I started my investment journey 5 years ago through small single stock purchases and started seriously my ETF journey in 2021. I am 31 years old and have lived in Germany for 3 years. I realized early on that stocks and crypto are not for me as I cannot justify large swings in value easily and it makes me nervous 😅.

So in 2021 I settled for $VWCE (-0,01%) as my main position, a decision I have not regretted. I also invested in a number of bonds from my home country, which I am now phasing out and converting to ETFs, as I think they are too low risk for my long-term 10+ year strategy. Investing in a second world mutual fund $KRTRP7 was maybe a newbie mistake as well due to a large maintenance fee, but I don't plan to sell this position but just keep it growing.

Since my move to Germany and getting settled with German brokers, I have started taking advantage of the 1000 euros tax free allocation and started investing in $VWRL (-0,04%)
$GGRP (+0,3%) and $HMWO (-0,07%) as a way of getting monthly dividends. I should use the entire allocation next year but still plan to grow these positions, as getting increasing dividends has motivated me to invest even more of my monthly income (currently at 50% as I live alone frugally). $EQDS (+0,08%) provides solid dividend return but since it's based on European markets, performance has been poor lately. But I still contribute a small percentage each month.

I have read arguments about the disadvantages of dividend-ETFs but I believe a balance of low yield, high performance ETFs is the best compromise.

I currently have one stock $NVDA (+0,89%) just for fun, and $XAIX (+0,04%) is also a small percentage of my monthly contributions just because I have faith in this field.

At the moment I reinvest bond coupons and expired bonds into $VWCE (-0,01%) and my monthly contributions to the dividend ends (weighted by dividend output) and $XAIX (+0,04%) (5%). I wish to reach financial independence where I can semi-retire in 10 years (in my forties).

What would you do differently in your case? Do you recommend other positions?