Anyone planning on Retiring in Germany?

[HsiaoChu]

I'm not, but I visited there to see my son who was on a year's physics internship in Karlsruhe at FZK. My ancestry is from Germany from back about 95 years ago. I actually fell in love with the country.

If I should ever win the lottery and am looking for another place out of the country to have a house, I'm sure it would be in one of the little villages on the Rhine River near where the castles are.

Z

 

[check6]

I lived just north of there at Zweibrucken Air Base in the late '70's. We enjoyed it so much we extended our tour. Winters can be depressing with weeks of cloudiness. If I were to live in Europe, France would be number one on my list. The back roads there are less traveled as compared to Germany or Switzerland. We were there twice last year and going back in May. If I was wealthy, I would be typing this from Wengen, Switzerland.

 

[ERD50]

You might want to PM poster Early Retirement & Financial Independence Community - View Profile: Trek to provide comments in this thread - he is living in Estonia, and spent some time in Germany IIRC. As I recall, Germany was extremely bureaucratic, which would drive me nuts. I've had a couple business trips there, but not enough time to really take in the culture, but I did enjoy what I saw. I've found Trek's posts to be very informative. I think I'd like Estonia.

We also had guests (part of a music exchange program) from Bavaria, Germany. It seems that Bavarians consider themselves as a separate from the rest of Germany. I'm sure that different areas of Germany would be almost as different as NYC is to NOLA and Tennessee, etc.

-ERD50

 

[Onward]

I lived and worked in Frankfurt for a short time, and then in southern Germany for about two years. Overall I loved the country and the people. Christmas, though cold, was my favorite time, with all the Christmas markets and warm wine. I think Germany would be a fine place to retire, as long as you know what you're getting (history, culture, art, good food, good beer, etc) and what you're not getting (open spaces, tropical weather, low cost of living, etc).

I have no idea what programs are available there for expat retirees, including taxation and access to their generally good health-care system.

 

[meierlde]

Just to comment that if one of your grandfathers was born in Germany its possible to get german citizenship. (I don't know if you have to renounce US citizenship)

 

[chinaco]

Nope. But I want to visit.

 

[chris2008]

I am planning to retire here - but I am German.
The bureaucracy is not so bad that I would expect it to be better in any other country. At least my US relatives tell me it is not much better there.
I have always loved to travel, so this will have top priority once we ER in 2012.
But it is very clear that we will keep our home base here.

Zarathu, how about renting a furnished flat for some time and do nice biking tours along the river Rhine and others? Germany on a shoestring is doable - even for teachers (DH is one). We are living close to the Rhine, but more in the north. But a biking tour on the river bank from Switzerland to the north sea is on our list for ER.

 

[F4mandolin]

I spent 10 years in Germany a little north of Frankfurt. Loved the countryside and the forests (running+biking)....really missed that when I left. General rule in my book was the Germans get more outgoing the further south you travel. I wouldn't want to live there although a good friend of mine I was teaching with married a really nice German fella and live in the Heidelberg area. Lots of pretty places in Germany.

 

[Orchidflower]

Just to comment that if one of your grandfathers was born in Germany its possible to get german citizenship. (I don't know if you have to renounce US citizenship)

I thought it was just if one of your PARENTS were born in a foreign country and still a legal parent of you that you could get dual citizenship; and, no, you definitely do NOT have to renounce your U.S. citizenship. The U.S. will STILL love to receive your tax burden and won't let you go easily...ha!

(To clarify, I'm a first generation kid myself.)

 

[HsiaoChu]

I am planning to retire here - but I am German.
The bureaucracy is not so bad that I would expect it to be better in any other country. At least my US relatives tell me it is not much better there.
I have always loved to travel, so this will have top priority once we ER in 2012.
But it is very clear that we will keep our home base here.

Zarathu, how about renting a furnished flat for some time and do nice biking tours along the river Rhine and others? Germany on a shoestring is doable - even for teachers (DH is one). We are living close to the Rhine, but more in the north. But a biking tour on the river bank from Switzerland to the north sea is on our list for ER.

Yeah we visited Germany in 2006 on a shoestring..... cost us 5 grand(most for the plane fare). Don't have money for that, but love to visit again.

WE visited the largest waterfall in Germany. It was 100 feet high!

 

[Meadbh]

I was in Germany last week (Cologne) and last year I visited Berlin. Both were enjoyable (business) trips and Berlin in particular is a wonderful city to explore. Last week's Economist has a feature on Germany (see below). Life in Germany is well structured and organized. There is little hedonistic excess. It really helps that most people speak English.

Personally, I don't have any German roots, so I wouldn't see Germany as my desired RE location. If I were to move to continental Europe I would probably choose the south west of France, which is warm, relaxed, lush and bountiful. Both countries are bureaucratic, but I think the quality of life would be better in France.

http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15641069

 

[HsiaoChu]

When I was in Germany, everyone was willing to speak English, though at restaurants and other places I tried really hard to use German even if it was just a few phrases. After I tried, and if it looked like we were not going to make it, or maybe they didn't want to wait, they would always graciously switch into English for me. (I found that the Brits were pretty much the same. They were willing to speak English also.)

Since I was in karlsruhe, very near France, we went to France. I didn't find any willingness of the population to switch into English, though obviously by their responses they knew what I was saying to my wife.

Oddly though..... by the time we visited in the summer of 2006, my son had been there for almost 11 months, and his german was pretty good. But when we visited Rothenberg, as soon as they figured out he was an American, they refused to speak German to him. He would say, "But I live here. You can speak German." When we left Rothenberg, he said that he was happy to get back into Germany again.

I'm hoping that the population was like that all the time. They were on their best behavior since the WorldCup was in Germany when we were there.

Z

 

[FIREd]

Though we do enjoy Germany (and have friends and family living there), other places in Europe would be higher on our list of possible retirement locations. But if it had to be Germany, we would probably choose to retire in Bavaria.

 

[mh]

Just to comment that if one of your grandfathers was born in Germany its possible to get german citizenship. (I don't know if you have to renounce US citizenship)

that's quite interesting. one of my grandfathers was from germany
and i periodically toy with the idea residing in europe once i retire for a while
( probably not permanently ) if you have any links where i could check out
the feasibility of this (given my heritage) please post 'em. thanks..

 

[DesertRat]

My Grandparents and my Dad are from Kiel Germany. I have never been but wife and I are planning to go within the next year or two. Don't know if I'd retire there till I go and see what it's like.

 

[Rustic23]

We lived in Germany for three years. We lived on 'the economy', off base, for the first year and on a military base the next two years. We learned some German, but most Germans spoke better English than we spoke German, so English was the language of choice. The food was great, winters dreary, summers nice, people friendly, wine GREAT! I have nothing bad to say about the place, and we plan on going back for a visit. However, that's it just a visit. For us home is the U.S.A.

 

[deserat]

We live in Germany now - have lived here before. I don't think I'd retire here, but I will visit often. The lifestyle is great...it is not cheap. Ordnung muss sein - the Germans are orderly and expect all to be so in their country. The bureaucracy can be crazy at times. However, they are predictable in their behavior. Not so the French or Italians. The last winter was a bear - lots of snow, ice and very cold temperatures. Proximity to CH, IT and AU are great here in Baden Wurttemburg - we just went skiing in Verbier last weekend - the drive through CH is one of the most beautiful in the world.

I speak a little German (have a weekly Volkhochschule class) - the immigrants are mostly eastern European (and Turkish).

The Germans are hard-working and industrious and fairly friendly, once you get to know them. All in all, being here has been one of the better experiences in my life. Frankly, it's the central location allowing easy travel to so many places which I like - north, west, east or south - there are so many options. Makes for intellectually and culturally challenging and enjoyable diversions.

Bad side - it can get expensive here. I live in a fairly socialist country but don't pay their taxes. I can't imagine their tax burden.....