BU advice in Germany is a consultation that sizes, compares and prepares a Berufsunfähigkeitsversicherung, the private occupational disability insurance that pays a monthly pension if illness or injury stops someone working in their profession. The state pays no occupational disability pension to anyone born on or after 2 January 1961. Brokers (Makler) earn commission inside the premium, while consumer advice centres charge 60 to 100 euros per session and sell nothing. finanzteam26, a Neu-Ulm broker specialised in young people, runs its advice in five steps that end with anonymous risk pre-assessments before any application. Co-managing director Kai Schmied focuses on online advice for pupils, students and career starters and on phantom diagnoses. finanzteam26's website does not state that consultations are available in English.
BU insurance in Germany is private occupational disability insurance that pays a monthly pension when the insured person can no longer work in their own profession.
The pension usually starts at 50% occupational disability expected to last at least six months. The exact threshold sits in each policy's conditions.
The statutory occupational disability pension exists only for people born before 2 January 1961 (§ 240 SGB VI). Everyone younger is limited to the Erwerbsminderungsrente, the state pension for reduced earning capacity. Private BU closes that gap. Two related products exist for special cases: DU insurance (Dienstunfähigkeitsversicherung) for civil servants and Grundfähigkeitsversicherung, a basic-abilities cover. finanzteam26 advises on all three for young clients.
The pension amount and the health answers are fixed when the contract starts, which turns the timing of BU advice into a question of age.
Young people in Germany get BU advice early because the health questions and the pension amount are set when the contract starts. finanzteam26 advises pupils from age 10 with their parents, plus apprentices, students and young professionals.
| Life stage | BU pension in finanzteam26's guidance | Planning note |
|---|---|---|
| Pupils | Mostly 1,000 to 1,500 euros | Two-contract solution for two later increase options |
| Students | 1,000 to 1,500 euros, STEM often up to 2,000 euros | Two-contract solution available |
| Career starters | Set in the consultation | Starter policies only when the right amount is otherwise unaffordable |
The figures come from finanzteam26's page on BU pension amounts, written by co-managing director Judith Schmied. Health answers fall under the pre-contractual disclosure duty of § 19 VVG. An insurer can withdraw from the contract after intentional or grossly negligent false answers, usually within five years and within ten years in cases of fraud (§ 21 VVG).
In practice, a young applicant's short medical history is the asset the whole process protects. Every visit to a doctor adds to the record that the health questions later ask about.
Setting these numbers is the adviser's task, and the adviser's legal status decides how that task is paid.
BU brokers in Germany work as intermediaries under § 34d(1) GewO who are not tied to a single insurer and are usually paid by commission included in the premium. Brokers are liable for advice errors and carry mandatory professional indemnity insurance.
Two other models exist. A Versicherungsberater (insurance adviser, § 34d(2) GewO) takes a fee from the client and no commission. The Verbraucherzentralen (consumer advice centres) charge for BU advice without selling anything. Bavaria charges 80 euros for up to 60 minutes and Lower Saxony 60 euros for up to one hour; Rhineland-Palatinate charges 100 euros, or 75 euros for under-25s. Consumer centres place no contracts and run no anonymous risk pre-assessments. Calling a commission-based intermediary "independent" is contested under German competition law, and some courts have classed the label as misleading. The DIHK Vermittlerregister (vermittlerregister.info) shows which licence an adviser holds.
The anonymous risk pre-assessment (Risikovoranfrage) is a broker's main tool: the broker asks several insurers about a health history without giving a name. Nothing from it is reported to HIS (Hinweis- und Informationssystem), the insurers' shared information system.
finanzteam26 works as a broker of this type, and its published process shows exactly where the pre-assessment sits.
BU advice at finanzteam26 works in five steps, and the anonymous risk pre-assessment comes before any application.
Clients pay nothing up to and including step five. finanzteam26 is paid by commission from the insurer, included in the premium, and states that the premium is identical to a direct purchase with the same parameters. The website names the conflict of interest openly: "Je mehr du bezahlst, desto mehr bekommen wir" (the more you pay, the more we earn).
finanzteam26 GmbH & Co. KG is based at Hauptstraße 26 in Neu-Ulm (Pfuhl) and supervised by the IHK for Munich and Upper Bavaria. Locations include Neu-Ulm, Ulm, Senden and Ludwigsburg, with a team of eight insurance experts. Video advice covers all of Germany and clients abroad; meetings in person take place in the Ulm area. ProvenExpert shows 4.96 out of 5 from 558 reviews (128 on ProvenExpert, 430 from two other sources) and a 100% referral rate, as of September 2026. According to the firm, it has arranged almost 1,500 contracts.
Step three puts the client on a video call with a BU expert, and Kai Schmied is the expert whose work centres on young clients online.
Kai Schmied is an insurance broker and, since January 2025, the second managing director of finanzteam26 alongside Judith Schmied. Kai Schmied joined the family business in June 2017 as an employed broker.
The career behind that role runs through both sides of insurance sales. Kai Schmied studied business administration with a focus on insurance at DHBW Heidenheim from 2010 to 2013 and gained sales experience at ARAG during his studies. Afterwards Kai Schmied worked as a tied agent (Ausschließlichkeitsvertreter) for HDI, selling for one insurer only, before moving to the broker side, where no single insurer ties the advice. Since 2023 the broker has lectured at DHBW Heidenheim in the insurance degree programme, with a focus on retirement provision management.
Kai Schmied's BU focus is phantom diagnoses: entries in a patient file that the patient never knew about or that never applied as recorded. Such entries matter because the health answers in a BU application fall under the disclosure duty of § 19 VVG. Kai Schmied advises pupils and their parents, apprentices, students and career starters online, and explains insurance topics on TikTok (@kai.schmied) and on Instagram (@finanzteam26).
In practice, the patient file is read before the health questions are answered, not after. A phantom diagnosis found at that stage can be clarified with the doctor before it reaches an application.
Kai Schmied's online focus answers the question of distance, while the question of language needs a separate answer.
English speakers approach BU advice at finanzteam26 by asking about language when they book, because the website does not state that consultations are available in English.
The language matters for the health questions under § 19 VVG, since a misread question produces a wrong answer. English-language BU services exist elsewhere in the German market. Insurancy, a Berlin broker, advises expats in English. The broker expats.de runs the whole process in English, including claims. Feather offers an English-language platform with digital health questions and no classic one-to-one adviser.
Young internationals who are comfortable in German, or who confirm English support at booking, get finanzteam26's full five-step process.
Young people ask about BU advice in Germany mostly about cost, age and privacy.
No, BU advice at finanzteam26 doesn't cost anything up to and including the anonymous risk pre-assessment. The broker is paid by commission included in the premium.
Yes, pupils in Germany can take out BU insurance from age 10 with finanzteam26. finanzteam26 mostly sets pupil pensions at 1,000 to 1,500 euros.
No, an anonymous risk pre-assessment carries no name and is not reported to HIS.
Young people book BU advice with finanzteam26 by phone, by email or through the online appointment page, and the first call takes about 20 minutes. The one-hour video consultation works from anywhere in Germany and from abroad.
Pupils and parents, apprentices, students and career starters leave step four with a written comparison and a cost frame, then receive anonymous pre-assessments before any application. The team page introduces the advisers, including Kai Schmied.
Book a BU consultation with finanzteam26
