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

When I first invested my pocket money, my financial strategy primarily focused on spending as little as possible. While my brother allocated the majority in mixed packs, I kept my money for myself. Eventually, everything I earned, with a few fixed-interest exceptions, ended up in my current account. It may not come as a surprise that I grew up as a classic left-green humanities graduate, more interested in American political affairs than my financial affairs.

This changed when I had to overhaul my private pension last year. After all, that was what I had been working towards since 2008, when I completed my degree in hand. Back then, I had concluded a pension insurance policy based on stock funds with a friend, which, of course, was never a good idea. Everything was supposedly very secure.

I didn't think twice and signed it. I glanced at the annual overview letter without much scrutiny, just tucking it away. Even a savings book would have done more harm than good. The fact that I looked more closely at my finances last year had to do with my switch to Handelsblatt. It's impossible here not to think about one's own finances eventually.

At 42, I found out that after more than 15 years and over €20,000 in contributions, I had only made a profit of €1,000. Even the stock markets had gone reasonably well during this time.