(Longer post so summary below)
Hello everyone, I’ve been reading your posts for almost a year now and it’s been really interesting to see how everyone is managing their money. I have decided to share a little bit about myself, my journey so far and to ask some questions.
A little about me: I’m 20 years old and from the Netherlands. I am a passive investor and I have quite a conservative risk tolerance. I have an investment horizon of 30 years and I have been investing since June 2024.
My short term goal is to have €10.000 invested, which will be pretty easy with the temporary job I have now. I expect to earn about €2300 per month over the next 3 months of what I will invest half and save half. I now have a little over €10.000 in cash on TradeRepublic earning 2,25% in interest. Pretty nice before I go to school in September. My long term goal is to get €100.000 invested as fast possible and to maybe retire as early as 50.
I use TradeRepublic’s free savings plan to invest €100 of $VWCE (-1.69%) per month and for bigger (€1000+) purchases I use InteractiveBrokers and pay a small fee. I invested quite a bit in January using my savings, but then 🍊 decided to mess around and couldn’t really buy the dip because I also want to save to eventually move out. Luckily I won’t sell until I retire and the market is starting to recover quite nicely.
That gets me to my questions:
Is it at all realistic retire early with just 1 ETF?
- I ask that because I rarely ever see a 1 ETF portfolio. I really like a 1 ETF portfolio because I don’t have to worry about rebalancing and I really value simplicity.
Or do I need to diversify more? Now or later?
- A more risky investment now because I’m young or a more safe investment when I get older? But I don’t really care about bitcoin, gold, individual stocks, bonds or real estate.
What is something you wish you knew when you were 20 and just starting out?
- Any wisdom from the more experienced investors out here is greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for reading and I would love your feedback!
Summary:
- 20 years old from the Netherlands
- Passive & conservative investor
- €100/month in $VWCE (-1.69%)
- €1150/month for next 3 months only
- €8000 invested so far
- €10.000 in savings earning 2,25%
- Short-term goal: €10.000 invested
- Long-term goal: €100.000 invested