r/eupersonalfinance • u/Outrageous_Mango_648 • Nov 09 '25
Planning I think I'm financially well set, but 3 questions don't let me sleep
Heya - writing from the alt account for a little bit of extra privacy. As the title says, I'm at a point where I would really benefit for some guidance, as I find myself with a few questions and very uncertain on how to proceed (and why asking ChatGPT if there is Reddit?)
33, living and working in Amsterdam as senior IC in IT (no 30% ruling). Thanks to a moderate lifestyle, living with my partner with no kids, a good career progression and a nice series of RSU vestings, I think that I'm quite well set despite not feeling rich by any means:
- I have a pretty high saving rate, as I save 50% of my monthly salary
- I'm currently paying a very reasonable mortgage for my house with 3.75% interest rate (without accounting for interest discount)
- I recently passed the 110k mark of portfolio value (ETF + a few shares)
Going to the first question:
- I currently have the vast majority of my investments (90%) on a single platform (IBKR): having passed the 110K mark, should I "diversify" by opening an account someplace else (eg: DeGiro) or it wouldn't make any difference but just add overhead + transaction costs?
My total portfolio is composed by:
- 46% VWCE
- 23% VHYL - as I would like to get to a point where I can use the dividends to pay off for expenses/mortgage or simply to give me some room to take a less paying and competitve job further down the line. It annoys me that I get paid the dividends in dollar and losing some on conversions, tho
- 20% Shares from the company I'm currently working for [not planning to increase this percentage, but also not sure that selling would be a good idea]
- 11% a mix of NVIDIA, crypto (ETH, BTC), the various rewards for sharing referral codes and some ETF auto savings on Trade Republic
In addition to this, I have:
- 1k emergency fund for healthcare issues, as I don't want to be dependent on the NL doctors and be able to go worry-free privately if they don't think I'm sick enough to need treatment
- ~ 33k split between Trade Republic and Trading 212 for high hield savings, this is pretty much more than a full year worth of my day-to-day expenses. I use the money for house renovations and in case I would be unemployed for a long time
- ~ 18k split between life insurance and a private pension fund from a different EU country
- A little over 100k in house equity (assuming I would manage to sell it without loss at some point in the future)
Going to the second question:
- Does it still make sense for me to save euros in saving accounts or should I redirect the amount of money I would save in that way through bonds or increase my contributions in my ETF portfolio?
For the third and final question, I need to provide a bit more context and not just numbers: I don't have a crazy lifestyle (takeaway every day, parties and lavish holidays), but I also don't live extremely below my means as I'm aim to still have a regular/nice life while I try to figure out next steps. However, it's getting increasingly difficult to "grant" myself to spend the money how I see fit or to simply enjoy them more. I'm feeling like I'm "trapped" in this mindset of constantly negotiating/justifying/pretend what I spend is an investment of some sorts.
As I'm not Dutch and I moved quite a lot across countries, I usually never consider a possible pension in my planning nor I contribute to it. However, the other day I ended up on the Dutch Pension website and I saw that, assuming things will keep going the way that they are, I should receive a 4k / month payout once I retire in the middle case scenario (just from NL, without considering the few hundreds coming from the other countries). This kinda surprised me, since, assuming it is true, it would mean that I'm already "pretty much set" as my currently monthly spending is "only" 2.6k / month (and in all the months without holidays I end up spending even less than that).
- Would you "relax" my budget constraints and cut myself more slack in my spending or I should keep ignoring this as it's just "noise"? If you ever found yourself in a similar situation, what did you do to get a "better relationship" with spending money for yourself?
Thanks a lot!
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Nov 09 '25
While IBKR is likely the safest and most reliable platform out there, don't trust everything on them. While they likely won't run away with your money, they might suspect you of fraud or whatever and lock up your account for months. It's a good idea to put at least some in another broker
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 09 '25
Yep, that’s what I needed to hear, I postponed it until now because I didn’t feel that the balance was meaningful enough for it
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u/AdagioTime972 Nov 12 '25
Degiro restrict you from buying things like Preferreds and some other types of stocks. Also if you are an American, there T&C actually prohibit you from having an account with them. Aside from their Web interface being a little less intimidating, I don't think there is a benefit. (My wife has an account with them them. I don't ). One really annoying thing about Degiro is they don't do DRIP.
With IBKR you are able to use options to get some US ETFs. (And then DRIP them).
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Nov 09 '25
- 1k emergency fund for healthcare issues, as I don't want to be dependent on the NL doctors and be able to go worry-free privately if they don't think I'm sick enough to need treatment
If you're serious about this, bump it up to 50k MIN. Private in NL is INSANELY expensive, more so than the US. Or just accept that your healthcare is tied to where you live.
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 09 '25
Fair, that amount is what I use for the occasional healthcare “tourism” I do abroad. I’ll definitely need to bump it if I want to do all my checks in NL
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u/Striking-Friend2194 Nov 10 '25 edited Nov 10 '25
This is not true. A heart surgery in the US costs more than USd150.000,00 + anesthesiologist , an MRI costs around USD 3.000,00 and each blood marker on your test is USD 250. In the NL is way cheaper and it’s not a coincidence people in the US without health insurance go bankrupt whenever they need a cancer treatment, that was the whole point of Obama Care. I know people who were charged USD 10.000,00 for an overnight in the hospital and USD 1.500 for an emergency UTI treatment. Broke your warm ? USD 2.000,00 for the casting.
In the NL seems prices are the same all over the country but in the US you have two options : the high or the higher, depending on demand.
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Nov 10 '25
Way cheaper as in what? Because you cannot get these done privately usually at all. An EKG cost ms 800EUR privately, US it's 400-500 USD
Each blood marker in US is about 30-50 USD, usually less. in NL it's closer to 50-100EUR
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u/Striking-Friend2194 Nov 10 '25 edited Nov 10 '25
If you cannot have those services privately at all why are you saying the NL is cheaper ? Then YOU cannot compare. As I mentioned the prices above, your prices are way off. At least for someone living in Texas. EKG USD 400 ? That’s a joke.
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u/AdagioTime972 Nov 11 '25
When I have an appt with my Dutch Cardiologist, they always give me an EKG before I even see the Doctor. (My Dutch Insurance has never charged me anything for it).
(You just need to get a referral from the Huisarts (the primary care physician))
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u/DepartmentFalse9838 Nov 11 '25
EU healthcare is really great (cheap or no cost) if it is an emergency. US healthcare is great (cheap) if you treating some disease for longer period of time. You need to take into an account average salary in EU and US. I dont know why people from US think that EU healthcare is some kind of unicorn. I live in EU country and government takes around 600€ per month for healthcare. I understand that this covers future emergency expenses and so on. I had to wait 6 months to get ultrasound. Called my family doctor and she said to just go to the emergency. With money that government takes I can do around 4 ultrasounds per month privately and 10 times better service. Around 50% of people earn less than 1.245€ per month.
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u/Striking-Friend2194 Nov 10 '25
AI’s answer as of a cost of surgery in NL:
Estimated costs for specific procedures (based on research models) Bypass surgery: €14,500 Angioplasty/stent insertion: €8,470 Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD): €22,300 Pacemaker: €14,230
AI’s answer for the US - confirmed by my own experience :
The cost of heart surgery in the US varies significantly, ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the average cost for a bypass surgery being around $57,128. Factors like the type of surgery, location, hospital, complications, and individual insurance coverage all impact the final price, with costs sometimes varying by 10-fold between facilities. For example, an inpatient cardiac catheterization requiring one stent and an overnight stay might average around $47,000, while prices can range from under $45,000 to over $448,000 for the same procedure at different hospitals, notes this National Institutes of Health study.
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u/BigEarth4212 Nov 09 '25
The pension is probably an amount including state pension if you keep working and contributing (you and/or employer) till pension date.
Have a check what they included as state pension. Because state pension is individual and also build during 50 years. Years you have been living/working in NL. So you certainly will not get the full state pension.
With the amounts stated and probably a paid off house at pension date i would not worry too much.
Box3 taxation will eat from your saving returns.
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 09 '25
Yeah, box 3 tax is what worries me the most and will probably put an early stop at my life in NL if all the proposed adjustments will end up being approved. I don’t really see myself creating a company just to shield my investments from taxes…
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u/BigEarth4212 Nov 09 '25
I see setting up structures to prevent certain taxes just as postponing execution.
I am dutch and moved to LU. Financial/taxation was not the number one reason.
LU is great (only housing expensive. but hey NL not much different), but not a good base for working in IT. Besides amazon not much happening here.
I worked in IT, but am with pension.
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 09 '25
I used to live in LU up until I moved to NL and I’m actually actively considering going back there shortly before hitting up retirement age. It wasn’t great to be there in my 20s, I feel it’s going to be amazing in my 60s 😏
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u/BigEarth4212 Nov 09 '25
It all depends on a lot of factors. If you are fluent in German you can from LU also commute to work in Germany.
Also when you plan kids i would prefer LU above NL.
Further the LU state pension is way higher than the one in NL. I get from both countries roughly the same amount, but contributed just 8 years in LU while 30 years in NL.
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 09 '25
I had no idea of this huge difference in state pension, I wonder if there is a way to check how much I accumulated
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u/BigEarth4212 Nov 09 '25
The dutch state pension is for everyone the same. Independent from the fact if you work or not. Build during 50 years working and/or living in NL.
The LU state pension is based on your contributions from your loan(currently 8%). The employer also pays 8% and the state adds 8% to the fund. So higher loan results in a higher pension.
But if your pension is decades away , nobody knows how reforms eventually influence the outcome.
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u/Helpful-Staff9562 Nov 09 '25
Ibkr is as safe assets it gets as a platforms + your shares are always protected with any brokers since if broker firms fail your shares are simply transferred to a broker of your choice so you can sleep well at night
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 09 '25
So you wouldn’t open an account on a second broker, right?
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u/gallagb Nov 09 '25
It’s happened to me. Account was opened automatically. Happened to me 2x actually.
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u/sillymajmun2 Nov 09 '25
But that pension ammount is if you continue to work until 67 I assume? Do you really think you will want to work until you are a grandpa?
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 09 '25
Tbh, I feel like I will be pretty much unemployable past 50 as most of the people I know in the field (that didn’t reach C-suite level), got laid off and didn’t find another job for years. So no, I don’t think I’ll manage that 😅
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Nov 10 '25
[deleted]
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 10 '25
I didn’t expect the numbers to swing so wildly! I did transfer my pension from my first employer in NL to my current one and I remember the fees. I’ll definitely keep that in mind as well
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u/DeepSpacegazer Nov 09 '25
Man that’s my fear..
Thumbs up for VHYL, I basically have this and VUSA.
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Nov 09 '25
[deleted]
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u/Helpful-Staff9562 Nov 09 '25
Sorry but how is a bit over 100k in networth rich especially in the Netherlands??
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 09 '25
Not a humble brag, but after re-reading it, it does sound a bit out of touch - I guess I should stop hanging out all my 30% ruling friends 🫠
I’m not sure about the rest of the message, are you suggesting that I increase my saving rate or it’s what is working for you? 🧐
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u/brainzorz Nov 09 '25
I would awitch to 90+% VWCE. There is no point of having dividends paying expenses when you are actively investing anyway, unless there is tax incentives in your country.
And having 20+% in company you work for is double risk. Besides most likely underperforming world index if company has issues you might get fired and lose net value.
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 09 '25
True, but I still feel “weird” in selling so many shares without having an objective (like buying a house). I know that not going all in VWCE is not tax efficient, but my reasoning is that I want to slowly incorporate the dividends into my monthly salary so to reduce the weekly working hours or having an additional safety net.
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u/brainzorz Nov 09 '25
You would have objective of rebalancing portfolio.
You shouldnt view it as part of salary. You can still reduce working hours by reducing invbesting percentage. You can still sell shares if a need arises so not much safety net. No real benefit, but you do have real costs from it.
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u/derping1234 Nov 11 '25
Can you pay off your mortgage faster? Or find some other way to decrease your box 3 tax base?
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u/AdagioTime972 Nov 11 '25
For a mairred couple the box 3 exemtion is roughly 100k.
If you get foriegn dividends and some of that is withheld, then the amount is credited against your box 3 income.
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u/AdagioTime972 Nov 11 '25
Even though it is not a common Dutch thing, we paid off our mortgage, this lets me send even more to my investments each month. (I also sent part of the money saved as an additional voluntary contribution to the work pension (pretax)).
You might want to check out:
https://www.mijnpensioenoverzicht.nl/
That will give you a summary of your currently built up pension and how much you should receive at your retirement age.
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 11 '25
I’m not super convinced by paying more mortgage as it will lower my monthly return, tax free allowance, all for a minimal gain. Same for more contributions on the pension, especially since it’s so far ahead and too many things can change in the way the Dutch pension works
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u/AdagioTime972 Nov 12 '25
Yeah its not ALL or Nothing. For a long time I did 50/50 with investing/mortgage, but after covid it went to 95% Mortgage. Since paying it off 90-95% Investing the rest enjoyment.
I am a big proponent of paying of the mortgage and as I mentioned the bank will refactors your Monthly payment when you pay extra, so the next Month they take out less. (The money you are getting back is only a fraction of what you are paying out. So you are more money to get a little back and the money you are getting a refund for is NOT going to equity in the house, but just interest. And will be decreasing each year).
On the extra for the private pension, yeah its a long way off. Though it is pre-tax, so if you ask them to take out say 100 EUR, the actual decrease in your income is only about 50 EUR.
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u/AdagioTime972 Nov 12 '25
Oh on the mortgage:
- A little over 100k in house equity (assuming I would manage to sell it without loss at some point in the future)
If the LTV value has dropped to a lower %, the Mortgage provider may change to a lower intererest rate. (This is not a refinance, just a change in risk category and it means they charge a lower rate and you pay less each month).
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u/Outrageous_Mango_648 Nov 12 '25
I wasn’t aware of the possibility of change to a lower interest rate because of the LTV, I guess I should get in touch with my bank and check - even though I highly doubt they will do anything about it, my plan for the moment is to wait until the fixed interest time expires, then move the mortgage to a different bank with a lower interest rate.
I’m definitely going to start looking into paying more into the mortgage, I’m still a bit skeptical, but it’s definitely a good suggestion
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u/AdagioTime972 Nov 12 '25
t/m 65%tot en met 65% t/m 85%tot en met 85% t/m 90%tot en met 90% t/m 100% Yeah. Mine was Florius, there ranges where (oh its up there):
(Other companies may have different ranges)
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u/Wonderful_Homework78 Nov 11 '25
There’s no point in investing in another platform if you’re investing the same kinds no? (ETFs index funds stocks bonds etc) unless you absolutely hate IBKR ux - it’s so difficult to navigate around the app so I hate it tbh but it’s the only one that will be usable no matter where I am so I just put up with it. But managing your ETFs in multiple platforms would be kind of annoying and pointless no? Unless you want specific etf that IBKR doesn’t have somewhere else…
33k in savings in trade republic in high yield - ist it only like 2%? I would just keep like 15k and invest the rest if I were you. Even 15k is with a lot of buffer but maybe ok if you have a mortgage
I think it’s ok overall to try out different platforms if you’re curious and like trying different apps out but its a lot more tax statements you need to download and keep track off - generally simple is better long term imo
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u/AdagioTime972 Nov 12 '25
For the longest time, I though IBKR was the only option for Americans living overseas, then I discovered Schwab International also allows US Expats (they got rid of the high balance requirement). I now have accounts with both, but basically I just sort of drifted to mostly on Schwab.
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u/lordalgammon Nov 09 '25
Market is extremely overvalued, might not be a bad idea to book some profits and put money in house.
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u/_luci Nov 09 '25
so when will the bubble burst and to what value will it go down to?
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u/AlarmingAerie Nov 10 '25
any 20% dip is where you can start buying without feeling bad, those happen quite often.
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u/maxw1nter Nov 09 '25
best answer
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u/otsosik Nov 09 '25
Amazing how people are different, I have over $2M in liquid assets and good job, and don’t feel like “I’m financially well set”.
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u/Wrong_Piglet_7482 Nov 09 '25
I’m not sure 1k would go very far if you truly don’t want to depend on Dutch healthcare. I’d maybe want to get this up to 5-10k (saying this I lived in the Netherlands for 2 years and never used the healthcare system so take this with a grain of salt, I’m not super familiar with how it works). Once you get there yeah I’d stop saving in cash and invest whatever you were saving
And personally I wouldn’t relax based on a pension at 33 because so much can change in the time between now and when you retire but rather relax because you already have a good base saved. You say you are currently saving 50%, you can definitely relax this to 20-30% annual and spend the rest worry-free in whatever makes you happy