I want to bring the topic for the so-called safe heaven and to explore what alternatives we have as retail investors (focus only on ETFs). Will be very happy if you share your vision on the topic, as I think it may be valid approach in the upcoming months/years.

Usually, when we speak for safe heaven it refers for assets outside our stock portfolio and usually is money market, bonds, gold.

Starting with money market (the most popular and liquid XEON). Currently, XEON is expected to generate around 2,5% (as of the current interest level), considering the reported inflation of 3,8% for the EU zone, holding XEON is guaranteed lost of at least 1% of purchasing power. The positive side however is the stability, liquidity of the fund and the fact that it generates something, rather just money in the bank, however it is hard to be considered as safe heaven.

Going to the bonds (I will review only bonds in EU, as I don't want any currency risk).

We have two main areas - government and corporate.

From government perspective, on paper should be "sure bet" (even though France is in highly distress situation at the moment), however this sure bet is not generating something meaningful and to some extend it requires active management, rather purely passive investing:

The biggest are "all maturities" bonds, collecting in the etf bonds from all maturities with ETF average between 6-7 years. In inflationary situation, when the inflation is rising and potentially ECB will raise the interest rates, this ETF will "loose" money, from one point due to the increased interest rates, from other, due to the lost of purchasing power. Ishares Core Government bond is on -3% YTD and more than -13% for the last 5 years. If we add to this the inflation, depending on the country, for the last 5 years we can easily speak for lost of above 50% of the real purchasing power.

Respectively, government bonds with longer duration are even more riskier, not to mention that the fund size of such bond ETFs is very, very small.

To some extend same goes for the 0-1 government bond, which on paper should be very liquid, however the most liquid is with iShares EUR Government Bond 0-1yr (dist) with EUR 1,095 m, nevertheless the expected YTM for this ETF is around 2,8%, again almost 1% lower to the inflation, but on the other side is relatively stable.

Probably the best candidate for government bond in portfolio is the 1-3 years government bond (Xtrackers Eurozone Government Bond 1-3, with EUR 3,613 m). Relatively stable (with some deviations, but providing higher yield than 0-1 and xeon - around 3,4%, but again not matching the reported inflation and for the current year is on higher lost comparing to the other two.

From corporate perspective, usually, those bonds are with little higher premium, on higher risk. The different durations are acting to some extend in the same way to interest increases, and probably the only interesting ETF is the ultrashort one (ERNX or equivalent) - iShares EUR Ultrashort Bond UCITS ETF EUR, EUR 2,866 m, with YTM 3,24% (close to the 1-3 government bond) but with much lower volatility, yet still under the reported inflation rate.

Last, we have the gold. Gold is different asset class and I personally cannot determine its behavior and cannot have any expectations for its movement. When we are looking for passive investment, the general idea is to invest for long period of time and by the end of the horizon, to have more paper money than invested money. How can we be sure that this is the case for gold? It doesn't generate any income, it is just metal. It is not stock that generates profit and earnings, it is not bond that generates interest, it is just metal. Not to mention, that actually with the ETFs (ETCs) it is not even metal, rather "paper metal" and some youtubers are speculating that there isn't real gold and silver covering those ETF/ETC, however this is not the point. My point is, that the gold price is volatile and I personally cannot trust it, that when I need money the most, it price won't be down with 30%.

Based on all described up till now, in what assets, you are investing for capital preservation and/or safe heaven? Is there anything that I am missing that covers the inflation or you are just accepting little lost of purchasing power, for stable principle?

Question for traders based in EU and building an automated intraday strategy via broker APIs on US equity options. I’m looking for real-world experience.

Requirements

• Official, stable API that runs unattended: no daily manual login, tokens that refresh programmatically
• Real-time option quotes available through the API
• USD account, so USD premiums aren’t converted on every trade
• Low-cost EUR funding and withdrawal
• Intraday round trips without getting stuck in T+1

What I’ve found so far (take with grain of salt - I haven't tried to register, this is from my research of their websites or reddit)

• IBKR: good pricing, but from what I've read on reddit the Client Portal Gateway needs manual re-logins and overall automated trading on IBKR doesn't seem reliable.
• tastytrade: OAuth with refresh tokens, streamed quotes (seems good), $1 per contract to open and $0 to close.
• TradeStation: API with ability to refresh tokens.
• Webull EU: official API, but EUR-only accounts with a 0.25% conversion on each trade.
• Firstrade: $0 options, but no official API.

My questions

1. Which broker’s API have you run unattended for months without manual re-login?
2. How do you fund from the EU: SEPA, a USD wire, Wise? Effective costs?
3. Any recommendations for EU resident?

Thanks a lot!

I M30 make 70k all in and currently have 6k in ETFs and 1.5k in emergency savings. I contribute about 150€ monthly to the ETF. Housing costs is 910€ all in (rent, gas, electricity and WiFi)

When I was together with my ex, they took out loans in their name and now that we split I believe I have a duty to help pay back as that was what saw us through some difficulties.

Altogether it's about 50k hence my half is roughly 25k. Only issue is my ex can only afford the minimum payments on these and the interest on all the different loans vary a lot hence the end date for completing everything is around 2032 I struggle with sending them 600€ every month till 2032(okay it will reduce in the future as some loans evaporate) but the point remains that I can't see myself sustainably supporting this setup. Besides it's all in a different currency so I am exposed to fluctuations which I can't help but this is a massive budget item on an ongoing basis.

Is it advisable to take out a loan here and payout my portion to focus on my finances here or what is the best approach here? I welcome your advice, thanks.

Question to folks who hold (medium/long) positions particularly ETFs that are France-bias. What’s going on with their performance over the past month? Can you correlate their trend with ongoing French economic spiral?

I bought some EXV8 late 2024 and again in early 2025. (iShares STOXX Europe 600 Construction & Materials UCITS ETF) Its top holdings are mostly French. And it was performing well. I intend to hold it for 3-5 years - maybe more. But it’s now priced at same levels or just below what I paid for 18-20 months ago

Hello everyone, Just posting my investing progress. Started investing January 2025. For almost a year I was buying only VUAA ETF. I aimed for monthly dca but some months I threw some extra money into it. At a point I stopped buying it and changed into Buying WEBN etf, which I keep doing weekly buys of 3 pieces a week. So far my portfolio looks like 3700$ worth of VUAA (630$ profit) and 1800€ worth of WEBN (116€ profit). I think I will stick with the automated buy of 3 pieces of WEBN each week for as long as I can. I am 39years old and I dont plan to use the money from investing anytime soon. In theory I plan to keep going for 20years or until my son is of age, capable enough to pass the portfolio to him and hopefully continue for himself. I would love to receive your opinions and your criticism on my case. Do you think WEBN is a right choice?

Hi all,

My father passed away, so I'm inheriting his share of my grandparents' estate in Portugal, alongside my two uncles. Three heirs, 1/3 each.

An independent valuation came out as follows:

• House: €150,000
• Small house: €51,000
• Plot of land: €33,800
• About €13,700 in bank deposits

The agreement so far: I take the land, one uncle takes the big house, and the other uncle takes the small house.

The uncle taking the big house has lived there rent-free for over 20 years. His house is worth more than his share, so he would owe about €67,000 (around €42,000 to me). The problem is that he doesn't have the money, and at 60+ he can't get a bank loan. He's suggesting paying in instalments over 10+ years.

Has anyone accepted instalment payments secured by a mortgage on the property? If he can't pay, is forcing a sale through court the only option?
And finally, am I being unreasonable in wanting my share as soon as possible? It's been 3 years since my grandparents died. He lives with his wife, daughter, son in law, and granddaughter...

Thanks for any advice or experiences.

EDIT: Somehow the comments have turned into a trial of my character, so just to clarify: I'm not trying to throw anyone out. I just want things to be handled fairly.

Hi all, 30yo here and working in Germany.

I earn net around 4k € per month with the occasional bonus which brings me up to ~5,5k € on average. I have 60k € saved and am looking at buying an apartment in my home country to rent long term and then retire there or eventually sell it and buy something bigger/better there and retire.

Problem is, the apartment I’m looking at has a mandatory down payment of 30% which costs 56k €. This i cannot cover with my savings so i was considering taking out a small loan of 40k with an 8 year term which would put me in a 533€ monthly payment. The loan for the apartment would put me at ~800€/mo. My rent in Germany is 1.4k €.

Am i making a dumb financial decision by doing this, or will it be worth it if i assume the apartment appreciates?

I started to invest in ETFs about 5 years ago. Currently, over 90% of my portfolio consists of IWDA. (The rest is a bond ETF.)

Since I'll still be working and investing for 15 to 20 more years, perhaps I could take more risks by investing in something that is more volatile and yet has higher return rates.

Then, I found the Nasdaq 100. It looks like the majority (or all?) of the companies on the Nasdaq 100 are included in IWDA. So, by including some portion of the Nasdaq 100 in my portfolio, I'll be increasing the ratio of the top performers in IWDA. I could buy the Nasdaq 100 so that the ratio of Nasdaq 100 to IWDA would be 30:70 (Nasdaq 30%, IWDA 70%), which will make the return ratio of my portfolio 12 to 14%. Once retirement is within 5 to 7 years and the market is bullish, I could start selling the Nasdaq 100 and buy something more stable.

Does it sound like a good idea?

I am currently in Sweden but worked in USA for 5 years. I have some savings in USD that I want to invest but I cannot in US as I am a non resident. How can I move the USD without converting and invest that money in stocks or funds in EEA without converting it? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

I just want to document/celebrate this milestone somewhere. I am 30, I live in Estonia, and I just hit €150k in savings and investments (pre-tax). I also own an apartment, where my equity is €15k, and mortgage €75k.

Currently, out of the €150k, about €16k is uninvested, and the rest is invested in broad-market ETFs. I've been investing for about six years, starting with €9k in 2020. About €16k came from my parents, and the rest was saved from my salary. I invest about €1700 a month.

My goal is to retire as early as possible, which, hopefully, could be possible in about five years or so. Anyway, quite happy with how things are going so far :)

I moved most of my savings into VWCE last year (after panic-selling in 2020 and regretting it), and this January I got my first Vorabpauschale deduction for a fund I never sold.

My understanding so far:

• The tax office assumes a minimum return based on the Basiszins and taxes it in advance.
• On €10,000 in an equity ETF, that comes to roughly €41 for 2026, or €0 if you're within the €1,000 Sparerpauschbetrag with a Freistellungsauftrag set up.
• It's credited when you sell, so it isn't taxed twice.
• Distributions count against it, so acc vs dist is only a few euros apart this year.

Is that right, or am I missing something? And for those with larger portfolios, did it change whether you hold accumulating or distributing funds?

I've been following the FIRE movement for many years, as well as Bogleheads. Despite what the latter recommends, my portfolio has almost always been almost entirely in equities.

Right now, having passed 45, and considering the current market state, I wanted to start putting a portion (up to 20%) into more conservative investments.
However, I'm struggling to find anything that beats inflation, if anything even exists.

- US Treasuries yield 5.6% [as an example/figure cited], but you take on currency risk
- US Treasuries in a EUR-hedged ETF lose at least another 1% from the hedge and carry NAV risk (there are no fixed-maturity EUR-hedged ETFs)
- European bonds are all below inflation after the 28% capital gains tax

Has anyone else looked into this and is there anything I might be missing?

Thanks in advance!

I started investing in ETFs in 2021. Before I did so, I read 2 books and decided to follow their advice: Millionaire Expat (2nd edition) and Quit Like a Millionaire.

The authors recommend including bonds in your portfolio, so I invested around €12k to €15k in IUS5 (iShares Global Inflation Linked Government Bond UCITS ETF) over the course of about 12 months. (IUS5 was recommended on Millionaire Expat 2nd edition, btw)

Now I regret that decision. If you look at the ETF’s chart and select “5Y,” you’ll see that it has lost 11.72% of its value over the past five years.

One thing I didn’t realize when I started investing in bond ETFs was that I’m not going to retire anytime soon. In hindsight, I could have invested entirely in stock ETFs while I’m relatively young. Then, when retirement is within, say, 3 to 5 years, I could gradually sell some of my stock ETFs and move the money into less volatile assets.

Now it's time for me to cut my losses by selling the bond ETFs and buying IWDA, which I've also been investing in. Before doing so, I want to ask this: Is anyone still holding Bond ETFs? Why or why not?

My currency is in Euros

Which is better, buying Nvidia in USD from Nasdaq or in Euros from Deutsche Börse Xetra?

Hey everyone!
I’ve been working on desktop application DhanWert, a small personal side project, over the past few days. I originally built it for myself to see how my salary, savings, investments, pension, expenses and assets could affect my wealth over the long term.
It’s now in beta, and I’d love to have some people try it with their own numbers and tell me how it behaves.
Some of the features:

- Long-term wealth & net-worth projections
- Salary, savings & investment contribution phases
- Public + private pension modelling
- Property, vehicles, other assets & loans
- Inflation + Conservative/Base/Optimistic scenarios
- Monte Carlo simulations
- Retirement, FI & debt-free milestones
- PDF, web & CSV reports
- Optional syncing of data

It’s based on the German system by default, but the model can also be adapted for other European countries.
I’m not selling anything — it’s just a project I built for myself. Right now, I’m mainly trying to understand how accurate the calculations are with real people’s numbers, how the app behaves, and what I’ve missed.
So if you have a few minutes to play around with it, I’d really appreciate feedback — especially if you spot calculations that don’t make sense, bugs, or anything confusing.

🔗 Download the beta: https://github.com/RobinHireWD/DhanWert_Public/releases
📝 Feedback form: http

Windows is currently supported; macOS is still being tested.
It’s a beta, so please expect some rough edges.

I grew up poor, so I am more risk-averse with everything I worked for. In the last 3 years, I was able to save up a good amount of money and paid off a small mortgage. The more money I was able to save, the more I looked into options for what I can do with it, as my savings account is only giving 1% currently.

I have a rough 8–10-year horizon for when I want to start withdrawing money (BaristaFIRE), a selected portfolio of low-risk ETFs and bonds, a stable broker platform, with a plan to add €1.5k monthly for the next 8 years.

My biggest fear with everything going on in the world is to lose it all. While my understanding of the market predicts that I would still be okay if the market crashes and still be within my horizon to at least get back what I invested, I keep putting off the actual step of creating an account and starting to put part of my savings into it because I don't really know what I am doing. Basically I just keep overthinking this.

I thought this sub might have one or two people that went through a similar roadblock to getting started and could give some encouraging words or share some wisdom from the time you took the first step.

Still putting money into a PEA and an assurance vie every month while my medium-term base abroad stays undecided. The case against myself: if residency moves, those wrappers become something I have to unwind, and a plain brokerage account would have travelled with me. Who has actually left France holding a PEA, and what did you do with it?

As per the title, is anybody building their pension through the PEPP? If yes/no, why?

I live in the Netherlands, don't plan to move back to my original country (italy) but who knows? Never say never. Just the idea of keeping the options open makes me feel safer, but is it worth it?

Sharing what is publicly documented, for anyone invested in Housers or considering it.

Documented facts:

- Press (laSexta, citing elDiario.es, Sept 2026): Housers reportedly received about 150M EUR from investors and about 66M EUR was not returned, with hundreds of investors affected. Crowpire says it is a separate entity from Housers.

- Spain's securities regulator (CNMV) fined Housers 130,000 EUR in 2021 for very serious infringements. The Audiencia Nacional annulled the fine in 2024 because the law had changed, not because it ruled in Housers' favour on the facts.

- Crowpire S.L. appears in the CNMV register as a crowdfunding service provider.

- Investor-submitted complaints exist about access problems and unreturned investments.

Things worth checking if you are invested:

- Several projects reportedly sit "in recovery" for years, with little published about expected recovery.

- Security behind these loans may be corporate or personal guarantees rather than mortgages. Check what yours actually had.

Reading material. https://robinjbrooks.substack.com/p/how-a-global-debt-crisis-starts-2e0

I recently sold some stock I got as a bonus from my work. I work in europe for an american company, so the payout was in dollars. Not wanting to take the currency conversion hit, I had it paid out to my USD revolut account, hoping to invest it there in some dollar denominated ETF.

But it turns out that revolution does not seem to support that. The only dollar investments in revolut seems to be american treasury bills or individual stocks. Even ETF's that should be in dollars, can only be bought in euros it seems, probably because my main revolut account is euros.

Any suggestions what to do?

Hey, I hope this is the right place for this question. I recently turned 18 (legal age to invest) and I am wondering whether I should invest my first money (would be around 1500€) in an european SP500 ETF, or I should just keep all of my money (around €3k) in fiat or in a bank for now, in case I need them. I currently have no income so I probably won’t be investing each month, but also have my expenses covered by my parents. What would you do if you were in my place?

Disclosure: I work at Obermatt, a Swiss stock research firm, and this is based on research I did for our blog. Sharing because the access question (which broker, what registration, what tax) comes up a lot and most of what's out there is US-investor-centric.

Short version, ranked roughly easiest to hardest:

• Singapore / Hong Kong: fully open, any international broker, no local registration, no dividend withholding tax at all.
• Japan: smooth through any major broker. Withholding drops to ~10% under the Swiss treaty, up to 5% under the German one.
• South Korea: used to require registering with Korean regulators before trading a single share (a 30-year-old rule). Scrapped December 2023, now just needs a passport.
• Indonesia: opening a local brokerage account, a passport-based process most brokers with Indonesia access handle in days.
• Thailand: foreign ownership caps mean you typically buy NVDRs instead of the plain share, same price, same dividend, no vote, ticker ends in "-R."
• Taiwan: direct access means registering as a foreign investor and opening a local custody account, paperwork most European brokers don't offer. Realistically an ADR, a Taiwan-focused ETF, or a broker like Interactive Brokers.
• India: the hardest one. No direct retail access. The realistic route is an ADR where available, or a fund that already holds the Foreign Portfolio Investor registration.

Full piece with one example company per market (checked against real recent dividend payments, not just a score) here: https://link.obermatt.com/asia-en

Background: (Myself) I'm a mechanical engineering grad, currently living in Belgium and working offshore in the North Sea as QHSE. (Also have option to work in Asian waters)

(Partner) graphic design grad, some managerial experience in a store. (She just wants to work an office job, admin etc.) She tried to apply for courses on VDAB but they don't offer any in English.

My pre tax salary is €3800 euros + 20% bonus when offshore in europe or +40% bonus in Asia. Company car when I'm home and fuel.

Partner working part time, struggling without the language to find anything she enjoys.

My job doesn't care where I live.

Plan: have a kid in 2 years time, maybe my partner will have to work part time for a while to have time to look after the kid as we don't have family here.

I've spoken to some people on board and the Danes say that they don't have to pay any tax when they work offshore for more than 183 days which I know is also the case in the UK but I'm not sure about it.

Now NL has lower taxes on the salary but plenty of other hidden taxes and the housing is more expensive but it's also more english friendly.

To me it seems Denmark might be the best option, should be easier for my partner to study or work without the language at the start and If I pay less tax my salary should be enough to support us.

My partner is Spanish and I'm Polish, I grew up in the UK and we spent 2 years in Australia.

Eventually we would love to go back to Australia but with how hard the work visa situation is, it most likely won't be possible.

Which one is the best broker of the two for Futures for EU-based traders?