Repay savings or save? + Secure interest rate

Prepayments tempt people to put more money into loan repayment instead of spending it. Some families don't go on vacation for years in order to "be able to repay more." You save so much by repaying more! You certainly save money there, but above all on quality of life (if you don't approach it sensibly). I don't think the home savings contract model is so bad, especially because of the flexible repayment during the loan phase.

A building savings contract is always a bet on rising interest rates. In the low-interest phase, at least the probability is relatively high that the interest rate will rise again. The question is only how far.

No, the probability is not higher.

Since the probability of falling interest rates is rather low due to the current zero interest rate policy of the ECB, the probability for the option "rising" automatically increases. Simple dice example: You are supposed to predict whether you will roll a higher, the same, or a lower number. 1. with a two 2. with a four It goes without saying that this is a greatly simplified example (because unlike interest rates, the numbers are limited both upwards and downwards), and that the probabilities are factored into the building savings interest rate in connection with the current economic development. After all, every building society wants to make money.

@ Bauebenteurer Not everyone has to take a vacation. There are many, many families who can never go on vacation. I also went on "vacation" for the first time at 21 (camping, was something to get used to since I didn't have a sleeping bag etc., was more or less talked into coming along...) and then never again. As a child, my mother couldn't afford something like that and today, when I could, I simply don't see the point in spending such horrendous amounts on something you might enjoy for 1-2 weeks. I can really think of a hundred more sensible things to spend it on. Or to pay off, and the house definitely belongs to that.

How does one define exorbitant sums as a homeowner/homebuyer/homebuilder?

Vacation is a matter of relaxation and experience. Some like it, others do not.

In any case, I will do everything to ensure that my children know more than just our house and the surrounding area of 5-20km.

"Horrendous sum" is always relative. For a roll, 4 euros would already be a horrendous sum if it normally costs 50 cents. For a vacation, I personally find 1000 euros for 1-2 weeks economically totally nonsensical, and it regularly costs that much for 2 people - at least. When I think about what I can do better with 1000 euros... If I want to relax, I go to the garden. Traveling, in my feeling, is always only associated with stress (not just vacation, also other forced "trips"... you can see that nowadays with the chaos with trains and planes). It already annoys me when I have to visit family in my hometown again, that's 600 km one way and I try to avoid it as much as possible. But every 3-5 years it has to happen again.

As a child, I wouldn’t have needed a vacation either, small trips would have been enough. However, there weren’t any. Going to the zoo or to the sea (I lived on the coast), or to an amusement park or climbing. You don’t have to go to the South Seas for that. At our place, school vacations were spent in front of the TV. Without money, nothing else was possible in the big city. That has affected my current life mainly in that I absolutely dislike going anywhere (and then having to pay for it?). But on the other hand, I place the greatest value on my everyday life and my home being perfectly arranged according to my needs. In my opinion, you get more out of that than torturing yourself 48 weeks a year and then spending 4 weeks making a big fuss for a lot of money. The recovery then, as you can clearly see from others, unfortunately does not last very long either.

By the way, other acquaintances and relatives I have also never or hardly ever go on vacation. Only in the "media" do you then read in amazement that apparently vacation is standard for many people. Well, lifestyles can be so different.

Fortunately, my husband is no different in that respect. On the contrary, compared to him, I am still a travel enthusiast. On the few occasions when I "had to" go abroad, I took him with me. It was exhausting each time and without him I wouldn’t have endured it at all. But in hindsight, it was each time an experience that one somehow likes to remember - paradoxical!