In March 2025, I made a clean break and sold everything; since then, I've been investing in ETFs.

$TDIV (-0,42 %) I contribute monthly, and the savings plan is increased annually.

$LDGL (-0,07 %) I make annual top-ups.

$VWRL (+0,02 %) This is funded through my capital-forming allowance.

$autom (-0,67 %)I’ll sell at the beginning of next year—I’ve been using my capital formation allowance to contribute to this.

I want to keep it simple and straightforward. According to AI, it’ll add up to a nice sum by 2040, and I never want to sell this portfolio. What do you think?

Long-term buy-and-hold portfolio focused on a core of global ETFs, supplemented by small-cap stocks, India, and selected high-quality companies. Certain portfolio holdings are locked in and are therefore intentionally excluded from ongoing optimization.

Current savings rate: €1,950/month

€1,000 FTSE All-World $VWRL (+0,02 %)
,

€450 MSCI World Small Cap $WSML (-0,19 %)
,

€150 FTSE India $FLXI (-0,47 %),

150 € Euro Government Bonds $SEGA (-0,47 %)
,

€100 Linde $LIN (+0,38 %),

50 € Gold $SGBS (+1,2 %) and

50 € Bitcoin $BTC.

My goal is to build a broadly diversified long-term portfolio that is continuously optimized. I welcome constructive feedback, alternative perspectives, and engaging discussions on asset allocation, individual securities, and long-term strategy.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to start early to build something for the future of my two godchildren. So I invested €25 a month in each of Union Investment’s ESG funds—solid, straightforward, and at the time it seemed like the best solution because I couldn’t find any suitable ETF alternatives. “Buy and hold” was the motto: driver’s license, first car, first apartment… none of that exactly gets any cheaper. At least it was convenient that Union Investment automatically reinvested the returns without an upfront sales charge.

But then everything changed suddenly.

Privately, we bought two condos to rent out—and suddenly there was immediate liquidity became the most important issue of all. The mortgage hadn’t been registered yet, so we had to cover the €6,500 in real estate agent fees ourselves. And it’s precisely at moments like this that you realize how long money transfers can take: With Scalable Capital, a withdrawal can easily take one to two banking days compared to Trade Republic. Fortunately, the real estate agent was accommodating and extended the deadline.

That’s when it dawned on me: a situation like this could also arise for my godchildren someday. Selling a fund simply takes two to four banking days. And when you need to act fast, that’s a problem.

That’s why I decided to change the structure—to $VWRL (+0,02 %) and $XSX7 (-0,13 %), possibly supplemented by $O (-0,97 %) and $MAIN (-1,36 %). Dividends currently yield about 2.25%. The return might not be 100% identical, but the flexibility is simply worth its weight in gold in an emergency. And if there’s too much cash sitting around later on, interest and dividends can still be reinvested or used for rebalancing.

I could definitely see myself $VWCE (-0,09 %) saving $VWRL (+0,02 %) in the long run—but is that really less of a hassle, especially with ING?

I’m thinking mainly about the annual tax payments, for which I have to set aside (pre-calculated) liquidity. That’s not the case with a dividend-paying fund, is it? Or am I missing something?

I do find the effort involved in timing the sale just right—including fees, etc.—to be significantly greater…

12x $VWRL (+0,02 %)

15x $ASRNL (+0,55 %)

13x $NN (-2,72 %)

€100 $BTC (-0,22 %)

On to €80,000 😀

This month, thanks to vacation bookings, we were able to invest 3,000€, of which 2,000€ went into the $VWRL (+0,02 %) and €1,000 $TDIV (-0,42 %) . Starting next month, I’ll try to put more back in…