refined person, ARD, ZDF and the local state TVs are your choice.

Reading is also a must. Please, don't start with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which is a high level newspaper. Here is my tip: go to a pharmacy and look for the free Apotheken Umshau. It contains a lot of interesting articles on health, nutrition and sport. You can also read online the Bild. This is a tabloid, so be prepared to encounter nudity, scandals, crimes, etc. The level of German is good for beginners. 

Visiting the local library is also a good idea. You will be surprised at the variety it offers and the low price of subscription.

Questions? Leave a comment!

Car Sharing

Another interesting topic from the ADAC Motorwelt: Carsharing!

One car, many drivers, this is the basic idea. You find the closest free car and you pay per minute, per kilometer, etc. BMW, Daimler and VW are strongly involved. One thing, I have to say at this point is that the offers are not for every pocket.

How does it work?

Register online and get your special carsharing ID from the respective company. Find online the closest available car. Get to the car and put your special ID to unlock the car; if green, get in and drive, if red, then the car has been booked and not available.

Before the drive, you enter your PIN in the in-car system and shortly assess the hygiene inside and any damages, if any.

Who offers it?

There are currently 6 major companies who offer it: Drive Now, Flinkster, Car2Go, Quicar, Cambio and Stadtmobil. Most of those companies are a cooperation between a car manufacturer and a car renting company. Deutsche Bahn is also involved (actually it owns Flinkster). The car fleets vary from company to company, between 200 and 2600. Carsharing is available only in big cities like Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, etc.

How much does it cost?

There is a one-time registration fee varying between 19 Euro (Car2Go) and 50 Euro (Flinkster). Then you have to pay either per minute, per kilometer, per hour, etc.

The positive side is that you don't have to take care of insurance, gas or service for the car.

Cost comparison

Carsharing makes sense for short city distances. Only some companies offer special rates for the weekend or a short vacation. 

Would you sign up for carsharing?

Medical Programme at LMU

Many people have asked me to clarify the medical curriculum in the German universities. I will take the curriculum at Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität in Munich as an example.


It consists of 2 main parts, called Studienabschnitte (Segments). After the first segment, which lasts 2 years, the first medical exams are coming. After those are taken, starts the second segment, lasting for 4 years, including one practical year. After the practical year ends, the second wave of medical exams need to be passed. 


During the first 5 years of study, there is also the so-called Longitudinalkurs or L-Kurs. It consists of: 

• Epidemiology, medical Biometry and medical Informatics
• General Medicine
• Palliative care and Pain therapy
• Work medicine
• Social medicine
• Forensic medicine
• History, Theory and Ethics

The first Segment (the first 2 years) consists of:

• Anatomy
• Biochemistry
• Physiology
• Medical Psychology
• Medical Sociology

The students come into contact with patients in their second year.

The second segment (the next 3 years) is a lot more complicated and divided into 5 Modules:

• Module 1 - Basics of clinical medicine:
• Genetics, Hygiene, Microbiology, Virology, Clinical chemistry, Laboratory diagnostics, Pathology, Pharmacology, Toxicology, Imaging procedures, Radiotherapy, Radiation protection, Infectiology, Immunology
• Module 23 - Interdisciplinary Basis year:
• Nephrology, Urology, Pharmacology, Pathology, Neuropathology, Radiology, Trauma, Rheumatology, Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, Surgery, Physical Medicine, Anesthesiology, Intensive Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Inner Medicine, Pain Therapy, Immunology, Orthopaedics
• Module 4 - Nervous System and Sensorium:
• Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Ear-Nose-Throat, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatic Medicine, Clinical Pharmacology
• Module 5 - Life cycles:
• Pediatrics, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Rehabilitation, Geriatrics, Practical period general medicine, Optional subject
• Module 6 - Project semester

Questions? Leave them below

Renting a place

Where to begin?

Looking online is always a good idea, when it comes to price comparisons and familiarizing yourself with the availability in the region you want to live. Just Google "Wohnung mieten" and several websites like Immowelt and Immobilienscout24 will pop up. 

Different costs

You will notice that there are several different cost blocks in the rent: Heizkosten (heating costs) or Nebenkosten (additional costs). Ensure that you make a difference between Warmmiete and Kaltmiete. Kaltmiete means the pure renting cost, without any additional costs like water, electricity, heating or garbage collection. Always look at the Warmmiete, as this shows you your total investment in the appartment per month. 

Normally, the Nebenkosten are just an average amount that you pay per month. At the end of the year the Vermieter (landlord) is coming up with all the invoices and will either return some money (not very likely) or make you pay additionally. This all depends on how you use the water, electricity and the other additional amenities.

In rare cases, the Vermieter will offer you an all-inclusive monthly rate. Take it, if it seems reasonable, then you don't have to worry so much about the water...

Brokers

Consider yourself lucky if you manage to avoid the brokers. Just for drafting the contract, they charge the Mieter (the tenant, i.e. you) a huge amount of money. When I was looking for a place to stay I had to pay almost 2.5 monthly rents only to the broker!

Look for places that somewhere in the description say Provisionsfrei, meaning there is no broker.

Deposit

You will also be asked to give 2 or 3 monthly rents as a Deposit or Kaution. This is normally handled through a savings account in a bank, because you are entitled to get interest rate for this frozen money. The money can only be withdrawn when both parties agree. Every bank offers this service: Mietkautionkonto.

Questions? Leave a comment

Parking

Germany is full of paid parking garages, but it seems parking places are never enough here.

Types of parking

There are many multi-storey parking houses in Germany, as Germans like to use space rationally.  The normal open-air parkings are few and depending on the area one lives in. Naturally, for big cities like Munich, Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg the closed multi-level parkings are a must.

Costs

Depending on the city: from 2-3 Euro per hour up to 5-10. Free parking is also possible and there are usually signs on the streets telling you on which day of the week and during which hours you can park for free. Always use a Parkuhr, showing the inspecting official when you came! Some paid inner city parking places also let you park for free after a certain hour and during the weekend.

Wrong parking

Simply don't do it if you dont want to pay a fine of 15 Euro! And yes, parking on the opposite side of the street (towards incoming traffic) is also considered wrong parking.

Also don't be tempted to park in front of residental blocs or houses: the owners will remove your vehicle and you will even have to pay for the removal.

Anything to add? Leave a comment

Sperrmülltag

What is it?

Every 2-3 weeks (in some regions monthly), comes the day when the Germans are throwing out their old furniture. As it is quite bulky (hence the name Sperrmüll), it cannot be just put in the Gelber Sack ;) Try fitting a couch in a nylon garbage bag...

So, on this day, you can find all kinds of used furniture on the streets: sofas, chairs, cupboards, tables, you name it. 

Here is an example

What is it good for?

If you are a cash-strapped student, this is a good day for you to either make some money (by selling what you find to your fellow students) or to furnish your humble student room.

Don't worry about the furniture being dirty or too used: Germans usually throw their furniture when they decide to re-decorate their places. You can really find some good stuff on the street!

Don't get me wrong: I am not telling you to pick up crap from the streets, but if you look persistently enough for something you need on that particular day (and you are not ashamed to pick it up), there is a good chance to succeed.

Would you pick a good sofa from a street?

Winterräumpflicht

What is it?

This is the obligation of every house owner to clear the area in front of his house (and also around the house, if there is a public walkway) during the winter months when it snows. 

Basically, you need to clean the snow and make sure the walkway is safe for pedestrians.

Why is it important?

If you don't own a house, this should not be a problem for you! If you live in a block of flats and you don't pay a Hausmeister (a facility manager), then it is worth to inform yourself if you need to do it and when you need to do it. It can be that the lodgers have a schedule for every apartment.

This is important, because if someone slips and falls in front of your house and you haven't cleared it, you may find yourself in a courtroom, most likely paying for the person's medical bill. This is not going to be cheap!

How to do it?

Well, you need around 10-15 minutes or up to half an hour, depending on your strength and the area you need to clean. You can find big snow shovels in the local grocery store and in every Baumarkt like Praktiker. It is also good to buy some Streusalz, to get rid of the ice.

No time?

You are working 8-10 hours a day and you find no time for this? Try asking in the neighbourhood if someone would like to do it for you. A reasonable pay is around 10-15 Euro for one time. Youngsters would be happy to do it.

What do you think?

Winterschlussverkauf or WSV

If you are a deal freak and like to buy cheap branded goods, this is the time for your!

At the end of each Winter, or more specifically after New Year's Eve, somewhere around the end of January, all clothing outlets in Germany start the Winterschlussverkauf, or the Sales Period at the end of the winter. You can find branded clothes for up to 70-80% off the original price. Just the other day, we found Tom Tailor jeans, which were originally priced at 69,95 Euro for 19,95 Euro! I would say this is a good deal.

You just need to be persistent and spend some time searching for the deals.

So, be on the lookout around this time of year!

Feel the burning need to discuss? Leave a comment!

Buying a car in Germany

This is a very vast topic, but I will try to cover the basics.

First steps

The first thing to do, whether you are based in Germany or abroad is to browse the German websites for car ads. The biggest and most important website is Mobile.de.

Another alternative is Autoscout24.de.

You have to know those websites like the back of your hand!

They offer a lot of free advice concerning the technical part of the process, checklists of what to look at when you are inspecting the car, etc. I am not a car expert, so I will leave this part to the professionals :)

Getting into contact

You can always send an email or directly call the person offering the car. The bigger Autodealers (Autohaus) also have people who speak English or even more languages. Depends whom you encounter.

Get as many offers as possible for your picked brand and car type. Then you can start weighing the advantages and disadvantages of your choices. Germans like their cars and put in them a lot of extras, so if you are on a budget, you can get a very good car for a low price, if it has less extras (for example, automatic aid conditioning, Klimaautomatik).

Negotiating

Remember, every price is negotiable, even when it says it is not! It helps if you find some small scratches or damages when you inspect the car. Not having serviced the car at the official dealer is also considered as a disadvantage! For example, the previous owner went to ATU, instead to the official service partner.

If you are young, you can say you are a student and use this as a small negotiation leverage. You can also mention your travel costs and the costs of getting the car to your place.

Many pensioners are selling their cars and those are usually well taken care of. Those cars are called Rentnerwagen or Rentnerfahrzeug and usually accompanied by the term Garagenauto, which means the car was kept in a garage. Those two terms are often used as advantages of the car!

Warning!

You may encounter criminals in those sites. They usually give a very low price for a car, but the story is that either they or the car is abroad. Be very careful when communicating with such people!

Questions? Just post a comment and I will try to answer it!

Kirchensteuer

This is one of the things in Germany I will never understand as a foreigner!

What is it?

It is basically a church tax. Yes, you read right! If you are working in Germany and you are belonging to one of the official religions (catholic, protestant, etc.), you will have to pay it.

How do the officials know what religion I am?

Remember the Meldebescheinigung? Well, there you wrote it and now they know it.

What is it for?

I have talked to many Germans about that and I have always expressed my amazement to them concerning this topic. I simply cannot understand why a secular and democratic state collects taxes for its churches! Where is the separation of religion and state?!

Apparently, the church in Germany is doing a lot more than in other countries (especially in my country, Bulgaria). It is administering schools, kindergartens and is doing a lot for society. I have heard some Germans saying that if you don't pay your Kirchensteuer, the chance of getting your child in a kindergarten is lower than if you pay. The officials will never tell you the reason behind it, but it can be that...

If you don't pay this tax, you cannot baptize your child in Germany, you cannot have a church marriage and you cannot have a church burial.

How much is it?

It is between 20 and 50 Euro per month, depending on how much you earn. A good average value is around 35 Euro.

How to avoid it?

This is pretty simple: when you fill in the forms for your Meldebescheinigung, simply write that you have no religion (or not applicable). If you are a religious person (and belonging to one of the official religions here) and you don't want to give up your faith just like that, then you will have to swallow it and pay up.

Remark: for the eastern Block, Eastern Orthodox is not an official religion here, so you are safe.

Note: the church tax has nothing to do with visiting a church! You can still visit a holy place, without paying the tax, don't worry!

Questions? Just post a comment and I will try to answer it!