Monday:

EBM Pabst is being sold to $Madison Air for 4.8 billion euros. EBM Pabst is considered the global market leader in fan technology. Until now, EBM Pabst has been a typical global market leader. The company hopes the acquisition will also provide better access to the U.S. market.

https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/milliarden-deal-ventilatorenspezialist-ebm-papst-wird-an-us-konzern-verkauft/100247763.html

$CWC (+0,35 %) Cewe grew by 6% in Q2 and generated revenue of 143.9 million euros. For the full year, Cewe expects 4% growth. Most recently, the company sold its commercial online printing business and acquired Kodak Moments Retail Photo Solutions to expand its instant photo division.

https://www.druck-medien.net/singlenews/uid-979374/cewe-steigert-den-umsatz/

Tuesday:

$FRAS (+0 %) Frasers narrowly misses out on a majority stake in $BOSS (-0,47 %) HUGO BOSS. The offer of 38 euros per share was not enough to acquire more than 50% of HUGO BOSS’s shares. HUGO BOSS management had urged shareholders not to accept the Frasers Group’s offer. Nevertheless, approximately 17.6% of shareholders decided to sell their shares.

https://www.finanzen.net/nachricht/aktien/beteiligung-aufgestockt-hugo-boss-aktie-leichter-frasers-naehert-sich-mit-anteilsausbau-der-mehrheit-15883825

The German Volksbanks have doubled their growth forecast. The BVR expects GDP growth of 1% for 2026 instead of 0.5%. Growth of 1.3% is also still projected for next year.

https://www.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Volksbanken-verdoppeln-deutsche-Wachstumsprognose-id31206374.html

Thursday:

$WMT (+1,4 %) Walmart reports earnings above expectations but is suffering from higher gas prices and is dragging other retailers (Amazon, Costco, and Home Depot) down with it. Its U.S. operations were particularly disappointing. Nevertheless, the forecast was raised.

https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/boerse/ticker/aktien-im-fokus-2-walmart-sehr-schwach-us-geschaeft-bereitet-weiterhin-sorgen/0DBA2800B1E1EC86/

Friday:

In China, several million cars from $TSLA (-1,32 %) Tesla or $1810 (+0,83 %) Xiaomi. The reason is the electronic door handles introduced by Tesla. These are often difficult to operate in an emergency, and there are suspicions that this has led to more fatal accidents due to reduced egress. China will ban such door handles starting in 2027.

https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/tuergriffe-china-ruft-millionen-autos-wegen-sicherheitsfehler-zurueck/100248890.html

… even though I see Linde as having stronger fundamentals…

but Walmart has been on my watchlist for a long time, and when a defensive giant like that drops 9%… I’m in (of course, with room to buy more, since we don’t know if the price will stabilize here)

$1810 (+0,83 %)
$BIDU (-1,34 %)
$08X (-3,24 %)
$KLAR (+2,82 %)
$HD (+2,96 %)
$EL (-0,5 %)
$FLNG (+0,99 %)
$ADI (+0,27 %)
$BABA (-1,67 %)
$WMT (+1,4 %)
$TNIE (+1,19 %)
$DE (+1,58 %)

Monday, August 17, 2026

1:50 a.m.: Japan – Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Q2, preliminary estimate

4:00 a.m.: China – Industrial Production & Retail Sales for July

2:30 p.m.: U.S. – NY Empire State Manufacturing Index for August

4:00 p.m.: U.S. – NAHB Housing Market Index for August

Tuesday, August 18, 2026

2:30 p.m.: U.S. – Building Permits and Housing Starts for July

3:15 p.m.: U.S. – Industrial Production for July

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

11:00 a.m.: Eurozone – Consumer Prices (Inflation, final data for July) 🌶

8:00 p.m.: U.S. – FOMC Minutes from the Federal Reserve (Fed Minutes) 🌶

Thursday, August 20, 2026

8:00 a.m.: Germany – Producer Prices for July

2:30 p.m.: U.S. – Initial Unemployment Claims

2:30 p.m.: U.S. – Philadelphia Fed Index for August

4:00 p.m.: U.S. – CB Leading Indicator for July

Friday, August 21, 2026

10:00 a.m.: Eurozone – Purchasing Managers’ Index 🌶

3:45 p.m.: U.S. – S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index

$HD (+2,96 %)
$9888 (-2 %)
$KLAR (+2,82 %)
$ADI (+0,27 %)
$TGT (+1,56 %)
$TJX (+2 %)
$EL (-0,5 %)
$9898 (-1,33 %)
$COTY (-0,33 %)
$BULL (-4,33 %)
$WMT (+1,4 %)
$BABA (-1,67 %)
$DE (+1,58 %)
$9999 (-1,09 %)
$NTES (-0,5 %)

A quick note before we begin: I’ve significantly shortened the entire post to make it easier to read. Going forward, you’ll only be able to find some of the key metrics in my YouTube video or on Instagram. I’ve also completely removed the outlook section and the narrative text in between.

I hope you like the shorter version. 😊

I’ve had an eventful month! While things were relatively quiet on the markets, I was able to celebrate some real milestones in my passive income. My financial journey has been solid, calm, and steadily upward, just like hiking in Saxon Switzerland. When the foundation is right and your habits are in place, the daily market noise loses all its fear.

Here are the hard facts and all the key metrics from June:

Portfolio Performance: Stable Returns & Beat the Benchmark 📈

Total performance (TTWROR):
+0.57% for the reporting month (96.80% since inception)

Internal Rate of Return (IRR):
+0.79% (+12.29% since inception)

Delta: A hefty gain of +778.41 €

Benchmark comparison with the TTWROR of the following ETFs:

$VWRL (-0,6 %) : -0.33%

$VUSA (-0,97 %) : -0.41%

$IMEU (+0,68 %) : +3.22%

Largest individual stock positions by volume as a percentage of the total portfolio:

$AVGO (-3,21 %) : 2.78%

$WMT (+1,4 %) : 1.62%

$GOOGL (-3,28 %) : 1.54%

$CSCO (-1,61 %) : 1.50%

$FAST (+2,45 %) : 1.42%

Smallest individual stock positions by volume as a percentage of the total portfolio:

$GIS (+0,4 %) : 0.43%

$NKE (+3,42 %) : 0.43%

$NOVO B (+2,53 %) : 0.49%

$CPB (+1,63 %) : 0.49%

$BATS (+1,55 %) : 0.57%

Top-performing individual stocks

$AVGO (-3,21 %) : +332.73%

$GOOGL (-3,28 %) : +134.74%

$CSCO (-1,61 %) : +115.98%

$WMT (+1,4 %) : +94.59%

$OHI (+2,39 %) : +88.06%

Worst-Performing Individual Stocks

$NKE (+3,42 %) : -50.39%

$GIS (+0,4 %) : -47.00%

$CPB (+1,63 %) : -36.10%

$NOVO B (+2,53 %) : -20.48%

$DHR (+0,78 %) : -18.41%

Asset Allocation

ETFs and stocks are not quite balanced yet.

ETFs: 43.7% (previous month: 43.4%)

Stocks: 56.3% (previous month: 56.6%)

Investments and Additional Purchases

Planned savings plan amount from fixed net salary: €1,080

Savings rate of the savings plans as a percentage of fixed net salary: 50.60%

Planned savings plan amount from fixed net salary, including reinvested dividends based on plan size: 1,200 €

Additional purchases from various sources: €392.83. This is offset by sales of €286.36 this month (portfolio rebalancing $FDXF (+4,85 %) into $FDX (+2,61 %) ).

Passive income from dividends and ETF distributions

Dividends and ETF distributions: €174.33 (€152.30 in the same month last year

Change from the same month last year: +14.46%

YTD dividends and ETF distributions: €1,088.83

Annual target: €2,100

Target achievement: 51.85% (Target: 50.00%)

Risk Metrics

Maximum drawdown in the reporting month: 1.15%, since inception: 17.17%

Maximum drawdown duration in the reporting month: 10 days; since inception: 702 days

Volatility in the reporting month: 1.72%; since inception: 28.79%

Sharpe Ratio, for the reporting month: 5.53, since inception: 0.42

Semivolatility, for the reporting month: 1.01%, since inception: 21.33%

Thank you for reading. 🚀

Now please leave me a comment. Is this summary helpful? Is there anything you think is missing? Let me know.

👉 This review is also available as a YouTube video and as Instagram carousel posts, which will be published as follows:

July 8, 2026: Portfolio review on Instagram (performance metrics, stock performance, allocation, sectors, additional purchases, and performance comparisons)

July 9, 2026: Budget review on Instagram (income, expenses, cash flow, ratios, budget adherence, and basic income check)

July 10, 2026: Cash flow review on Instagram (overview, YTD, and actual vs. target comparison for passive income, my top dividend payers, FIRE number, and capital reach)

Sometime during Week 28: Consolidated monthly review on YouTube

📲 You can find regular videos, Shorts, Reels, and carousel posts on the topics of frugalism, mindset, and investing at @frugalfreisein on Instagram and YouTube.

Please pay close attention to the spelling of my alias. Unfortunately, there are too many fake and phishing accounts on social media. I’ve already been “copied” several times.