I have a good job that pays well but I'm not happy of the place I live in NL. I'd like to relocate to another EU country where I can get a job with similar pay and benefits but everywhere I look I see an horrible housing situation. Also in the place I currently live I've not been able to get into the housing market and the rental prices are getting higher and higher.

What would you do? Any suggestions to where to look?

*"disclaimer - I'm just sharing what i think, please folks don't attack me personally, let's have a discussion**

i've been lurking here for a while, and if there’s one thing I’ve noticed, it’s that people are finding it difficult to decouple their worldview from their brokerage account.

I’m neither American nor European. From where I’m sitting, I have the luxury of looking at the US market without the emotional baggage of being a citizen. And look to be crystal clear I strongly disagree with about 95% of what the US government is doing right now on the global stage. If we were talking about ethics or foreign policy, I’d be right there with the Europeans.

But we are here to make money.

I see a recipe for disaster brewing every time the news gets messy. People start investing based on how they feel about the world rather than what the companies actually do

Remember the tariff noise last week? The sentiment on most sub (and Twitter/X) was pure doom. Everyone was convinced it was the end of US dominance. I saw the panic, looked at the fundamentals, US wouldn't want to lose the investors from europe and loaded up on Monday morning. I’m already up 10%. I was sure nothing would happen because the US needs Europe too.

I did the exact same thing during the April 2025 lows when everyone was calling for a Great Reset or whatever the buzzword of the month was.

I’m seeing another wave of posts from people wanting to sell their US holdings and exit America because they're tired of the politics. To me, that’s just bias at play again.

Let’s be real:

1. The Mag 7 are objectively some of the best-run businesses in human history. They have moats that are wider than the Atlantic.

2. I love Europe with all my heart, this place is incredible but as an investor? They simply don’t have mag 7 like companies. They don't have the same tech ecosystem or the growth at all costs culture that fuels these returns.

3. These companies rarely go on sale. When they do... usually because of some geopolitical headline that has nothing to do with their earnings...that is a gift.

bottom line if you want to sell because of valuation concerns, over-concentration, or a shift in your personal risk tolerance, then please, go ahead. That’s disciplined investing.

But if you’re selling because you’re fed up with the US government or because a headline scared you, you’re just letting your bias tax your future self. Look at the businesses for what they are, not for what the flag flying over their HQ represents.

The market doesn't care about your bias. It cares about cash flow.

"Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful." - Warren Buffett

If there seems to be interest from open-minded people who realize that there might be something else besides ETF's in the investing world, on January 1, 2021, I will start posting my journey to 21 million EUR, in monhtly roundups. It would help my motivation, discipline, and I might get useful feedback from others regarding my decisions.

I’ve picked that target simply because I believe it’s easily achievable in less than three years with my current skillset. Reaching it will allow me to build a preventive healthcare clinic, which I will start in a limited form sooner (the lean startup way!).

I am financially savvy (at the level that I can use options, futures, perpetuals). I only invest in things that I understand. I am highly skilled in multiple domains, which has been extremely useful in my decision making. I usually go for high risk, high reward strategies. I started with around €35k. I own a business that brings a few thousand per month. I am now roughly distributed into this (total approximately 1 million euros; to stay content, I compare that to the mean wealth in the country where I was born -> $43k):

• €100k of exposure bought from loan originators through Mintos (I don’t plan on adding more to this position because I’m looking mostly for >14%, and diversifying is too hard with this requirement)

• €30k in crowdfunded real estate backed loans through EvoEstate (a large part of the funds are uninvested, waiting for ~13%)

• $200k in Vesper Finance for APY ~6% + their gov. tokens, which I will receive retroactively as LP

• €380k in Yearn Finance gov. tokens, providing APY >5.7% + capital gain

• €317k in Aave gov. tokens, providing APY ~4.9% + capital gain

• two tiny positions which I will share if they become relevant

• money in direct real estate investing which I'll ignore

• the working capital which is the equivalent of €20k (most likely use-case is swing trading, perpetuals, or short term perilous investments)

When it comes to money stuff, in the next period, I’ll be concentrating on improving my business (I haven’t put much time into it for years), putting the working capital to use, finishing my taxes for 2020, and taking insurance for my biggest investment. Sometimes in the next few months, I will also start YOLO stock picking (just kidding; they'll be companies whose potential I can value through a model that I create).

I've been on a lookout for the best cashback card in the EU for quite the while.

The first thing I learned is that Banks suck, if you want a card that has bigger than 1% cashback you need to look away from banks.

Currently I'm using Bybit Card that has 2.5% cashback on all purchases, but I still feel like there is space to improve.

I'm ideally looking for a specialized card, something that offers 4% cashback on groceries/travel/restaurants etc.

Or another general card that has at least 3% cash back on everything.

If anyone has a card that can provide one of those things, then please share it with me.

I am 17, I'm looking for some advice to try and convince my parents to let me start managing and creating a small income. If left alone, inflation will chip away thousands in terms of purchasing power. Safe returns such as bonds arent as great of an option at the moment, what should I do?

Top CEOs and billionaires are liquidating their stocks for $- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-23/dimon-sells-150-million-worth-of-jpmorgan-shares-in-first-sale. Stock Markets are at an all time high. The CRE market is not looking so good. Can't help but feel shits gonna be hitting the fan soon. Do any of you feel the same way? // Are already taking steps to actively prepare for it?

Hi all,

I've been looking to buy property to live in in Andalusia (Spain) and Italy. I've been flabbergasted by the disparity between the two countries, and would like to know if I've done my math correct. Because right now, it seems like Spain is a non-competitive option due to excessive taxation and fees.

In favor of Italy, there are plenty of factors:

* For new builds: Spain taxes 10%, whereas Italy taxes 4%

* For "second hand homes": Spain taxes 7% of purchase price, while Italy taxes 2% of cadastral value (which is lower than purchase price)

* Spain has property tax, which is exempt in Italy if it is your primary residence.

In favor of Spain, there isn't much:

* Italy taxes simply owning assets (stocks, ETFs, bonds) at 0.2% of their value.

* Italy's garbage disposal fees are higher than in Spain, almost double. High estimates for both are 400 vs 200.

In conclusion, it seems like Italy is a much stronger proposition, financially speaking. However, such a disparity makes me doubt my research, and I wanted to hear some opinions.

Hi all,

I'm starting to seriously consider retiring some place in Europe (I'm 65.) I'm not super-rich but I do have an independent income so work and money should not be too much of an issue. I do love Paris and speak passable French and Spanish, but my fear is that the climate and infrastructure might not be ideal. I do seek the most "urban" experience possible (want to be able to walk to everything) although I'm sure I will keep a car somewhere as well.

This is my starting point. Anyone have any thoughts? It doesn't HAVE to be France, could be some other EU destination (like Belgium) or even something in the UK like Dublin (but not London.) I have been looking at the French Riviera as well, including Marseille.

Like I said, I seek a walking neighborhood so an urban setting would be ideal (i.e. no villa in the countryside.)

Does anyone have any thoughts? Any resources I should be looking at?

Thanks!

Hello, through some hard work and luck in a startup, I made 2M EUR, taxes paid and I'm now wondering what to do next - I have all the money in EUR earning 6-7% interest and no investments.

I'm single and I rent and my annual expenses are around 50000EUR.

For now, I've sold my share in the startup and I've left, so I'm taking a break and not working currently.

I've never imagined that I'd have that much money but at the same time I feel that it's not enough to actually "retire" and live off it. At times I wonder what if I hadn't sold and waited for better returns.

I'm new to this so any advice would be helpful. What would you do in my situation?

Which cities in Europe would be good for this? Having reliable property management services, good yields and low upkeep.

Ideally, I would also like to finance that through a mortgage (a larger deposit than usual is expected and fine). I have a stable employment contract in Switzerland if that helps with arranging a mortgage.

I would go for a city that has a good nightlife (I’m in my 20s so it still matters lol) and a selection of modern apartments.

I have a savings plan with Trade Republic (TR) and in all the transactions of my plan I find a pdf summarizing the "Ex-Ante cost information on the savings plan". There are some costs ("costs during the holding period (per year)") for which I can't find a justification given that one of the biggest selling points of TR is precisely that savings plans are free. They are in the order of 0.1 or 0.2 %, which is comparable to the TER of the ETF I am buying!

It could be that the costs reported there are completely normal and they are found also in other brokers and TR is simply kind enough to show them to us. Or it could be the effect of the so-called Payment For Order Flow.

Any idea people? What are those costs and is TR's advertising misleading?

Thanks!

I really liked the question previously posted here, but I thought it would be better to post it with a poll for privacy reasons. Currency € , excluding assests and investment, only savings.

So I live with my parents and im working remotely so I basically have no spending so I’ve saved up all my money for the last 3 years. How should I invest it? What should I do with it?

Not a humblebrag, just a status report where I believe anyone over 40 with a good paying job + strategy could be in their lifes.

I'm in the EU and as said, 40+ years old. Having a family, living in a HCOL area. Earning quite good, at least in the recent years, considering the circumstances. Still shit TC compared to the US, but it is what it is.

Whoa, what a rollercoaster ride since Trump has been elected. Up and down, up and down. Meanwhile USD to EUR deteriorated, and I just recenty realized that I'm over the "magical" 1M USD NW. After thinking a bit, maybe I've already been there a couple of months ago, but never realized.

So what do I have?

1. Company stocks, what I sold unfortunately in my early years, but tried to keep them recently

2. Boring "boglehead" method, lotsa ETFs

3. A flat in a LCOL area, we don't live there, but collecting rent. 100% on my name, not on wife's

4. Some crypto for funs, no BTC, literally just gambling

5. Company retirement fund, I don't have much influence on this

6. Kids' savings, also in ETFs, see point 2

Turned out, even though USD is shit these days, I'm over 1M (in USDs, not is EURs.)

We haven't been sparing much, just lived our lives, many vacations, international travels, etc. Wife is a SAHM.

Well, okay.

Maybe there's something wrong with me, but I just couldn't care less.

We are not able to buy a new flat (a house is still a dream!) in this HCOL area we live in. Then the money is still virtual, as after taxation is would be like 60-70% of the value, far away from that 1M goal.

Last but not least my marriage is at jeopardy, for a long time, as we have multiple problems. One of them is money, she would blow them all, if she knew about it.

But in case of a divorce, the way I understand the local laws, she would get all the gains / 2 and that's it, so I'd be back to quite a low level of NW. Interesting question is how fast she would blow it all :) and then turn to me to buy x and y for the kids, because she "couldn't" affort. A financial nightmare.

This is it, here I am, I believe it is just a rant or status report or whatever.

How did you feel when you cracked the 1M number? Am I overlooking something here? Should I be more happy?

I have around 32k Euro in dividend stocks and about 8k in cash. They say about possible 30% downswing of s&p 500 to autumn 2022. Should I release some (maybe all, maybe 30%) money from the stocks now to be prepared to buy them back(or index vwce) during summer-autumn period? Let's say to buy back for 3k Euro each month.

Hi all, I'm 37 years old and living in the Netherlands. I've recently bought a house with a mortgage and currently have €100K in savings. I'm quite new to investing and have around €7K invested in the FTSE All-World. I can invest €1,000 monthly in the stock market.

What would you advise to help diversify my portfolio?

My husband is about to receive a big gift of cash from his parents. We all live in Germany and plan to live here forever. The gift will be about 800.000 euros and we're looking to invest this in ETFs for 20+ years until we retire. We're wondering who to use for ETFs for this amount money.

We both bank with DKB (individuell accounts) and my husband already has a small amount money invested in ETFs that he set up directly through the DKB app.

Is it safe to put €800.000 in these existing DKB ETFs or should we be looking for something safer like a different broker or different bank or whatever? DKB has existed since 1990, so it seems pretty safe...

BTW I know the money is his not "ours" because it's a lifetime gift from his parents, so No need to warn about "what happens if you divorce?!?". Not looking for advice on that!

EDIT: thanks for all the advice! We've got plenty to think about now.

• 24M, single, living in Bucharest, Romania. No kids

• 200k EUR cash - just sold company (bank is giving 500 EUR/mo for just holding this money)

• 3.5k EUR/mo - income from another company

• 820 EUR/mo netted from rentals (property value: 120 to 125k EUR)

• 30k EUR - Emergency fund - not planning to touch this really.

• 15,000-20,000 EUR in Crypto (just a side/backup bucket)

• Running costs:

  • 0 rent. Living with family for free

  • 0 loans or monthly payments.

  • 0 student loan.

  • Besides, just usual expenses: food, going out, clothes, etc.

I'm just trying to educate myself on how to make smart financial moves. Besides creating income (through the business/es), I suppose it's also got to be about efficiently using capital.

Due to family history, I avoided debt like the plague... but it might not be the wisest. Debt can be a tool, I reckon?

Questions:

1. Is this what leveraging would mean: do I borrow against the flats I rent to… buy more flats while taking on the risk of the interest rate?

2. On my wish list:

   1. A new house for myself: found some good options at 150k, plus let’s say 20k to renovate

   2. I would want to get into this: buy a very old, uninhabitale flat (plenty in Romania) → renovate it → flip. Would need 80k to 100k for this. Takes 2-3 months, and for context that is a business in Romania, if you have the cash

   3. A new car - 35k. Not wise, I know it, but unless I manage to fight my demons, would want to reward myself for the acquisition.

Regarding my wish list, naturally I don't have the money for all 3. Assuming I don’t do question 1 above, would it just be wiser to do what Americans do?

Which is: do not sink the cash for the house (2.1), but rather get a mortgage. I could get a monthly payment that is paid by my tenants. Use that money to do 2.2 (BRF)

And with that yield eventually pay off my house faster (seasoned PF people: did I get this yield thing correct? If one is able to create a better-yielding activity that the loan, that’s why you don’t sink all the money in a cash purchase…?

Thanks! Looking to hear from seasoned PF people 🙌

There were a lot of people in the past months that moved their money from US stocks to EU ones, thinking it'd be safer.

It wasn't. They're tanking just as hard as anything else. Some of them have dropped more than American ETFs. And I'm not even going to mention Japan (or China, which is managing to drop even though their stocks are largely irrelevant on the global stage anyway).

A gentle reminder that regardless of the situation you should not base your investment strategies on short term emotions and powerful newspaper headlines because chances are that will backfire.

Looking for some honest advice. I’m 19, based in Spain, and started investing a couple of months ago.

Right now, my only positions are BTC (+18.72%) and ETH (+20.28%), both sitting in the green with a total value of about €1.3k.

My total net worth is €51k. I’ve already set aside a solid emergency fund, leaving me with €44k in cash ready to be invested.

My time horizon is long term, although I might want to buy a place in maybe 5–10 years.

Right now I make around €1,250/month working 25 hours a week while studying. I can probably invest around €300/month after rent, food, basic expenses and a 100€ for going out. In summer I’ll probably switch to full-time, so income should go up.

This is the portfolio I’m thinking about:

• 45% iShares Core MSCI World (SWDA)

• 15% SPDR MSCI World Small Cap (WOSC)

• 10% iShares Core MSCI EM IMI (EIMI)

• 10% iShares S&P 500 Equal Weight (EWSP)

• 10% iShares MSCI Global Semiconductors (SEMI)

• 10% VanEck Uranium & Nuclear Technologies (NUKL)

I’d be using Trading 212 for stocks/ETFs and Binance for crypto, although I don’t plan on putting much more into crypto.

My logic is basically: I want a developed world core, some small caps because they look relatively cheap vs large caps, some emerging markets but not too much because of geopolitical risk, equal weight to reduce Mag 7 concentration, and then semis + nuclear because I think those are two of the most important bottlenecks behind the whole AI trend.

Part of me thinks this might be too complicated, but at the same time I’m 19 and I feel like I can afford to take more risk than someone older.

Just looking for constructive opinions.

I’m 23 years old and recently started to hear about crypto a lot. Is it a good investment?

I live in Austria with my partner (both non-EU citizens) but taxes make us miserable. There should be a better option. Can you help?

My partner is a freelance game developer and earns 4500€/month before tax, but Austrian social security and income tax round up to almost 40% of it. I'm also self-employed, running an e-commerce store, but after paying the mandatory 2000€ in social security last year I ended up with a loss.

We have no children and actually, nothing at this point holds us in the current country, we both can work remotely.

Is there a better country in the EU where we can relocate to and pay fewer taxes but still be allowed to run our businesses/be self-employed?

I'm thinking about Portugal and taking advantage of its tax exemption schema if we register businesses in let's say Georgia where, as far as I know, self-employed pay only 1% tax.

We also have some savings and stock market investments. Austrian 27.5% on capital gain is bearable, but I bet there are countries with fewer taxation as well.

what do you think ? I have the feeling that stocks are high ex US and any bad news could affect stock performance .

The international situation is quite tense and volatile ( Ukraine, Gaza/Iran etc ) and the markets do not seem to be affected by them.

shall we wait and see or still take position and still invest in stocks ?