About to retire in Germany

In a short concise answer:

1)  The companies that you work for, are obliged to match your pension contribution towards your retirement age. So it is their business too. (and a good, zero risk investment with 50% immediate growth, that you cannot match with otherwise risky investments).

2) If you are one of the top 1% earners (>250k pa) and have saved a humongous amount to be fully independent, over the next 32 years (if you are 68) , without earning an official salary, whilst still paying all the increasing medical bills, holidays, home improvements, kids, insurance, etc. you will nothing to worry about. But, the fact that you cannot afford a personal financial advisor for managing such wealth , by now , strongly hints that you should hear alarm bells at this stage.

3)  *Irrespectively , (ceiling contributions) everyone contributes towards a point system for inflation related reimbursements. Meaning : you cannot just join the DRV at the latest possible stage and hope to get the same state benefits. Simple calculation, whatever you and your company contributed, thus far, divided and spread over 32 years are what you are entitled to.  In fact, rentenalter is just the age where it is inhumane to yourself and your co-workers to continue employment. Earlier Rentenalter are achieved once you have made enough contributions and personal savings to enjoy holidays and your golden years. Renten is not a socialist “freebie” that all are entitled too.

4) Therefore, your wording should simply be, „I am leaving the company“, then they are guaranteed not to worry about you or whether the state will come knocking on their door due to „schein beschäftigung“ - often caused by those self employed contractors , where pension is your personal responsibility.

5) Btw this is also the same in the UK and US (401K), with the minor difference that the pension funds are allowed to gamble with high risk investors and millions of old age people are lately left with a bankrupt pension funds (due to lazy & greedy,  corrupted) politicians not closing those gaps).

This might be just a matter of wording: Retirement ("in Rente gehen") in Germany means living off pension payments, but what you want to do is resigning and becoming unemployed ("erwerbslos").

But I do not understand why you want to NOT get your pension entitlement?

Yes, you could apply for it later, but then you'd get the same per month as now, just for a shorter time - effectively making the period without payments a gift to the German pension system.

If I were you and wouldn't need that money, I'd take it nevertheless and donate it to a good cause of my choice!

@Beppi and @Johannes -

thanks for your feedback! And yes, now I realize that if I had just stated "I'm resigning from" the company, I would have avoided all this...

Anyways, my point was that whether I'm going to retirement or not is my personal business and the company should not be concerned as I will no longer be on the payroll. I'm just

trying to understand what practical purpose (from company’s stand point) my proof would have.

Again - thank you very much for your prompt responses and really appreciate.

Best Regards

Well,the requirements and procedures for retiring and resigning are different. That's all there is to it!