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

When I first started investing my pocket money, my financial strategy was centered on spending as little as possible. While my brother pooled most of his earnings into mixed funds, I kept my share separate. Eventually, all of my income, with a few exceptions on fixed-interest accounts, ended up in my current account. It likely won't come as a surprise that I grew up as a classic left-leaning liberal arts student who was more interested in US political affairs than my personal finances.

That changed when I needed to reorganize my private pension last year. After all, that was what I had been working towards since earning my degree in 2008. Back then, I had taken out a pension insurance policy based on share funds, courtesy of a friend, which is never a good idea. Everything was allegedly very secure. I didn't give it much thought and signed the dotted line.

I mailed the annual overview letter without giving it a second glance. Even a savings book would have been better. The fact that I took a closer look last year may also have been due to my move to Handelsblatt. It is impossible here to think about one's own finances without eventually coming back to them. I was 42, and it turned out that after over 15 years and over 20,000 euros in contributions, I had only made a profit of 1,000 euros. Despite the stock markets having done reasonably well during this time.