Buy pension points or ETF?

You can pay voluntarily into the statutory pension and so buy yourself extra pension points. But is that worth it compared with an ETF using the same money? Here is the honest comparison, with break-even and two examples. No jargon.

How it works

Normally you collect pension points through your work. But you can also pay in extra voluntarily, through voluntary contributions or a compensatory payment, usually possible from age 50. Every point you buy raises your later pension, for life and with the annual pension adjustment.

The clever bit: this payment is tax-deductible. So you put in the gross amount, but it only costs you the net. That is exactly why the fair comparison is the same net cost, once in points and once in an ETF.

Comparing Lena and Thomas

Both pay in a one-off amount. After the tax benefit, Lena is left with a net cost of around 10,800 €, Thomas around 15,100 €. We compare what the same sum brings as bought pension points and as an ETF. All with the app's formulas, in the realistic scenario and in today's purchasing power.

Lena, 30

Thomas, 50

So why buy points at all?

Because the ETF only wins on paper, and only in the good case. Pension points pay you a pension that runs for life and is guaranteed, however old you get and whatever the stock market does. The ETF, by contrast, is a pot that lasts until your assumed life expectancy (87 in the examples, adjustable in the app), and in a bad decade it can also bring noticeably less.

That is exactly what the break-even in the app makes visible: in the realistic and the good scenario the ETF is ahead. In the pessimistic scenarios it flips, because the guarantee of the points is then worth its weight in gold. So you buy pension points not for the maximum return, but for security and a long life.

Realistic scenario (ETF return), tax benefit and values with the app's formulas. Examples for illustration, not a forecast and not advice.

Compare it yourself

In the app you can enter your own amount and set points against ETF, including break-even and across all scenarios from pessimistic to optimistic. That way you see from when the guarantee is worth it for you. All local, no sign-up, no tracking.