r/eupersonalfinance

I’m 26 and recently finalized the sale of my company. Between dividends/savings over the last years and the exit, I’m sitting on roughly €5m in cash.

I definitely don't want to "retire" at 26, but my main priority is securing myself completely so I never have to worry about money again, regardless of how future projects go.

Current situation:
No debt, fully paid off apartment.
Monthly expenses: fairly low baseline since I have no rent/loans.
Passive income that covers my lifestyle. It's from my second company which is affiliate based with no expenses or employees.

What I'm thinking:

80% (~€4m): Dump into broad market ETFs (primarily VWCE) and leave it untouched for the next 15–20+ years.

20% (~€1m): Keep liquid / use to fund future ventures, maybe explore angel investing or individual picks.

I spoke with a few professional wealth managers/advisors, but honestly, all of them just tried to push high fee active funds that historically underperform the index after fees.
For the remaining 20%, I’m genuinely undecided on how to deploy it effectively without spreading myself too thin.

A few questions for the sub:

1. For those who had a sudden liquidity event in Europe, how did you handle lump-sum deployment into broad ETFs (lump sum vs. DCA over 6–12 months for peace of mind)?

2. Any major blind spots in this 80/20 setup?

3. How did you mentally approach staying productive without taking reckless risks with the remaining capital?

Please let me know if 80% VWCE is too safe or would you rather do something else. Thanks!

I am 33, currently living and working in Germany and earning around €90,000 gross per year. My employer is offering a German occupational pension, known as a bAV, and I am trying to decide whether the employer match is generous enough to compensate for the fees and lack of flexibility.

I would sacrifice €161 from my monthly gross salary and my employer would contribute another €161. This means €322 goes into the pension while my actual net salary falls by approximately €99.61 per month.

The contract has an 80% contribution guarantee and invests through a mixture of the insurer’s general account, a guarantee fund and an MSCI World ETF. The effective reduction in yield shown in the documents is 2.05 percentage points. There are also €3,284 in acquisition and distribution costs during the first five years, €202 in annual administration costs and an additional annual charge of 0.1% of the contract value. The pension normally starts when I am 67 and cannot be accessed before 62.

I compared this with investing the same €99.61 per month in a low-cost All-World ETF. Using two percent inflation, a seven percent gross ETF return and current German investment taxation, the ETF would be worth approximately €13,200 in today’s money after ten years, €30,200 after twenty years and €54,000 after thirty years.

Using the insurer’s own investment projection, the pension would have inflation-adjusted values of around €33,500, €72,600 and €117,100 over the same periods before retirement taxes and health insurance charges. After applying an assumed effective income-tax rate of 25% and an estimate based on the current German public health and long-term-care insurance system, I get net-equivalent values of roughly €22,300, €43,400 and €67,500.

The pension therefore wins in my model, but it is not an entirely fair comparison because I would not actually be able to access it after ten or twenty years. The ETF would remain fully liquid. The salary sacrifice also slightly reduces my future German state pension.

My biggest concern is that I may leave both the employer and Germany long before retirement. As far as I understand, leaving Germany would not unlock the pension. I could probably leave it paid-up, continue it privately or attempt to transfer it to another German employer, but its eventual taxation would depend on where I live and the applicable tax treaty.

How would you value the employer match if there is a realistic chance of moving to another country within five or ten years? I am currently leaning towards contributing exactly enough to receive the full match and directing all additional savings into an All-World ETF.

I would also be interested in hearing from anyone who left Germany with a bAV. In practice, was keeping and eventually receiving it straightforward, or did the tax and administrative complications reduce its value?

After endless reading on portfolio allocation, stock picking, and market timing, I settled on a straightforward monthly strategy is 70% VWCE (Vanguard FTSE All-World ) and 30% government securities (Treasury bills)

That is my entire strategy. I execute this split every month, step back, and let it run.

Part of me feels like I am missing something because of how uncomplicated it is.

Are there hidden blind spots I should prepare for down the road?

30 y.o.

Started a VWCE savings plan at IBKR in 2022, it's at roughly 95k now with 1.5k going in monthly. I know VWCE is the core and a lot of people will probably say “why bother doing anything else?” But I want to keep growing my capital and broaden my investment perspective.

Cash is where I'm stuck. 35k split between a normal bank account and TR at 2.25%, and it grows faster than I invest it. I know the textbook answer is lump sum into VWCE and log off. Still, sitting 100% in equities at current valuations bugs me enough that I spent two weeks reading about everything else.

Gold came up first. 1oz Philharmonics from Tavex, VAT free in the EU, an ounce runs north of 3k eur these days. Storage is the annoying bit, no safe in my apartment, and renting a deposit box for one coin feels off.
SGLD or Xetra-Gold would fix that, except a paper claim at the broker wasn't really what I pictured when I typed "buy gold" into google.

Thought about CSPX for maybe a week until I opened the factsheet. VWCE is already something like 63% US, so that adds nothing. WSML looks better, FTSE All World holds zero small caps, at least it's not overlap.

For the sleepy end there's XEON at a bit over 2%, plus my neighbor won't stop pushing Italian BTPs on me. Hard to care at these yields tbh.

P2P no, thanks. Grupeer took some of my money in 2020, so the trust level is what it is.

Real estate crowdfunding sounds reasonable, have some persepctive options but still sit on my hand.

There's also BTC sitting untouched since 2020. Could add to it, but I treat that pile as its own thing and it stays out of this decision.

So before I do something dumb people running mostly VWCE, what did you add next to it?

Hi all,

I currently reside in NL and will soon move to Germany for my PhD. I have my ETFs in IBKR but I just learned that IBKR doesnt withhold or calculate the “vorabpauschale“ (tax on accumulating ETFs in Germany) and you have to do it yourself. I am someone who doesn’t have much financial literacy (or interest) beyond vwce and chill. So I don’t want to spend time with calculating the vorabpauschale myself and risk making an error reporting it to the authorities-I have heard it’s quite difficult. I also cannot afford a professional. I heard that Scalable Capital does this automatically for German residents so I am considering moving my ETFs there.

The problem is: because of the nature of my job, I will move around quite a bit in the coming decades. I might even end up leaving the EU (I am non-EU myself) and unsure where I will live after Germany. IBKR makes a lot of sense for this reason. But what if I move to Scalable for the time I live in Germany and then go back to IBKR - is this smart or is it even possible? Has anybody transferred positions to or from IBKR/Scalable Capital? I don’t want to sell-rebuy every time I move.

For extra context: I don’t intend on realizing any gains in the next 5-10 years.

Hello everyone! I currently work full-time in Germany, however from the coming October I was awarded a Stipend to study in another european Country and do a Research Masters. My employer allowed me to reduce my working hours to 2days/ week and live in this other country until I finish my Masters, which will take approximately 10 months (from October to July).

It is necessary for me to get the Stipend, because if I dont, then I will have to pay the fees of the university and I cannot afford to do that when only working 2days/week. In the country where I will be studying the Stipend is Tax Free (even if you have another job on top of it). Now, I dont mind paying taxes if I need to. I am just wondering how I should handle this very complex tax situation and if it is even legal to keep my job in Germany and temporarily study (and get paid for it) in another european country. Quitting my job is not an option because I am in the middle of a very important project and they said that they dont know if they can wait until I finish with my studies to rehire me.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and know how to navigate something like this? Does anyone know if this is legal?

Hi guys! I changed few times my portfolio and currently this is the one.
- My point is that I want to have diversification as much as possible in sectors and geographicaly, not too much concentration on USA and tech, but anyway at the same time enough in USA and tech.
- With this percentage I think I am covered all around, so what you guys think?

65%- VWCE
15%- ZPRV (USA small cap)
10%- ZPRX (EU small cap)
10%- EXUS (World ex USA)

Been investing monthly in SXR8 over years. Should I stop and move towards SPYL for lower fees ?

If yes, Should I sell all and put that in SPYL or just hold sxr8 and start new spyl ?

German tax resident.

Hi all,

Back when Trump started imposing tariffs (or increasing the existing ones), a lot of people jumped on the STOXX 600 train. At the time, the arguments for European equities seemed pretty compelling.

Now, a bit further down the road, I barely see anyone talking about STOXX 600 anymore.

So I’m wondering: is it still a sensible approach?

I know that, historically, STOXX 600 has lagged behind the S&P 500 and global equity indexes such as MSCI World/FTSE All-World. But given the current concerns around US tech valuations and a potential AI bubble, I’m wondering whether European equities could provide some useful diversification.

Would you consider STOXX 600 somewhat of a “safer” place to be if the US AI/tech trade eventually unwinds?

Or is that a false sense of safety, given that European markets would probably get dragged down by a major US correction anyway?

Curious to hear how people currently view STOXX 600 as part of a long-term portfolio.

“Homeless” living in hostels
Hey guys, I’m saving up for a €10–20k rural house.
I recently bought a scratch ticket and somehow won €10k. The money is already deposited in my Austrian bank account.
I’m living very low-key and spending as little as possible so I can save. This €10k is on top of my existing €9k in savings and about €8k in stocks.
I’m honestly afraid to do anything with the money because I don’t want to waste it.
How would you manage this sum in my situation?

Buy and forget strategy over 20-30y. Which ETF would you choose?

I’m 40, married, one kid (2) and another might be coming. We live in Sweden. I saved, I cut spending, I invested, and now I’m… comfortable... and don't know what to aim for next, financially speaking.

Situation:

• Net worth: ~400k€ (of which 250k€ mainly invested in equity, and 150€ in RE) + 150k locked in pension (invested equity).
• Take-home: ~4k€/month.
• Spend: <2k€/month (the rest goes to investments).

I’m quite frugal, but I’m also quite happy about it. My passions are simple and my philosophy is that money should keep life simple and problem free as much as possible. This is me. My wife's situation is similar, but younger (less pension), with slightly more income, but with much more upward mobility potential. So our combined household is a quite snuggle 750k give or take excluding pension.

We don’t own a car, we live in a rather nice flat with good garden spaces and a gym, we buy whatever we want to eat... I don’t want for anything. But I also don’t see the next financial step. I’m also not sure what to work toward and how.

On one hand, my level of spending is covering my needs and wants, and my level of saving is letting me potentially be financially independent quite soon. In any case I don't plan to retire early, I like to work and be useful.

On the other hand, I see the next level as unattainable. Getting true steps up in terms of quality of life, where money buys other people's work, would require a very different level of income here that is unattainable for me. Not to mention where money start buying influence.

Maybe Sweden makes this even more obvious. Here there's no really better schools for kids: they are all free. No better healthcare that money can buy (in a reasonable range). At least that I know of.

Nothing really burns a hole in my pocket and don't know what I'm saving toward anymore.

• Is anyone with the same situation with similar or different sentiments?
• If you were me, would you just coast along financially and focus on something else in life, or would you have some idea in mind?

I am looking for life insurance provider that I ll actually enjoy checking regularly. A clean interface and good portfolio tracking and easy to understand performance insights matter almost as much as low fees to me

Any recommandations ? I am based in France

I initially started investing into VWCE but switched to WEBN because of lower TER.But now recently VWCE has slashed TER and now I am thinking about going back to VWCE.Currently I have 70% of my investments in VWCE and 30% in WEBN.

One thing I didn't know until recently is that TER is included in the performance and price of the ETF.My dumb ass thought it was a fee you pay at the end of the year or something similar.Even with higher TER VWCE is neck and neck with WEBN.And if that's the case, why wouldn't one go with VWCE: it's got bigger fund size and it's been longer available.

Hi! I've been investing for some months now, mainly through index funds via roboadvisor. I have S&P500, Europe, emerging, small caps and Japan. In Spain you have more tax advantages with funds than wit ETFs. The thing is that as I've been reading and listening more about investing, I put a 1% of my portfolio in a value fund (small caps, actively managed) as a way to diversify and have some decorrelation with the market. I have some extra money and I was considering increasing that percentage to a 5%. I know if there is a crisis, almost everything will go down first, but that way I wouldn't be so dependant on the indexes. What do you think about it? I'm speaking about money for the long term, >15 years.

to buy ETF shares and pay the loan back with the higher profit of ETFs

Here is my problem. In the past 8 years, I had money in an broad all-world index funds or using Meesman having done it for me. Every time I was sitting in, I notice I cannot sleep well 'what if the marked crashed due...'. So I sold almost everything 2 years ago (20k left) and I sleep perfectly.

Every thing is on a bank now, 2.5%.

But the marked, as I read daily the news, is making me FOMO. Every time again and again it's going up. And honestly, I cannot see why the marked is increasing this much; geopolitical problems, oil shortage, winter is coming with very low gas-reserves in EU, and so on.

When I buy something physical, like a car, house, gold, I do not care if the price drops, I enjoy it and get pleasure from it. Now I am looking for a house (in Spain) that will use probably 50% of my savings. I think this will happen within 2 years so this is holding me back anyway to go into the marked.

But anyway, my question is, anyone here that also cannot sleep with their money in an broad index fund? And if so, how do you deal with it?

My portfolio is 70% VWRA and 30% AVGS. I'm thinking that it may be remunerative to capture factor premia in my core holding and so I'm wondering whether to close my position in VWRA and purchase AVGC or IQGA (I'm favoring the latter). I'm in my 20s and won't have to pay capital gains tax to liquidate.

My main concern is THE lack of South Korea and Taiwan (TSMC) in AVGC & IQGA but many ETFs perform handsomely without those markets. Maybe I can do IQGA + AVGS + a small allocation towards an MSCI Emerging Market ETF.

I’m 30, and I never learned much about managing personal finances.

Right now, I just have my savings sitting in a standard bank account taking a hit from inflation.

I want to change that and build solid habits for long-term financial health.

For those of you in the EU who started later in life, what are the best things you've implemented that made the biggest difference?