While some of us in Germany have betriebliche Altersvorsorge (employer old-age savings), it's nothing like an American 401k. Up to a certain limit much lower th

While some of us in Germany have betriebliche Altersvorsorge (employer old-age savings), it's nothing like an American 401k. Up to a certain limit much lower than a US 401k, I decide how much I want to contribute pre-tax, my employer tells me how it's generally being invested and what minimum rate I can expect, and I can decide at what point between ages 62 and 67 I want to start taking withdrawals (which are only in one lump sum or five tranches), but I have absolutely no control past that. There are other retirement savings vehicles, but they're pretty much all annuities. Most Germans, including well-earning engineers like my husband, can't imagine receiving post-retirement income in anything other than a monthly pension; perhaps rent on apartments or houses they've managed to buy along the way. Remember that less than half of German adults live in home they own; renting the same apartment for 40 years is not unusual here. Germans tend to be more skeptical about the stock market than Americans are. To balance this, they are also far more hesitant to borrow for consumption - my husband's family were slightly horrified that I'd financed the full cost of my car, on top of owing student loans. I didn't mention the credit card debt it took me a couple of years to finish off! (Me: American who grew up watching my parents always make their payments, but pretty much always have a car loan and who took out some of the student loans I paid back because they absolutely had no discretionary savings. Husband: German who grew up watching his parents buy 3-5 year old cars with bank drafts once their old one started spending too much time at the shop, and then gave him a bunch of their savings as a university graduation present that sat in his bank account until we bought our house 15 years later)