New rate twice as high - experiences

It's really crazy how things have developed, I checked today. Cumulatively (including KfW) I amortize 4.61% and have an interest rate of 0.63%.
In 7-7.5 years I will have to see how the situation develops.

That's insanely good. I think I would try to pay off as much as possible within those 7 years.

That's insanely good. I think I would try to pay off as much as possible within the 7 years.

Definitely not, I'd rather invest in things that yield 6-8% long-term returns.
Making special repayments makes zero sense now that inflation is here.
But in 8 years I should somehow have capital to then pay off the two KfW loans.

That is insanely good. I think I would try to pay off as much as possible in the 7 years.

That is a common mistake, yes. People pay off everything they can instead of investing their money in stocks or similar. Especially since it’s not at all certain that interest rates will be at 4% in 7 years. And even if they are, with a 4.6% repayment rate you already own about 70% of the house. Inflation contributes further, wages will have to rise more strongly than before. Not 8% per year, that’s clear, but still.

This is not a mistake. The approach is just more conservative. If, at the end of the fixed interest period, you are faced with follow-up interest rates of 5-6%, but the market is currently in a crisis (which has happened quite often in the past) and you cannot access your investment capital profitably at the moment, then with this method you are out of luck.

It is the typically German approach to take the absolutely safest of all paths and thereby miss out on many opportunities for wealth building, let's put it that way ;)

I talk a lot with Swedes and Eastern Europeans about such things, they approach it completely differently...

I talk a lot with Swedes and Eastern Europeans about stuff like this, they approach it completely differently...

Which doesn't mean they know more ;)

I don't want to take sides here. The best way for many is probably a middle ground and a distribution of the available capital across the different opportunities.

But I do find it telling that just a few months ago from all directions (not just here in the forum) it was immediately shot out like from a gun "you have to invest your money in ETFs!! Best is MSCI World. Nothing can happen because it doesn't matter if individual stocks drop. The others will make it up!!" when it came to investing money. And suddenly you really don't hear anything more about such tips. :)

Sure... you invest in ETFs for the long term. Anyone who has been regularly investing in the MSCI World over several years is now laughing at the few percent drop.

But still: is not wrong. Especially with stocks, there are points in time when selling is not optimal. However, the follow-up financing is basically a fixed date.