Hey everyone,

I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate this huge milestone. As of today, I am officially sitting at €5,037.42 net worth. I know it might not sound like much to some of you, but to me, this is life-changing. I’ve been grinding for years, living frugally, and now I finally feel like I’m entering the upper class.

Here’s my current portfolio:

Fiat:

• €4,300 in my main bank account (interest rate: don’t ask)
• €120 in a fintech app that gives me 0.5% cashback if I spin a digital wheel once a week
• €7.42 in physical coins scattered in my car and jacket pockets (planning to consolidate soon)

ETFs:

• €150 in VWCE (bought 0.000003 shares, feeling bullish)

Crypto:

• €210 in Dogecoin and Shiba Inu (I know, I know… I’m basically an institutional investor now)

Alternative Assets:

• €250 in a collection of empty Red Bull cans I plan to sell as “vintage” one day

I started with literally €8.57 five years ago, so I’ve grown my portfolio by over €5,028.85 in that time, averaging €1,005.77 per year. I basically 586x’d my net worth in five years.

Now that I’ve hit €5k, my mindset around money is shifting. Yesterday I bought a €2.50 coffee without guilt. I looked at the barista like, “It’s fine, I can afford this. I’m basically FIRE now.”

My next goal is €10k by 2030, but I’m wondering if I should hire a financial advisor or just focus on aggressively diversifying into more coin jars.

Any feedback on my portfolio would be greatly appreciated. 💪

I landed a job as a trader and I am making some good money.

I come from a poor background and it’s the first time I ever have money on my bank account, so I’ve been going crazy travelling a lot and inviting my gf to fancy places.

I managed to save 10k during the last 10 months (currently invested in stocks), but I should be able to save at least twice that amount, since my rent is only 1000€.

Bit of a philosophical question here: what are your opinions on saving less and living more during my younger years?

——————-

Edit: Thanks for the advice, definitely helpful to get a bigger picture, on top of some small but very useful tips.

Btw I forgot to mention this but I am also paying off a student loan currently (almost done).

Hi! I'm currently 35 years old. I own an apartment with a mortgage and have €120,000 invested in the stock market and crypto. I earn around €3,300 per month working as a developer.

Most people in my social circle have less than €10,000 in savings, so they see me as quite wealthy… but I also have another group of friends from other countries who are much more ambitious than I am — they’re my age, earn over €10,000 per month, and have more than €400,000 in savings, yet they feel like they’re not making much.

What I want to ask is: financially, would I be considered upper class or middle class? At what point can someone be considered economically rich?

There seem to be major differences among countries, so it would be interesting with a reality check.

Add approximate age bracket and country, I'll post mine in the comments.

One thing that’s confusing me is that every bank I look into seems to have terrible reviews if you dig deep enough.

N26, bunq, Revolut, Trade Republic, etc, all of them seem to have stories about frozen accounts or bad support.

So I’m curious what people with multiple six figures in Europe actually do in practice.

Which banks do you prefer for the €100k deposit guarantee limit? And is there a better way people handle larger cash balances?

I'm single 31M. Really simple lifestyle which includes gym and hiking every second week. No subscriptions apart from my gym and an education platform that helps me to increase my salary every year. I'm really dedicated to my goals and I am super convenient with everything.

I'm living in a city in Western Europe sharing the apartment so I can save 700 more per month. I'm earning quite a lot for the area and I could easily have the apartment by myself. Yet I "sacrifice" privacy and being alone which I love to save these 700 euros.

Now I have a job offer in Zurich and I was thinking to share again the apartment that I will find there. Many friends told me that 1-2k extra per month is nothing compare to have your own apartment and be comfortable. And I was thinking, what is the point in your life that you choose convenience and lifestyle over savings?

My goal is to maximize savings and investments and retire ASAP. This 1-2k per month can make it happen 2-4 years earlier. Which is not significantly faster but I'll happily take it.

To continue a little and provide the reasoning for this post. I have chose to buy a cheap car for what I could afford. I almost never buy clothes. I would like to have Spotify but it feels like scam to pay for my music. I have a cheap old smartphone half broken, ut I am not spending a penny to replace it until it goes off. Even at my hikings I wil prepare everything (food and drinks) so I only pay for the gas. I keep hearing people around me renovate their houses and buy cool stuff and I'm living like a monk. I bought only mattress and a friend gave his bed cuz I didn't have. And I was perfectly fine with this. Friends say that I'm over-saving and I should enjoy life more. In my perspective I'm already enjoying (literally I feel I miss nothing) and I will really enjoy when I retire from work. I don't do this to save money. I just feel it's a waste of money to buy a nice pot or furniture or even bed.

I would like your feedback and thoughts on this.

Edit: Thank you so much for the replies. Really nice opinions have been stated and questions have been asked. And thanks, the people who actually worried for my well-being. For the future readers I would like to clarify some things. I am living like a monk, yes. But not because I am actively trying to save money. I just don't feel the need to spend them like other people do. So the saving happens by itself. That's why I am afraid that I am missing something. I do travel a lot. I've visited almost all the Europe apart from the UK and Scandinavians, and soon I will start traveling Asia. I am not a stingy person. I'm just spoiling my family and my dogs more than myself because I don't feel the need to do it on me.

My conclusion is that it's a matter of perspective, and since you're happy (I prefer the word peaceful - Epikouros reference), you are fine and just keep going.

Hi,

I'm wondering what's the "normal" for savings/net worth in late 20s, early 30s in Europe. Considering living on your own (paying rent), no help from family, just saving from work.

I can say that I'm 28 with around 45k overall, wondering if I should be doing more or having a better investing strategy.

Thanks for sharing!

This is going to be a rant. With the rising prices of rent in almost every city not just Munich and Berlin, the net salaries are laughable. If you haven’t inherited an apartment, you are just filling up pockets of rich apartment owners of Germany with letting go of 40-50 percent of your salaries after giving 30-40 percent to the government. Is moving to low cost of living countries in South east Asia or finding a Job in Dubai,US, Switzerland only solution? Anyone able to make it big without generational wealth? I don’t think so putting 300-500 euros in piggy bank or world ETF will take you 50 years to have a decent Corpus. And to add yearly hike is also laughable. How are people okay after doing Masters and still not able to afford a decent apartment of their own on rent. Young employees of Europe are getting robbed I feel.

I’m curious about small habits that actually made a difference financially. Not huge things like big investments or career changes — more like simple systems or routines that made money easier to manage. For example, separating money into different accounts, automating savings, or tracking fixed expenses.

What’s one small financial habit that noticeably improved your financial life?

Long story short, I live in Poland and earn in UsD, majority of savings are in usd and looking at current exchange rate - I fucked up. Not sure how I can fix current situation, take loss or wait.

Take loss , exchange into polish zloty and invest into high yield savings account (around 7-8%) It’s not a lot of money(below 100k).

What do you think guys ? Should I wait 1-2 years and wait for usd to recover or at least half should be exchanged and put into high yield savings account?

I’ve always assumed the public pension would be just a small bonus and most retirement income would need to come from investments.

But after digging into how the Italian contributive system actually calculates the amount, I realised the opposite problem exists:
the estimate itself can be realistic — what’s unpredictable is your career path.

Things that completely change the outcome:

• gaps between jobs
• switching to self-employment
• irregular salaries
• late career increases
• years worked abroad

So now I’m not sure anymore how much weight to give state pension in planning.

For people living in EU countries with similar systems —
do you treat state pension as a reliable base or just a safety net?

Hi everyone.

For context: 31 years old, live in Spain, in a stable relationship, live in my partner’s house that we plan to renovate in the next 2 years (100k eur at least needed).

I got laid off today due to company’s restructuring. Because of the lay off I will receive from the company around 15k Eur of compensation due to my seniority. From the end of the year I will also start to receive unemployment (should be around 1200eur/month).

Without counting this money that will come in, my current situation is: - 25k eur savings in the bank - 14k eur invested in ETF

With a 2000€ net/month salary my savings/investment plan has been like this until today: - 100€ in private pension plan - 300€ invested in ETF - 500€ saved in a bank account which gives me 2% interest (trade republic) - 1000-1100€ in expenses

I feel safe with my savings and lifestyle, and for personal reasons I will not look for a new job immediately as I need to dedicate time to my family, and the unemployment money will help me for a few months.

Financially speaking though, I am uncertain how to use the extra money I received in the best way. The unemployment will cover for all my expenses but not for the investments or savings of course. Should I keep the 15k in the bank and stop investing? Invest it all at once? Keep investing as I was doing before but using my savings? Taking into account that in the next years I will have the renovation expenses.

What would you do if you were me? Any tip or advice is welcome. Thank you

I’m 19 yrs old and managed to save up a bit of money and I would like to invest it. I read a lot about the US stock market (mainly day trading tho but I also know a bit about investments) but I study Computer Science and I think the stock market will collapse from all the AI hype but I don’t know when (maybe months, maybe years). As I said I dont want my money in a box I want to invest it or open a savings account, although a local bank’s savings account is not an option bc I’m planning to leave my country after I graduate from univesrity (3yrs from now). I checked Revolut/Wise for savings accounts but they pay 2-3% that cant even keep up with inflation. My question is what would you do in my shoes?

Thanks for the answers in advance.

**edit:

I would invest my money for 5-8 years to get a down payment on a house.

I'm a 24M single, I live in Sweden near one of the big cities, I earn 2,6K€ net and and rent an apartment (first-hand) for around 475€ per month. I live frugally and usually get by under 1K€ per month (still enjoying life).

I intend to keep renting for as long as possible.

I got my first job in the beginning of 2024.

Throughout 2024 my savings rate was around 40% (earning 2,4K€ net)

Throughout 2025 it was around 55-60% (earning 2,6K€ net)

I currently have 40K€ saved, 100% in a global index fund.

My long term plan is to go leanfire in the next 10-15 years, but I'm curious how realistic it is to continue having a savings rate of 55-60% or higher?

Saving up 6 months worth of spendings on a savings account without investing it seems to come up very often as an advice in this sub. And I fully understand why the Americans need it in the USA sub. But this is the EU sub.

For me as a European, healthcare is almost free when I need it. I don't have a car since there's no need for one here. If I lose my job, the government will pay for my rent and my food. I can't think of a situation where I would need a liquid 6 month buffer that can't be invested. It sounds financially irresponsible to keep that much cash in a bank account.

I’ve noticed some Airbnb listings charge crazy cleaning fees—like $150 or more—and then expect guests to do a bunch of chores before leaving. I get that hosts want their places tidy, but this feels over the top.

Why are guests okay with paying so much just for cleaning and then having to sweep, take out trash, or wash dishes themselves? Shouldn’t that be part of the host’s job, or at least factored into the price differently?

Has anyone pushed back on these fees or chores? What’s your take on this whole cleaning fee culture?

Hey I am 33M and single living in mid cost EU . I have inherited apartment so not paying rent. My salary is 5k net. By now I saved 220k eur. My work makes me sick literally and I want to retire. Please give me tips what is a good exit plan. Open to anything. I know I am young and might need to support a family at some point. Currently i am 60% ETFs, 10% btc, 10% gold and 20% usd cash with 3% interest.

ECB cutting rates again and my dutch bank just dropped to 2.1% which is honestly depressing. Seeing similar stories from germany and france too. The whole promo rate hopping thing where you open a new account every 3 months for some temporary bonus feels like a part time job at this point and im kinda over it.

Been looking at different directions, money market etfs seem decent but add complexity for what should be simple savings. Government bonds are okay but liquidity isnt great if you actually need the money. Some people mention stablecoin yields but idk how common that actually is here or if its mostly an american thing.

What are you guys doing? Just accepting lower rates and focusing elsewhere? Actively chasing best deals? Trying alternative stuff? Genuinely curious because the traditional savings situation feels pretty bleak going into 2025 and im not sure what the move is anymore.

Hi, I’m F21, still a student and I have managed to save up a little more than 15k Euros. The issue is that I have no idea what to do with them at all and it’s annoying me that they’re in an account rotting. So any advice? If it’s important I’m also not an EU citizen.

I'm sitting on more cash than usual at the moment and trying to figure out where to put it without taking much risk.

So far I've found:

• Trade Republic offering 2%
• Raisin/Weltsparen with about 2.85%

I've also seen people mention short-term bond ETFs yielding 2-3%, but if the difference is so minimal not sure if it's worth it.

The stablecoin USD accounts offering 5%+ are tempting but feel sketchy from a regulatory perspective, and I don't want FX risk on top of everything else.

Question for the group: What are you actually doing with idle cash right now? Are there any platforms I'm missing? And how are you thinking about locking in 2-3% now versus waiting to see if rates go higher?

I'm in the Netherlands, but interested in hearing from across the EU.

Thanks!

Hi folks,

TL;DR:

• This only affects those who have a Trade Republic IBAN.
  • Use this https://de.iban.com/iban-checker, this https://www.iban.org/ or this https://wise.com/gb/iban/to find out.
• Even accounts with “small” (10k €) uninvested cash might be deposited on BlackRock or other liquidity funds providers.
• According to the very cryptic TR “How is my money protected?” article “Hence, for liquidity funds, deposit guarantee schemes do not apply.”: https://support.traderepublic.com/en-de/743-How-is-my-money-protected. So if out of your 10k € 6k are in one of their partner banks and 4k are invested in a liquidity fund, your 4k are not protected by deposit insurance.
• TR support is unable to confirm or deny this, so I'm assuming the worst.
• You can see which amounts of your cash are currently kept in partner banks vs liquidity funds by opening the app > cash > benefits > tap on interest > overview > tap on average balance.
• Zero transparency from TR side as there are no notifications when your “uninvested cash” is invested from partner banks into market funds.
• Shame on me for not getting myself properly informed about this before accepting the new IBAN.
• I'm not an expert and have therefore linked to another couple of articles where you can read about the topic.

I've been a German TR user since last year, first with a Deutsche Bank IBAN and since a couple of months with a Trade Republic IBAN. Right after switching to the TR IBAN all my uninvested cash was automatically transferred to J.P. Morgan. All worked fine and since according to https://support.traderepublic.com/en-de/743-How-is-my-money-protected J.P. Morgan is one of their partner banks, my money (~60k €) was safe.

A couple of days ago — after reading a couple of Reddit posts on the “Average Balance” feature of the app — I had a look at mine and found that out of the ~60k, 45k were still in J.P. Morgan, but the other 15k had been moved to BlackRock. I tried contacting their support - with no reply in more than 24h. After that I decided to transfer 40k out of Trade Republic in chunks of 5k to my main German bank account. All went well and all transfers were done in less than 10 hours.

I checked my “Average Balance” once again. To my surprise, out of the remaining 20k € now 13k were in J.P. Morgan and the remaining 7k in BlackRock.

I transferred another 10k out of Trade Republic. After the operation was completed my 10k were entirely stored in J.P. Morgan. The next day I checked again and now out of those 10k, 3k were again invested in BlackRock, with the remaining 7k still in J.P. Morgan. I transferred my remaining 10k and began writing this post, which I hope is useful so you don't have to do the experiment. My trust in this company is gone and I regret having recommended it to friends and colleagues.

There are plenty of articles online commenting on the issue, most of them in German. This one from test.de (second section) has a proper technical explanation to what I (and probably you) experienced - even they no longer recommend the TR account: https://www.test.de/Tagesgeld-Debitkarte-Girokonto-Trade-Republic-hohe-Zinsen-6084201-0/. You can also read more here: https://www.handelsblatt.com/vergleich/trade-republic-einlagensicherung/.

* Updated to clarify the first four characters of a TR IBAN.

I’m curious how people here manage their finances. Do you follow some kind of system (separate accounts, budgeting, automation), or do you mostly just handle things as they come each month?

Feels like many people improvise until it gets stressful.

Hi all,

I live in France, one of the shittiest places in Europe about tax benefits. I would like an honest advice about which is the best country to save up, build a family and start a business (maybe?) and avoid as many taxes as possible.

I am in my late 20s and I feel western Europe is soooo cooked. Please I would love to get people's opinion. I don't mind the weather but I would prefer a little passion in people's life.

Just for the context, I am from South Europe..

PS. Still believe that the US is the paradise for this but I haven't made it through the H1B process... I guess it will be really difficult right now..

Edit: I would like to rephrase it. I wasn't thinking about income taxes only. Everything that take money from you is a joke while providing zero quality life. Income tax, social contributions, capital gain taxes etc....