CHP / Gerd Kommer Invest
Updated January 26, 2026
Gerd Kommer is known to many Germans from his books on ETF investments. In addition, through his company "Gerd Kommer Invest", he also offers investment management, particularly for German and Liechtenstein family foundations; details on this can be found here on his website.
Tax advice is then provided by a partner firm.
Tax advice is then provided by a partner firm.
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Summary
1.0
Very bad
• 1 review- Competence
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1.0
- Overall impression
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1.0
- Value for money
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1.0
1 review
CHP / Gerd Kommer Invest review from December 03, 2025
Dr. Oliver Eidel
•
Updated January 26, 2026
- Competence
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1.0
- Value for money
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1.0
- Overall impression
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1.0
Many know Gerd Kommer from his books on ETF investments. Few know that he also wrote the book "Souverän Vermögen schützen" (Sovereignly Protecting Wealth), which includes, among other things, strategies for long-term asset protection. Initially, I found the book quite good - ultimately, you learn a few strategies that were previously likely only known to family offices.
At the same time, however, one gets the impression more and more that the book is a kind of advertising measure for the advisory services of Gerd Kommer Invest and especially for his co-author Olaf Gierhake.
Like many tax advisors who like to sell "their" chosen solution for the exit tax, Kommer and Gierhake also have their own solution, which they mention and praise really very (very) often in the book: The Liechtenstein Family Foundation.
However, one has to differentiate a bit here regarding who provides what - after all, this is primarily about asset management, i.e., Gerd Kommer Invest primarily wants to find clients who then delegate the management of their ETFs etc. to Gerd Kommer Invest; Gerd Kommer Invest has nothing to do with tax advice and exit tax initially.
It gets interesting, however, because they also mention the advantage of the Liechtenstein foundation in the book regarding the exit tax (shareholdings held in the foundation do not fall under the exit tax); furthermore, they offer a free initial consultation, where a tax advisor from a partner law firm is also present.
I tried that out.
The partner firm is CHP in Munich and the tax advisor was Christian Pracher.
As described above, one has to differentiate the two companies and their services a bit, so here are several sections:
Gerd Kommer Invest
At the same time, however, one gets the impression more and more that the book is a kind of advertising measure for the advisory services of Gerd Kommer Invest and especially for his co-author Olaf Gierhake.
Like many tax advisors who like to sell "their" chosen solution for the exit tax, Kommer and Gierhake also have their own solution, which they mention and praise really very (very) often in the book: The Liechtenstein Family Foundation.
However, one has to differentiate a bit here regarding who provides what - after all, this is primarily about asset management, i.e., Gerd Kommer Invest primarily wants to find clients who then delegate the management of their ETFs etc. to Gerd Kommer Invest; Gerd Kommer Invest has nothing to do with tax advice and exit tax initially.
It gets interesting, however, because they also mention the advantage of the Liechtenstein foundation in the book regarding the exit tax (shareholdings held in the foundation do not fall under the exit tax); furthermore, they offer a free initial consultation, where a tax advisor from a partner law firm is also present.
I tried that out.
The partner firm is CHP in Munich and the tax advisor was Christian Pracher.
As described above, one has to differentiate the two companies and their services a bit, so here are several sections:
Gerd Kommer Invest
- Primarily offer asset management. Fee is approx. 1% of assets under management per year (doesn't sound bad in itself).
- If you add up all fees incl. ETF and bank fees (see below), you arrive at approx. 1.5% fees per year in total (i.e., including Gerd Kommer Invest fee).
Liechtenstein Banks
- 0.15% / year fees on total assets - this is apparently already a negotiated price, as the usual price seems to be 0.3% / year.
- Additionally 100-150€ per ETF transaction.
- Overall, one can say that Liechtenstein banks are quite expensive, or conversely that German banks are comparatively cheap, especially because no annual fee is charged based on the total assets.
Liechtenstein Family Foundation
- For setting up the foundation, they cooperate with Marxer, supposedly one of the oldest law firms in this field.
- 10k€ costs for setting it up, plus approx. 6k€ for the German tax advisors (?), so a total of approx. 16k€. It was unclear whether this was a fixed price or an estimate for hourly billing.
- Running costs then 10k€ / year. Also unclear here if it was a fixed price, but it sounded like it.
- All in all, the costs here appeared somewhat higher than if you look for a company in Liechtenstein yourself (see my experience report on LCG), but not much higher.
How does setting up the foundation work?
- Drafting the foundation statutes with Marxer.
- Transmitting the documents to the responsible German tax office for a binding ruling, among other things to confirm that the foundation is not "transparent", i.e., that it is not attributed directly to me (but to the trustee). Otherwise, most advantages of the Liechtenstein foundation are lost, so this is very important.
Incidentally, it was noted that the Berlin tax office seems to be extremely slow with the binding ruling and takes e.g. 6+ months for a response. It did not seem really clear whether they view the topic of exit tax very critically (like Bavaria), but it seemed to be primarily the problem that they simply take a very long time to answer.
(Other tax advisors said such a binding ruling was not necessary - I will link the experience report here when I have finished writing it) - Finally, the assets (money, ETFs, etc.) are moved into the foundation and the "normal" administrative activities by Gerd Kommer Invest begin.
Tax Questions
During the conversation, I asked CHP a few tax questions, hoping that I would make progress regarding my situation with the exit tax:
- Would the Liechtenstein foundation be a good solution for me here? --> They have to examine this more closely, they will send me an offer.
- Generally speaking, how does the contribution of assets into the foundation work, i.e., in my case from a GmbH? --> They have to examine this more closely, they will send me an offer.
Overall, the tax advisor from CHP was unfortunately not very helpful.
Summary
As already mentioned above, one has to differentiate the experience report somewhat, as ultimately two companies with two very different services were present: Gerd Kommer Invest for asset management and CHP for tax advice.
Overall, I found that the employee from Gerd Kommer Invest was really very constructive and helpful - I learned a lot about the cost structures of Liechtenstein foundations. Furthermore, he got to the point quickly and didn't talk forever.
The tax advisor from CHP, on the other hand, I found not particularly helpful. Ultimately, none of my questions were answered and the answer was always "we have to examine, we will send an offer".
Offer from CHP
I received the offer from CHP a few days later. The key data:
Overall, I found that the employee from Gerd Kommer Invest was really very constructive and helpful - I learned a lot about the cost structures of Liechtenstein foundations. Furthermore, he got to the point quickly and didn't talk forever.
The tax advisor from CHP, on the other hand, I found not particularly helpful. Ultimately, none of my questions were answered and the answer was always "we have to examine, we will send an offer".
Offer from CHP
I received the offer from CHP a few days later. The key data:
- My name was misspelled.
- The font looks like Comic Sans.
- Costs: First 3k€ for a "binding cost estimate" - so, wait a minute, the offer here does not yet contain a real cost estimate and I would first have to pay money to basically receive a real offer "again"?
- Costs thereafter: 7.5k€ - 15k€ "non-binding fee range" to evaluate my situation with the exit tax.
To be fair, one has to say that the offer contained significantly more than just dealing with the Liechtenstein foundation - basically, this was supposed to be an analysis of my entire exit tax situation, which involves several companies.
Nevertheless - the fact that the CHP tax advisor could answer virtually no question from me during the conversation unfortunately did not make the law firm appear particularly competent. And then to spend 3-15k€ for that, without really knowing what the result will be... that seems quite risky to me.
I therefore decided against working with CHP.
However, I had a pretty positive impression of Gerd Kommer Invest. Even if such managed asset management is out of the question for me personally (I manage my ETFs myself), this would principally be an interesting model for people who want to deal less with their wealth and ETFs.
Nevertheless - the fact that the CHP tax advisor could answer virtually no question from me during the conversation unfortunately did not make the law firm appear particularly competent. And then to spend 3-15k€ for that, without really knowing what the result will be... that seems quite risky to me.
I therefore decided against working with CHP.
However, I had a pretty positive impression of Gerd Kommer Invest. Even if such managed asset management is out of the question for me personally (I manage my ETFs myself), this would principally be an interesting model for people who want to deal less with their wealth and ETFs.
Cost / pricing model:
15000 (fixed price)
No, I would not recommend this tax advisor.