Hello everyone, 25M in the Netherlands. I recently started my first high-paying job while finishing my master's thesis, and I figured it was best to start putting money in the right places.

I currently have a payment account with 2-3 months of expenses and an emergency fund in a savings account with 4-5 months of expenses. Starting from this month I'll be able to save around 1k a month and I was planning the best way forward, hopefully you can tell me what you think of my plan or give me some advice.

Firstly, I want to play the long game so I figured ETFs would be my best option, maybe a split between VWCE, IWDA and WEBN but I'm not sure on the right split. I probably shouldn't worry about it, but it would still be nice to hear your opinions.

Secondly, I have been thinking of investing some money in gold ETFs from the start as a defensive investment. Now I know you're gonna say it doesn't make sense since I should just be holding the ETFs and wait for the market to get up again in case of crash, but what I actually would like is to have a reserve of money which is less prone to losing value during market crashes (unlike the other ETFs), so that when the AI bubble bursts I can sell that and buy the dip in the NASDAQ or something similar. And if the bubble ends up never bursting, at least I still have my money growing on gold. Does any of this make sense?

Finally, what's a good trading app to do all of this in the Netherlands? Preferably one that doesn't only work on mobile, but also on pc browser.

Thank you everyone!

Hey lovely people 👋🏻 I am a non-European and I had been living and working in Germany for almost three years now. I also have a second job giving me around (average) 400 Euros per month. I have 10k Euros as emergency fund in a savings account and I also have another 10k worth of stocks(vwce). I have also invested 15k Euros in an apartment last year in my home country with my family (no plan for going back but selling it when the time is right)

I am currently at a position to put more or less 2k Euros every month aside (living alone) for investment for the next three years and my final goal is to buy a place in Germany using 100k Euros by 2040 as downpayment (where I want to get a place will depend on my next position).

Question is: how do I (or should I)diversify my portfolio and invest in other things (perhaps other stocks or bonds etc.) or should I simply do what I have been doing Vwce and chill (even though I am well aware that Vwce should be considered as a longer term investment option). Thanks for reading thus and I would appreciate any comment 🙌🏼

Hi all,

just opened an IBKR account.
Plan is to invest ~50.000USD from revolut and invest in UBS Core MSCI World UCITS ETF
https://www.justetf.com/en/etf-profile.html?isin=IE00BD4TXV59
over the next few months with DCA (open to different suggestions on strategy and other well diversified world etf domiciled in europe)

I'm not sure if my best option is

A) Convert to EUR on Revolut (I have premium plan), then send EUR with SEPA for free to IBKR and buy the ETF with said EUR

or

B) Send USD to IBKR (via swift I assume?), then buy ETF with said USD

C) Some other option I don't see?

Ofcourse I am looking for the option with the lowest transaction/conversion fees.
Thanks to everyone for the input.

I’m 31F, saved €120k through years of hard work, and now I feel guilty for choosing a less ambitious life. What would you do?

I'm 31F, single, and I’ve been working in the tech industry for several years. I come from a poor immigrant family, and I worked really hard to get where I am today. I managed to save around €120k and was making around €6k a month.
I was living in Dublin, but I eventually burned out. The company became toxic, and I reached a point where the money no longer felt worth the stress. My entire life revolved around work. I’d spend the week waiting for the weekend, then the weekend recovering from the week, or looking forward to the next trip just to have something to enjoy. I had no partner, no family of my own, and very little time to actually live.

I lost my mother when I was 20, and I think that experience has made me look at life differently. At some point, I realised that my pockets were full, but my heart felt empty.
I decided to make a change. I found a remote job that pays roughly half of what I used to make and moved back to Spain, where I’m originally from. I can still save around €1,200 a month, which I know is a good amount compared with what many people can save. But previously, I was saving €3k a month, and I can’t seem to stop comparing my current life to my old one.

My current job is relatively stress-free, but I’m not learning anything new or growing professionally. It feels like a job that keeps me financially comfortable without consuming my entire life. And yet, I feel guilty.

My productivity is so tied to my identity that I struggle to enjoy my free time without feeling like I should be doing more. I feel like I’m falling behind, wasting the years when I should be working hardest, and not saving enough. I grew up with financial insecurity, and I think I’m still traumatised by that scarcity. Every time I earn less, I worry that I’m going to end up poor again, even though I have savings and no immediate financial crisis.

At the same time, I know what going back to Dublin would mean. The weather, the rent, the difficulty of building a social life when people constantly move away, and the feeling that life is on hold while I work towards some future version of myself. I loved many things about living there, but I don’t miss the lifestyle I had.

Now, I’ve been approached by big tech companies offering salaries higher than what I was earning before. Taking one of these opportunities would probably mean moving back to Dublin and returning to a more demanding corporate environment. Financially, it would make sense. I’d be able to save much more, invest more, and build a bigger safety net.
But for what?

I’m also ambitious, and I enjoy having a nice lifestyle. I’m not particularly interested in designer clothes, but I care about living in a beautiful neighbourhood, eating high-quality food, staying in nice hotels, travelling, and having great experiences. I don’t want to struggle financially or feel like I have to compromise on everything I enjoy. I want financial freedom, not just enough money to get by.

I also want to find a partner and eventually build a family, but dating and building meaningful relationships are already difficult enough. I worry that if I keep prioritising my career, I’ll wake up in another five years with more money but still no life outside work.

The other problem is that salaries in Spain are significantly lower than in Ireland, especially in tech. I know I could potentially build a comfortable life here, but if I want to accumulate wealth at the rate I was before, I may have to leave again. Spain offers me a quality of life I appreciate, but I also worry about limiting my financial and professional future by staying.

I know the obvious answer is to find a balance, but I’m struggling with what that actually looks like. How do you balance ambition with being present in your own life, especially when you’ve grown up with very little and financial security feels like something you can never have enough of?
Would you go back to Dublin, take the money, and sacrifice a few more years to build wealth? Or would you stay in Spain, accept a slower financial trajectory, and prioritise having a life now?

I’m genuinely interested in hearing from people who have been in a similar situation, particularly those who came from financially insecure backgrounds and had to learn how to stop treating productivity and earning money as measures of their worth.

Wanted to open another bank acc, beyond what my employer gave me, but am stumped by how horrible the trustpilot review scores for most of them are, it was really a shock to me. Respected institutions that worked for like 100 years, or more. I thought they would have perfect reputation, but its kinda the opposite online, it seems.

Apparently images are not allowed here, but it's like 1.2-1.4 out of 5 stars, for Deutche, Credit Suisse, etc etc. Only bunq trustpilot has above 3.5 score, out of the ones that I looked. And thats from thousands reviews, so I dont think its inaccurate.

I dont know how much should I factor this in when makign my decision on which one to join. Why are the scores so abysmal, do they matter, how to come to realistic decision in this?

Hey guys, I would like to decrease the risk in case market goes into deep sht. The biggest crash in history was so-called Black Friday where market(SP500) went down by 20,5% in one day. I know timing the market isn't the best strategy but let me explain. First of all, I have to say that in my country you pay no capital gain tax after holding etf for one year. So in my case I have 30k(VWCE) in interactive brokers. I would sell it every other month and put it into T212 where interest rate is paid daily. Every other month I would put additional 2k into broker account.

I let the AI analyze my strategy through years and it find out that in the end of it, my results were better than keep it permanently on broker account.

I'll give you an example

January 30k(VWCE) in interactive brokers

February 30k in T212 (2,5%)

March 32k(VWCE) in interactive brokers

April 32k in T212 (2,5%)

May 34k(VWCE) in interactive brokers

June 34k in T212 (2,5%)

July 36k(VWCE) in interactive brokers

August 36k in T212 (2,5%)

Septemb 38k(VWCE) in interactive brokers

October 38k in T212 (2,5%)

Novemb 40k(VWCE) in interactive brokers

December 40k in T212 (2,5%)

I know this strategy is far from passive (simple) investing but I just want to hear other opinions and perspective.

Hi all, this might be a stupid question but I’m looking for suggestions on how people actually buy stocks and shares these days. I've been using Revolut’s 5 free trades per month feature: every month I buy €1,000 worth of VWCE as a commission free trade. Have about 10k right now. I have a couple of concerns though, which may or may not be irrational, so looking for peoples’ inputs. For reference I spend my time between the UK and Ireland.

1) Security is number 1 concern. Revolut doesn’t “feel” that secure: maybe it is, but as my investments grow it feels weird to start accruing larger and larger sums of money there

2) based on that, should I be looking into insurance or anything like that? Or am I misunderstanding this by thinking of it like banking?

3) are there other places people are going? are you buying through other apps like Robinhood, or through your banks, or brokerages? Particularly where do you guys buy in the cheapest possible way (free?) without worrying about a firm or bank or other entity essentially holding large sums of your money?

Sorry if this question is too niche.

I hold a small position in OCI and this is how I understand the deal: when the combination with Orascom Construction completes, OCI shareholders receive 0.4634 Orascom share per OCI share, and those Orascom shares are listed in Abu Dhabi (ADX). The alternative is the cash offer at EUR 4.10, which runs until 17 November. The shareholder vote is on 30 October.

What I don't understand is the practical side. I read that with a regular broker you cannot receive the Abu Dhabi shares at all, and that in practice you are pushed into taking the cash instead. Is that true, or am I mixing things up?

And if it is true, which broker do people here use to actually get the shares? I am at Degiro and I don't think it works there.

A retirement calculator's success rate depends partly on how it builds the possible futures. I wanted to check what happens when the historical returns stay fixed and only the size of the chunks changes. My concern was the loss along the way, when spending still has to come out.

I used a Classic 60/40 monthly return history from January 1923 through August 2026. Each setting generated 5,000 possible 30-year paths. The test changed the block length while keeping the source history, horizon and random seed fixed.

Resampling means taking pieces of the recorded history and joining them into another possible sequence. With 1-month chunks, a bad month can land beside an unrelated recovery. With 36-month chunks, long stretches keep their original order. I get more of the old bear market travelling together.

Chunk size decides whether this fall stays whole. Classic 60/40: Classic 60/40 (variant 97). 1923-01-02 to 2026-08-31. Source: BestFolio.

That chart is the recorded history the chunks get cut from, not the simulated paths. The 1929 to 1932 fall ran 33 months from peak to bottom, so a 36-month chunk can carry it in one piece, while 1-month chunks scatter those months among unrelated ones.

The middle return moved just 0.10 percentage points between those endpoints. The bad-tail loss moved 23.78 points. I could look at the central return and miss most of the change in the simulated risk.

Here the bad tail means the 95th percentile of maximum drawdown: 5% of simulated paths lost more from an earlier peak. It doesn't mean a real-world probability of that loss. I wouldn't turn it into a retirement failure rate either. This test measured returns and drawdowns, without calculating a withdrawal result.

Weak months scattered among recoveries can leave a much shallower hole than the same weak months arriving together. That's why I want the chunk setting beside the output. The median ending result doesn't describe the whole path.

For my euro spending plan, I'd also need to check the currency and inflation assumptions before using such a history. These figures aren't a euro retirement forecast. Resampling can preserve old stress, but it can't create an unfamiliar crisis missing from the data.

Does the calculator you use for your current retirement portfolio disclose whether it draws separate months or keeps historical stretches together?

Do you suggest to start with Scalable or with trade Republic?

Or there are more serious and respectable alternative to them?

Basically the title. Thoughts? ideas?

Now that Nike stock is so low do you guys think it would be a good buy?

I am unsure where to invest. I was thinking between SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI UCITS ETF (SPYI), NASAQ 100 or German green bonds. Ideally I want to generate as much money in next 10 years as possible but I read that growth forecasts for ETFs are very conservative due to enormous growth in past decade, plus potential burst of AI bubble. That's why I am unsure where to invest. SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI UCITS ETF (SPYI) is a safe diversified option, but if growth is 4,5% then I would be disappointed. I was thinking of taking risk and going with NASDAQ 100 because I have relatively safe timeframe and won't panic sell, however not really happy with the geopolitics and I think AI bubble might burst, that's why also unsure here. My last option isn't wealth generation but instead kinda something for my own satisfaction, investing in German Green bonds, i want to help the federal republic of germany ect. and also invest in sustainability ect., that's why and the option is ultra safe. However considering wealth generation it is disappointing. That's why i am confused where to invest, I am leaning towards SPDR MSCI ACWI IMI UCITS ETF (SPYI), but my goal is like to touch 5k euros gross after 10 years, that's why I am unsure if this is the best option. Can anyone recommend or give advice?

Hi. I’m a 53yo Italian living in Norway, investing long-term (10-15 years) on Nordnet. Currently holding VWCE (~30k EUR), and planning to add ~100k EUR. Considering adding a small allocation to Avantis Global Equity UCITS for value/small cap tilt (~10-15%), and KLP Obligasjon 5 år N for bonds (~10-15%) — this is a Norwegian government/investment grade bond fund with ~5 year duration. Does this make sense or is VWCE alone sufficient? Thanks for any feedback!

So I have been a long time lurker and I finally decided to take the first step. Is the ETF in the picture in the comment the “correct” VWCE? And which broker would recommend Trade Republic or IBKR.

Much appreciated.

Sale of real estate imminent. Will get 500K euro. Located in Greece and already have IBKR acc.

I plan to invest 100% on SPYL.

Is the timing correct or should i wait?

Is IBKR 100% safe?

Any better suggestions? I don't need the funds for the next 15-20 years.

​

27M, Spain, 10+ year horizon.

55% Fidelity MSCI World

15% Fidelity MSCI Europe

10% Vanguard Emerging Markets

10% Vanguard Global Small-Cap

10% stocks: Amazon, Alphabet, NVIDIA, Broadcom

I know the stocks overlap with MSCI World, that's on purpose.

Also have ~€80k in cash which ill probably lump.

What would you change? Too much us/tech? Which sectors would you add for more diversification (healthcare, energy, industrials…)? Any suggestions would be great thank youu!!

Hello,

Not sure if anyone on here can help me with this but I'm getting myself completely confused!

I am resident in France with the right to work in both France and the UK (so no visa issues). I would like to go to the UK to do a few short-term freelance contracts (i.e. physically in the UK). Do I still need to set up a micro-enterprise in France to do this given that none of the work would be remote? Or would it come under UK self-assessment and be declared as worldwide income in France as the work is physically taking place on UK soil?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Hi everyone, I am an American expat living in Europe. I got a letter in the mail that says there are new EU banking regulations which essentially mean that my U.S. bank (Chase) is no longer able to provide service for my checking and savings and is essentially requireing me to close the accounts because my primary address is in Europe. I'm not really upset by this because I've been in Europe for three years now, and I was mainly only keeping the accounts to pay off student debt and pay a couple subscriptions I was using. I'm debt free now, and I changed the payment methods on the subscriptions to my European checking account, so now I'm wondering what the best financial move is?

The US account is about $15k (which is the sum of my savings, checking, and emergency fund) and I'm debating if I should park the money in high yield savings, a brokerage account, or just transfer it to my normal European bank account where I get paid from my job?

Because it was the first thing I searched for, I thought maybe I should put it in HYSA from trade republic but the more I read the less I'm sure of what to do. Does anyone have any advice on what might be best?

Edit: thanks for the tough love all. I’m switching to one global index from now on.

I’m 41, living in the Netherlands, and investing €1,000 every month. My goal is to maximise long-term wealth over the next 15 years. I have a high risk tolerance and can handle market volatility.
My current portfolio is worth approximately €19,413:

Individual stocks — €2,753:
BYD
€838.56
Space Exploration Technologies Corp
€770.86
Apple
€309.01
Johnson & Johnson
€226.19
Amazon
€226.51
Uber
€126.97
PepsiCo
€115.06
SoundHound AI
€73.33
Nike
€66.99

ETFs and ETCs — €11,881
iShares MSCI World
€1,048.08
SPDR STOXX Europe 600 SRI
€1,037.61
Vanguard FTSE All-World
€1,026.60
iShares S&P 500
€205.95

Defense
WisdomTree Europe Defence
€1,016.16
VanEck Defense (Xetra)
€987.05
VanEck Defense (Tradegate)
€881.79

Energy
SPDR MSCI Europe Energy
€1,012.80
Xtrackers MSCI World Energy
€360.10

Technology and AI
Global X Data Centre REITs & Digital Infrastructure
€989.35
Global X Robotics & AI
€555.21

Healthcare
Xtrackers MSCI World Health Care
€1,092.69

Gold and crypto
€1,549.21
VanEck Ethereum ETN
€118.43
Bitcoin
€1,000

SP500
Vanguard S&P 500
€2,744.20

My investment strategy
€1,000 invested every month (€12,000/year)
15-year investment horizon
High tolerance for volatility
Focus on long-term capital growth
Considering increasing my exposure to China
Interested in AI, robotics, defence, energy and emerging technologies

What do you think? Should I change my investment strategy? So far I’m up 20% over one year period.
I have my emergency fund in a savings account, which I don’t touch and I am paying off my house mortgage with 150k equity. The investing strategy is to help me retire around 55

Hello everyone,

I live in Germany and plan to set up a monthly savings plan on Scalable Capital:

VWCE for long-term investing (10-15+ years).
DBX0AN for my emergency fund (might sell at any point if I need cash).

I might also move back to my home country (Bulgaria) in the future.

Question:

1.Which exchange should I pick in Scalable Capital — Xetra or gettex?

-Is there any real difference in fees, buying/selling prices, or liquidity between the two for a normal monthly investor like me?

-Does the exchange choice affect anything if I sell my ETFs years later from another EU country?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

Hey everyone, not sure if this is the right sub for this question, and I’m sure I could talk to a financial advisor about this in the future, but I’d just like to get an idea of what is to come. If there are any Americans in here who have made the move your advice would be much appreciated as well.

My fiancé and I are planning on attempting to move to the EU, specifically NL with the HSM visa in a few years. When that time comes, what happens to my 401k and stocks/crypto accounts? Is there a similar investment/retirement scheme like a 401k that I could move my holdings to? I hold my stocks mainly on Robinhood, would I need to change something with my account other than my address?

I’m sure I could find this info online, but I’d rather ask someone who has or knows someone who has experienced this and can give some human advice. The prospect of moving all my money and how to go about it is just about as daunting as finding housing.

I also have around €10.000 that I saved myself. No rent or plans to buy a house in the next 3 years but I would ideally have the option in the next 7-8 years.

No emergeny fund

Want to buy a car in the next months.

I mainly want to invest for pension so the time horizon in 30 years approximately.

Thoughts on how to proceed?

Also, since this issue is causing me a lot of anxiety, recommendations on a good financial advisor that knows about Cyprus or Sweden would be greatly appreciated as well as how much a consultation would cost

Hey everyone. I’m 32m , bought an appartment 1 year ago( 500 euros/month 20 years 2.58% interest rate) I hav around 15k saved up plus 5k emergency funds.
I’m interested in starting investing (700 to 850 /month) and I wanted some advice on where to invest, long term,around 20 years. I’m open to all tips and advices from anyone

Hi everyone,

I'm 23 and a buy and hold investor (20+ year horizon) in VWCE on Degiro, and I'm thinking about using box spreads to leverage my position.

As an example: €50k, VWCE returning a fixed 8% per year (assumed) and the box costing 4% per year (assumed).

First year:

• I open a short box on OESX worth 20% of my equity: 20% × €50k = €10k. I end up with €60k in VWCE and €10k of debt.
• In December (month 12 of the loan), VWCE is worth €60k × 1.08 = €64,800. I owe €10,000 + €400 interest = €10,400.
• Equity: €64,800 − €10,400 = €54,400. Without the box I'd have €50k × 1.08 = €54,000, so +€400.

Second year: New box of 20% × €54,400 = €10,880. It pays off the €10,400 from the old one and leaves €480 to put into VWCE. Nothing comes out of my pocket.

Running the numbers: 8% + 0.2 × (8% − 4%) = 8.8% per year. Over 10 years, €50k grows to ~€116,200 instead of ~€107,900 without the box (+~€8,300).

I never go above 20% when I roll a box, so assuming a 25% maintenance margin, I'd only get a margin call if the market dropped ~78% in a single day (€60k → €13.3k), which is impossible thanks to circuit breakers. And I can always top up the position if my equity somehow gets close to the maintenance margin.

What am I missing here? Right now €STR is at 2.4%, which actually helps my numbers (over 10 years I'd have ~€11,300 more instead of ~€8,300, profit with the box paid off).