Money Talk: Albert, 34M, Lichtenberg
If you asked 10 people how to manage your money, you would get at least 10 different answers. Berlin is no different. Some people track every euro, others don’t really care. Some save aggressively, others prioritise experiences. With this new series we want to offer an insight on how Berliners handle their finances.
Today’s guest is Albert*, a 34-year-old product manager who tracks money with discipline, recently bought a flat in Lichtenberg, and is pushing towards a Director role while balancing a mortgage and an add‑on loan.
Featured in the last episode: Anna.
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*name changed for privacy
Personal snapshot
Age & gender:
34, male.
Relationship status:
Married.
Kids? Pets?
1 small dog.
Where do you live and since when?
Lichtenberg, where I bought my first home after renting there since moving to Berlin in 2020.
Describe your housing situation—own/rent, size, and monthly cost.
Owned since ‘23, moved in ‘24. 91m² living area, 4.5 rooms. Monthly costs: €2,100 mortgage, €670 loan (closing an equity gap with a high interest rate), €450 utilities.
What did you study or train in?
Software Engineering (bachelor), currently part-time Business IT (master).
Income and work
Job title, annual salary and monthly net income:
Product Manager, €80k annual, €3k bonus, 32hrs, €4.2k net monthly.
Additional monthly income (if any):
Yearly, roughly €3k (freelance author).
How did your salary evolve throughout your career?
From 2017-2021 I was in the same company, a big German corporation. I made the biggest jump when I changed companies in 2022 (Germany-based and remote-first). Before that, it was internal promotions. Details:
- Entry level 2017: €47k (I was a working student for 2 years before that)
- 2019: €55k
- 2021: €66k
- 2022: €83k (but with 80% / 4day workweek, so €100k with 100%?)
Do you negotiate salary? How do you prepare for it?
Currently pushing for a Director role. So in the middle of it. It usually happens yearly, I prepare continuously by always documenting positive outcomes, my effort and contribution to achieve them and gather and document feedback from peers.
Remote, hybrid, or office?
Remote only, 2 week-long off-sites a year.
What was your best career move? Your worst?
Leaving my first company (big corporation) after 7 years to learn if the grass is greener on the other side (it’s not, but it’s different). Definitely grown a lot through the different perspectives.
Daily life and spending
BVG monthly ticket, Deutschlandticket, bike, car, or something else?
Deutschland Ticket, an old squeaky bike from eBay and no car. Sold that when I moved to Berlin.
Do you cook regularly? How many times a week do you eat out?
Yes, daily. We eat out maybe 2 times a month.
What’s your threshold for an “expensive” restaurant meal (incl. drinks)?
€20 per person. Beyond that feels like a special occasion. Most of the time when we eat out, it’s Pizza or Bánh mì with a drink, which lands around €20. Anything over €50 per person is where I’d really think twice in our current situation (paying down the equity gap loan).
Which subscriptions do you have? (Netflix, Spotify, gym, etc.)
Netflix, Spotify, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Tierpark “Jahreskarte” and different insurance.
Do you have a cleaner?
Hell no.
What’s worth every cent you spend on it?
Tierpark Jahreskarte. Dirt cheap for what you get.
What do you spend on that you wish you could quit?
Does the mortgage and loan count? Especially the loan, because we need to get it down with monthly special payments on top (€500 to €1k depending on what we have at the end of the month).
Money mindset
How do you manage money: disciplined tracking, intuition, or something in between?
Disciplined tracking. I use Finanzguru + Excel with fixed budgets per area. Monthly, I spend max an hour checking if I’m over or under budget and adjusting behaviour.
Before bigger purchases, I check the app to see if it fits, and for major items like a new phone, I have special budgets that draw from what would otherwise go to debt repayment (always balancing: do I need this or should I pay down debt?).
Three main budget categories in Excel: fixed costs (house, insurance), household costs (groceries, mobility), and free budget (shopping, hobbies, restaurants). If I need to cut, the free budget goes first—I’d rather skip restaurants and buy better groceries. But we’re managing well, so adjustments are rare.
Is there a tool or book, essay or anything similar about money, you would recommend?
Definitely Finanzguru, really makes tracking your expenses easy. No excuse there! On top of that, I started getting more @CalebHammer shorts in my YouTube feed, but, to be honest, that’s more voyeuristic than anything else.
For German speakers, I can recommend Finanzfluss (I think they also wrote a book). But generally with stuff like that: always question their motivation, don’t just follow financial advice blindly, get a broad financial education from sources you can trust and decide for yourself. And don’t worry too much—even though it might sound like I worry way too much, I really don’t!
How comfortable do you feel about your financial situation right now?
Well could be better. But we knew we would have a couple of “harder” years now at the beginning of the loan for more financial stability in the future.
The numbers
Checking account balance (accessible today).
€6k my own, €5k shared.
Monthly savings amount.
€100 minimum, depends if you count the mortgage as savings.
Do you invest? (stocks, savings plans, other)
A couple of individual stocks (just holding), 4 managed funds and one ETF (savings plan). And one real estate, I guess.
Private or public health insurance?
Public.
How many times per year do you leave Berlin/Germany?
2 times, but to visit the family, is that really vacation?
Your current net worth?
Depends on whether you already count the real estate. Roughly €30k without; with the real estate, you could reason €200k (which is the estimated price appreciation by now).
Looking forward
What’s your biggest financial goal right now?
Getting the add-on loan paid back. For context: it’s €70k at this point, less than a yearly salary, so bridging that equity gap wasn’t completely unrealistic, and paying it off is achievable.
If you got a 20% raise tomorrow, what would change?
Nothing but our monthly add-on loan payment rate.
What money advice would you give your younger self?
If I go back in time? Move to Berlin immediately and buy real estate!
Now? Always keep an overview of your outgoing money. You don’t need exact numbers, but you should always know what rough amount of money you spend in which category. And please, for the love of god, put something in an ETF, even if it’s just €10 a month, compound interest is your friend!
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