Guides
Practical knowledge on real estate, taxes, retirement planning and investing — 64 articles, sorted by topic.
All guides refer to German law and the German tax system. They are translations of our German articles.
Real estate
5 Common Mistakes When Buying Property and How to Avoid Them in 2025
The five most common mistakes when buying property in 2025 – from underestimated liquidity planning and energy-related follow-up costs to a lack of legal review – and how to avoid them.
4 min read Real estateBuilding a Property Portfolio Strategically: Substance, Diversification and Tax Efficiency
How a strategically built property portfolio combines structure, geographical diversification, tax levers and exclusive access to off-market deals.
3 min read Real estateBuying a Rented Flat as an Investment (2024)
Why buying a rented flat lets investors build wealth through the leverage of borrowed capital, and which criteria matter when acquiring an investment property.
4 min read Real estateCO2 Levy and the Landlord's Share in 2025: Understanding Costs, Protecting Returns, Using Strategies
Since the CO2 Cost Allocation Act, landlords bear up to 95% of the CO2 levy, depending on the efficiency class. How to reduce your own share and which costs can still be passed on to tenants.
4 min read Real estateDepreciation of Listed Buildings: The Risk for Investors
How depreciation for listed buildings (Denkmal-AfA) works, which return and vacancy risks are often underestimated and which alternatives are available to investors.
4 min read Real estateDepreciation of new-build property: how buying a flat becomes a tax advantage
How straight-line and declining-balance depreciation (AfA) work for new-build property and which special depreciation the Annual Tax Act 2022 offers investors.
4 min read Real estateDepreciation with a remaining useful life report: more liquidity through a higher AfA rate
How a remaining useful life report can raise the AfA rate for existing property and what liquidity advantage this brings for owners.
4 min read Real estateDeviating from the Rent Index with Furnished Letting: A Lever for Returns amid Growing Regulatory Uncertainty
Furnished letting is seen as a lever for returns but is under growing regulatory pressure. Which surcharges are legally permissible and what landlords should bear in mind.
4 min read Real estateETS-2 and Property Investment: Tax Optimisation and Protecting Returns through Forward-Looking Structuring
From 2027, ETS-2 brings private buildings into CO2 emissions trading as well. What this means for property investors – and how tax advantages and subsidies can be used in a targeted way.
4 min read Real estateHow Investors Can Finance Their Property Affordably (2024)
How property investors can finance their property affordably even with higher interest rates, what role KfW plays and why an independent comparison of several providers pays off.
4 min read Real estateInvesting in New-Build Projects in Berlin: Opportunities for High-Earning Employees
Why Berlin new-build projects are of interest to high-earning investors and how exclusive off-market properties open up additional opportunities.
3 min read Real estateKey Interest Rate Trends and Their Impact on Property Investment
From historically low interest rates through the interest rate turnaround to stabilisation in 2025: how the key rate level affects property financing and which strategies work now.
4 min read Real estateLetting a Freehold Flat: Becoming a Landlord with a Rented-Out Property
Why letting a freehold flat is suited to tax-optimised wealth building – including the right timing and off-market flats in Berlin.
3 min read Real estateNew-Build Flat as an Investment: The Benefits for Owners Who Let
New build or existing property: the advantages a new-build flat offers as an investment in terms of depreciation and yield compared with an existing property.
3 min read Real estateNew-Build Prices per Square Metre in Berlin 2025
New-build prices per square metre in Berlin vary widely by district in 2025. An overview of price ranges, location factors and how Berlin compares within Europe.
3 min read Real estatePaid-Off Property as a Private Investment – How to Secure Your Financial Future
Why a debt-free property creates financial security, which tax advantages and running costs owners should bear in mind, and how it fits into an overall portfolio.
4 min read Real estatePhotovoltaics as an Investment: Opportunities and Risks in 2025
Opportunities and risks of photovoltaic direct investments in 2025 – from the Solarspitzengesetz and return potential to legal safeguards and technical risk factors.
6 min read Real estateProperty Price Trends 2025: Focus on Residential Real Estate
How interest rate policy, regional demand, tax levers and the CO2 tax affect residential property prices in 2025 – and where investments continue to pay off.
3 min read Real estateRenovation Strategy and Subsidies for Landlords: Renovate Economically, Benefit from Tax Advantages
Why a well-thought-out renovation strategy is indispensable for landlords – and how subsidies such as KfW grants can be combined with special tax depreciation.
4 min read Real estateReturns from a Care Home? The Sensible Alternative to Care Home Investments
Why care home properties carry an underestimated risk through operator dependency and limited flexibility, and which property alternatives offer investors more security.
4 min read Real estateSaving Tax with New Builds: How Investors Reduce Their Costs through Tax Advantages
Why new-build flats offer more planning certainty than listed and care home properties, and which tax advantages investors can use through depreciation and energy standards.
5 min read Real estateSaving Tax with Real Estate: How Owners Save with Tangible Assets
Why let property is one of the most effective ways for high-earning employees and the self-employed to save tax – from depreciation to a tax-free sale.
2 min read Real estateThe Right Process for Financing Real Estate (2024)
What investors should consider when financing property in 2024, which documents decide on approval and why an independent comparison of lenders usually leads to better terms.
4 min readPhotovoltaics
Financing a PV direct investment: how to succeed with financing and subsidies
How photovoltaic direct investments can be financed with equity and debt, and which equity ratio and loan term are common.
4 min read PhotovoltaicsIAB and photovoltaics: how to invest your severance pay optimally
How the investment deduction (IAB) works for photovoltaic systems and how severance pay can be invested through it tax-efficiently and with strong returns.
4 min read PhotovoltaicsInvestment Deduction (IAB) for Photovoltaics
How the Investitionsabzugsbetrag (IAB, investment deduction) works for photovoltaic systems and why it can make severance pay and other extraordinary income almost tax-free for employees.
2 min read PhotovoltaicsPV direct investment: current developments in direct investment
An overview of current return and demand trends in photovoltaic direct investments and of what investors keep from a solar installation after tax.
4 min read PhotovoltaicsSolar Direct Investment: Save Tax and Benefit Sustainably
How severance payments and other extraordinary income can be transferred tax-efficiently into sustainable photovoltaic assets through a solar direct investment and the Investitionsabzugsbetrag (IAB, investment deduction).
2 min read PhotovoltaicsTax Treatment of Photovoltaic Direct Investments: Securing Returns, Optimising the Tax Burden
For tax purposes, photovoltaic systems count as a commercial activity. How the feed-in tariff, depreciation and self-consumption are treated and what tax advantages result.
4 min read PhotovoltaicsThe Biggest Mistakes Beginners Make When Investing in PV
The planning mistakes PV investors make most often, why the price per kWp alone does not determine the return and how to make your entry into photovoltaic systems more secure.
4 min readTaxes
How Special Depreciation (Sonder-AfA) Affects New-Build Rental Flats
How the special depreciation under §7b EStG favours the construction of new rental flats and which requirements apply to it.
4 min read TaxesReceiving Severance Pay Tax-Free: Your Options as an Employee
How employees correctly declare severance pay and pay less tax through the one-fifth rule, the investment deduction or contributions to retirement provision.
3 min read TaxesRemaining Useful Life Report for Higher Depreciation: Securing Tax Advantages through a Realistic Assessment of a Building's Lifespan
A remaining useful life report can raise depreciation significantly above the flat 2%. What the tax office requires for recognition and how large the tax advantage can be.
4 min read TaxesSaving Tax with Property: How Owners Optimise Their Tax Burden
The tax levers owners can use with property – from depreciation and deductible expenses to off-market properties in Berlin.
4 min read TaxesSpecial Depreciation under Section 7b EStG and Declining-Balance Depreciation (2024): The Changes Awaiting Investors
How the Growth Opportunities Act increases declining-balance depreciation and special depreciation under Section 7b EStG for energy-efficient new-build flats — with example calculations of the tax savings.
6 min read TaxesTax Strategies for Property Investors: How Investors Benefit When Buying Property
From depreciation and deductible expenses to the property GmbH: an overview of the most important tax strategies for property investors.
4 min read TaxesThe one-fifth rule for severance pay: how income from severance payments can be taxed
How severance pay can be taxed under the one-fifth rule and why an IAB investment in photovoltaic systems is often the more tax-efficient alternative.
3 min readRetirement planning
Comprehensive protection: with a supplementary pension fund
How a supplementary pension fund usefully complements the statutory and company pension and which tax advantages managing directors in particular can use.
3 min read Retirement planningEquity pension 2023: long-term wealth building for retirement
How the planned state equity pension works and why managing directors are often better off with a company pension scheme and a freely chosen equity allocation.
3 min read Retirement planningHow to Grow and Protect Your Wealth with a Property Pension
How off-market properties can be used to build a property pension that delivers stable rental income and long-term growth in value.
2 min read Retirement planningRetirement Planning Costs: Saving Money on Private Pension Insurance
Which costs are hidden in conventional pension insurance and how a net fund policy or net basic pension makes acquisition and distribution costs visible and preserves more of your return.
4 min read Retirement planningRetirement Planning for Managing Directors: How to Secure Your Future
How GmbH managing directors can secure their retirement tax-efficiently through an occupational pension scheme with a high equity allocation and insolvency protection.
2 min read Retirement planningRetirement Planning with Real Estate
Why a property let to tenants can be superior to the classic owner-occupied home as retirement provision, and what you should look out for when buying property for your retirement.
3 min read Retirement planningThe Perfect Retirement Portfolio: Ideal Structuring for Financial Security
"World Inc.", ETFs and insurance wrappers compared: how a retirement portfolio can be structured tax-efficiently and independently of banks.
3 min read Retirement planningTop Retirement Planning Products: Find the Optimal Solution for Your Retirement
An overview of state-subsidised and private retirement planning products in Germany — from the Riester pension and company pension schemes to ETF savings plans and real estate.
4 min readWealth building
Building Diversified Wealth
How wealth can be diversified on the basis of data and facts, and the role external asset management plays in building wealth sustainably – illustrated by the world portfolio (ETF).
4 min read Wealth buildingBuilding Wealth for Children: Invest Early and Benefit over the Long Term
Investing early for children lets you benefit from the compound interest effect. Which forms of investment are suitable and which tax-free allowances families can use when building wealth.
3 min read Wealth buildingBuilding Wealth with Real Estate – Opportunities, Strategies and the Current Framework
How real estate contributes to long-term wealth building through debt-financing leverage, special depreciation and the right holding strategy.
5 min read Wealth buildingFinancial Planning for Entrepreneurs: How Structure, Tax and Wealth Strategy Work Together
For entrepreneurs, business liquidity, private wealth planning and tax are closely intertwined. How a holistic financial strategy reduces risks and builds wealth.
3 min read Wealth buildingHow to Build Wealth Successfully with Real Estate
How real estate helps you build wealth – from the tax treatment of costs to financing with little equity.
3 min readInheritance & gifts
Arranging Your Inheritance During Your Lifetime – Tax Structuring for an Optimal Transfer of Wealth
How early succession planning with allowances, usufruct, relief for business assets and a family foundation helps avoid a heavy inheritance tax burden.
5 min read Inheritance & giftsAvoiding Premature Real Estate Transfer Tax – Structuring Options for Communities of Heirs
Acquiring property directly by inheritance is exempt from real estate transfer tax – but dissolving a community of heirs with a payout can trigger it. Here is how to avoid it.
3 min read Inheritance & giftsAvoiding Real Estate Transfer Tax on Succession: Transferring Assets Tax-Neutrally, Avoiding Risks
Property transfers through inheritance, gifts or between spouses are generally exempt from real estate transfer tax. What matters for a legally sound structure.
4 min read Inheritance & giftsGifts to Children – How to Transfer Wealth Tax-Efficiently
How parents can transfer wealth to their children tax-efficiently and with legal certainty using tax-free allowances, property usufruct (Nießbrauch) and long-term staggering.
3 min read Inheritance & giftsMarket Value vs. Tax Value of Inherited Property: Differences, Consequences and Structuring Approaches
Market value reflects the market price, tax value the basis for assessing inheritance tax – how the two values diverge and how this can be used for succession planning.
3 min read Inheritance & giftsTax-Free Gifts – How to Transfer Your Wealth in a Tax-Optimised Way
How wealth can be transferred to the next generation tax-free or in a tax-optimised way through allowances, usufruct, relief for business assets and the insurance wrapper (Policenmantel).
8 min read Inheritance & giftsThe Inheritance Process – What Heirs and Testators Need to Know
From statutory succession and the six-week deadline for disclaiming to the inheritance tax return: the formal process of an inheritance and ways of optimising it for tax purposes.
5 min read Inheritance & giftsUsufruct (Nießbrauch) in Property Transfers – Focus on Tax Optimisation and Legal Structuring
How a reserved usufruct (Nießbrauch) in a property transfer lowers the tax value of the gift, secures rental income and is structured with legal certainty.
3 min read Inheritance & giftsValuation Report for an Inherited House – Costs, Procedure and Tax Significance
When heirs need an independent valuation report, what the different types of report cost and how an excessive valuation for inheritance tax purposes can be corrected.
3 min read Inheritance & giftsWhen the Gift Notification Requirement Does Not Apply – Current Rules and Future Developments
In principle, gifts must be reported to the tax office – we show which exceptions apply under Section 30 ErbStG and what future legislative changes could mean for the reporting obligation.
6 min readInsurance
Private health insurance for the self-employed
What private health insurance offers self-employed people and freelancers and what to look out for when switching from statutory health insurance.
4 min read InsurancePrivate health insurance on the basis of high income: when switching pays off
From what income switching to private health insurance pays off and how statutory and private health insurance premiums have developed over recent decades.
4 min read InsuranceThe Right Time for Private Health Insurance as an Employee
From what income employees can switch to private health insurance, what an option to switch (Anwartschaft) offers and how saved contributions can be invested tax-efficiently.
2 min read