Germany in fortune poker: who will be left behind?

Germany in fortune poker: who will be left behind?

German wealth remains a hot topic. According to a recent report by Manager Magazine Germany lags behind other countries in terms of asset growth. The latest UBS study found that German citizens are falling behind in international comparison, although there have been certain upward trends in recent years.

Asset development in Germany shows a mixed picture. Compared to other European countries, assets in this country are growing more slowly. This circumstance could affect the economic prosperity of the population and raises the question of how Germans are financially educated and willing to invest.

Asset mobility in detail

Another aspect that should not be ignored is asset mobility. As the Bundesbank explained, this is an essential indicator of the financial situation of households. It shows how families move in the distribution of wealth over the years.

The data suggests that changes in wealth position depend heavily on educational and income decisions, occupational activities and household composition. To analyze financial conditions over time, households whose reference person was between 20 and 69 years old were divided into ten-year cohorts.

Distribution of assets

Particularly revealing are the probabilities for households to remain in their wealth quintile. Surprisingly, the majority of households in the middle of the wealth distribution remain stable, while only a few from the bottom 40% make the jump to the top 20%. People in the 20-29 year old group have the highest mobility, but this decreases with increasing age.

• Die Wahrscheinlichkeit, im gleichen Quintil zu bleiben, übersteigt 50% für das oberste und unterste Quintil.
• Mobilität findet hauptsächlich in der Mitte der Verteilung statt, wobei Wechsel in Nachbarquintile deutlich häufiger sind als größere Sprünge.

Technology as a tool

An interesting approach to improving financial literacy could be the use of new technologies. For example, an app like Manager+ help raise awareness about personal finance. It helps users organize their data and offers a variety of functions for managing storage and documents.

At a time when digital solutions are becoming increasingly important, the use of such applications could significantly improve the financial situation of households. This is particularly important because the financial situation of Germans is crucial not only for individual security, but also for overall economic growth.

If you look at the developments, it is clear: Germany has a lot of catching up to do in order to keep pace in the global competition for wealth and prosperity.