Financial expert gives 8 important financial tips for the end of the year - how to save a lot of money until New Year's Eve.

Es gibt viele Erledigungen, die man so lange vor sich herschiebt wie möglich. Für einige ist nun aber die Zeit gekommen – sonst ist das Geld futsch.

At the end of the year, things will be less stressful for many people, at least professionally. You should now use the energy you save there privately - and complete some important tasks related to your finances. Because this way you can save a lot of money until New Year's Eve.

1. Change electricity and gas providers

Because of the budget gap, the price caps for electricity and gas will expire at the end of the year. One more reason to check whether your provider is comparatively expensive. Switching to a cheaper tariff also has the advantage that you benefit from lower fixed costs every month. Take care of once, save several times!

2. Change health insurance company

3. Save taxes

Admittedly, there isn't much leeway left. But if you can still control whether you have a doctor's treatment this year or next, have a handyman come or buy glasses, you should calculate in which year the expenditure makes more sense. You can also deduct donations from your taxes - and this can be done online with just a few clicks. You can read more tax tips for the end of the year here.

4. Take advantage of high interest rates

This year interest rates finally went up again. But anyone who stayed with their house bank doesn't necessarily benefit from this. Or at least not to the extent that it would be possible. For new customers, over 4 percent on the daily allowance is sometimes possible. If you know that you can do without your money for a while, you should opt for a fixed-term deposit - and thus secure the high interest rates in the long term.

5. Check exemption orders

Have you already collected a lot of interest? Then the correct division of your exemption orders is particularly important. Savers can collect up to 1,000 euros per year in income without having to pay taxes. You can set up an exemption order so that your bank or custody provider doesn't pay the tax in the first place. However, if you place multiple orders, make sure that you do not exceed the 1,000 euro savings flat rate total. Read more about this here.

6. Check depot

If you plan for retirement with stocks, you should check your portfolio at least once a year. Many savers choose a mix of stock investments such as ETFs and comparatively safe investments such as call money and fixed-term deposits. Here you should check whether the relationship between risk and security is still correct.

For example, if the stock markets are doing poorly in a year, but interest rates are rising, the proportion of stocks will fall in relation to the overnight and fixed-term deposits. Restore the original ratio by purchasing stocks, ETFs or funds or withdrawing part of your safe investments. You can read more about this so-called rebalancing here.

7. Secure Riester allowances

If something has changed in your salary this year, for example because you went part-time, changed jobs or got a pay increase, you should check whether you need to adjust your Riester contribution accordingly. Especially if you now earn more, it may otherwise happen that you no longer receive the full allowances. Anyone who has had a child should also inform their provider about this, as there are additional allowances for children. You can read how high they are here.

8. Optimize insurance

Sometimes it's best to explicitly do nothing. This applies to many property owners with construction financing this year. If you have taken out the loan at a low interest rate, you should forego the option of special repayment and prefer to invest the money in fixed-term deposits with a higher interest rate. “This can bring hundreds of euros more,” advises the consumer portal “Finanztip”.