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

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

As a young financial enthusiast, I started my journey by spending as little as possible. While my brother invested his share in mixed savings plans, I kept my money to myself. Later, my earnings were mostly deposited into a savings account, with only a few savings accounts for exceptions. It probably won't come as a surprise that I grew up as a classic left-green social scientist, more interested in political developments in the United States than in my financial affairs.

That changed when I had to overhaul my private retirement savings last year. After all, that's what I had been working towards since 2008, when I completed my degree in hand. At the time, I had bought a pension insurance based on equity funds from a friend, which, of course, was never a good idea. Everything seemed very secure. I didn't give it much thought and signed the contract.

I glanced at the annual overview letter without really looking at it. Even a savings book would have warned me more. The fact that I started paying closer attention to my finances last year had something to do with my move to the Handelsblatt. It's impossible to ignore financial matters after a while. At 42, I discovered that after more than 15 years and more than 20,000 euros in contributions, I only made a profit of 1000 euros. Despite the fact that the equity markets had been doing quite well during that time.