First German pension payment: when the money reaches your account

A German pension always starts on the first of a month and is paid for the first time at the end of that month. Under section 99 of Social Code Book VI, an old-age pension is paid from the calendar month at whose start all conditions are met, provided you apply by the end of the third calendar month after that; if you apply later, it only starts with the month of application. Under section 118 it is paid on the last bank business day of the month it covers. If you retire on 1 January 2027, the first money arrives on 29 January 2027 and the second payment on 26 February 2027. That often leaves a gap between the last salary and the first pension: December's salary usually arrives at the end of December, the first pension at the end of January. If the award notice is not ready by the payment day, regular payments start later and the months since the pension began are paid in arrears. That back payment runs on its own schedule, not on the month-end date.