Question regarding the feasibility of financing

Let's take Siemens as a prominent example. There, a simple clerk with a degree already reaches 100k after a few years, and that as a collective agreement employee.

I am also paid according to the IG Metall collective agreement. Sure, you can't complain, but I'd like to see where you can reach 100k as a clerk. That would be with a 35-hour week and let's say a 14% performance bonus and full holiday pay/one-time payment/T-ZUG in the ERA 12 area, i.e. the top collective agreement level before AT. Of course, you get paid very well, but that is unrealistic, it's rather 70k euros for your example.

If I am mistaken, please send me such a job so I can apply for it.

I am also paid according to the IG Metall collective agreement. Sure, you can't complain, but I would like to see where one as a clerk reaches 100k. That would be with a 35-hour week and let's say 14% performance bonus and full vacation pay/one-time payment/T-ZUG in the ERA 12 area, i.e. highest collective agreement level before AT. Of course, you are very well paid, but that is not very realistic, it's more like 70k euros for your example.

If I am wrong, please send me such a position so I can apply for it

Also 70 for regular clerical work is decent

Well, honestly, the prices in "your" region don't surprise me either. Let's take Siemens as a prominent example. There, a simple clerk with a degree reaches 100k after a few years, and that's as a union employee. Two of those or a woman a bit less means almost 10k net per month. You can easily pay such ridiculous prices with that. I better not even start with senior employees/exempt staff, but you usually don't hear them "complain" here either.

I worked for 2 years as an external contractor at Siemens in Erlangen and can tell you that a clerk doesn't leave with 100k€ gross. Five years ago, a consultant of ours with 29 years old and 2 years of professional experience started with us as a commercial project manager for C-projects and got an ERA 9 on 42 hours as entry level. With performance bonuses and everything, that was a good 60k before annual gross.

I can also confirm that the majority of employees at, for example, Siemens are in EG9 and below. Even chemical engineers are now being hired in EG9. So here lies the big misunderstanding. I know many who have been there for 30 years and used to earn a lot and were always classified higher. Simply due to years of service. That is no longer the case today. Positions are evaluated by external companies and engineers, physicists, chemists, etc., thus "only" start at EG9 or EG10. And those are the ones who enter high. And you don’t just get promoted after 2-3 years like that. So, the salary is good, but as mentioned above, I can assure that almost no one can afford a house unless they inherited it locally or bought it there a long time ago. Except, of course, those who inherit a lot and are additionally willing to go heavily into debt and repay extreme installments.

In some places, a simple clerk with a university degree can reach 100k after a few years, even as a tariff employee.

I know an electrical engineer who has been at Siemens for over 15 years, and from what he told me, you don’t reach 100k that quickly with a tariff. I would also like to have a source for that. The collective agreements are actually supposed to be publicly accessible, right?

On the topic of salaries, I would like to say the following:

The father of my ex-girlfriend works in sales at a leasing bank and earns 110K + company car per year. He has now worked there for 30 years and, in consultation with the employer, has reduced his hours. His sales manager, who started there 4 years ago, began with around 75K. This already shows how salaries differ today. The old employment contract bothers the employer a lot - but they cannot/will not afford a severance payment, so he will stay there until retirement and be paid accordingly.

The same at the Post: A clerk at Deutsche Post with 30 years of service earns very well compared to today.

The topic Siemens: A good friend has his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and earns around 50K per year plus bonuses. That is certainly okay, but far from the 100K being talked about here.

In my company, we have 7 regional sales managers in the following regions:
South-East / Bavaria
South-West / Baden-Württemberg
Central / Saarland/Hesse
West / North Rhine-Westphalia
North-West / OWL, Lower Saxony, Bremen
North-East / Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
East / Brandenburg, Berlin, etc.

Interestingly, this results in three salary tiers. The colleagues from the South would be kings with their salaries in the East, and in their home regions they are at best upper middle class. This also shows a tendency of the salary level in Germany.