TurMech

Hi,    My colleague is trying to find out his options regarding a case, which is not exactly the same with the OP, but similar in terms of living in 2 countries, and what to do with the health insurance, so i didn't create a new thread.   He is a dual Swedish/German citizen, has been working in Hamburg for the past 4 years, and was health insured privately. He lived in a rented flat here during the weekdays, and was registered in Germany.   His girlfriend and 1 year old son are living in Stockholm, and he used to visit them every weekend until March of this year, so before corona.    Since Corona, our company allowed its' employees to work from home indefinitely, and after that, he took a short parental leave first, moved out of his flat, terminated his residence in Germany, moved to and registered in Sweden. He also terminated (or froze, that i need to ask him) his membership at the Private health insurance.   After his parental leave, he started working from home in Sweden, and contacted with his Private health insurance to continue being insured, but he was replied that, they can not cover him unless he has an address in Germany. On the other side, our company is pushing him to provide them information about his Health Insurance.   What could be his solution?

It is also important to note that, children born before July in a calendar year, start going to school (Vorschule/Grundschule) a year earlier than the children born in the second half of the year in Hamburg. Also, Vorschule is not compulsory, so you could choose to stay in the Kita for that year if you like. In this preschool year, children with limited/no German language skills are supported through Sprachförderung (language support) in the afternoons.

  Hi Kapil,   Since you seem to have quite a lot of time to go through the old threads and revive them, would you consider sharing your experiences about the citizenship application process in Hamburg from the beginning to the end? They will be needed..

  Would you like to share your experience regarding the whole process, from handing in the application until receiving the letter to pick up the citizenship certificate in a relevant thread?  If there is anything particular with regards to the application in Hamburg, it would also be interesting for me.

  Which broker did you choose at the end?    Currently i am in the process of choosing one, and leaning towards Trade Republic due to its' very low transaction costs, and the taxation advantage due to being a German provider, but i would like to benefit from the experiences of long term investors like you. I am just starting.   I already have a Degiro account, but stop using it because of the disadvantage mentioned in this thread (additional effort for tax declaration). I also have an account at the DKB bank, but its' transaction costs, mainly for single share purchase and sales are also relatively high (10 to 35 € per transaction depending on the size). For ETFs, it is acceptable (1.5€).

  Doesn't necessarily have to be from Goethe. Several other certificates are also accepted. Please see Link. 

I agree with MikeMelga. My experience also shows that, French cars have lower quality than their German or Japanese rivals. That being said, under huge cost pressure, German cars are also not as high quality as they were in the past.

I have just seen that, Sparkasse will also offer Apple Pay with the debit card.   Link

  What is the 4% rule?

  Why? Isn't there a huge demand, and a limited supply out there in the market? Everybody i talk to say that, if things go bad (job loss etc.), i would sell the house/flat.

  I hope it won't turn out like this scenario :-).    We came to Germany as a family 3 years ago, so my wife will not object to returning. But the rest can likely happen.    I am more thinking about a situation, where it will be a must for us to return, as it won't be possible for us to sustain a living here, at the time i am retired. Very briefly, at the time i reached retirement age, i will have ~12 years less pension insurance payments made, compared to someone who started his working life here, thus a lower pension. If i go for buying a property here, i will have spent an amount equal to 4 properties in the home country.    Currently i am putting everything on the table to see what really makes sense. I believe i will come to a conclusion in a few months :-).

  Thanks @krakp. I will read them all. I have sort of just settled my life after 3.5 years in Germany, and very recently gotten into this research to find out, if it makes sense for me ot not! Hope to find it out quickly :)

  What if i have a period of job loss, sickness, etc. during this period of 35 years? If i moved to Germany in my mid/late thirties, do i lose my chance of owning my propoerty completely?   Would it not be an equal option, if i keep my money in investment tools, and move to my home country after retirement (at the latest)? In this scenario, all the rent i will have paid will be gone, but my flexibility and peace of mind will remain. This  is not something quantitative, but doesn't it have a value also?

  How is it possible to pay a 850k house with an income of 4500€ Net/month? 

Thanks, but i am more after some concrete information. Probably you don't know, but @engelchen is known to be a renowned expert on such topics, although she is a very aggressive lady on this platform.