$XDWD (+0.43%) is fun.

$XDWD (+0.43%)
$IWDA (+0.32%)
$SEMI (+1.16%)

My portfolio is currently in free fall. When do I get out to reduce my loss? I'm only up 8%. My goal has always been to invest in ETFs for the long term.

Reallocation of DHL profits to the MSCI World.

Well then, slowly and bit by bit, add a little more money as prices fall

Hello everyone,

I would like to start a discussion about the best #etf s for the #schweiz to start. Let's start with the most important basics:

• Dividends are taxed as income in Switzerland (even for accumulating ETFs). So ultimately it doesn't matter for tax purposes whether you have a distributing or accumulating ETF.
• Access to American ETFsas not a member of the EU and therefore access to significantly cheaper ETF alternatives (e.g. $VT (+0.7%) ).
• Agreement between the USA and Switzerland reduces the US withholding tax from 30% to 15%. The remaining 15% can be claimed in the tax return for American ETFs.
• In the case of high to very high assets, ETFs with an American fund domicile may be taxed by the IRS for tax purposes.
• In the case of inheritance it could be a documentary/bureaucratic challenge for the surviving dependants with the IRS to transfer the ETFs with American brokers (classic #ikbr ).
• From a tax perspective, Irish ETFs are the most interesting after American ETFs due to the agreement between Ireland and the USA to reduce withholding tax from 30% to 15%. However, the remaining 15% cannot be claimed on the tax return.

For some years now I have been investing in the MSCI World $XDWD (+0.43%) (World Industrialized Countries) and not too long ago the AC World $XMAW (+0.87%) (All World). This is because, in addition to my Swiss broker (#saxobank ) and #ikbr my German bank (#consorsbank ) and Amundi and Xtracker ETFs can be saved there free of charge, which would be obsolete due to the low costs of Saxo and/or IKBR. In addition, these are accumulating and I would prefer to save in distributing ETFs. With a TER of 0.19% and 0.25%, these are okay, but certainly not the best ($VT (+0.7%) or $at 0.06%).

Irish alternatives would be the $WEBG (+0.82%) (TER 0.7%, distributing, All-World), $UBU7 (+0.36%) (TER 0.10%, distributing, MSCI-World), $VDEV (+1%) (TER 0.10%, distributing, industrialized countries) or $XDWL (+0.52%) (TER 0.12%, distributing, MSCI-World and counterpart to my accumulating $XDWD (+0.43%) ).

Which ETF do you save in if you are a Swiss resident? Which ETF would you save in if you were in the Swiss "luxury" situation?

Thanks to the jump from $1211 (+5.33%) I was able to break the milestone of 50k today, which was actually planned to be reached in the summer as I no longer have the usual savings rate due to renovations, currently €200 in tiles in the $CSNDX (+0.27%) and 200€ in $XDWD (+0.43%)

Always happy to listen to opinions... even critical ones 😬✌🏻

Dear friends of Getquin,

I'm usually a silent reader, but if everyone just reads, eventually there's no more reading material, is there? So today I want to share my story with you.

The beginnings:

It's hard for me to say exactly when my journey began, but I do know that I developed a fascination with money as a child. My first "investment" was when I was about 7 or 8 years old, when I bought an ounce of gold with my own pocket money. At that time, no one in my family had anything to do with investments, but I had seen it in my mother's bank when I often accompanied her there. I was fascinated by the shiny coins and wanted to know how I could have a piece myself.

Then, around the turn of the millennium, I saw my father, together with a "great" bank advisor, invest the entire family savings in the middle of the dotcom bubble. The result: a massive loss within a few months. But my mother, who was at home at the time, fought hard and was miraculously able to recoup the losses. I was about 9 or 10 years old at the time and watched her sit in front of the PC every day and look at the figures. From that moment on, I was hooked! I started using an Excel spreadsheet to track which shares I would have bought at what price and watched the performance of my fictitious investments with great interest every day after school.

The first few years:

My mother stopped day trading after about a year and went back to work. However, shares were no longer an issue for me until I was 26.

Getting into real shares:

In 2018, in the summer, as a die-hard Juventus fan, I read about an article on the transfer of CR7 and how Juventus shares went through the roof. I was there again! At that time, however, I only had a small income as a working student. My father, who had failed with his investments in the past, gave me €2,000 - and I bought Juventus shares. However, he made me promise him that I would never invest in shares again. How did the story end? The "trade" with Juventus was a success, but I had to pay taxes for the first time - and I still hate that to this day.

The first losses:

After my Juventus adventure, I began to delve deeper into the matter. I tried out recommendations from "Aktionär" and repeatedly bet on individual shares for smaller trades. It was more of a game, but I generally remained profitable - sometimes a few percent profit, sometimes a few percent loss. Thanks to the profits and additional deposits, I built up my portfolio to €18,000 until I was hit by Wirecard. In the end, I had to accept a loss of around €6,000. It was painful, but not life-threatening - and I learned a lot from this mistake. In particular, I made the mistake of constantly buying more. If I had left it at the original position of € 1,500, the loss would probably not have been so dramatic.

Don't give up:

After the Wirecard debacle, I radically rethought my strategy. I increasingly focused on conservative companies, regular dividend payers and low growth. But here, too, I realized that I was underperforming the market. So I adapted my strategy further and took a long-term approach. I have since been able to slowly recoup my losses.

The clean cut - a new start:

In the summer of 2023, I needed all my assets for a private housing project and decided to make a real "fresh start". I sold all the positions in my portfolio and only kept my ETF savings plans with TradeRepublic.

The new era:

When the housing project was completed, I wanted to build up a new portfolio with the money I had left over - and here you can see the result. My aim is to find companies that are growing strongly and have a solid moat. Dividends are nice, but not a must. My portfolio also contains defensive, boring stocks as a healthy addition. At the same time, I try to further expand my ETF positions through one-off purchases - I stopped my regular ETF savings plans at the end of January 2025. I have also invested a little in crypto and gold on the side. I have made further investments in Lego (€500), Pokémon (€1,000) and Counterstrike cases (€3,000), but these are not part of the public list - that would be too costly for me.

Fun fact:

My cash ratio has never been higher than €3,000 since I first entered the stock market (2018). This is currently an exception because I want to build up a cash reserve for the next generation.

Goal:

I don't have a specific, set goal when it comes to my investments. It's more of a hobby for me. I just enjoy seeing how my portfolio grows and how I can accompany exciting companies and be a small part of them as they develop. For me, it feels a bit like collecting: I enjoy discovering interesting companies, investing in them and watching them develop over the long term.

Thank you:

A big thank you goes to Goldesel Investing and Markus Koch, who have been with me since my first stock market steps. Without you, the share culture in German-speaking countries would certainly not be as strong! And of course a big thank you to Getquin - I've always dreamed of a platform like this! 0% bullshit, 100% investments.

I hope you like the revised version! The text is now more clearly structured, reads more smoothly and still retains your personal style.

Please let me know if you liked my story!

A little tip: My Bitpanda portfolio has a longer history, but I was too lazy to enter everything manually. I also didn't want to take over the history because, as I said, I wanted to start a new chapter in my investment history in November 2023. Overall, however, my crypto track is up €3000-4000.

$CSPX (+0.21%)
$ETH (-2.26%)
$BLK (+1.73%)
$GS (+0.01%)
$XDWD (+0.43%)
$V (+1.67%)
$MC (+1.36%)
$MS (+0.1%)
$QCOM (+1.48%)
$JNJ (+0.63%)
$ASML (+1.23%)
$RBOT (-0.35%)
$LOCK (-0.78%)
$MRK (+0.51%)
$UNP (-1.74%)
$NKE (-0.93%)
$QDV5 (-1.25%)
$MA (-0.09%)
$TGT (-1.07%)
$PEP (-1.03%)
$NU (+1.31%)
$AAPL (+2.44%)
$TSLA (-1.34%)
$DOGE (-1.99%)
$BTC (-0.6%)
$BRK.B (+0.15%)
$PEPE (-2.21%)

Hello Community,

Today I'd like to discuss my somewhat confusing use of various brokers. Maybe one or the other can give me some support here.

Consorsbank

I started investing a few years ago when I was still living in Germany. I used a well-known but rather expensive broker ( #consorsbank ). ETF savings plans are partly free here and I use the $XDWD (+0.43%) (TER 0.19%) as well as the $XMAW (+0.87%) (TER 0.25%). These 2 ETFs are deliberately separated, as the latter is backed by another cash inflow, the increase in value of which I would like to view separately (rent of a paid-off rental apartment).

However, historically, one-off purchases (order costs: 10 Euro + 0.25%) and savings plans (order costs: 1.5%) some individual positions such as $GOOGL (+0.94%) , $MC (+1.36%) , $META (-1.77%) , $SHEL (+1.46%) , $BATS (+0.47%) , $INTC (-2.63%) or $ASML (+1.23%) . So a colorful portfolio without focus (e.g. growth or dividends only, USA only or other).

Current account is required at Consorsbank and therefore not closed, custody account not absolutely necessary.

SaxoBank

I moved to Switzerland almost 4 years ago and initially invested here via DeGiro, but due to the cost reduction I switched to SaxoBank and actually closed DeGiro completely. Order fees of 1$ + 0.08% for American shares. European ones are usually 3 Euro + 0.08%. However, the stamp duty which applies to all brokers in Switzerland (0.075 Swiss stock exchange, 0.15% foreign stock exchange).

ETFs continued to be saved via Consorsbank. Individual shares (apart from a few small savings plans) from now on with SaxoBank. This applies to both new and existing positions ($GOOGL (+0.94%) , $INTC (-2.63%) , $MSFT (+0.1%) , $AMD (+3.55%) , $NESN (+1.12%) or $NOVO B (+4.6%) )

No trading with fractional shares possible! Complete transfer from Consorsbank to SaxoBank therefore not possible!

InteractiveBroker

Via Getquin, as well as via a mentioned Reddit group for Swiss finance, I came across the possibility to invest very cost-efficiently with #ibkr which specifically offers the possibility to invest in American ETFs (e.g. $VT (+0.7%) or $VOO (+0.41%) ), which are not only significantly cheaper (TER 0.07%, or 0.03%), but are also tax-exempt due to a tax treaty between #usa and the #schweiz bring tax advantages.

The order fees are incredibly low (0.0035 USD per share) and, as it is not a Swiss broker, there is no stamp duty! Accordingly, another 0.15% (0.075 for Swiss stock exchange) less compared to SaxoBank! Another strong argument is that I can transfer money free of charge from my German bank #euro as well as from my Swiss bank #chf free of charge. However, I would not like to put everything on one card/broker. I haven't invested in IBKR yet, but I'm wondering how I should best divide up my brokers.

Trading with fractional shares is possible and therefore also a portfolio transfer from Consorsbank.

Quick side info:

My wife has her own account with Consorsbank (before moving to Switzerland) and #degiro her own custody account, which doesn't make it any less complicated.

Summary:

Consorsbank:

ETFs plus shares available, high fees for shares, fractional shares possible, based in Germany

SaxoBank:

Shares available, low fees but stamp duty, no fractions of shares, domiciled in Switzerland

IBKR:

nothing available yet, very low fees, no stamp duty, deposit Euro & CHF possible, American ETFs like $VT (+0.7%) fractional shares possible, domicile in the USA (or UK for Swiss investors).

Questions:

a.) In future ETF, e.g. $VT (+0.7%) with IBKR?

a2.) If yes, liquidate existing ETFs and reinvest in American ETFs?

b.) Transfer portfolio, especially Consorsbank?

b2.) If yes, how to divide between SaxoBank and IBKR? Only IBKR?

c.) Are there major risks with IBKR (based in the USA/UK?)

After two extremely good stock market years, the year 2025 is under particular scrutiny.

• After two years with price increases of over 20%, can it go any higher?
• How will Trump affect the stock market? Liberal policies vs. tariffs?
• Inflation and interest rate trends - will the central banks continue to lower rates or will inflation return?

What will not change is my basic investment strategy. I will continue to invest in dividend growth stocks and buy them every month via a savings plan - regardless of other influences and developments.

Investment amount:

In my private life, building a house is a big issue. My monthly savings will therefore be significantly lower in 2025 than in previous years.

In the last few years, my savings sum was usually between €1,500 and €2,500.

I will now reduce this significantly to approx. 700€ per month.

The rest will go into a call money account to save money for additional costs, kitchen, furniture and so on.

However, I am absolutely aware that €500-700 is still a very high investment amount per month.

Around half (€250) already comes from dividend income, which I will reinvest.

Investment breakdown:

This year, the majority of my investments will again be in individual stocks with the following allocation:

Part 5 of 5
/ Review of the year 2024: In the first 4 parts

of my investment story, I looked at the years 2013 to 2023.

A mixture of highs and lows. While there was a lot of learning at the beginning, the last few years are finally bearing fruit!

Monthly view: