Fee-only hourly financial advice in Germany – for expats

€200 per hour, including VAT – comparable to what lawyers and tax advisors charge in Germany. Most engagements take 5 to 10 hours, so roughly €1,000 to €2,000 in total.

In the free intro call I can give you an estimate for your situation and commit to a maximum number of billable hours, which we put in the contract. If the work takes longer, you pay nothing extra.

No. Some fee-only firms in Germany will not take you below €500,000. I have no minimum – the fee is based on the hours we spend together, not on the size of your portfolio.

Some of my clients were just starting their first job with nothing saved yet. Getting it right from the start is better than correcting mistakes years later.

A written portfolio proposal: which products, in what proportions, at which broker, and why. Plus the advisory record German regulation requires, and the recording of our sessions.

Everything in English, and everything yours to keep – you can implement it with me or on your own.

If you want to know whether you are on track for retirement, I can also create a financial plan with professional planning software – it projects your savings, your pension and German taxes over the decades ahead, so you can see how much you actually need to put aside.

I am a trained economist and a licensed fee-only investment advisor (§34h GewO).

I passed the required proficiency examination at the German Chamber of Commerce in 2023 and work from Offenburg with clients across Germany who are building wealth, typically up to around 60.

Before that I spent years writing about finance as a journalist – analysing financial products, questioning people inside the industry and university professors, and writing about how private investors can build wealth sensibly.

I work by the hour because I think it is the fairest way. Most people can manage their money themselves once someone has shown them how, so charging them ongoing fees makes no sense.

I earn nothing from the products you buy, nothing from the size of your portfolio, and nothing once the advice is done.

Yes. As a licensed Honorar-Finanzanlagenberater under §34h of the German Trade Regulation Act, I am legally prohibited from accepting commissions, kickbacks or any payment from product providers. Your fee is my only income from the engagement.

You can check this for any advisor in Germany in the legal notice (“Impressum”) of their website.

A Finanzanlagenvermittler (§34f), a Versicherungsmakler or a Versicherungsvermittler is allowed to earn commissions – whatever else they call themselves, they are not fee-only. Happy to go through this with you in the free intro call.

Usually three to five weeks from the intro call to a finished portfolio, depending on how quickly we find appointments.

There is no rush from my side – but most clients are done within a month.

Nothing. If you would like me to take a look beforehand, you can send me an overview of your current investments and I will give you a first impression in the call – but it is not required.

If we work together afterwards, I will send you a questionnaire about your situation and ask for the documents on anything you already hold.

Online across Germany by video, or in person in Offenburg (Baden-Württemberg, in the south-west of Germany near the French border, between Strasbourg and the Black Forest).

German regulation requires online advisory sessions to be recorded and stored for ten years.

I can send you the recording afterwards, so you can go through everything again at your own pace – useful when the subject is new to you.

Yes. Consultations, the portfolio proposal and the written advisory record are all available in English.

A few German terms have no clean equivalent – Vorabpauschale, Teilfreistellung – and I will explain those as we go.

Yes. I can recommend a suitable low-cost German broker, and show you live over screen share how to select a security, place an order correctly and set up a savings plan.

Simpler than most internationals expect. A German broker withholds the tax on your gains and dividends automatically and passes it to the tax office – for most investors there is nothing to declare and nothing to file.

The one thing worth knowing is the Vorabpauschale, a small annual charge on accumulating funds that have risen in value. Your broker calculates it and debits it from your account balance in January, so all you really need to do is keep a little cash there. 

I can tell you approximately how much it will be, and how to estimate it in advance for the amount you have invested.

What I cannot do is advise on your personal tax return – in Germany that is reserved for licensed tax advisors (Steuerberater).

No. US tax rules can put US citizens at a disadvantage when they invest in European funds. Advising on US tax is also outside what I am licensed to do.

If that applies to you, it is worth speaking to a cross-border tax advisor familiar with both systems before making any investment decisions.

It has not happened yet, but the guarantee is in the contract anyway: if the advice was not worth the fee to you, you get your money back – up to 30 days after I send the invoice.