Savings beginner with questions about the plausibility of the "rough" plan

"Should I wait another 5-10 years to buy a house until I have >100k in equity saved up?"

My answer to that would be a clear: YES! Of course, save for another 5-10 years. Even at 40, you can still build a house. And anyone who can save >100k in equity within 5-10 years is in a pretty good position.

In this context interesting for the reader: "How did Steffen come by his equity?". It may be commendable that you have been saving since your apprenticeship, but especially against the background that your income has risen sharply in recent years, these are peanuts that are almost insignificant for your financing. The story of the long-term saver with discipline and foresight seems to me to be more fiction than fact in your case.

For me, the situation currently appears rather as follows: You became self-employed, showed the right instinct, and suddenly you are showered with money in a short period of time. That is of course an achievement that should be acknowledged, but it has little to do with the "hardcore penny-pincher" image that you present here, does it?

And yes, you can also still build a house at 40 or 50. But the question on which everything depends is "Why wait?" So far, I have not read a reasonable answer to that.

PS: Becoming a millionaire and building a house really don’t go together - employees will always have to choose one or the other.

I tend to agree more with Steffen. I studied, my wife completed a paid (so chargeable!) training. But somehow we both always knew that we would rather have a house someday, otherwise we were not party animals/money wasters (we "lived," but you don't have to throw money away in pubs for that). I have always worked as well and was able to save something even with a student mini apartment and a Golf2 (which was actually very repair-cost-friendly), although not much. At least there were higher interest rates back then, and over the years that did make a difference. After graduation and at work, we continued to "keep a low profile" (appropriate apartment 68sqm and, for example, no new car) so that at the start of construction 2.5 years ago we had about 50% equity at age 31 (for that we didn't build as expensively as Steffen). Some people think or say we have a high loan/bad conditions, but that didn't have to be the case. Rather, we wouldn't have wanted to build more expensively anyway, because of family planning/location choice.

No... About half was saved as "normal earning periods". Don't get stuck on my situation. I say: a certain amount of equity should be available when building a house. If not inherited or won, the only option is to save save save. Reasons for equity: feasibility of financing, self-discipline, lending value, better equipment, etc.

Regards, Steffen

PS: The book is not about becoming a millionaire (let alone a Euro millionaire), but about building wealth. These two are not mutually exclusive, but actually go together. Most home builders build wealth through repayment after all.

[I can rather agree with Steffen. I have studied, my wife has done a paid (i.e. fee-based!) training. But somehow we both always knew that we would prefer to have a house someday, otherwise we were not party-goers/money wasters (we "lived," but you don't have to throw money away in pubs for that). However, I have always worked and was able to save a little despite student mini-apartment and Golf 2 (it was actually very repair-cost-friendly), even if not much. At least there were higher interest rates back then, and over the years that did make a difference. After studying and in the job, we continued to "play it safe" (appropriate apartment 68 sqm and e.g. no new car) so that we had about 50% equity at the start of construction 2.5 years ago at age 31 (we didn't build as expensively as Steffen). Some think we had a high loan/bad conditions, which didn't have to be the case at all. But we wouldn't have wanted to build more, due to family planning/location selection.]

50% equity I find great!!! Congratulations on that the peaceful sleep is surely priceless.

Definitely. Actually, the loan costs less than we had saved per month, which is currently quite comfortable. At the moment, I am also saving for a new car for myself, and when the kids are older, you might need a little more. For my part, I find it better this way now, rather than having built more and now being tighter.