Live longer. Speak more openly.

Old-age poverty begins before retirement.

“Fortunately, I do not have money worries right now.” That is a good place to be. It may describe your present, or the present of someone you have just spoken to. It does not yet explain the next thirty years. And it tells us little about the people working beside us, working for us, or sharing our lives.

Poverty in later life often begins much earlier. An interruption in paid work. Years of unpaid care. Illness. Fees that never leave enough margin. Pension rights that nobody has checked. Sometimes it begins inside a successful business whose owner has attached their entire personal future to a sale that may never happen.

This series opens a conversation about financial health, dignity and responsibility. People who feel secure today belong in that conversation too. Security can make it easier to listen, make space and help someone else find reliable information.

The applause ends. The bills continue.

An interview with actor Christian Kahrmann in the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger on 7 October 2026 provides the starting point. He describes the pressure of irregular engagements, a difficult market and illness. A familiar public face can sit alongside a private reality that audiences do not see.

His account is one person’s experience, not a description of every actor or insurance arrangement. Its wider relevance is our tendency to mistake visibility for wealth. A recognised name is not a pension statement. A full calendar is not proof of long-term security.

Germany’s Artists’ Social Insurance Fund reports mean expected annual income of €21,336 among its active insured members at the beginning of 2026. This refers to reported income from self-employed artistic or publishing work, broadly profit. It is not revenue, household take-home pay or the size of a pension. The group does not include all artists. Even with those limits, the figure gives useful context to a conversation that too often starts with celebrity instead of economics. Künstlersozialkasse, Einkommen, Stand 01.01.2026

A statistic needs a definition

The latest Eurostat table puts Germany’s at-risk-of-poverty rate for people aged 65 and over at 19.5%, compared with 16.3% for the EU as a whole. Ordering the 27 member states from the lowest to the highest rate places Germany eighteenth. Slovakia is at 5.2%, Latvia at 41.7%. This is our calculation from the 2025 survey table, generally reflecting income in the preceding year. Eurostat, ilc_li02, EU-SILC 2025

Here, the threshold is 60% of each country’s median equivalised disposable household income. It measures relative income poverty. It is not a count of everyone facing hunger, and it does not fully capture wealth, housing expenses or individual needs.

For a separate international comparison, the OECD uses a 50% threshold for people aged 66 and over. Its table reports 12.6% for Germany, 20.0% for Japan, 39.7% for South Korea and 22.9% for the United States. The underlying years differ: 2021, 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively. These figures do not create a current worldwide league table. Nor do Japan and South Korea represent all of Asia. OECD, Pensions at a Glance 2025, Tabelle 7.2

Across Asia, pension systems, informal work and family support vary considerably. The ILO’s regional social protection report documents that diversity. Receiving a pension does not automatically establish that it is adequate. ILO, Sozialschutz in Asien und Pazifik 2024/26 US Census figures also show the effect of measurement: in 2025, poverty among people aged 65 and over is 9.8% under the official measure and 15.4% under the supplemental measure, which considers medical out-of-pocket costs among other factors. US Census, Poverty in the United States: 2025

Freedom needs a foundation

Actors depend on engagements, authors on fees and rights, designers on projects. Freelancers and small business owners balance immediate costs with reserves and retirement provision. Some have very little room left. Telling everyone to save more cannot explain away low pay or missing contributions.

Being self-employed in Germany does not automatically mean being outside the statutory pension system. Some groups have compulsory cover; eligible artists and writers may have access through the artists' social insurance system. Other routes include voluntary contributions or, under conditions, applying for compulsory insurance. The first practical step is to establish the actual status and review the contribution record. Deutsche Rentenversicherung, Selbständige

Undeclared work can leave missing or hard-to-prove contribution periods. Cash payment alone does not make work illegal. Rights depend on the real employment relationship and evidence. The useful response is to make income and entitlements lawful and visible, while avoiding humiliation and simplistic assumptions about individual blame.

What if the exit never comes?

Building a company can be a worthwhile life project. An expected sale is a possibility, however, before it becomes money available to its founder. A valuation is not a sale price, and a sale price is not the founder’s personal net proceeds. Ownership, debt, investor preferences, transaction costs, taxes and deferred payments all change the result.

Imagine a successful exit leaves €1 million privately available. Ignore other income, returns and inflation, and divide it evenly until age 100. An exit at 28 leaves about €1,157 per month. At 48, about €1,603. At 78, about €3,788. This simplified illustration uses today’s purchasing power. It is not a withdrawal recommendation.

The money is identical. The period it has to support is different. Early success needs a long plan. Late success cannot buy back every lost year. And a plan without an exit needs foundations that do not depend entirely on company value: dependable entitlements, accessible personal resources and a realistic alternative.

More years need a budget

Germany’s latest period life table gives men aged 65 a further 18.0 years on average, women 21.1 years. An average is not an expiry date. Planning to 95 or 100 is a sensitivity scenario, not a lifespan prediction. Destatis, Sterbetafel 2023/2025

Take an illustrative retirement beginning at 67. Monthly spending is €2,500, dependable net income €1,600, both expressed in today’s purchasing power. The gap is €900. With no real return, financing that gap until 85 takes €194,400. Until 95, €302,400. Until 100, €356,400. An additional decade adds €300,000 of spending and €108,000 of unmet income in this example.

This is not an average household budget or an individual savings target. Rent, home ownership, a partner, existing rights and care needs change the calculation. A second scenario raises assumed expenses at 80 and again at 90 to explore greater support needs. Residential care requires a separate calculation: adding its full cost to a complete home budget would double-count some accommodation and meals. vdek, Pflege-Eigenanteile Juli 2026

Longevity is also about participation, relationships and support. Living longer and living more years in good health are different outcomes, as the WHO’s measures recognise. Ageing research matters, but it cannot provide a dependable personal contract for extra decades. WHO, Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy National Institute on Aging, Forschung zum Altern

A question of company culture

For CEOs, managing directors and family business owners, this issue starts before succession. Are fees reliable? Are invoices paid on time? Can people discuss financial uncertainty without risking their reputation or job? Is there understandable education and a confidential route to independent guidance?

Voluntary education does not require disclosure of private account balances. A team discussion must not put anyone on display. Financial literacy can support better decisions, but it cannot replace adequate pay or viable social protection.

Queen Máxima’s work as the UN Special Advocate for Financial Health offers a useful reference: managing daily finances, coping with shocks and preparing for the future. This is an independent editorial initiative. It claims no partnership with or endorsement by Queen Máxima. UN Special Advocate for Financial Health

You do not have to publish your finances. Start with three private questions: What am I actually entitled to? What do I need each month? Which assumption holds my plan together?

Then ask someone close to you: “What would give you more security for later life?” Listen before offering advice. The answer may involve money, knowledge, or simply permission to admit uncertainty. Those of us without money worries today can help make that permission possible.