What is the Pension Account (Altersvorsorgedepot)?

You can open an AVD if you:

1. Are at least 18 years old; and
2. You are subject to unlimited tax liability in Germany or in an EU/EEA country with a German pension link; 
3. Belong to one of these groups; and
   1. Employees: Anyone compulsorily insured in Germany (“gesetzlich Pflichtversicherte”)
   2. Self-employed individuals: anyone with income under §15 EStG (business owners, “Gewerbetreibende”) or § 18 EStG (freelancers and independent professionals) who files a tax return
   3. Parents: Individuals during their recognized child-rearing periods (“Kindererziehungszeit”) - statutorily limited to 3 years per child
   4. Benefit Recipients (provided they were compulsorily insured in the statutory pension scheme at some point in the calendar year before the benefit began): Individuals receiving unemployment benefit (“ALG I”), sickness benefit (“Krankengeld”), injury benefit (“Verletztengeld”), sickness benefit under social compensation law (“Versorgungskrankengeld”), or transitional allowance (“Übergangsgeld”)
   5. Members of professional pension schemes (“berufsständische Versorgungseinrichtungen”), subject to giving data-transfer consent
   6. Civil servants & equivalents: Civil servants (“Beamte”), judges, professional soldiers, and pension recipients (“Versorgungsempfänger”), subject to data-transfer consent
   7. Carers: Non-commercial caregivers (“Pflegende”) who are statutory mandatory insured during their caregiving period.
   8. Minijobbers: Only if they have not opted out of the statutory pension scheme
   9. Artists & Publicists: Only if mandatory insured under the Artists' Social Security (“Künstlersozialversicherung”, “KSV”).
   10. Farmers: Individuals insured under the “old-age pension” for farmers (“Alterssicherung der Landwirte”)
   11. Disability Pensioners: Recipients of full reduced-earning capacity pensions (“Erwerbsminderungs” or “Erwerbsunfähigkeitsrente”)
   12. Volunteers: Individuals in the Federal Volunteer Service (“Bundesfreiwilligendienst”)
   13. Spouses and registered civil partners: If a person does not fit into any directly eligible category above, they can qualify indirectly (“mittelbar”) if their partner is directly eligible. To receive funding, the indirect partner must open an AVD contract in their own name and contribute a statutory minimum of €120 per year. Note: Their state allowance is capped at a flat €175 per year under the new system.

Additional information on eligibility criteria can found on the official German Ministry of Finance website here.

Eligibility has been expanded compared with Riester. For the first time, the self-employed and members of professional pension schemes get access to this type of state subsidies on a capital-market retirement vehicle.

Yes - and the law gives you three options to handle the move:

1. Option A: Convert in place: stay with your state-subsidised private pension product (“Riester”) provider if they offer a one-click conversion to AVD in January 2027.
2. Option B: Transfer to Trading 212: Your old provider sells your Riester investments and wires the cash balance to your new T212 AVD. Subsidies you've already earned stay with you.
3. Option C: Start fresh: keep your Riester running (it stays subsidised under the old rules) and open a separate AVD at Trading 212 in parallel.

Your AVD at Trading 212 is protected on four independent levels:

1. State certification: every AVD product must be certified by the Federal Central Tax Office (“Bundeszentralamt für Steuern”, “BZSt”) before it can be sold. Trading 212's AVD will carry this certification.
2. Regulated broker: Trading 212 operates as a licensed broker (“Wertpapierinstitut”) under Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (“MiFID II”), supervised by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (“BaFin”).
3. Your investments are segregated: the ETFs, funds and eligible financial instruments in your account are held separately from Trading 212's own assets. In the unlikely event of Trading 212 ceasing to operate, your investments would remain yours and accessible.
4. Your cash is safe: any uninvested cash in your AVD is held with one or more partner bank(s) and covered by that bank’s statutory deposit insurance up to €100,000 per customer. Part of your cash can be held in QMMFs with separate protection mechanisms - learn more about how your cash is secured at Trading 212 on our client money protection page here.

State subsidies are administered and audited by the Central Subsidy Office for Retirement Assets (“Zentrale Zulagenstelle für Altersvermögen”, “ZfA”) - an arm of the German Federal Pension Authority - so your subsidies sit in a state-supervised flow from day one.

No, you cannot transfer an existing Rürup pension (“Basisrente”) into a new AVD account. The German Ministry of Finance has explicitly stated that the new legislation does not allow funds to be moved from a basic pension contract (like Rürup) into the new Altersvorsorgedepot.

If you already have a Rürup contract, you can:

• Keep it running: Your existing Rürup contract will remain active and continue to benefit from its original tax-deductibility rules.
• Open an AVD in parallel: You can open a new, separate AVD alongside your Rürup contract to start taking advantage of the new state subsidies (“Zulagen”) and the flexibility of the capital-market options.

Not yet. The Trading 212 retirement savings depot ("Altersvorsorgedepot", AVD) is at pre-launch launch stage. The new legal framework allows products to become available from January 2027. Until then, the landing page can help you learn about the product and register interest, but it is not a contract opening, subsidy application or investment instruction.

You can prepare the details the app is likely to need: German tax ID, current tax residency, employment or pension-status information, child allowance details (if relevant), and information about any existing state-subsidised private pension product ("Riester") contracts (if any). Do not cancel or transfer an existing contract just because AVD is coming. The final product documents and opening flow will be available when the T212 EU product is ready

No.The AVD is a separate certified retirement contract with its own eligible instrument universe and tax treatment. You will normally fund it with cash contributions or, where the rules will allow, a transfer from an eligible old retirement contract. Existing taxable Invest holdings stay in your regular account unless you decide separately to sell them and transfer the cash to the AVD.

Yes. A retirement savings depot invests in capital-market products, so the value can go down as well as up. State certification means the product meets legal certification requirements. It does not guarantee performance or protect you from market losses. A capital guarantee is a different product route and is not provided within a Trading 212 AVD account.

You can pause or change contributions. Your AVD is not automatically closed just because you miss a month. However, the state allowance for a contribution year is only available if you pay at least EUR 120 of your own money in that year and meet the other eligibility conditions. If you pay less, you should expect no allowance for that year.

Living outside Germany does not automatically make you eligible or ineligible. Exact legal framework is not yet available. The following is not advice from Trading 212.

If you live abroad or move abroad, three things matter:

1. During the saving phase: you must update your address and tax residency. If you no longer belong to the eligible group, you should not expect new state allowances ("Zulagen") or German tax benefits for that period.
2. If you live in the EU/EEA: moving within the EU/EEA does not by itself trigger repayment of past subsidies, but your eligibility and tax treatment still depend on your personal German tax and pension status.
3. If you retire outside the EU/EEA: from the start of the payout phase, German rules treat this as harmful use ("schädliche Verwendung"). This means state allowances and tax benefits received during the saving phase may have to be repaid.

Check out the official German Ministry of Finance page with more facts about the new pension account (“Altersvorsorgedepot”) here.

The Standard Account (“Standard Depot”) is the default option required by the German legislator - the simplest way without individual investment decisions.

Three things make it different from a regular investment account:

1. All-in costs on the Standard Depot are capped at 1.0% per year by law. The cap applies to every Standard Depot regardless of provider; it does not apply to the Flexible AVD.
2. Two-fund automatic structure: one safer fund and one growth-oriented fund. You decide how to split contributions; if you don't, a default split applies.
3. Auto-pilot lifecycle: in the 5 years before your payout date the share of growth assets is automatically capped at 50%; in the final 2 years it drops to at most 30%. You never have to manually rebalance.

If you'd rather build your own portfolio, you can switch to the Flexible AVD at any time.

You choose between two tracks:

• Standard Account (“Standard Depot”): the pre-built lifecycle portfolio (see above). No instrument picking on your side.
• Flexible AVD: you build the portfolio from a defined universe:
  • UCITS funds and ETFs (mainstream EU-regulated funds and ETFs)
  • Specific alternative investment funds (AIFs)
  • ELTIFs (European Long-Term Investment Funds)
  • EUR-denominated government and public-sector bonds

All risk-rated instruments are capped at risk class 5 on the standardised Basic information sheet (“Basisinformationsblatt”) (PRIIPs KID, scale 1-7).

What's not eligible inside an AVD: individual single stocks, leveraged products, derivatives, single high-risk instruments (risk class 6-7), and crypto.

The calculator on this page shows a 7% nominal annual return projection for the growth-oriented portion of your portfolio. This figure is:

1. A long-term simplified historical average for diversified global equity ETFs net of fund costs
2. Illustrative only - actual returns could be higher or lower, including the possibility of capital loss, potential platform costs, etc.
3. Applied to your contributions plus state subsidies (“Zulagen”) stacked over the saving years up to age 65

The projection assumes you:

1. Stay invested through to your 65th birthday (start of pension phase, “Auszahlungsphase”)
2. Contribute the amount you enter every year (no missed payments)
3. Are signed up to the Flexible AVD - additional information on potential platform costs is not considered in the projection

The value projection is intended as an illustration and is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Actual results may vary based on market conditions, fees and other factors

Trading 212 can give general product information, but not personal pension, tax or investment advice. In a flexible AVD, you choose from the eligible product universe yourself. Trading 212 may show product information, risk information and suitability or appropriateness checks where required, but it won’t present a personalised recommendation.

Trading 212 will announce all product details when the certified product is ready and when the Product Information Sheet ("Produktinformationsblatt")  becomes available.

You can usually leave old Riester capital with the old provider, but opening a new post-2026 AVD can move your retirement provision into the new funding system and can end legacy contract ("Bestandsvertrag") status for the old contract. Trading 212 will ask about existing Riester or AVD contracts and show the legal consequences before you sign.

The AVD is a long-term retirement product - by law, your money is locked until your 65th birthday (pension phase “Auszahlungsphase” begins). Withdrawing earlier triggers what the law calls harmful use ("schädliche Verwendung"), which means:

1. All state subsidies (“Zulagen”) you received must be repaid
2. All tax breaks you claimed on contributions must be repaid
3. Gains in the account become fully taxable

There are two important exceptions where you can use the money early without penalty:

1. Your own home: withdrawing capital to buy or pay down the mortgage on a home you live in (Home-Riester / Home pension - “Eigenheimrente”)
2. Hardship cases: disability or death (see “What happens if I become disabled or die?”)

You can also stop contributing at any time without penalty - your money stays invested tax-free until age 65.

The following options are presented based on the BMF comments here. Trading 212's operational implementation of the payout options is not yet finalised and will be clarified with the product launch.

The reformed AVD is a pure investment product - unlike old state-subsidised private pension product (“Riester”), it no longer bundles disability or life insurance into the contract. Instead:

• If you die: your AVD capital - including all subsidies (“Zulagen”) earned to date - can be transferred tax-free to your spouse's or registered civil partner's own AVD or AVD-eligible contract. No clawback of state subsidies.
• If you become unable to work/ lose earning capacity (“Erwerbsminderung”): you can apply for early access to your AVD funds without losing your subsidies, on proof of disability.
• Optional payout protection: when you set up your AVD payout plan from the age of 65, you can choose a 10-year or 20-year annuity guarantee period (“Rentengarantiezeit”). If you die during that period, payouts continue to your designated beneficiary.

If you want broader disability or life cover, you'll need a separate insurance product - that part has been deliberately unbundled to make AVD cheaper and simpler.

The German state tops up your AVD savings every year. Three layers stack:

• Basic subsidy (“Grundzulage”):
  • 50 cents for every €1 you save on the first €360 per year - up to €180
  • 25 cents for every €1 you save from €360.01 to €1,800 per year - up to an additional €360
  • Maximum: €540 a year in free state money - active from day one in 2027 (no later step-up)
• Child bonus (“Kinderzulage”): €300 per child, per year. 
• Career starter bonus (“Berufseinsteiger-Bonus”): open an AVD before your 25th birthday and the state pays a one-time €200 bonus on top of your first Grundzulage.

Minimum to unlock any subsidy: just €120 a year of your own contribution (€10 a month).

It depends on the type of unemployment - the law treats three situations differently:

1. You receive unemployment benefits I (“Arbeitslosengeld I”, “ALG I”). 
   Good news: while you're on ALG I, you remain a compulsory member of the statutory pension scheme - so for AVD purposes you're treated exactly like an employee. You get:
   1. The full €540/year basic subsidy (“Grundzulage”)
   2. The full €300/year child bonus (“Kinderzulage”) per child
   3. Full tax deduction on contributions up to €1,800/year
   4. The €200 Career starter bonus (“Berufseinsteiger-Bonus”) if you're under 25
2. You receive Citizen's allowance (“Bürgergeld” - formerly ALG II / Hartz IV”), or are not working, but you are married to (or in a registered civil partnership with) an eligible person - you could qualify as Indirectly subsidy-eligible (“mittelbar zulageberechtigt"). Your conditions for subsidy eligibility are as follows: 
   1. A basic subsidy of up to €175/year (the cap is reached as soon as your spouse contributes €350+/year into their own AVD).
   2. A statutory minimum contribution of €120/year (€10/month) is mandatory. You must pay this out of pocket into your own contract to trigger any state allowance; it is not optional.
   3. The full €300/year child bonus per child, based on your own contributions.
   4. No tax deduction (the Special-expenses deduction or “Sonderausgabenabzug” is only available to the directly eligible spouse).
3. You receive Bürgergeld (or are not working) AND you are single / not married to an eligible person - you belong to the non-eligible segment (“nicht zulageberechtigt”). This means:
   1. No state subsidies: You do not receive the basic subsidy or child bonuses.
   2. No tax deductions: You cannot deduct your contributions from your income tax.
   3. What happens to your AVD: Your contract does not get cancelled. You can either pause your contributions without penalty or continue paying into the account out of pocket as a standard, non-subsidized private investment depot.
4. The moment you start working, receive ALG I, or marry an eligible person, your contract immediately becomes subsidy-eligible (no need to open a new contract).

The following options are presented based on the BMF comments here. Trading 212's operational implementation of the payout options is not yet finalised and will be clarified with the product launch.

When you reach age 65, you choose how to receive your AVD as retirement income. The law gives you two main options that you can also combine:

1. Up to 30% as a tax-deferred lump sum at the start of the payout phase ("Auszahlungsphase"). You receive this in cash and the tax due on it can be spread across the following five years.
2. Monthly pension payments from the remaining capital. You choose between:
   1. A lifetime annuity ("Leibrente"): guaranteed monthly payments for as long as you live, no matter how old you get.
       
   2. A long-term payout plan ("Auszahlungsplan"): monthly payments that must last at least until your 85th birthday, after which any remaining capital is paid out as a final lump sum.

Your capital that hasn't been paid out yet stays invested in your AVD during the payout phase - so it continues to grow tax-free.

Why age 65 and not earlier? Under the new 2026 reform, the earliest payout age for AVD is 65 (vs. 62 for old Riester contracts). The cut-off was raised to align with the rising statutory pension age in Germany.

No. A waitlist or interest registration only tells us that you want updates. It does not reserve a state allowance ("Zulage"), create an AVD contract or lock in fees, funds or tax treatment. Before you can open the product, Trading 212 will show the certified product details and the Product Information Sheet ("Produktinformationsblatt") when it becomes available.