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Tool to help you decide who to vote

Currently, everyone is talking about the February elections. If you recently got the German citizenship, you are eligible to vote in these elections.

Here are a few things you should know.

• All the citizens eligible to vote will receive a letter detailing how and where they can vote.
• The German government has launched a tool to assist you in picking the party that aligns the most with your preferences. The tool is called Wahlomat. It'll be online from 06 Feb evening. You can read how the tool works here (German).

Activists projected the word "Heil" together with the Elon's image

Elon Musk actively participates in world politics. He openly supports the AfD and happily shares his opinions on every burning political topic, be it the Ukraine war, the Israel conflict, European politics, or anything else.

Just search "Musk +

"Led by Donkeys" is an activist group of artists who share their opinions—well, in an artistic way (as you can see in the picture above). They literally projected Elon's image together with the word "Heil" on the Tesla Gigafactory. It's not Photoshop.

Is now the time to buy a house in Germany?

The ECB (European Central Bank) might lower the key interest rates at its next meeting on Thursday (January 30). The deposit rate was 4% pa at the beginning of 2024. It is now 3% pa and may fall further towards 2% pa in 2025.

This means two things.

• The interest you get on daily accounts and fixed deposits will go down. So, securing a long-term fixed interest on your savings account is better now. You can compare the interest rates different banks offer on fixed deposits here*.
• The mortgage interest rate will also go down. This means buying a house in Germany will be more attractive.

If you are a first-time home buyer, we recommend you read our book "How to buy a house in Germany." In the book, you'll learn

• the whole buying process
• how can you negotiate a mortgage offer to save thousands of euros
• tricks banks use to make a bad deal look good
• avoid expensive mistakes
• average property renovation costs in Germany
• how to evaluate a property and its documents
• and more

Do you know?

You can save thousands by decreasing your interest rate by just 0.1%. Many people either ignore this fact or are unaware of it.

Here is how much you save over the entire loan term if you can reduce your interest by just 0.03%, 0.1%, 0.2%, or 0.3%.

• 0.03% interest rate reduction: €2,487
• 0.1% interest rate reduction: €8,290
• 0.2% interest rate reduction: €16,500
• 0.3% interest rate reduction: €24,700

The calculation is based on

• Loan amount: 500k
• Loan Term: 30 years
• Loan repayment rate (TIlgung): 2%

So, educate yourself before investing such huge amounts.

Expensive public healthcare to affordable public healthcare

For a person like me changing my public health insurance seems like a lot of hassel. Especially when the savings are not high.

However, both statements are not true.

• Changing public health insurance takes only 5 minutes. You can do it online, without calling or writing a letter to anyone. We find TK to be the best public health insurer for expats in Germany.
• The premium savings might be low. However, you should also consider other perks you get by switching to TK.

What perks?

95% of the medical coverage is the same in all the public health insurance companies as it's regulated by law. However, public insurers offer some extras to set them apart.

• TK pays 40€ for professional teeth cleaning. It's not much, but better than many public health insurers who pay nothing.
• 120€ for Osteopathy
• Up to 400€ in bonus program

So, don't pay more for a public insurer when you can get the same or better services at another public insurer (TK) by paying less.

Community Shoutouts!

• One of our readers recommended the "SteuerCheck" by Check24 for filing tax returns. We didn't get the chance to review it. However, it's free, and the reader shared very positive feedback. So, give it a try and let us know what you think.
• We are working on adding mock tests for the German citizenship test. This will allow you to take unlimited time-based exams when preparing for the Geman naturalization test. It'll be live by next week. 🥳
• Thank you, everyone, for your positive feedback. Today, we have reached a milestone with 100 positive feedbacks. 🎉

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