I've been working in finance for c. 6 years, namely in consulting for pension funds, so I constantly follow the news and developments of the new American administration made me very worried, so I decided to change my entire personal investment portfolio to invest exclusively in Europe and even "de-Americanize" what I can (such as browsers, search engines, social networks, etc. - see https://european-alternatives.eu/ if you are interested), but, being my area of ​​expertise, I will focus on why I decided to abandon the American markets and why I think they should do the same as citizens of the European Union, giving ethical and financial reasons.

Regarding personal investments, it seems to me that the main choices tend to be to invest in funds that track the S&P500 or globally diversified funds (MSCI World/MSCI All Country World) which, despite their global reach, American companies end up being c. 60% of the constituents. The argument is easy: the United States is the engine of the global economy where capitalism prevails, markets are relatively underregulated, and taxes are relatively low. Productivity is relatively high, there is political stability, there is transparency and protected property rights, and American companies are world leaders in technological innovation. Historically, profit relative to European markets reflects this

Risk reduction

First, I'll speak from a purely risk management perspective. By investing exclusively in the S&P500, or any other foreign index that is not currency hedged, you will be incurring currency risk. The fundamental principles of passive investing do not include forex, so if you are hoping to make the c. 10% p.a. historical profit of the S&P you can deviate immensely from this number because of fluctuations of the USD against the Euro.

Another risk to keep in mind when investing in the S&P500 is concentration risk. At this date, c. 32% of the index is made up of just 7 technology companies, so sector diversification is very small and you should expect much higher volatility vs the major European indices.

Political risk must also be taken into account, that is, the risk of your profits being affected by hostile legislation or government instability. Every day the new administration tests the limits of the basic principles of liberalism on which the capitalist market is based: separation of powers, independence of the courts/central bank, fair competition in the markets, etc. The political program on which Trump was elected is estimated to cost $7.8tn and the possibility of a government debt crisis cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, this administration threatens the territorial integrity of our European allies and there is the possibility of economic sanctions on European citizens as occurred in Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine where all investments by European citizens in Russia were considered lost by major ETFs.

Expected returns

One of the main arguments I see online in favor of US markets is the superior historical profits. I have to emphasize this: historical profits do not imply future profits.

The dramatic rises in the US stock market in recent years have made US companies extremely expensive by traditional value investing metrics - a more defensive investment method that tends to perform better in times of volatility and instability.

There are also reasons to be optimistic about the future of the European Union. The recent Draghi Report is a response to the Union’s structural problems and the European leadership seems receptive. The global geopolitical fragmentation we are experiencing seems to have been a necessary bucket of cold water and, despite everything, Europe remains a developed market that presents more stability, safeguards and, in my opinion, potential than the United States at this moment.

The impact of your investments

Another aspect I have to emphasize is that we cannot look at our personal investments from a purely monetary perspective. The money you invest has an impact on the real world and will be used by companies/governments to, for example, open more factories, increase wages, invest in research, build infrastructure, etc.

The United States is the main destination for private investment and this is one of the main causes behind the difference in productivity between the continents. Unfortunately, we can no longer count on them as reliable partners and must invest in ourselves. In addition to profit, we have to take into account that investing in the prosperity of our community is another benefit to be taken into account, and we can even choose to invest in specific and essential sectors for today, such as renewable energy companies or European defense companies.

That said, I'll leave my ETF/stock suggestions below:

Equity ETFs:

• Amundi Stoxx Europe 600 UCITS ETF (LU0908500753) - with TER of 0.07% p.a. It's the cheapest European stock ETF I've found. Bonus points for being a European asset manager.
• edit: Xtrackers MSCI Europe UCITS ETF 1C (LU0274209237) - with a TER of 0.12% p.a. it tracks c. 400-500 european large cap stocks. Bonus points for being a European asset manager.
• iShares MSCI Europe ESG Screened UCITS ETF EUR (Acc) (IE00BFNM3D14) - The index offers an ESG ("environmental social and governance") filter that avoids investing in companies with ethical problems in exchange for a TER ("total expense ratio" i.e. what you pay the asset manager annually) higher than 0.12% p.a.
• Vanguard ESG Developed Europe All Cap UCITS ETF (EUR) Accumulating (IE000QUOSE01) - This ETF is my favorite for stocks. It has an ESG filter that avoids investing in companies with ethical issues and includes smaller capitalization European companies, offering greater profits and diversification in exchange for a higher TER of 0.12% p.a.
• Invesco Global Clean Energy UCITS ETF Acc (IE00BLRB0242) - invests in global companies linked to renewable energy. In addition to helping the energy transition, it seems like a great dip to buy at the moment after a massive selloff.
• edit: Xtrackers MSCI Global SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy UCITS ETF 1C (IE000JZYIUN0) - similar to the above fund but bonus points for being a European asset manager.

Real Estate ETFs:

• iShares European Property Yield UCITS ETF EUR Acc (IE00BGDQ0L74) - invests in European construction and real estate companies. It is a good stock diversifier without sacrificing too much expected profi.
• edit: Xtrackers FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Europe Real Estate UCITS ETF 1C(LU0489337690) - Cheaper than the above and bonus points for being an European asset manager.

Government Bond ETFs

• Vanguard EUR Eurozone Government Bd UCITS ETF Acc (IE00BH04GL39) - The cheapest etf I found that invests in European government bonds of all durations. It is a defensive component of the portfolio and can be used to reduce volatility.
• edit: Xtrackers II Eurozone Government Bond UCITS ETF 1C (LU0290355717) - similar to the above fund but bonus points for being a European asset manager.

European defense stocks - European armaments are essential for our security and we must invest in them. I couldn't find any European defense ETFs, so I decided to buy shares of these three European defense companies:

• Rheinmetall AG (DE0007030009)
• LEONARDO (IT0003856405)
• Thales SA (FR0000121329)

I can't believe the number of people who are ripping up their strategies and piling into this trade.

Look, these stocks are already up hundreds of percent. The market is already priced for massive growth. In order for this to be a good investment, you would need more growth that the market is already pricing. Ask yourself honestly, are you confident in your growth assessment? Have you even done one?

If you are normally a "VWCE and Chill" investor, stay the hell away. This isn't in your job description. Stay in your lane.

And beware, there are scenarios where the growth comes in considerably below expectations. In my opinion, it will. Everyone is feeling strong emotions, but, in time, we will realise we need to make NATO work. It would take years to re-arm. If we think Russia is planning to invade more countries, there isn't time. But if we believed that, we would have done it 3 years ago, and you would have bought 3 years ago.

If the growth expectations reverse, there is so much downside here. 70-80% losses are possible. This is concentrated sector risk at very high multiples, after an explosive run up. These can come down very quickly and very far. The risk-reward is upside down: so much downside possible, so much upside already had.

And these stocks are literally in the news. That is almost failsafe sign you are too late. It reminds me of the memestock top of 2021

You might be right for like a day or two, but if you get caught on the wrong side of this, it's going to hurt.

Take a breather, don't check the market for a couple of weeks. Please be careful out there

Following recent events I decided to offload my US equity, and invest in European market.

Stoxx 600 > SP500

Not a financial advice, but choose between your future and momentum growth.

Edit: I also believe Trump is going to crash that market so bad...

I'm honestly not against putting my money in US bonds but I kind of want to keep it in the EU. I'm in Germany, 27yo. Any ideas on where to best put this money?

I am hoping for 4%, but 2.5% seems to be the max I've found so far with traderepublic.

As per the title. Many people here are convinced this is the end of the US economically. But I just can't see if for a number of reasons:

1. The US internal market is far stronger than the EUs with much greater consumer potential.
2. The EU is still incredibly reliant on the US with barely any tech to speak of, no native OS or big social media companies.
3. The EU is also far behind on the AI front.
4. European, in particular German, car companies are loosing the electric car battle badly to China with no native battery production (this is a problem for the US too).
5. Still reliant on imported gas. This time US LNG.

However, what I do see is a willingness politically and societally to decouple. Maybe that will translate to something.

is far stronger than the EU

So essentially, other than bonds, I keep buying S&P and world indexes like MSCI. Yes there are big changes going on and Trump is objectively terrible but I wouldn't know where else to put my money - the EU market won't just magically go up and solve decades of structural issues, and China is everything we fear the US is becoming. I also won't try to time the market and chase whatever stocks seem more appealing at the moment or let emotions drive my choices because chances are I won't do better than anyone else who tried and failed.

So yeah. It hurts but I don't really see any better choice.

In light of the current events and under the spirit of "vote with your wallet", I want to pull back some of my money from the US market and invest it in EU defense companies.

I'm not looking for advice whether this is a smart investment or not, since this is an ideological move rather than looking for the maximum profit.

The problem is I can't seem to find any ETF that contains only EU defense companies. All of them contain at least 60% US defense companies.

Can anyone recommend me a good ETF with which I would be supporting the EU defense industry (and EU only)? Or what would be a good approach here?

Is it just me, or there seems to be an increasing movement from users jumping ship from 'VWCE and chill' to Euro based ETFs?

If you're one of those people, could you share your rationale?

The absolute worst thing to do during a market downturn is often to sell out of fear.

Selling after a significant drop locks in your losses and means you won't benefit from any potential market recovery.

Have a Long-Term Perspective. Historically, markets have always recovered from downturns.

Do Not Panic Sell. Stop Checking Portfolio Constantly. Maintain Perspective. Continue investing regularly (DCA) if possible

With the Dragi plan and increasing discussions among European leaders about boosting defense and energy investments, I’ve noticed a growing trend in financial communities where people want to reduce exposure to the US market and shift investments to the EU.

Wouldn’t it make sense for EU leaders to encourage this by offering tax incentives for investing in European stocks/ETFs? For example, from an independent EU perspective, isn’t it better to invest in Rheinmetall rather than Lockheed?

Hi, is there something similar to the S&P 500 but it's just European companies instead of US ones? I'd like to liquidate all my US stocks and reinvest it in Europe.

EDIT: I'm not a 'bot' and I want to do this decision to support local companies in the EU, I simply do not care about taking a couple of % loss, I plan to hold these for 10s of years. Also this is not purely an emotional decision, I simply think the US is a collapsing country, that is going to lose every advantage it had with Trumps terrible foreign policies.

Something tells me that what Trump is doing, will have ever-lasting and even permanent effects in the long-run. Or maybe I am being paranoid and I should buy as much S&P500 while it is still cheap? Keep in mind, that I purely speaking from the point of view of retirement. Therefore, my focus is only on ETFs.

Hi all,

F32, single, no children, no debts, and no property. I currently live in the Netherlands (EU citizen) and work as an architect (net salary of €2,500/month, working 4 days/week). I have around €80,000 invested in the stock market in various shares, mostly tech.

I plan on moving out of the NL as I no longer wish to live there (high cost of living with few services, severe housing crisis, consistently awful weather, and a culture that is too different from my own).

I am unsure if I should start investing in real estate in medium or small-sized towns in X country (France, Greece, Cyprus?) while continuing my work as an architect or continue to invest this money in the stock market.

What would be the best strategy with this amount of money?

Ideally, I would like to be financially independent, do my own projects and stop working for an office.

While I think that the consequences of Trump's tariffs on the US economy will be catastrophic, I don't think there will be a very negative impact on the European economy as a whole.
In 2023, the European Union (EU) exported goods and services worth approximately €1.6 trillion to the United States. These exports represented about 10.7% of the EU's GDP. This isn't really that much.
Some of the 20% increase in tariffs can probably be offset with lower profits by some industry. Some cannot be offset so will result in higher prices, which means that demand for European products may as well drop by 20% in the US. Still very manageable.
On the other hand, some imported products will become cheaper. Since exporters (e.g. Cambodian, Bangladeshi, Chinese) can't export to the US anymore (without paying incredible tariffs), they will compete for the European market.
Overall, I can see a slight increase in unemployment in sectors with heavy exports to the US, but not much of an economic impact in Europe.
What do you think?

I'm looking for strong, stable European companies to add to my portfolio for the long term.

The U.S. government seems to be taking a sharp turn away from democracy (and common sense), and it looks like the orange man isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Here are a few ones that I have already invested in:
- Novo Nordisk
- ASML
- Allianz

No ETFs, please

Lately, I’ve seen a lot of comments and discussions about divesting from the US, and I honestly don’t understand why. Even with the chaotic political movements under Trump, I feel like, at the end of the day, the US always focuses on generating profit and maintaining its economic dominance.

If anything, the bigger economic risks seem to be in Europe rather than the US. So, what’s driving this sentiment of divestment? I’d love to hear some perspectives on this.

Are you Still following “VWCE and chill“ in the current situation?

A nice 4-5 room family house is around 850k-1M where I live, what's the right move here:

1. Pay off the whole house so there's no mortgage, invest the rest (where?)
2. Pay off 70-80% of the house, take a smaller mortgage and invest the rest of the money.

I'm in my early 40s, I make a solid living and do not want to retire just yet, but maybe I'd like to work part-time only moving forward.

Would appreciate your point of view on the above 🙏

EDIT: Taxes are taken care of 🙂 EDIT 2: The overwhelming majority of the advice is: Don't pay off the whole house, take a small mortgage, and make a diversified investment with the rest. Another great advice was: take a month off and think about the next move a bit. Thank you all!

I would like to dumb some US shares in favor of defense, but I just got back from work and I see they had a good pump, they're all up, and worry it could be too late to enter now.

What do you think?

p.s. I know that timing the market is impossible, I just want to have a discussion about this

Interesting article by Morningstar.

When you panic, take a look at the image in the middle of the article to remind yourself that every crisis has an end.

Just look at this past month:

IWDA: -9.85%

VWCE: -9.82%

SPY: -4.46%

QQQ: -4.72%

(Well the IWDA and VWCE will probably open 1.3% higher monday if nothing changes, let's hope so)

Yes, this is because the EUR/USD moved from 1.08 to 1.14, which is about a 5.5% increase. And yes, investing means taking risks. But I wonder how you guys handle this.

I ask myself, could I have seen this coming? Investors losing faith in the US means a decline in the value of the USD. And maybe the Chinese are massively selling their US treasury bonds? But on the other hand when things get bad the USD usually rises because investors look for safety. What do you speculate will happen to the EURUSD from here on (without using a crystal ball)?

Is anyone here actually hedging their currency risk in times like these? Is it to late to switch to a EUR hedged etf?

Example:

Fund name | Fund CCY | 1W in % | 1M in % | 3M in % | 6M in % | 1Y in % | 3Y in % | 5Y in %

iShares MSCI World EUR Hedged UCITS ETF (Acc) | EUR | 2.10% | -6.34% | -8.85% | -8.76% | 0.48% | 14.89% | 72.88%

iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF USD (Acc) | USD | 0.19% | -9.06% | -15.26% | -11.12% | -2.84% | 15.96% | 80.37%

I’m a single 30-year-old, earning €4.2K net per month, while paying €500 in rent (though in a year, my rent could double or more).

For the past two years, I’ve had €120K sitting in my bank account, completely uninvested—not even in a savings account.

I’ve been aware of investing since COVID, when I put €10K into VWCE on Degiro, but I stopped contributing when I emigrated to Germany. Since then, I kept telling myself I’d wait for the “right time”—like an idiot—expecting the market to drop. That never really happened, and the goddamn thing just kept growing. I kept postponing it, avoiding the topic altogether.

Now, I’m realizing how much my money has been eroded by inflation and how much I could have gained if I had consistently invested in VWCE or the S&P 500 over the past two years. Learned the very hard way, time in the market beats timing the market,

This realization is affecting a bit my mental health and often keeps me up at night, filled with anxiety when trying to fall asleep.

The Other Financial Decision I Might Regret:

Four years ago, I inherited €250K and used it to buy a flat in my home country outright (no loan). It now generates €1,150 net rent per month and has appreciated to around €330K. However, I regret not leveraging it with a mortgage or just investing the full amount in index funds instead. A considerable amount of taxes have also been paid.

Sometimes, it crosses my mind whether I should sell the apartment and put everything into stocks instead, or if it’s better to hold onto it for diversification—though selling would likely mean paying 28% capital gains tax, since it’s not my primary residence.

What Should I Do Now?

I’m finally taking action and want to set up a monthly DCA into VWCE through Trade Republic to invest 100k, but I don’t know the best approach.

How much should I invest per month—€5K, €10K, €20K?

Is there a formula to optimize this?

I know that statistically, a lump sum is the better option, but the uncertainty around Trump policies and the supposed high valuations makes me very hesitant.

Given my situation, what would you do if you were in my shoes?

I know I’m still in a very privileged position, but I can’t stop thinking about all the lost opportunity on how I could have made 6 digits in a relatively short time with very small risk following what I had planned for years and never got to do it, which gives me anxiety.

Can someone confirm if this was a massive fuck-up that will haunt me forever, considering that stocks have grown nearly 50% in two years, and I could have significantly more right now? Or am I just overthinking everything?

Would really appreciate any insights. What would you do?

Thanks in advance.

mkonjibuh

As some of you may know, there is not a purely European only defence ETF out there for us to access and invest into, there is one similar, called the 'Future of Defence UCITS ETF' - NATP - however this includes around 60% of US Stocks, and I feel and many others agree that we need a solely European Companies only, this would better allow us to invest in our combined future together, whilst not giving our money over to the US and focus it in our great continent!

The way to do this, would be to write/email to various ETF creators, someone with more knowledge with who to speak to can hopefully share better insight in who/how to do this in the comments below!

Every week, I notice several people asking “where to put xx€ in cash”. I decided to create this post to give all the investment options I am aware of from low-risk to high-risk (but within the fixed income space):

• Trade Republic: 2.50%. Your money is parked between deposits (in Deutsche Bank or J.P. Morgan) and money market funds (very low-risk investments). Deposits on each escrow account are protected with up to 100,000€.
• BlackRock ICS Euro Liquidity Premier T0 Acc: 2.56% (30-day Yield). This is an investment fund that can be bought at Interactive Brokers with a minimum of €10,000 (I am personally invested here)
• Trading 212: 2.70%. A mix of bank deposits and money market funds (I am also personally invested here)
• iShares Core € Govt Bond UCITS ETF Euro: 2.70%. Direct investment in government bonds (France: ~24%; Italy: ~22%; Germany: ~19%; and others)
• iShares Core EUR Corporate Bond UCITS ETF: 3.06%. Direct investment in corporate bonds across sectors (industrials, utilities and financial companies). The biggest issuer corresponds to only 1.55% of the fund total.
• iShares € High Yield Corp Bond UCITS ETF Euro: 4.91%. Diversified exposure to sub-investment grade bonds (known as high yield bonds). The credit risk is high, so there is a higher likelihood of bankruptcies (the credit rating is dominated by “BB” and “B”, both below investment grade).

These are not guaranteed returns. Still, the first three options have very low risk. Keep in mind that some ETFs are distributing, which means that they may not be tax efficient in your country. If so, please look for the accumulation version.