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

When I first started earning money, my financial strategy was to spend as little as possible. While my brother invested most of his earnings in mixed funds, I kept mine in my own pocket. Eventually, all of my income, with a few exceptions of fixed-interest accounts, ended up in my current account. It may not come as a surprise that I grew up as a classic leftist humanities student, more interested in US political affairs than my own finances.

This changed when I had to reorganize my private pension last year. After all, that was what I had been working towards since I completed my studies in 2008. Back then, I had taken out a pension insurance policy based on share funds, recommended by a friend, which, of course, is never a good idea. Everything seemed very secure, and I didn't spend much time thinking about it before signing.

I dutifully received and filed the annual overview without looking at it closely. Even a savings book would have been more helpful. The fact that I took a closer look last year was also due to my move to the Handelsblatt. It is hard not to think about one's own finances eventually. I was 42, and it turned out that after more than 15 years and over 20,000 euros in contributions, I had only made 1,000 euros in profit. Despite the stock markets performing reasonably well during this period.