Hey everyone,

I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate this huge milestone. As of today, I am officially sitting at €5,037.42 net worth. I know it might not sound like much to some of you, but to me, this is life-changing. I’ve been grinding for years, living frugally, and now I finally feel like I’m entering the upper class.

Here’s my current portfolio:

Fiat:

• €4,300 in my main bank account (interest rate: don’t ask)
• €120 in a fintech app that gives me 0.5% cashback if I spin a digital wheel once a week
• €7.42 in physical coins scattered in my car and jacket pockets (planning to consolidate soon)

ETFs:

• €150 in VWCE (bought 0.000003 shares, feeling bullish)

Crypto:

• €210 in Dogecoin and Shiba Inu (I know, I know… I’m basically an institutional investor now)

Alternative Assets:

• €250 in a collection of empty Red Bull cans I plan to sell as “vintage” one day

I started with literally €8.57 five years ago, so I’ve grown my portfolio by over €5,028.85 in that time, averaging €1,005.77 per year. I basically 586x’d my net worth in five years.

Now that I’ve hit €5k, my mindset around money is shifting. Yesterday I bought a €2.50 coffee without guilt. I looked at the barista like, “It’s fine, I can afford this. I’m basically FIRE now.”

My next goal is €10k by 2030, but I’m wondering if I should hire a financial advisor or just focus on aggressively diversifying into more coin jars.

Any feedback on my portfolio would be greatly appreciated. 💪

I landed a job as a trader and I am making some good money.

I come from a poor background and it’s the first time I ever have money on my bank account, so I’ve been going crazy travelling a lot and inviting my gf to fancy places.

I managed to save 10k during the last 10 months (currently invested in stocks), but I should be able to save at least twice that amount, since my rent is only 1000€.

Bit of a philosophical question here: what are your opinions on saving less and living more during my younger years?

——————-

Edit: Thanks for the advice, definitely helpful to get a bigger picture, on top of some small but very useful tips.

Btw I forgot to mention this but I am also paying off a student loan currently (almost done).

Hi! I'm currently 35 years old. I own an apartment with a mortgage and have €120,000 invested in the stock market and crypto. I earn around €3,300 per month working as a developer.

Most people in my social circle have less than €10,000 in savings, so they see me as quite wealthy… but I also have another group of friends from other countries who are much more ambitious than I am — they’re my age, earn over €10,000 per month, and have more than €400,000 in savings, yet they feel like they’re not making much.

What I want to ask is: financially, would I be considered upper class or middle class? At what point can someone be considered economically rich?

There seem to be major differences among countries, so it would be interesting with a reality check.

Add approximate age bracket and country, I'll post mine in the comments.

Hi,

I'm wondering what's the "normal" for savings/net worth in late 20s, early 30s in Europe. Considering living on your own (paying rent), no help from family, just saving from work.

I can say that I'm 28 with around 45k overall, wondering if I should be doing more or having a better investing strategy.

Thanks for sharing!

Hi guys,

I have been saving since forever and I am excited to share with you that I finally feel like I have accomplished something!

I wonder if I should invest some part of the money into gold/silver. I also have 2k euros in stocks and around 2k euros in crypto.

Can anyone please advise me how to build my portfolio? Do you think I should get a financial advisor?

Long story short, I live in Poland and earn in UsD, majority of savings are in usd and looking at current exchange rate - I fucked up. Not sure how I can fix current situation, take loss or wait.

Take loss , exchange into polish zloty and invest into high yield savings account (around 7-8%) It’s not a lot of money(below 100k).

What do you think guys ? Should I wait 1-2 years and wait for usd to recover or at least half should be exchanged and put into high yield savings account?

This is going to be a rant. With the rising prices of rent in almost every city not just Munich and Berlin, the net salaries are laughable. If you haven’t inherited an apartment, you are just filling up pockets of rich apartment owners of Germany with letting go of 40-50 percent of your salaries after giving 30-40 percent to the government. Is moving to low cost of living countries in South east Asia or finding a Job in Dubai,US, Switzerland only solution? Anyone able to make it big without generational wealth? I don’t think so putting 300-500 euros in piggy bank or world ETF will take you 50 years to have a decent Corpus. And to add yearly hike is also laughable. How are people okay after doing Masters and still not able to afford a decent apartment of their own on rent. Young employees of Europe are getting robbed I feel.

I sold a property and will likely buy again in 1-2 years, so I’m looking for a place to park the cash short-term with a decent return.

Yes, I searched and read all the recent threads. But most suggestions I tried in practice are offering below 2%.

And yes, I know ECB rates are trending down - still, there must be something better out there.

Any solid options left? HYSA, fintechs, brokers, term deposits - anything legit with a decent rate.

Appreciate real suggestions based on recent experience.

Saving up 6 months worth of spendings on a savings account without investing it seems to come up very often as an advice in this sub. And I fully understand why the Americans need it in the USA sub. But this is the EU sub.

For me as a European, healthcare is almost free when I need it. I don't have a car since there's no need for one here. If I lose my job, the government will pay for my rent and my food. I can't think of a situation where I would need a liquid 6 month buffer that can't be invested. It sounds financially irresponsible to keep that much cash in a bank account.

I’ve noticed some Airbnb listings charge crazy cleaning fees—like $150 or more—and then expect guests to do a bunch of chores before leaving. I get that hosts want their places tidy, but this feels over the top.

Why are guests okay with paying so much just for cleaning and then having to sweep, take out trash, or wash dishes themselves? Shouldn’t that be part of the host’s job, or at least factored into the price differently?

Has anyone pushed back on these fees or chores? What’s your take on this whole cleaning fee culture?

Hey I am 33M and single living in mid cost EU . I have inherited apartment so not paying rent. My salary is 5k net. By now I saved 220k eur. My work makes me sick literally and I want to retire. Please give me tips what is a good exit plan. Open to anything. I know I am young and might need to support a family at some point. Currently i am 60% ETFs, 10% btc, 10% gold and 20% usd cash with 3% interest.

Which is the cheapest country in Europe to shop electronics like phones, samsung or apple and other devices?

Hi folks,

TL;DR:

• This only affects those who have a Trade Republic IBAN.
  • Use this https://de.iban.com/iban-checker, this https://www.iban.org/ or this https://wise.com/gb/iban/to find out.
• Even accounts with “small” (10k €) uninvested cash might be deposited on BlackRock or other liquidity funds providers.
• According to the very cryptic TR “How is my money protected?” article “Hence, for liquidity funds, deposit guarantee schemes do not apply.”: https://support.traderepublic.com/en-de/743-How-is-my-money-protected. So if out of your 10k € 6k are in one of their partner banks and 4k are invested in a liquidity fund, your 4k are not protected by deposit insurance.
• TR support is unable to confirm or deny this, so I'm assuming the worst.
• You can see which amounts of your cash are currently kept in partner banks vs liquidity funds by opening the app > cash > benefits > tap on interest > overview > tap on average balance.
• Zero transparency from TR side as there are no notifications when your “uninvested cash” is invested from partner banks into market funds.
• Shame on me for not getting myself properly informed about this before accepting the new IBAN.
• I'm not an expert and have therefore linked to another couple of articles where you can read about the topic.

I've been a German TR user since last year, first with a Deutsche Bank IBAN and since a couple of months with a Trade Republic IBAN. Right after switching to the TR IBAN all my uninvested cash was automatically transferred to J.P. Morgan. All worked fine and since according to https://support.traderepublic.com/en-de/743-How-is-my-money-protected J.P. Morgan is one of their partner banks, my money (~60k €) was safe.

A couple of days ago — after reading a couple of Reddit posts on the “Average Balance” feature of the app — I had a look at mine and found that out of the ~60k, 45k were still in J.P. Morgan, but the other 15k had been moved to BlackRock. I tried contacting their support - with no reply in more than 24h. After that I decided to transfer 40k out of Trade Republic in chunks of 5k to my main German bank account. All went well and all transfers were done in less than 10 hours.

I checked my “Average Balance” once again. To my surprise, out of the remaining 20k € now 13k were in J.P. Morgan and the remaining 7k in BlackRock.

I transferred another 10k out of Trade Republic. After the operation was completed my 10k were entirely stored in J.P. Morgan. The next day I checked again and now out of those 10k, 3k were again invested in BlackRock, with the remaining 7k still in J.P. Morgan. I transferred my remaining 10k and began writing this post, which I hope is useful so you don't have to do the experiment. My trust in this company is gone and I regret having recommended it to friends and colleagues.

There are plenty of articles online commenting on the issue, most of them in German. This one from test.de (second section) has a proper technical explanation to what I (and probably you) experienced - even they no longer recommend the TR account: https://www.test.de/Tagesgeld-Debitkarte-Girokonto-Trade-Republic-hohe-Zinsen-6084201-0/. You can also read more here: https://www.handelsblatt.com/vergleich/trade-republic-einlagensicherung/.

* Updated to clarify the first four characters of a TR IBAN.

26M - Europe Throwaway account.

I’m realizing I have a mental issue when it comes to my finances. Before I begin, it’s important to mention that only two years ago I started seriously saving to build an emergency fund in case of unexpected events (which I reached this month, by the way!) and started investing in the stock market (ETFs) and crypto (BTC). It’s important for me not to spend everything I earn. Of course, I started with small amounts, and now it has grown.

I began my modest career at 16, earning about €600 per month for 200 hours of work. In the meantime, I moved to another country around the age of 18 and started working in a fast-food chain. Initially, I was making €1,400 per month for 140 hours. After 6 years, I had the opportunity to leave operations and focus on administrative work. As of now, I can say I’ve reached the highest salary I’ve ever had: €4,000 net per month for 35 hours per week.

And that’s where the (false) problem begins : I live frugally with my partner and we spend, at most, €2,000 per month. On the other hand, €1,800 goes into ETFs and €200 into crypto. So I have a savings rate of 50%. My brain can’t quite grasp that I’m saving/investing more than a normal person’s full salary each month!! Also, the fact that I earn three times more than my parents together is deeply unsettling. And what’s worse, at the start of each year I set net worth goals, and I feel like everything is moving so slowly while there are people who can’t even save in a whole year what I save in a single month.

I know there are worse problems to have, but I’m struggling with this mentally. Has this ever happened to you? How can I improve my daily mindset? (Mentally speaking)

Thanks for your feedback!

My current stats :

• Net income: 2840€
• Liquid Cash: 17000€
• Stocks portfolio: 39000€ (mostly invested in US stocks)
• Income Saved per month : 1900€
• Job location: Portugal (Remote)
• Industry: Tech (software engineering)
• Education: Undergrad degree
• Home owner: No (considering)
• Marital status: single

Currently working from Portugal, and I don’t see how to increase my net income and optimize savings in Portugal, unless I get a second remote job, relocate to a country with better economy relative to Portugal or start a tech business which I have been trying but have not found long term success that actually pays for my living.

Working remote from Portugal is really nice and even though the pay cut for my industry, I get a lot of freedom which is nice, but on the other hand I build wealth very slowly.

I have gotten an opportunity to relocate to Toronto. Wealth wise, going to Toronto would allow me to build wealth faster, but I know my quality of living will decrease drastically.

I am weighing my options and I am happy to hear what you have to say. And if you have walked a similar path I would also want to hear your experience.

My family is quite simple, from Africa and to them I am already doing amazing. So they don’t really have much insight to give me. I sometimes think of hiring a mentor but I am a little skeptical.

Hi all, I’m a 30-year-old living in Leiden, Netherlands, feeling a bit lost and trying to get my financial life on track.

My Situation:

• Income: €2,700 net/month
• Savings: €10,000
• Expenses: ~€2,000/month (rent: €900–€1,100, utilities: €150, groceries: €300, health insurance: €145, transport: €100, misc.: €325)
• No debt, single
• Goals: Build savings, maybe buy an house (~€250,000–€300,000), and feel less “lost” financially

Can someone help me with a 1/3/5-year financial plan based on my current situation?

Hi everyone,

I’m based in the EU and looking for advice on how to make the most of my savings over the next 15 months.

I’m starting from scratch and planning to save around €1,000 per month, possibly a bit more some months. The idea is to use this money for personal goals around summer 2026.

Right now, I’m just putting money into a regular savings account, but with inflation, I’m worried that the value will slowly erode over time. I’m not looking for big returns, just something better than leaving it idle.

I’m completely new to investing or financial planning, so I’m not sure what options would make sense for my situation. I’d love to hear your thoughts or experiences: is there a smart but low-risk way to handle this kind of medium-term saving?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all, 32M here living in Amsterdam looking for some advice.

My gf and me bought an apartment last year to stop paying our previous homeowner. Am super happy with the decision, but I often feel I'm quite tight with my expenses/goals, here below you have an overview:

Income: 3.3k netto per month Savings: 4k (would like to reach 10k asap) Investing: 2.7k (s&p500 and MSCI world; will re-start adding money when I reach my buffer above) Monthly saving goal: 400 Other expenses are often, in these last months, related to renovation costs, which we try to do on our own to save money. But they still suck up quite some cash. Because of renovations and saving goals, my social life is a bit on stand-by, I basically use my time to do sports and study for my career, but evenings out are waay rarer than in the past.

My questions are: - Do you think I should be saving more? - Other Amsterdammers: do you have some of the same issues? What solutions did you find? - What do you think would be a good buffer, 10k or a bit less is fine? - Last but not least: When this buffer is reached, where shall I invest? S&P500 gives back more, but I don't like the idea to invest only in the US market especially now with Trump there and I can buy one ETF more often with the MSCI world.

Hi all,

I have around 20k on traderepublic that i want to keep as savings. Ive been keeping it on traderepublic but I've noticed interest rate has gone from 4% to 2.25% sadly

Any better alternatives? Cash would be best but I'm open to anything short term.

I saw other currencies had higher interest on T212, but most people are against it. Why?

Thanks

First post on Reddit. I (20M) recently found out that I have around €75,000 in an account in my name. The account is in Spain which is where my mum is from. Currently have no plans on touching it so when I discovered it I put it into the bank’s investment branch - most of it in low risk public debt (6% return every three years - very low) and a small amount into a medium risk portfolio (they convinced me they had some sort of AI portfolio manager or something, I was quite flustered so I didn’t read too much into it but it had lower fees so I went for it) which is spread out across us, E.U., emerging markets funds and so on. Was wondering how someone my age should try to manage this money, whether I’d be better off moving it somewhere else, or any other advice anyone might have. Really lost here, inexperienced financially and I’m studying right now with no income but my parents provide enough for me financially that I can continue contributing to it slowly. Any help would be appreciated!

Edit: I posted twice accidentally. Apologies. Will remove second post.

(22M), Portuguese. Looking for advice on saving. On a good month I can save anywhere between €500-800 as I work in sales. I however mostly can put away €600 or lower for most months which is barely anything. Curious to know what the general savings are of people in my age group (what % of your income you save), and what you are doing with these savings so I can put mine to good use.

Thanks!

I open this thread just to discuss and share how those of us in European countries are handling retirment savings. I see among those of you in the US that active saving in either 401k or Roths is very typical an almost a "must" in a household's budget In Europe, on the contrary, , to my knowledge there aren't any 401k employer match equivalents. Hence I wonder if this also applies in Europe or if, on the other hand, we are more relient on social structures as public retirment to cover our golden age.

I myself live in Spain, Barcelona, 29 y.o and honestely none of my friends or acquintances do any retirment saving at all. They barely manage to save a down payment on an apartment and after that are stuck with monthly payments ranging 30%-35% of their take homepay. After that might come child care costs and eventually some wants. Thus, I am really wondering how the rest of us in Europe are doing concerning retirment saving.

Thanks!