Geldanlage: Zehn Dinge, die ich als Anfänger über ETFs gelernt habe

When I first earned a small amount of money, my financial strategy revolved around minimizing expenses. Unlike my brother who pooled his money in mixed investment "bags", I kept my earnings in my own savings account. Later, most of my income went into a traditional savings account with a few fixed-interest exceptions. It likely didn't surprise anyone that I grew up as a classic left-green liberal arts student, more interested in political affairs in the United States than my own finances.

That changed when I had to overhaul my private retirement plan last year, which was what I'd been working on since graduating in 2008. At that time, I had invested in life insurance with stocks, through a friend—clearly not a wise decision. Everything was supposedly very secure. I didn't give the annual overview much thought and signed the papers without closely examining them.

Even a simple savings book would have been more helpful. When I started paying more attention to my finances last year, I discovered that after over 15 years and more than 20,000 euros in contributions, I had only made 1,000 euros in profit. It was mostly due to high fees in the stock markets that year. This experience reinforced my decision to approach my private retirement plan differently.

With more than 20,000 euros available, I set out to improve my retirement savings. Having recently switched to online banking and already having so much money in my savings account that my local bank regularly complained, I decided to invest a portion of it more wisely. I firmly believed that I wanted to invest the money in green investments.

It seemed natural to choose either the GLS Bank or Ökoworld ETF. However, these options were accompanied by high fees, as selecting green funds often meant compromising on their "greenness". To cover this cost, I opted for an ETF savings plan, promising high returns with relatively low risk, provided I wouldn't need the money for at least a decade.

No matter where I looked, the answer was always ETFs. When my favorite socialist economics podcast, "Wohlstand für alle", suggested ETFs and pointed out that even Karl Marx speculated on the stock market (relatively unsuccessfully), I was convinced. I started investing in ETFs in August 2025, and since then, I've learned these lessons as a beginner.