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Insurance for Retired: what you really need
Income protection falls away in retirement. Long-term care and dental costs move up: statutory care insurance pays only part, and the resident's own share in a care home is often several thousand euros a month. Keep personal liability, especially with grandchildren around.
You can skip
- Disability insurance
Without earned income there is nothing left to protect.
- Term life without debts
If your partner is provided for through pension and savings, the premium at this age is high for little benefit.
The policies one by one
Personal liability
In Germany, anyone who negligently causes damage to someone else pays for it in full, with no upper limit. Private liability insurance (Privathaftpflicht) pays justified claims and fights …
Contents insurance
In Germany, the insurance for your belongings is called Hausratversicherung. It pays new-for-old after fire, burst pipes, burglary, storm and hail. Unlike renters insurance in the US, it …
Long-term care
Everyone with health insurance in Germany is automatically in statutory long-term care insurance. It pays fixed amounts per care level, not the actual costs. In a care home, residents paid …
Dental insurance
German public health insurance covers check-ups, fillings and basic treatment well. For crowns, bridges and implants it pays only a fixed subsidy based on the simplest solution, and the …
Accident insurance
If you work in Germany, you are covered by statutory accident insurance at work and on your commute, but not at home, on holiday or while doing sport. German private accident insurance pays …
Travel insurance
German insurers sell up to six different travel policies, but only one is essential: Auslandsreisekrankenversicherung, travel health insurance. Statutory health insurance pays only partly …
Funeral insurance
Germany has had no statutory death grant from health insurance since 2004, and German burial rules are strict and often expensive. Sterbegeldversicherung is a small life policy that pays a …
Why this order
The rule: existential risks first, expensive ones second, comfort last
First insure what could ruin you financially: unlimited liability towards others under the German Civil Code, the loss of your income through illness, and your house if you own one. Then losses that hurt but will not ruin you, such as replacing the contents of a flat. Comfort cover such as dental top-ups or travel extras comes last.
Pay small losses yourself. Every premium carries administration costs, so insuring a phone or glasses costs more over the years than it pays out. Compulsory in Germany are health insurance with long-term care cover for everyone, motor liability for every registered vehicle and, in several federal states, dog liability.