Or: Volatility, dividends and why the tax office was my biggest cost factor

2025 is over and, looking back, it was a year that really had everything. Volatile markets, constant political bombardment, a portfolio with its own ideas and a private life that took very little interest in whether the market was red or green.

Nevertheless, at the end of the day, it was a year with which I am very satisfied overall.

Market and performance 2025

Looking at the major indices, 2025 was anything but boring:

• S&P500 fluctuated strongly and closed the year slightly negative or sideways (in EUR).
• MSCI World was able to catch up over the course of the year, but also remained without much euphoria.
• The DAX consistently outperformed and was up over 15 percent at times

As usual, my portfolio was more defensively positioned. In good market phases, I lost returns, but lost significantly less in weak phases. This is exactly what paid off, especially in the spring and summer.

The original target of 130,000 euros portfolio value (all portfolios together) was actually achieved by the end of the year. Not in a straight line, not without detours, but achieved is achieved.

Individual stocks and typical 2025 candidates

2025 had some clear winners, but also stocks that regularly demanded my patience.

Some of the stronger phases included

• Eli Lilly ($LLY (-3,86%) ) with several double-digit monthly gains
• Tesla ($TSLA (+3,88%) ) with typical +30 percent months, followed by equally typical setbacks
• UnitedHealth ($UNH (+2,36%) ) as an absolute rollercoaster with months between -20 percent and +15 percent

On the other side were

• Texas Instruments ($TXN (+0,85%) ), strongly influenced by tariffs and political uncertainties
• Ferrari ($RACE (+1,83%) ) with a rather disappointing performance despite a strong brand
• Classic consumer stocks such as Nestlé ($NESN (-2,73%) ) or Procter & Gamble ($PG (-1,43%) ), which were surprisingly weak at times

All in all, however, it has once again become clear why I focus on broad diversification and defensive stocks.

Dividends 2025, my personal highlight

The area that gave me the most pleasure in 2025 was clearly dividends.

Almost every month was up on the previous year. In some cases very significantly:

• February around +65%
• March around +29%
• April almost +50%
• June over +110%
• September around +45%
• December about +12%

July was weak, as expected, but that's part of it.

At the end of the year, I reached my personal target of of around 2,400 euros net dividends or even slightly exceeded it. In the end, the total net amount was €2491.38. This is an extremely important point for me because this figure is independent of market sentiment. The dividends also came in when share prices fell or the market was collectively in a bad mood.

My dividend ladder also looks good.

If things go well, I will even receive a net dividend of €3,000 in 2026. All I need is for the USD to get a little stronger.

Portfolio reorganization and better overview

I reorganized my portfolio in the summer.

• Share portfolio with individual stocks (and gold)
• Pension portfolio with ETFs
• 
  $XEON (-0,03%) as a separate building block for the later loan repayment

Nothing has changed in terms of strategy, but mentally it was a huge advantage. Since then, it has been clear what needs to be valued and what can simply be left to run. The view of the portfolio has become more relaxed and the reviews are much more structured.

The nest egg and the year of bills

2025 was also the year in which the topic of nest eggs caught up with me very clearly.

• Car repairs in the region of around 1,500 euros
• Tax arrears of over 4,000 euros
• In between, the charming idea of the tax office to make an additional advance payment of 6,500 euros

In the end, this was corrected, but the damage was done. At times, the nest egg had dwindled to less than 1,000 euros. And that's where you quickly realize why you build up such a cushion in the first place.

My personal resting point is now 5,000 euros. That lets me sleep peacefully. Nevertheless, I'm still consistently building up my nest egg to 10,000 euros, simply because 2025 has shown that unplanned expenses are always more creative than any planning.

Goals for 2025 and personal conclusion

Not everything went perfectly. I adjusted goals, reduced savings rates and questioned decisions several times. Nevertheless:

• Portfolio target of 130,000 euros achieved
• Around 20,000 euros invested in total including ETFs
• Net dividend target of approx. 2,400 euros achieved
• Structure and overview significantly improved

2025 was not a year for heroic stories or social media screenshots with all-time highs. It was a year for realism, learning and clean positioning.

And to be honest: if you can say at the end of the year that you achieved your goals, slept soundly and didn't permanently win the tax office, then the bottom line is that it was a good year on the stock market.

Is there anything else that interests you?

How did your 2025 go?

What did you take away from it?

If you liked the review, please follow me.

If you didn't, keep scrolling and hope that 2026 will be more spectacular.

-72% The Trade Desk $TTD (+5,49%)

-72% Fiserv $FI (+2,34%)

-65% Dogecoin $DOGE (+2,34%)

-65% Cardano

-61% Gerresheimer

-60% Enphase Energy $ENPH (+0,47%)

-59% CarMax $KMX (+4,22%)

-57% Strategy $MSTR (+4,1%)

-56% Deckers Outdoor

-56% Alexandria Real Estate

-50% Redcare Pharmacy

-50% PUMA $PUM (-0,27%)

-50% lululemon

-49% Dow

-49% Novo Nordisk $NOVO B (+5,06%)

-48% MARA $MARA (+6,42%)

-48% Molina Healthcare

-47% FactSet

-47% Charter Communications

-47% HelloFresh

-45% Wolters Kluwer

-43% Solana $SOL (+2,59%)

-43% Cocoa

-42% UnitedHealth $UNH (+2,36%)

-41% Atlassian

-41% Li Auto

-40% Copart

-40% Meituan

-38% PayPal

-38% Chipotle Mexican Grill

-36% TeamViewer

-35% GameStop $GME (-0,16%)

-35% Orsted $ORSTED (+1,46%)

-33% Pernod Ricard $RI (+0,41%)

-33% Evotec

-33% Symrise

-31% Marvell Technology $MRVL (+1,57%)

-30% Comcast

-30% Natural Gas

-30% Kraft Heinz $KHC (-2,56%)

-30% Adobe $ADBE (-0,28%)

-29% Salesforce $CRM (+1,37%)

-28% Nike $NKE (+2,78%)

-28% Adidas $ADS (+0,65%)

-27% Sugar

-27% XRP $XRP (+8,86%)

-26% Stellantis $STLAM (-0,96%)

-25% JD .com

-24% Procter & Gamble $PG (-1,43%)

-23% Arm $ARM (+2,14%)

-22% Ferrari $RACE (+1,83%)

-22% Porsche AG $P911 (-1,28%)

-21% Zalando $ZAL (-0,67%)

-21% NEL ASA $NEL (+0,1%)

-21% Ethereum $ETH (+2,95%)

-18% Bitcoin $BTC (+3,59%)

-16% Brent Oil

-16% Delivery Hero

-13% Vonovia $VNA (+1,66%)

-12% Coinbase $COIN (+8,12%)

-11% SAP $SAP (+1,81%)

-7% Amazon $ (+2,64%)AMZN (+2,64%)

As long as the price moves in this range down there, my savings plan will be left to run... Now my second largest share position. $RACE (+1,83%) 🔥🏎️🚀

Hello my dears,

As promised, I'll start the new year with a look back and a brief analysis of the year 2025.

I am always happy to receive suggestions for improvement and ideas.

In the 5-year chart you can see an outperformance against popular and strong ETFs.

You can see the resulting higher volatility

Apart from 1% Bitcoin ETP, my portfolio consists exclusively of individual stocks.

I do not trade in certificates.

In the 2025 chartwe see a synchronization with the ETFs until the April crash.

In April, I was lucky enough to receive cash from my former employer. And so I was also able to take advantage of the price reduction 🍊.

Perhaps as a result of clever additional purchases and new purchases, there was a good outperformance compared to the ETFs.

In August, there were good figures for some companies (apart from Elf and Chipotle).

In addition, however, I spent a little more time with momentum stocks in the summer @Krush82 . In the end, I filtered out momentum stocks with good fundamental figures.

Something like

-Gilat $GILT (+7,42%)

-AeroViroment $AVAV (+16,97%)

When 🍊had once again pushed down the pharma sector, there was an additional purchase at

• Krystel $KRYS (-2,11%)

Good figures for

• Micron $MU (-1,99%) and SK Hynix $HY9H (+1,84%)

and a new entry due to good momentum at

• Frequency $FEIM (+7,76%)

then gave me a small year-end rally.

Flops 2025

But of course not everything is positive on the stock market.

And there are also rotten potatoes in a broadly diversified portfolio.

In contrast to an ETF, I have the option of sorting out the rotten potatoes in my portfolio. Which should ultimately lead to outperformance.

But sorting them out is not that easy.

Because some of the underperformers in 2026, such as

• Chipotle $CMG (+3,55%)
• Constel Software $CSU (-1,54%)
• Copart $CPRT (+2,04%)
• Tetra Tech $TTEK (+3,48%)
• UFP Tech $UFPT (+6,06%)
• FICO $FICO (+0,62%)
• Apollo Global $APO (+3,4%)
• Ferrari $RACE (+1,83%)

are less speculative quality stocks, which should actually hedge my portfolio.

My dears, I need your help here. help.

Which values would you stick to and where do you see a comeback?

My analysis would be:

• Eleven Beauty as a growth stock still has potential, and has been quite impacted by the China tariffs
• Chipotle continues to expand and grow.
• Constel. Software is a long term compounder which has suffered from CEO resignation and AI uncertainty. See a recovery here.
• FICO the monopoly has been partially broken. But still sees a moat.
• Copart, has been a steady performer so far. But difficult to assess how autonomous mobility will affect the business model. (eternal Selling)
• Ferrarisimilar to Copart. Is facing a major transformation with challenges (eternal sale). Sell)
• Tetra Tech, profiteer of AI and expansion of data centers. Tainted by the Trump administration. Because some public contracts in developing countries. But should benefit from climate change and may even be an insider tip in the election year.
• UFP Technology Growth sector with a moat. Fundamental figures are right, expect comeback (eternal). Buy later)
• Defi Technology the child has fallen into the well 😭. Eternal comeback due to rising Bitcoin.

Tops 2026

I continue to hold on to almost all stocks here.

I am particularly positive about the biotech sector.

• Krystel Biotech

• Applovin is now performing very well for the second year in a row. And some analysts also count the share among the favorites for 2026. @Semos25

• micron and sk Hynix were completely ignored by investors for a very long time despite their favorable valuations. I bought more shares several times during this period. Both shares are also among the favorites and AI profiteers in 2026

• Frequency moat in the niche. Profiteers from rising interest in quantum technology. Could benefit from the Spaxe X IPO and NASA's plan to travel to the moon.

• Kraken Robotichas been written about a lot in the last few days (thanks @Klein-Anleger ). I remain invested.

• Sofi, IES Holding, I remain invested.

• Palfingersurprise of the year, fundamentals fit, good dividend yield, profiteer from expansion in renewable energy, increase in defense spending. Chart-technically in a very exciting situation, hanging on to the old high. Watch and help @TomTurboInvest (Watch / Sell).

I have now decided to restructure my portfolio in the coming days. It will then consist of these stocks.

Core:

1) the MSCI World $IWDA (+0,82%)

2) the MSCI EM IMI $EIMI (+1%)

3) the VanEck Morningstar $TDIV (+0,17%)

4) Bitcoin $BTC (+3,59%)

Satellites:

1) Microsoft $MSFT (+0,46%)

2) Amazon $AMZN (+2,64%)

3) Nvidia $NVDA (-0,73%)

4) MasterCard $MA (+1,62%)

5) Adobe $ADBE (-0,28%)

6) Ferrari $RACE (+1,83%)

7) Novo Nordisk $NOVO B (+5,06%)

8) Realty Income $O (+0,7%)

9) Wolters Kluwer $WKL (+4,54%)

10) Brown & Brown $BRO (+3,26%)

11) Inditex $ITX (-0,76%)

12) Uber $UBER (-2,14%)

13) Main Street Capital $MAIN (+1,07%)

14) Vici $VICI (+0,5%)

15) PayPal $PYPL (+2,29%)

In addition to my core of the 3 ETFs and Bitcoin, I think this mix of growth & dividend-focused stocks is really good. What do you guys think about this long term portfolio? Should be held for a long time, 20+ years... I don't think much of the short term. Of course, profits are taken from time to time, but nothing is sold completely and in the event of corrections we buy more! 🤑🔥🙏

I look forward to your suggestions / criticism.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas 🌲☺️

Hi everyone,

I would really appreciate your opinion on my portfolio.

Briefly about me:

I am 38 years old and unfortunately only started my Trade Republic portfolio about 2 years ago. I have been investing regularly since then. I can currently invest around €350 per month - I work in a gym 🥲, and unfortunately you don't earn very well there, you could almost call it a pittance.

In addition, I have my Bitcoin and Altcoin portfolio on Bitvavo... I can't share it here, too many errors in the coins and you can still change it somehow. I then deleted the connection again.

I played soccer until I was 32 (including 3rd league, mostly 4th league for many years) and was able to save up some capital during this time, which I later invested.

My long-term core consists of:

$IWDA (+0,82%)

$EIMI (+1%)

$TDIV (+0,17%)

$BTC (+3,59%)

Dividend / cash flow portfolio

I also have a portfolio with a focus on cash flow, the aim is to hold around 15 stocks with a solid dividend yield and ideally dividend growth.

Currently included are:

$O (+0,7%) Realty Income

$RACE (+1,83%) Ferrari

$PEP (-1,56%) Pepsi

$MAIN (+1,07%) Main Street Capital

$NOVO B (+5,06%) Novo Nordisk

$ASML (+5,8%) ASML

$ITX (-0,76%) Inditex

$1211 (-2,87%) BYD

$ZTS (+2,59%) Zoetis

$BRO (+3,26%) Brown & Brown

$SBUX (+3,27%) Starbucks

$ITH (-4,24%) Ithaca Energy PLC

This brings my current total to 12 shares, so there is still room for one or two additions.

One of the stocks on my watchlist is Vonovia $VNA (+1,66%) with a dividend yield of just under 5%. However, the dividend growth doesn't look particularly good. As my wife will be starting work there soon, I've become more aware of the company for the first time ☺️

Other stocks on my watchlist:

Allianz

Vici

Linde

Microsoft

Waste Management

UnitedHealth Group

Mastercard

Visa

Texas Roadhouse

Nintendo

Enbridge

NextEra Energy

Wolters Kluwer (exciting sector, also corrected over 50% from ATH)

Amazon (for the yield/growth portfolio)

Maybe one or the other is missing $KO (-1,67%) or $MCD (-0,8%) but I had opted for $PEP (-1,56%) and $SBUX (+3,27%) and I don't want any more consumer stocks.

Pure growth portfolio

I also have a separate portfolio with a focus on share price growth:

$NVDA (-0,73%) Nvidia

$NKE (+2,78%) Nike

$MARA (+6,42%) Mara Holdings

$BITF (+12,39%) Bitfarms

$TTD (+5,49%) The Trade Desk

$CRCL (+1,4%) Circle Internet Group

$ADBE (-0,28%) Adobe

$COIN (+8,12%) Coinbase

$SMHN (+5,2%) Suess Microtec

$PYPL (+2,29%) PayPal

$HUT (+14,87%) Hat 8

$DRO (+1,64%) DroneShield

$LXS (-0,71%) Lanxess

$PLTR (+3,06%) Palantir

$WEED (+0,1%) Canopy

$UBI (-0,58%) Ubisoft

$MSTR (+4,1%) Strategy

I am aware that I have built up a lot of positions over the last two years. I am therefore also planning to sort out some of them and concentrate more on selected stocks.

I am grateful for any assessment, criticism, tips or suggestions.

Best regards

Chris

$RACE (+1,83%)

In spring, the first electric Ferrari is unveiled and the Amalfi and 849 Testarossa are delivered.

When talking about the year 2026 at Ferrari, one model naturally takes center stage: the first electric car from Maranello, working title "Elettrica". A novelty that fans, customers and analysts are eagerly awaiting.

A paradigm shift for the company, which of course continues to rely on combustion engines, accompanied by the electrification already present in the 296 Speciale and Testarossa. Let's now take a look at all the Ferrari innovations coming our way in 2026.

Image gallery and details at the link ⬇️

https://de.motor1.com/news/778460/ferrari-neuheiten-2026-ueberblick/

bye bye Louis

currently see no potential here, was in the red for a long time, in the long term there may be a future, but unfortunately not for me at the moment.

Quite cool as a luxury ETF, but I will rather shift the money into other tech companies.

I still have luxury in my portfolio with $RACE (+1,83%) .

My review of October 2025. Many thoughts and yet no solution.

There's also a question at the end of the article.

📈 Performance:

S&P500: +4.73%

MSCI World: +4.25%

DAX: +0.32%

Dividend portfolio: +1.13%

My high and low performers in October were (top/flop 3):

🟢 ($LLY (-3,86%) ) Eli Lilly +20.29%

🟢 ($MC (-0,55%) ) LVMH +17.59%

🟢 ($STAG (+0,24%) ) STAG Industrial +11.02%

🔴 ($CTAS (+0,7%) ) Cintas -8.41%

🔴 ($TXN (+0,85%) ) Texas Insturments -11.09%

🔴 ($RACE (+1,83%) ) Ferrari -15.71%

Dividends:

October 2025: €126.83

October 2024: € 147.55

Change: -14.04%

Sales:

🟥 None

Purchases:

🟩 ($ULVR (-2,67%) ) Unilever (8 pcs.)

🟩 ($WM (-0,05%) ) Waste Management (2 pcs.)

Savings plans:

($CTAS (+0,7%) ) Cintas (50€)

($MC (-0,55%) ) LVMH (50€)

($MSFT (+0,46%) ) Microsoft (25€)

What else has happened?

October was very quiet. Apart from a week's vacation and my birthday, nothing much happened. I used the quiet (and free) time to continue thinking about my nest egg. When do I fill it up and how much? Does it really have to be €10,000? How quickly should this happen or can I just save up slowly? What would be my safe-sleeping amount? Questions upon questions. I have also found many answers. However, I haven't really got any further because I can't make up my mind.

The current situation is as follows: The savings rate on shares will be reduced, and the special payment will not be included in the $XEON (-0,03%) (i.e. for loan repayments), but will also go into the nest egg. I have set the amount I want to save to €5,000. That would then be done. I'll be rebuilding again from January. Until then, I'm still working out how I can present it well and what I feel comfortable with. I can still save the amount for the loan, as long as I plan a monthly savings amount at some point and don't just use the special payments.

🥅 Goals for 2025:

Deposit of €10,000 and thus a custody account volume in the share portfolio of ~€73,000

Target achievement at the end of October 2025: 77.94%

If everything remains/becomes as planned, I will not reach my personal target. But if I don't change my mind again (which would result in a lower nest egg) or get a windfall for Christmas, then I don't see any more options at the moment.

How would you solve my "problem" with the nest egg? How would you decide?

If you liked the report and would like to read more, feel free to follow me,

If you're not interested, you can keep scrolling or use the block function.