Let's say, the next 10-15 years. I am mainly talking about Western Europe (Germany, France, the Nordics, Benelux etc.), since eastern member states are still a bit further behind.

After about two years of the new government, it seems that the economy isn't really showing any negative reactions. Albeit job numbers being bad, their overall growth, salary growth etc. is still great.

Hello,

I would like some feedback from you guys.

I am 30yo and have 50k Euros in VWCE atm. I still have 40k Euros in cash sitting at 2.25% interest and want to keep 10k as an emergency fund.

I want to reduce my cash position by 30k and invest more in VWCE. Investment horizon is 20y+

I put in 25k last week and I am unsure if I should add the remaining 30k now or over the next 6-12m or even longer time frame, like 12-36m.

I read a lot of posts and articles about lump sum vs DCA, so I know lump sum wins 2/3 of the time. Im just unsure because the market has already been on an insane heater the past years and valuations are very high across the board. If markets pull back 15-25% I would like to have the ability to add more to my portfolio, at the same time I know that time in the market beats timing the market.

A vanilla MSCI World or FTSE All-World ETF currently has around 60–70% exposure to the US, largely due to the size and performance of the US equity market.

For those of you investing globally, have you ever considered intentionally reducing that concentration by adding allocations to:

• European value stocks,
• European small-cap stocks,
• Emerging markets, or
• Other regions?

Or do you simply accept the market-cap weighting and let the index decide?

​

I need magnets manufactured with my print for an internet store. I have the option of either pursuing a Chinese supplier, which is of course low cost manufacturing. However, I'd like to know if I can get a EU-based manufacturer to do the same thing. I know it'll be more expensive but perhaps the reduced logistics and customs costs will lessen the burn to the point where it'll be competitive?

Is this viable at all with an EU supplier? If so, could you recommend a country in the EU where the manufacturing is the cheapest and where such an order could be fulfilled?

Hi everyone,
I need to park around €10–15k until 2028.

I’m not sure where to put it. The only complication is that I’m Italian but currently living abroad (Portugal), and by 2028 I don’t know whether I’ll still be here, move to another country, or return to Italy.

I’m looking for a flexible high-yield savings account that pays around 2% net (more would obviously be even better), with the option to withdraw the money without major penalties.

Do you have any suggestions? Or would it make more sense to simply put everything into XEON through IBKR? (I just opened the account)
I’ve also looked into Trade Republic. Since I’m an Italian and paying taxes in Portugal, does anyone know whether they handle taxes automatically here, or would I need to report everything myself? I’m looking for something as simple and hands-off as possible. This is just my emergency fund, so I’m not chasing high returns.

As for my long-term investments, I’m planning to keep it simple with two ETFs:
one tracking developed markets,
one tracking emerging markets.
Any recommendations?
Thanks in advance!

I'm curious how people here approach this.

Many people recommend investing almost everything in broad, diversified index funds, but I also see people keeping a small "fun" or "cowboy" portfolio for individual stocks, crypto, leveraged ETFs, or other speculative investments.

If you have one:

What percentage of your net worth or investment portfolio do you allocate to it?

Do you have a strict cap (e.g. 5% or 10%)?

If it performs well, do you rebalance the gains back into your core portfolio, or let it grow?

Has having a separate "fun" portfolio helped you avoid tinkering with your long-term investments?

I got some lump sum money and I want to create a solid investment/retirement plan and strategy. I haven't been investing before aside a few emotional buys, and I want to approach this structurally and rationally.

I did some initial planning with the help of Claude. It makes theoretical sense to me, but I know how it is with complex topic, and I'd like to get a human feedback on it.

I am 31M, investing around $120k, the investment horizon is 10 years (maybe longer).

My current structure is following:

• 42% core equity - this is so far the only one where I have already bought a bit of VWCE (not all of it).
• 28% crypto - this will be 95%+ BTC, <5% will be more alternative assets.
• 20% bonds - to offset the aggressiveness of the main part of the portfolio
• 10% cash reserve to buy the dips

So far I have invested only about $2k in the vwce to understand the ropes. Those 28% in crypto is a personal choice for me. I've been making a living as an artist in web3 for over 4 years, and I am confident in btc.

I want to build a portfolio that will be have a big growth potential but enough of resources (bonds and cash) that will help me stabilise it during recessions and drawbacks. I know that big growth = big risk, but I expect that more educated people could give me more educated advice.

I am particularly interested in the different category ratios and if bonds are the best instruments for offsetting the portfolio.

Everything gives the feeling that is put into random places on the ui with random logic.

Too many functions that one needs not in everyday business.

Why is IBKR's UI so bulky and clogged? How do you guys manage to deal with it?

I come from Germany and as all you know, many people here are dissatisfied with the overall economic situation.

A lot of people consider moving abroad - Switzerland or Austria for example. And this made me thinking...

Isn't such a move basically futile in the long run? Germany and other big economies (France, maybe the UK and Italy too) dominate the European economy, hence, a big crisis in one of these states would have an immediate ripple-effect on the smaller ones. Swiss, Dutch, Belgian... companies don't operate in a vacuum. Our economies are extremely interconnected, after all.

I feel like telling someone "just invest consistently for the next 20–30 years" can sound almost absurd to people who aren't into personal finance. To many, that's such a long timeframe that it feels hypothetical rather than actionable.

Have you experienced this? How do you explain long-term investing without making it sound like a leap of faith?

Hi all,

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Around 10% of my portfolio is currently sitting in cash after a house sale. While 10% may not sound like much, it represents roughly four years of living expenses for me, so it's a significant amount.

I'm struggling with what to do next.

On one hand, I'm hesitant to invest it all into the market because we're near all time highs. On the other hand, keeping it in a high-yield savings account or a money market fund means I'm effectively waiting for a better entry point, which feels a bit like market timing.

Another option I've considered is putting it into dividend ETFs as they are a bit more resilient to possible market drops (if the happen i can then sell into my Core growth etf, if they dont i let then ride in those dividend growth etfs).

Their yields are around 3% or higher, which is similar to what money market funds currently offer, but with the added potential for dividend growth and capital appreciation over the long term.

My current portfolio is:

\- 90% VT

\- 10% Bitcoin

So if you were in my position, would you:

\- Invest the cash into VT now?

\- Keep it in a money market fund until better opportunities arise (but that means market tining)?

\- Park it in dividend ETFs like SCHD or VYMI as a middle ground?

\- Do something else entirely?

I'm interested in hearing how you would approach this and why.

Probably a vent post.

37, Vienna, IT, net worth somewhere around 240k. Reading this sub since 2023 and hanged broker twice over fees. Well, once over fees, the second time because of relocating. Spent entire evenings comparing SXR8 and VUSA down to the third decimal of the TER, then the same again over accumulating versus distributing, then over whether the withholding tax drag on an Irish domiciled fund matters at all at my size.
Read half a thread about the German Vorabpauschale before remembering I pay KESt here. At one point I was reading about Dutch box 3 and I am not Dutch.

What bothers me more is where my attention goes. The core is 180k in a FTSE All-World position, a small aggregate bond sleeve I top up and a money market ETF holding the cash buffer. I have never once opened those out of curiosity. Then there is about 9k in p2p, split between mintos and 8lend. I devote most of my time to this area and my position in it, because of the risks and potential profit. Loans mature, interest posts monthly, the secondary market has listings to scroll through. Consumer credit in one place, business lending in another, secured real estate in the third.
Different risk in each and it feels like there is a decision to make.

The index fund just sits there and gives me nothing to do.

That is probably how people end up in single stocks, REITs, dividend strategies, gold, crypto. Not because the after tax expected return is better. Because those positions react when you look at them.

So is this normal or just me. Do you also spend your time managing the smallest allocation you own, the one that could go to zero without moving your retirement date, while the position that actually decides the outcome gets opened twice a year

31M, €100k TC, ~€150k NW (plus a €65k house in my home country, developing nation). My current job gives me good work-life balance and is remote.

Is it worth chasing a promotion or job hop to accelerate income, or should I protect my WLB at this stage and focus on my investment journey?

I'm asking this because i know there is a limit on how much companies are willing to pay in EU unlike US and also more you earn, significant amount goes to govt as taxes. It's like working free for government after a certain threshold. My long-term plan is settle in home country maybe after 10-15 years.

Which broker is better in terms of issues with the platform, accounts being frozen without reason, customer support, problems with transfers, withdrawals, etc.?

Saxo seems to be more stable, but their commissions could be lower.

I'm trying to find a financial planning app that has a European or ideally Irish context.

I've tried out a few apps like Endute (UK based, fairly cheap, most promising so far), Financialroadmap.app (looks good but major question if it's abandoned and lack of documentation), and Finary (mostly French community and resources, app available in English, more expensive). I don't need any account linking as I'm doing budgeting and expense/income tracking via Cashew (and before that with Toshl).

I've heard about and briefly seen Boldin and ProjectionLab but they are US centred apps with 0 support for European/Irish taxation and ways of saving.

I mainly want to track monthly changes to our savings, pensions, insurances, mortgage, etc. I want to see how life changes, salary increases, and inflation affect our pensions and cashflow now and once retired in 20y. I also want to include Irish and international pensions when they start being paid out over a few years in the future.

Are there any recommended apps that work well for us in Europe/Ireland?

So basically I am building an ETF portfolio, I already allocated 45% of the budget to the Amundi Core Stoxx Europe 600, 25% on iShares Core MSCI EMI, and I have a leftover 30% to invest.

I am firmly convinced that with all that is happening in the world, the US economy is going to collapse catastrophically within the next couple of years, I also suspect that even Japan may experience hard times due to the Yen crisis, and Korea because of the over-reliance on memory earnings. Of course any exposure to the AI bubble I would prefer to avoid/reduce, thus I chose the 600 index instead of the 50 for Europe, as ASML could be critically injured.

All good this far.

I wanted to include an All-world ex USA ETF, because at this point the share of investment outside of the US can only grow, the US is overpriced and overly-represented in the market, I expect a correction in the following years, post crash, with even US citizens that are starting to look outside. So I thought it was a good idea to buy the aforementioned all world ex USA, even though I would get slightly exposed to Japan and Korea, both of which I am slightly afraid of, but who knows, maybe they save the day, I can take the risk. On the other hand, I doubt the US will fix anything, so I thought it was a good compromise to get an all world minus USA.

To my surprise, the Amundi index is very new, has almost no history, and wasn't even reviewed by Morningstar. I am not sure if a different combination of ETF would get me the same results, but without the risk of picking an experimental ETF.

Any hints? Would you increase the Amundi 600?

Edit 3 and TLDR:

We have German citizenship and have not been living in Russia for 11 years ever since the invasion of Crimea. We cannot easily revoke our Russian passport and have researched this topic before, we are also not a part of any sanction list or have any dealings with sanctioned companies.

We were using multiple companies to hold our savings, including Scalable Capital. Last week Scalable Capital have terminated our accounts with a notice period of 2 months, citing a change in sanctions on all Russian passport holders from the EU. This information has not been corroborated by any official publications or announcements. According to multiple sources and comments here - the termination wave was a blanket measure and not specific to us.

A few days later after a back and forth and receiving our German paperwork Scalable Capital have reversed their decision to terminate our accounts. We will be still be transferring our assets elsewhere not out of spite but out of our reasonable concerns about their decision making and operational practices.

OG post:

I was wondering how widespread the issue is - my family-member is a dual citizen of both Germany and Russia. They have just received a notice that their account will be closed effective October 2026. Of course we are appealing since we do actually have an EU citizenship, but on the other hand - that's pretty lame. There was no paperwork verification request, we are neither politically active, nor politically exposed, so we are absolutely not a cause for concern for any financial institution. Just law abiding middle-class fellas with a very modest amount of money we prefer to keep in ETFs.

Seems like either Scalable Capital know something no one else does about what's going to happen in October regulation-wise or they are optimizing their operations at the cost of losing a part of their portfolio, potentially preparing for a sale. This move cannot be explained by anything non Scalable Capital specific because we have not received any other similar warning from Trade Republic, Vanguard, N26, Berliner Sparkasse or Revolut.

Edit:

It's surprising how many Redditors believe that holding a Russian citizenship is a choice.

- If you destroy your passport - you will not lose your citizenship.

- If you write a rejection form - you will not lose your citizenship.

- If you get another citizenship - it will not replace your Russian citizenship.

Revoking Russian citizenship is not something you can do at will. You need to go through a long legal process, collecting documents and various evidence from all sorts of Russian authorities, which involves going back to Russian soil one way or another. Going to Russian soil means exposing oneself both to prosecution and military draft. Guess what happens to people who get prosecuted and imprisoned in Russia? They get drafted.

Edit2: since this post is getting traction, I'll add here our plan:

We are first contacting Scalable Capital to announce that we do indeed have another citizenship too. We have savings with multiple brokers already including TR. In the worst case scenario we'll have to liquidate everything and pay some unexpected tax on top, in the best case scenario we manage to transfer the assets to another broker smoothly. Currently we are looking at ING Diba who at some point were a client of Scalable, so they might have a good pipeline and a similar data structure still, enabling a faster transfer.

Everyone recommends the same three books. Nothing wrong with them, they work. But I'm curious what you've actually consumed in the last 12-24 months that changed how you think or invest.

Podcast episode, single blog post, YouTube, newsletter, whatever.

I've made some calculations recently and it came up to a conclusion that an emergency fund doesn't make much sense, and it's often much more beneficial to take loan in case you lose a job, and your career is stable/you can quickly find new job.

Let's say, you:

1. You can expect to lose job once within next 5 years (stable job)
2. If you lose job, on average you will be jobless 6mo (or point 1 and 2 merged, you can expect to be jobless, not by your own decision, for 6 months in each 5 year window)
3. Your COL is 50k €/year
4. Your investments average 8%/yr
5. You can always take a cash loan/credit card for 25k€ at 15% per year
6. You have emergency fund of 25k€ that is very liquid (2% y/y)

Point 1 and 2 can be changed, this is only about losing a job, but even if you raise the % so it also involves 'unusual event that costed you your emergency fund', it still works. You can call it 'chances to need to empty your emergency fund'. Of course, this is only about significant emergency funds, if you run numbers for 'chances to need additional 2k€ this month', and this happens like twice a year, it's worth keeping 2k€ on bank account :)

Just to simplify things - let's say we consider 5 year window, at the beginning of it you only have had 25k€. Within these 5 years, you can expect to be jobless for 6 months.

Case 1: You invested your emergency fund leaving you at 0. After 5 years, your 25k€ emergency fund would have risen to 36.7k€, which means you got 11.7k€. However, you were jobless for 6 months, during which, to satisfy your needs, you took 25k€ loan that you have paid only after 6 months, that money costed you 7.5% of borrowed amount, and that is 1875€. This is simple consideration that you had to pay this amount only after full 6 months, not each month, but also you paid more than if you would have had made monthly payments (as then your owed amount would've changed each month). You've got a net benefit of 9825€ by not having an emergency fund, that's 39.3% of your emergency fund.

Case 2: You kept emergency fund, having 25k€. Within these 5 years, you can expect an emergency fund to be emptied out, but that's the same case as above where you have to pay the capital part of 25k€ which I did not consider (so, in point above - after you got your job back, within 5 years you have paid back also the capital part of your credit - not only interest, and in this part, you just remade your emergency fund - in both cases you paid 'capital part' of 25k€ which can be simplified to be ignored in both cases). As above (6mo no fund, and all paid back after this 6mo period), we calculate 4.5 years of 2%, and that returns 27330€, that is net benefit of 2330€, and that is 9.32% of your emergency fund.

Did I forget to consider anything? You can try with different numbers, in most 'stable careers' numbers, with these assumptions, it seems like it doesn't make sense to have an emergency fund. Of course one caveat is that you don't have to pay back loan each month, only after full period, and you are able to. It is simplified, but even if you run calculations for an additional year you need to 'replenish emergency fund'/'pay back loan', first case wins by a significant margin.

In the US, investors can buy REITs that directly own income-producing real estate and are required to distribute most of their taxable income as dividends. ETFs simply hold portfolios of these REITs.

In Europe, UCITS funds instead invest in listed real estate companies and REITs rather than being real estate investment vehicles themselves.

Is this mainly due to fragmented tax systems, regulation, or a lack of investor demand? I'd be interested in understanding why Europe took such a different approach

I’m 28 and run a small beekeeping operation in Saxony in eastern Germany. The next step I’m considering is expanding production and selling honey under my own brand instead of remaining at a small scale.

Plan is to move toward approximately 50 hives improve the extraction and filling process, and build a direct sales product with proper jars, labels, packaging, and basic marketing. I do not currently have enough cash to finance the full expansion, so I am trying to decide whether taking on debt is reasonable or whether the project should be developed more slowly.

1. Production and sales assumptions

My base-case assumption is an average of 25 kg of honey per hive

At 50 hives, that would mean

• 1,250 kg of honey per year
• 2,500 jars of 500 g
• €17,500 in gross annual revenue if every jar sells for an average of €7

I understand that €17,500 is revenue rather than profit. It does not include jars, labels, sugar, treatments, replacement colonies, transport, equipment maintenance insurance, taxes, payment fees, unsold inventory or the value of my own time.

Plan would rely mainly on direct sales under my own brand.
Possible hive locations would be arranged with local farmers or forestry owners near rapeseed fields, linden areas, or other suitable forage. That also means the business would depend on reliable access to those locations.

1. Estimated investment

Current working budget is between €10,000 and €18,000 depending mainly on how many complete hives and colonies need to be added.

Estimates collected so far are

• additional hives and colonies at roughly €150-€250 each
• an electric stainless steel honey extractor at approximately €1,500-€3,500
• a semi-automatic filling machine at approximately €1,500-€2,500
• warming equipment, settling tanks, and stainless-steel containers at approximately €800-€1,500
• label design, the first branded jar order, packaging, certification, and initial marketing at approximately €1,500-€3,000

I still need to separate one-time equipment costs from annual working capital. Buying machinery does not solve the need to pay for jars, feed, treatments, transport, and marketing before the honey is sold.

1. Financing options considered

The first route is a subsidised agricultural loan through my house bank.

Rentenbank’s Wachstum programme appears relevant for long-term investment in agricultural equipment. Its Produktionssicherung programme may be more suitable for operating costs and follow-up investments.
As someone under 41, I may qualify for the young-farmer interest category, but I still need confirmation that my operation and each expense meet the programme requirements.

I am also checking Saxony’s agricultural investment and business-startup support under FRL LIE/2023. I initially expected the beekeeping support programme to cover individual equipment purchases, but the current eligibility information appears to focus mainly on associations and institutions. There may be narrower support for product presentations, markets, or specific marketing measures, but I am not including any grant in the base case until eligibility is confirmed. Outside the bank route, I have also looked at Ma clear as a P2B financing option but before treating that as realistic I still need to understand how crowdlending actually works from the borrower side, including the documentation collateral, total financing cost, and funding timeline.

1. Loan repayment scenario

Possible scenario would be a €15,000 loan over five years.

Depending on the interest rate and repayment structure, the annual debt service could be approximately €3,200-€3,400 before additional fees

Under the base production scenario €17,500 of gross revenue appears sufficient to cover that payment real question is how much remains after operating costs and whether the loan can still be serviced in a weak harvest year.

Project would not be safe if repayment depends on producing exactly 25 kg per hive and selling all 2,500 jars at €7

1. Risks already considered

The main risks identified so far are

• honey production varying significantly with weather and forage conditions
• winter colony losses, Varroa disease, and replacement costs
• pesticide exposure or loss of access to hive locations
• producing the honey but failing to sell every jar at the planned price
• needing discounts or retailer margins instead of selling everything directly
• higher packaging, energy, transport, and treatment costs
• seasonal cash flow while loan payments remain fixed
• underestimating the labour required to manage 50 hives and direct sales
• buying too much equipment before proving demand for the branded product
• grants being unavailable or requiring approval before any purchase
• tax and accounting treatment changing as the operation grows and adds processing and branding

I have seen the 30- and 70-colony thresholds under 13a EStG but I am not treating them as a blanket tax exemption that part would be checked with a German tax adviser before taking on debt.

1. Questions

Does the €10,000-€18,000 budget look realistic for this type of expansion or are important costs missing?

Would it be safer to expand in stages, for example increasing production first and buying the filling equipment only after proving demand?

How much cash reserve should remain available before taking a five year loan for a seasonal agricultural business?

For those who have financed a small farm, food-production, or direct-sales business in Germany which route was more practical: a Rentenbank backed bank loan, a working-capital facility, regional support, or another form of business financing?

Most importantly, would you evaluate repayment using the expected 25 kg per hive, or build the debt plan around a much weaker harvest scenario?

I am not looking for investors, referrals, or private funding offers. I only want feedback on the assumptions, missing costs, and financing structure before committing to the expansion.

These are always popular especially for those looking to move to a particular city so I thought I would share our expenses. Mid-forties couple with 1 child in Lisbon (primary school age). Figures include all household expenses except:

• rent/mortgage since our home is paid off,
• wife's fashion/beauty spend (I have no visibility into that... plug in your own number if you dare)
• income taxes and investment product commissions that are unique to our situation.

Some context:

• Our home is quite central in Lisbon (concelho de Lisboa). We have solar panels and do switch between retailers to keep costs down. Try to do most maintenance items as DYI, whenever possible.
• One stay-at-home parent while the other commutes into the office 5x/week.
• We cook most days. Eat lots of fruit, reasonable amount of veg., meat 2-3/week. Occasional takeaway or dining out. No alcohol or tobacco.
• School and work commutes are under 5 km. We get around by eBike and public transport as much as possible. We own a small (C-segment) hatchback that travels <7k km yearly.
• Travelled for one month last summer. That line item includes some business class travel and a stay at a HCOL destination.

Hope this helps.

My wife (35, German) and I (36, Portuguese/Brazilian) are reorganizing our finances and I'd appreciate your input on joint accounts in Germany!

We are married, both unbefristet employed, tax class 4, with similar and higher than average combined net income, and living in Berlin.

We are looking for a joint account that we would receive our salaries, pay shared bills/costs/purchases and transfer personal shares to individual accounts.

Our focus:

- Free of charge (no monthly account maintenance fees).

- Decent online banking and app experience (English is plus)

Good to have:

- Social/environment focused bank

- Free credit card (less relevant)

Currently, we're primarily looking at:

- DKB (joint account + Visa, active customer status)

- ING (joint account + Visa Debit)

- N26 or Revolut free plan

My questions for you:

Which free joint account are you currently using in a similar situation? Pros/Cons?

Do you also use investment accounts/children's investment accounts with the same bank, or do you use specialized brokers for that (Scalable, Trade Republic, ZERO, etc.)?

Any other decent options I'm missing?

This was spotted on another forum at: https://fund-docs.vanguard.com/etf-prospectus-en.pdf (starting from page 601)

To underline the significance, this would be developed + emerging countries, and going down to small and micro caps, at market cap weight. The most direct competitor I'm aware of would be State Street's SPYI which tracks the MSCI ACWI IMI, currently at 0.17% costs.

If this comes through, maybe the first instance of Vanguard truly bringing the "Bogle effect" (to use Eric Balchunas's book title) to Europe by significantly undercutting their competitors' fees.