German Investor Newbie with an Aussie partner looking for some smart advice

[TheMoneyTree]

Hello fellow mustachians and merry Xmas.
I'm secretly hoping that not everybody out there is stuffing their faces with xmas treats, so that they might take a quick look at my situation and kindly offer some badass advice :)

Here're some stats
f, 32, German (currently living in Germany), no debt, government job with infinite job security (3K monthly income plus about 1,5 K yearly tax return and about 1,4K non-taxable income from a side gig). Have been working full-time for almost five years, sick of it (more later).
I've never been a big spender, so I've managed to save quite a bit but my investment experience isn't exactly vast.
I do have a private retirement plan (Riesterrente) which I've been paying into monthly since 2009, taking full advantage of tax benefits.

When I was 26, I invested 5K in managed funds. Was 'lucky' to get my money back with a whopping interest of 32 euros. That was it with managed funds (mine was suggested by a MBA financial advisor who also sold me my Riesterrente and BU).
I've done a great deal of Tagesgeldkonto-Hopping, cashing in bonuses but never really making much (interest is ridiculously low right now, 1,5% tops).
Last year, I bought 10K in shares of a very stable local business that has managed to pay 8-11% interest pa. Guess what, this year they probably won't be able to pay that much. Trying not to think anything like 'I hate to say I told you so' - this had been solely my own decision based on having watched the business for years. So this money is locked for 4 more years.
I also have a bit of an Amazonian forest (less than 1K in total) but that's clearly not even worth mentioning.

That leaves me with about 20K Euros on a savings account plus a nice car (worth about 15K) that I'll be selling mid-2015 due to a planned relocation. No real estate, we rent a great apartment for under 1K and split the expenses.

Now comes a little twist. My partner is an Aussie, he's got around 60K AUD saved and he doesn't feel happy living in Europe (lots of reasons for that). I've obtained an extra qualification that'll allow me to work in Oz plus had my employer approve a non-paid leave of absence for about four years, starting mid-2015.

As he is a passionate carpenter and I'm crazy about interior decoration (my own blog, photos of my apartment in interior decoration books etc), we are hoping to buy a fixer-upper in Oz and show it a good time.

I'll have my relocation expenses covered (not taking too much though, just personal belonging like clothes which are horribly expensive down under) and will also chip in for the downpayment, I guess. However, I still have that uneasy feeling reading about stocks, bonds and funds, interest nicely accumulating. I've spent most of my Xmas holidays financially educating myself, diving into MMM's blog, only surfacing for meals and eggnog :)

So far, I've worked my way to the following conclusions:
1. I need to set my mind on a long-term, low-fee investment option in Euros. Would it be smart to put about 15K in this? What is my best option? I understand I need an OnVista account, still I'm more or less tapping in the dark here.
2. I'd like to keep an EF of about 5K.
3. Downpayment participation.

Hoping for some helpful hints, even writing this stuff down has already helped a bit.
Cheers!
The Money Tree

[LennStar]

You want to leave germany? With all that PeGiDa BS you may be called a traitor! ;)

Okay, pu the fun at the side.

 first: Why OnVista? You can buy shares and ETFs at lots of other banks. OnVista is great for number crunching, but I have the impression you will not do it.
When you just want to park money (+interest) you can use any online-bank, you only need to identify oonce after all.
The trade fee is normally around 10€ minimum with a low % of commission. No cost for Girokonto.

I personally like the views that ing-diba has (they are also cheap and one of the best Tagesgeldzinsen)
https://wertpapiere.ing-diba.de/DE/Showpage.aspx?pageID=106&UseURL=Ja&Fondstyp=Alle&Fondsart=nur+ETFs+(indexabbildend)
here you have a moderate big number to choose from. All you need for a start. Play with it around a bit. Look at Analyse for single ETFs. Its interesting how many are in 2nd or even 1st quartile. Tells you a lot about active managed funds.
ing have a australien branch - but there are other banks, too. If they have the RF is probably easier to manage, ask them.

[Lyssa]

I'll have my relocation expenses covered (not taking too much though, just personal belonging like clothes which are horribly expensive down under) and will also chip in for the downpayment, I guess. However, I still have that uneasy feeling reading about stocks, bonds and funds, interest nicely accumulating. I've spent most of my Xmas holidays financially educating myself, diving into MMM's blog, only surfacing for meals and eggnog :)

So far, I've worked my way to the following conclusions:
1. I need to set my mind on a long-term, low-fee investment option in Euros. Would it be smart to put about 15K in this? What is my best option? I understand I need an OnVista account, still I'm more or less tapping in the dark here.
2. I'd like to keep an EF of about 5K.
3. Downpayment participation.

Good thing you're educating yourself before investing again!

You're not in a rush. Get knowledgeable and confident before exposing your money to significant risk. Noting is more expensive than panicking in a crisis and selling low.

I would go about it in the following order:

- Research what a permanent re-location to Australia would do to your Riester. If I remember correctly (I might not, don't take my word for it) you need to repay those tax savings in the payout phase. If that's the case see if you can beitragsfrei stellen lassen the insurance. Don't cancel it in a rush. If those contracts are worth being entered into are a different kind of question than if you should keep them once signed.

- Is 3k net or gross? If its net look at the expenses side of things (if it's gross I think you have better exercised fruagality muscles than me already and don't need a lot of advise in this area). What is your current savings rate? What could you aim for?

- Sell that amazonian forrest. That's speculating, not investing. Sell the indiviudal stocks you own as soon as possible. Same reason. You can do that with your "play money" with a 7 figure portfolio. Not with a 5 figure portfolio. Please make an honest assessment of what has drawn you to those investments. In particular the forrest is a bit crazy on the face of it (apologies for the face punch). Was it the promise of excessive profits? A "the next hot thing..." article in the paper or a "tip from a pro" on ntv? The claim of it being a "green" and therefore morally superior investment? Read up why those are not good reasons to make an investment.

- read the Bogleheads forum
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads%C2%AE_investment_philosophy
and the literature recommended there. Those guys are way less willing to take risk and recommend a lot lower withdrawal rates than this forum. I think the Bogleheads are best regarding how to invest while MMM is the best source re questions like how much you need to live on, to be happy and to stop working. You might reach a different conclusion.

- The most coherent "Boglehead" source in German is G. Kommer and - if you read only one of his books - Souverän investieren

- Pick a fixed income/equities asset allocation that you are comfortable with. "Comfortable" means "I could see a replay of the 2008 crash, go to sleep, have breakfast and not sell." No strategy will work if you panic and sell at the botom.

- Pick ETFs (e.g. i-shares or comstage) to build your own portfolio or - if comfortable with their allocation and not wanting to rebalance yourself - buy e.g. arero shares http://www.arero.de/ or a similar product.

- First and most important criterion for any fund is that it constitutes a Sondervermögen. This means that in case of an insolvency of the issuer, the assets are protected from the issuer's creditors.

- Low cost is the second most important feature of any fund. Never pay more than you have to. Research the effects of 0,5, 1,0, 1,5 and 2,0 % cost. Never pay any front loads (Ausgabeaufschlag).

- Always keep your securities deposit account with a big international bank. The Sparkassen in my experience make you pay quite high fees for anything and don't provide good service, while a small private bank is a lot more likely to collaps and prevent you at least temproarily from accessing your funds. Once your portfolio is substantially in the 6 figure range consider opening a second account with a different international bank, unaffiliated with the first. Diversify between funds of different issuers in the same asset class in this stage too.

- Stay away from any product which can not be transferred into your securities deposit account. This does not safe you from incurring losses. But at least from ponzi schemers and funds stupid/corrupt enough to act as "feeders" for ponzi schemes.

[TheMoneyTree]

Dear Lyssa,
that's awesome help, thanks so much!

- Research what a permanent re-location to Australia would do to your Riester. If I remember correctly (I might not, don't take my word for it) you need to repay those tax savings in the payout phase. If that's the case see if you can beitragsfrei stellen lassen the insurance. Don't cancel it in a rush. If those contracts are worth being entered into are a different kind of question than if you should keep them once signed.

Right now, I'm only looking at spending four years there with an option to prolong for up to six. Don't want to give up my job security all that fast (Beamte), if you know what I mean. I've talked to my financial advisor about my Riester and I will have a very detailed talk as soon as this relocation thing becomes more real (visa and such). Under no condition am I going to cancel it.

- Is 3k net or gross? If its net look at the expenses side of things (if it's gross I think you have better exercised fruagality muscles than me already and don't need a lot of advise in this area). What is your current savings rate? What could you aim for?

It's net :) I'm already living a pretty mustachian lifestyle (minus the nice car) but there are, of course, ways to save even more. It's on my agenda for 2015 as well.

- Sell that amazonian forrest.
Was it the promise of excessive profits? A "the next hot thing..." article in the paper or a "tip from a pro" on ntv? The claim of it being a "green" and therefore morally superior investment? Read up why those are not good reasons to make an investment.

Honestly, it was qipu cashback :) I can sell this stuff with no loss and we're only talking 600 euros here.

- Pick a fixed income/equities asset allocation that you are comfortable with. "Comfortable" means "I could see a replay of the 2008 crash, go to sleep, have breakfast and not sell." No strategy will work if you panic and sell at the botom.

Could you give me an example? I'm that clueless...

- Pick ETFs (e.g. i-shares or comstage) to build your own portfolio or - if comfortable with their allocation and not wanting to rebalance yourself - buy e.g. arero shares http://www.arero.de/ or a similar product.

I'll go look into it right after sending this reply, been looking at OnVista so far. I definitely don't want to rebalance anything.

- First and most important criterion for any fund is that it constitutes a Sondervermögen. This means that in case of an insolvency of the issuer, the assets are protected from the issuer's creditors.

How do I find that out?

- Low cost is the second most important feature of any fund. Never pay more than you have to. Research the effects of 0,5, 1,0, 1,5 and 2,0 % cost. Never pay any front loads (Ausgabeaufschlag).

Point taken. I'm planning to buy something with max 0,5 cost.

- Always keep your securities deposit account with a big international bank. The Sparkassen in my experience make you pay quite high fees for anything and don't provide good service, while a small private bank is a lot more likely to collaps and prevent you at least temproarily from accessing your funds. Once your portfolio is substantially in the 6 figure range consider opening a second account with a different international bank, unaffiliated with the first. Diversify between funds of different issuers in the same asset class in this stage too.

What exactly is a securities account? Do you mean EF? My savings are at IngDiba right now, if this is what you mean.

- Stay away from any product which can not be transferred into your securities deposit account. This does not safe you from incurring losses. But at least from ponzi schemers and funds stupid/corrupt enough to act as "feeders" for ponzi schemes.

What would that be? Sorry, I have to mich doof stellen :)

Once again, a big fat Dankeschön, you've uncovered even more areas I need to think about!

[TheMoneyTree]

 first: Why OnVista? You can buy shares and ETFs at lots of other banks. OnVista is great for number crunching, but I have the impression you will not do it.
When you just want to park money (+interest) you can use any online-bank, you only need to identify oonce after all.
The trade fee is normally around 10€ minimum with a low % of commission. No cost for Girokonto.

I personally like the views that ing-diba has (they are also cheap and one of the best Tagesgeldzinsen)
https://wertpapiere.ing-diba.de/DE/Showpage.aspx?pageID=106&UseURL=Ja&Fondstyp=Alle&Fondsart=nur+ETFs+(indexabbildend)
here you have a moderate big number to choose from. All you need for a start. Play with it around a bit. Look at Analyse for single ETFs. Its interesting how many are in 2nd or even 1st quartile. Tells you a lot about active managed funds.
ing have a australien branch - but there are other banks, too. If they have the RF is probably easier to manage, ask them.

OnVista account = 50€ Qipu cashback (I do pretty much everything via qipu and my 700+€ balance there makes me smile every time I see it) plus they give you free trades depending on how much money you park with them. I already have a watchlist I play with at IngDiba and my savings account is with them too, although I'm planning to move to get more cashback. But thanks for your reply!

[LennStar]

Dear Lyssa,
that's awesome help, thanks so much!

- Research what a permanent re-location to Australia would do to your Riester. If I remember correctly (I might not, don't take my word for it) you need to repay those tax savings in the payout phase. If that's the case see if you can beitragsfrei stellen lassen the insurance. Don't cancel it in a rush. If those contracts are worth being entered into are a different kind of question than if you should keep them once signed.

Right now, I'm only looking at spending four years there with an option to prolong for up to six. Don't want to give up my job security all that fast (Beamte), if you know what I mean. I've talked to my financial advisor about my Riester and I will have a very detailed talk as soon as this relocation thing becomes more real (visa and such). Under no condition am I going to cancel it.

- Pick a fixed income/equities asset allocation that you are comfortable with. "Comfortable" means "I could see a replay of the 2008 crash, go to sleep, have breakfast and not sell." No strategy will work if you panic and sell at the botom.

Could you give me an example? I'm that clueless...

- Pick ETFs (e.g. i-shares or comstage) to build your own portfolio or - if comfortable with their allocation and not wanting to rebalance yourself - buy e.g. arero shares http://www.arero.de/ or a similar product.

I'll go look into it right after sending this reply, been looking at OnVista so far. I definitely don't want to rebalance anything.

Dont sell that Riester. At your net icome it probably even makes sense (yea, I view Riester dimly and a study just said that I was right all the time). You can (and should) deduct it from taxes. You pay later on, but I stand on the point that if you pay so much taxes on your income when you are old, you have don OK even if you could have done better by using self-invest (and most wouldnt anyway).
Q1: Is it verzinst (how much) or based on stocks, can you give a link?
Q2: Are you out of the 5year high-cost-time?
Q3: Beamte? I thought they were out of Riester - at least the Riesterförderung.
 

Arero - I have a small amount in it too. It was a very average-ing ETF since its existence - which could be viewed as good.
http://www.fondsweb.de/LU0360863863-ARERO-Der-Weltfonds
The concept is that it is a sort of already allocated asset. So if you have no clue and are unsure, that one is (so they claim) statistically the best thing you can do for getting relatively high returns with low volatility. Also it has no specific buy/sell cost, just what you pay your bank, but bc. of that everything takes 2 days longer.

If you want to know more on asset allocation there are lots of websites out there, I cant give one specific, though.
In your case you need a fairly big cash cushion when you move, you never know how much money you need and it would suck to have to sell something when the stocks just dropped 30% ;) The next crash is assured, and since we are at record hights, it shouldnt be that long away. But you the bad thing about the future is, that you only know what it does when it is history ;)

[TheMoneyTree]

Dear LennStar,
nope, I'm not selling my Riester. Mine is with AXA and is based on funds. I'm not sure what you mean with that 5 year thing but I got it even before I started working full-time and making 3K. Riesterförderung works OK for us, although I do know lots of people think that Beamte are faule Säcke. Rest assured that I don't belong to this kind and actually work my butt off (which highly annoys me).
I'm currently reading that Bogleheads thing on asset allocation. It's getting less hazy...

[Lyssa]

Dear Lyssa,
that's awesome help, thanks so much!

You're welcome!

Honestly, it was qipu cashback :)

I had no idea... :-)

- Pick a fixed income/equities asset allocation that you are comfortable with. "Comfortable" means "I could see a replay of the 2008 crash, go to sleep, have breakfast and not sell." No strategy will work if you panic and sell at the botom.

Could you give me an example? I'm that clueless...

Not sure what you mean...

Asset allocation means die Verteilung des Vermögens zwischen verschiedenen Anlageklassen. Aktien, Anleihen, Rohstoffe, Immobilien. Eine vernünftige Aufteilungen zwischen Aktien und Anleihen reicht für die meisten Investoren. You should decide your own allocation after a careful examination of your tolerance for risk. Could you see your portfolio loose 50 or 60% in one year and be sure that you would not sell but continue to buy? If yes, you can pick an aggressive allocation like 20% fixed income and 80% equities. If not, perhaps 60/40 or even 50/50 is better for you. Worst case scenario is you contributing enthusiastically in a boom market and panic sell in a bear market.

I definitely don't want to rebalance anything.

Not as complicated as it sounds. "Rebalancing" only means that if you have decided e.g. a 60/40 asset allocation and see after 3, 6 or 12 month that due to stock market developments your allocation now is more 70/30 or 50/50, you "rebalance" to 60/40 by buying and selling different funds as necessary. In the past decades balancing quartlery was the most profitable option. Re-balancing monthly was a lot more work for no additional benefits. So the process is not difficult. But if you don't like it there are options like the arero funds which are automatically rebalanced to a certain asset allocation.

- First and most important criterion for any fund is that it constitutes a Sondervermögen. This means that in case of an insolvency of the issuer, the assets are protected from the issuer's creditors.

How do I find that out?

It's in the Wertpapierprospekt. No need to read the entire thing. Just make sure you understand the basics of a product you're buying.

What exactly is a securities account? Do you mean EF? My savings are at IngDiba right now, if this is what you mean.

I mean a Wertpapierdepot. I think you can have one at ING along with your Tagesgeldkonto. I have no account with them but have heard they provide good service. They had to be bailed out in 2009 but so had Commerzbank. I would try to pick a large bank with more accounts than the government can afford to be temporarily blocked in a new crisis.

- Stay away from any product which can not be transferred into your securities deposit account. This does not safe you from incurring losses. But at least from ponzi schemers and funds stupid/corrupt enough to act as "feeders" for ponzi schemes.

What would that be? Sorry, I have to mich doof stellen :)

No problem. In the U.S., the prime example would be Madoff (he operated worldwide but in Europe targeted only high net worth individuals, as far as I know). Madoff pretended to be trading stocks for his clients, yet for some reason you just couldn't have his firm execute those trades via e.g. your account at Morgan Stanley, Citi or Goldman. You had to hand over the money to Madoff and he would send you statements from his own firm. In Germany the S&K-Gruppe (classic Ponzi or Schneeballsystem, selling Anteile an geschlossenen Fonds) and Prokon (not a real Ponzi but also fraudulent to a certain extent, selling ungelistete Genusscheine) come to mind.

[TheMoneyTree]

Wow, I can remember a Prokon broshure in my mailbox... Good thing it landed in the middle of Altpapier!

Thanks so much again for all the invaluable advice, you seem to be waaay ahead of me but I'm firmly planning on getting there in no time.
I've understood the asset allocation thingy and will probably go for something like 50/50, although I'm planning to start out with a portfolio of 10K, which is probably a bit of a joke anyways. Will use OnVista for that (Cashback plus free trades for new customers) for starters and later move my porftolio somewhere else (I'm a cashback junkie and I've just noticed IngDiba is offering 250 euros for a portfolio transfer).
Are there any hidden disadvantages of such behavior?
Also, would you mind sharing what you invested into (if it's not streng geheim, of course :)

One thing I still don't completely understand is: Do you have to be adding to your portfolio or can you just set it and forget it for a while?

[LennStar]

Wow, I can remember a Prokon broshure in my mailbox... Good thing it landed in the middle of Altpapier!

Are there any hidden disadvantages of such behavior?

One thing I still don't completely understand is: Do you have to be adding to your portfolio or can you just set it and forget it for a while?

Prokon was one such things were you shouldnt "invest" if you dont know exactly what is going on. Even more then individual stocks. On your level: just dont do it. I had looked into it for someone else and it was too cloudy - but to find that out it took 2-3 hours.  Problem is hat you cant believe what you read in forums, but cant ignore it either.

Disadvantages: If you move from one Depotbank to the next you often can only transfer full shares. If you used a Sparplan and have parts of shares, they get sold. Also my old bank forgot to delete my account. (but I didnt get 250€ lol  where does it stand? I only see 75€ for Gehaltskonto - which is more then they usually do)
They want you to move so that they can profit from selling you managed fonds (and other things like insurances), thats why they pay. mustachians are bad customers for these things :D

You dont have to add anything to your portfolio. Part of the mustachian advise is to "forget it for a while" so that you dont get sweaty when the price drops in the next crash. Of course, if you can you should add, but if you cant (or want because you are going to australia), dont hesitate to stop ;)

[TheMoneyTree]

Dear LennStar, first, let me tell you something - I love your sweet little 'Germanisms' sprinkled here and there. They remind me of the good old 'wating snake' if you know what I mean :)
Here's a link for you: https://www.ing-diba.de/wertpapiere/direkt-depot/depotuebertrag/
I now have my mind set on starting off with about 80% ETFs for my beginner porftolio and I've been reading wertpapier-forum.de like crazy. Just need a good mixture of ETFs and then I'm off on a fun journey towards financial security. I'm hoping for some more helpful insights from Lissa...

[LennStar]

Dear LennStar, first, let me tell you something - I love your sweet little 'Germanisms' sprinkled here and there. They remind me of the good old 'wating snake' if you know what I mean :)
Here's a link for you: https://www.ing-diba.de/wertpapiere/direkt-depot/depotuebertrag/
I now have my mind set on starting off with about 80% ETFs for my beginner porftolio and I've been reading wertpapier-forum.de like crazy. Just need a good mixture of ETFs and then I'm off on a fun journey towards financial security. I'm hoping for some more helpful insights from Lissa...

Ah, sorry for you, but you will only get 20€.
You would need to be nearly FIRE if you want the 250€ "ab 250.000 € mit 250 € Gutschrift"

[TheMoneyTree]

Ah, sorry for you, but you will only get 20€.
You would need to be nearly FIRE if you want the 250€ "ab 250.000 € mit 250 € Gutschrift"

Seriously?! Evil Ing-Diba! Well, 20 Euros are still better than nothing in my book...

[Lyssa]

Wow, I can remember a Prokon broshure in my mailbox... Good thing it landed in the middle of Altpapier!

Thanks so much again for all the invaluable advice, you seem to be waaay ahead of me but I'm firmly planning on getting there in no time.
I've understood the asset allocation thingy and will probably go for something like 50/50, although I'm planning to start out with a portfolio of 10K, which is probably a bit of a joke anyways. Will use OnVista for that (Cashback plus free trades for new customers) for starters and later move my porftolio somewhere else (I'm a cashback junkie and I've just noticed IngDiba is offering 250 euros for a portfolio transfer).
Are there any hidden disadvantages of such behavior?
Also, would you mind sharing what you invested into (if it's not streng geheim, of course :)

One thing I still don't completely understand is: Do you have to be adding to your portfolio or can you just set it and forget it for a while?

Hi,

apolologies for the delay in answering your latest post. You probably can't wait to get started (I know I couldn't 3 years ago...).

My asset allocation is 10% bonds, 10% REITs, 10% commodities and 70% stocks asset allocation. Stocks is subdivided in 32,5 North America, 32,5% Europe, 25% Emerging Markets and 10% Japan. Current book value about 250.000 EUR.

You can simplify this and have as much diversification with 1-4 funds for a smaller portfolio. E.g. 10-20% global bond market and 80-90% MSCI World ETF. Or global bond market, S&P 500 and Eurostoxx (if you want avoid the higher volatility of emerging markets).

Adding over time is always good but not a must. Even rebalancing is only (highly) recommended but not strictly necessary. When Fidelity surveyed which customers had the most successful portfolios it was 1. estates from investors who had passed and which were locked e.g. due to a dispute and 2. investors who had completely forgotten that they even had a fidelity account.

Panicked decision making is the no 1 enemy of profitable investments. Being lazy is just fine. :-)

[TheMoneyTree]

Hey, Lyssa, no worries, I've used the time to read pretty much everything you had suggested. That was seriously helpful!
Plus, I've registered at a German forum and started a thread there which has been immensely helpful as well (here's a link in case you're interested http://www.wertpapier-forum.de/topic/45364-relativ-junge-beamtin-baut-ein-etf-depot-auf/page__st__20__gopid__929239#entry929239
Wow, 250 K sounds impressive, may I ask how much you started with?
In short my strategy will be 70/30 - World/ETF (I've decided to throw in 15K though).
And yeah, I absolutely can't wait to get started!

[Lyssa]

Hey, Lyssa, no worries, I've used the time to read pretty much everything you had suggested. That was seriously helpful!
Plus, I've registered at a German forum and started a thread there which has been immensely helpful as well (here's a link in case you're interested http://www.wertpapier-forum.de/topic/45364-relativ-junge-beamtin-baut-ein-etf-depot-auf/page__st__20__gopid__929239#entry929239

Interesting. And nice job ignoring all the pension envy. :-)
That was one of the reasons I chose to register here. I really appreciate this forums ability to differentiate  between general political discussions and advise for individuals.

Wow, 250 K sounds impressive, may I ask how much you started with?

Only about 15,000 in cash gifts from family and a small inheritance. All the rest comes from my crazy hours + crazy paycheck employment with a US law firm (in one of their German offices), which started in late 2010. I don't want to work like that for the rest of my life and I could be told to look for a different job at any time. So I save and invest about 65% of my net each month. During the last 2 years I could see the magic of compound interest going to work.

In short my strategy will be 70/30 - World/ETF (I've decided to throw in 15K though).
And yeah, I absolutely can't wait to get started!

You mean World/EM (took this from the wertpapierforum)? Volatile but very profitable in a bull market.

Good luck and have fun! And congrats to your decision to make new contributions every quarter!

[TheMoneyTree]

Wow, you go, girl! To be honest, I can totally feel your pain as I'm seriously counting the days till I can leave Germany and this eat-my-brain-with-a-teaspoon-bitch-of-a-job. I'm pretty damn sick of spending my days between mountains of corrections (I mostly teach high-school) and the blackboard.
I'm super-used to all the we-hate-beamten-talk, ignorance is the key here. Sometimes I do wish I could leave these people alone with a bunch of ten-year-olds going crazy and just lock the door.
So, yeah, I'm going to purchase my first funds this coming week. Exciting! I've also made a whole bunch of changes to my lifestyle and started very actively selling all the clothes I never wear, stuff I don't use - it all adds up!
Also, I just wanted to say thanks for warning me about that forest investment. Turns out I have a bloody Sparplan - will call them tomorrow to see how I can get out of this thing...