End of fixed interest period 2027 - increase repayment or other options?

Yes, unfortunately very few people know that. And even fewer understand how the progression clause works, to which wage replacement benefits such as sickness benefit, short-time work allowance, and also parental allowance are subject. Because then, on top of the loss of earnings, there is also the tax back payment the following year.

When it comes to the skilled labor shortage, one has to be careful. It exists, yes. But it mainly relates to crafts, non-academic professions, and jobs that involve a lot of travel.
With the classic applicant for the 9 to 5 office job, you can usually pave the streets. Especially the child-friendly jobs (flexible office hours, home office, no field service, no shift work, no weekend duty) have everything but a shortage of applicants...

And then, to make things worse, despite personnel shortages, no new positions are being created because industrial companies in particular are currently operating cautiously. Nobody yet knows who will survive economically this winter and who will not even open their doors in the spring.

As already said. To give up your reserves now... if you're unlucky, you will stand there in March without significant reserves, be in short-time work, and it will get tight with the actual installment.

What is the solution then? Taking vacation (= foregoing rest, medium/long term unwise), unpaid leave or playing hooky? I think the money you get for child sickness benefit isn’t so bad after all.

There are two problems. One is that childcare has to work. Adequate staff levels in daycares, as few planned closures as possible. Hopefully we have overcome Lockdownistan, but it definitely wasn’t a stellar performance. The other is when it’s the child’s fault. Here the state can do very little except provide child sickness benefit. Lucky is whoever can work from home, has little customer contact, and an employer who is tolerant.

Now to give up his reserves..

It goes without saying that you first create a reserve, which is not used for investments or special repayments. And once the base is established, any additional surplus can be used as a special repayment or investment depending on the situation (which you also do not always have immediate access to).

There are two problems. One is that childcare has to work. Adequate staffing levels in daycares, as few planned closures as possible. Hopefully, we have overcome Lockdownistan, but it was definitely no highlight. The other is when it depends on the child. Here the state can do very little except provide child sick pay. Lucky is who can work from home, has little customer contact, and an employer who is tolerant about it.

That is a fundamental problem during peak events. They cannot be cushioned. Those who set staffing levels so that they are still comfortable during cold season have an underutilization problem in the remaining 8-9 months of the year. This applies not only to daycares, it applies to all companies. Employees sitting around or a staff ratio significantly above the requirements can no longer be afforded today.

It also depends on the child. When my eldest was born nearly 6 years ago, I was almost afraid of the horror stories from colleagues. The children are sick every 2 weeks, basically at home more in winter than in daycare. I cannot confirm that; even before Corona, severe infections were very limited...

But that’s true, you can’t cushion everything 100%. A certain amount of personal responsibility must remain. Unfortunately, that also means you have to calculate losses when you choose to have children.

... With the typical applicant for the 9 to 5 office job, you can usually pave the street. Especially the family-friendly jobs (flexible office hours, home office, no field service, no shift work, no weekend duty) have everything but no shortage of applicants... ...

strange, with our clients who often have very similar job descriptions, they have not yet gotten back to us?

In sales, such positions are of course hardly existent. In the back office, however, this is not a problem, as it occurs more frequently.