The numbers are almost irritatingly simple. By December 2025, their portfolio hit €200,049. Roughly 97.5% parked in a MSCI World ETF, 2.5% cash. The annual gains tell the real story: €17k, €18k, €15k, €33k, €54k, and finally €31k in the last year. Notice something? The acceleration isn’t linear, it’s the Zinseszinseffekt (compound interest effect) finally kicking into high gear, exactly as the math promised but most investors never experience because they bail too early.
When “Boring” Becomes Beautiful
The controversy isn’t in the strategy, it’s in the patience. German investment forums are littered with skeptics who point out the obvious: this investor’s current €1,500 monthly savings rate is higher than many people’s entire disposable income. They’re not wrong. For half the population, setting aside that amount is mathematically impossible. But dismissing the entire story because of the final savings rate misses the point entirely.
What makes this case study valuable isn’t the euro amount, it’s the timeline. The first three years produced modest gains: €17k, €18k, €15k. Hardly life-changing numbers. Then 2023 happened: €54k growth in a single year. That wasn’t magic, that was six years of accumulated capital finally generating meaningful returns. The portfolio’s growth now exceeds the annual contributions. This is the inflection point where wealth building transforms from a discipline into a self-sustaining engine.
The Psychology of Staying Put
Here’s where German financial culture reveals its fascinating contradictions. During the sideways market of 2022, driven by Ukraine conflict and inflation panic, many investors developed “kalte Füße” (cold feet) and stopped their Sparpläne. Our investor did the opposite: “Ich hab halt wie verrückt weiter bespart, als alle geschrien habe ‘aah, die Welt geht unter’.” This isn’t just contrarianism, it’s understanding that Marktpsychologie is often your biggest enemy.
The German obsession with security creates a peculiar paradox: we demand absolute safety from our investments while simultaneously complaining about low returns. When markets drop, the same people who asked for “sichere Anlagen” panic-sell their ETFs, thereby guaranteeing losses. The MSCI World investor’s real achievement wasn’t picking the right fund, it was doing absolutely nothing during crises except continuing to buy.
German Tax Reality: The Silent Portfolio Killer
Let’s talk about what most success stories conveniently omit: deutsche Steuern. Our investor mentions struggling to calculate their exact returns due to depot transfers and bonus hunting, which is peak German financial behavior, chasing €50 broker bonuses while sitting on €60k in paper gains. But the tax implications are serious.
In Germany, your ETF returns face the Abgeltungsteuer (25% capital gains tax) plus Solidaritätszuschlag and potentially Kirchensteuer. The Sparerpauschbetrag of €1,000 per person (€2,000 for couples) helps, but beyond that, you’re losing roughly 26.4% to 27.8% of your gains. For thesaurierende ETFs (accumulating funds), the Vorabpauschale creates a tax event even when you don’t sell, calculated using the Bundesbank’s base interest rate.
A €500 monthly Sparplan over 30 years at 6% nominal return grows to roughly €500,000. After German taxes, inflation, and TER (Total Expense Ratio), your real purchasing power might be closer to €250,000. Still excellent, but half the headline number. The Ordio Zinseszinsrechner demonstrates this brutal reality, showing both nominal and real returns after German tax law.
The “Einfach Nur Weitermachen” Strategy
German investors love complexity. They’ll spend hours debating whether to add 5% emerging markets or 3% gold to their portfolio, while ignoring the 90% solution staring them in the face: einfach nur weitermachen (just keep going). The MSCI World investor’s portfolio is almost comically simple, one position, minimal cash, no rebalancing theater.
This simplicity is actually advanced strategy disguised as laziness. Every additional decision point is an opportunity for error. Should I sell before the election? Should I switch to gold because of Trump? Should I pause during the Ukraine crisis? Each question seems reasonable but destroys wealth through inaction or mistimed moves. By having essentially one decision, transfer money monthly and buy, the investor eliminated entire categories of potential mistakes.
Starting Small Is Still Starting
The most democratic aspect of this story is the beginning: €100 monthly. That’s two nice dinners in Berlin, or one overpriced cocktail night in Munich. The image below shows exactly how accessible this is for beginners, starting with small ETF amounts is specifically designed for people who think they need thousands to begin.
The Bestetipps guide on starting with €500 monthly emphasizes that Regelmäßigkeit beats amount. Over 30 years, €500 monthly at 6% grows to nearly €500,000. But even €100 monthly becomes €97,000 in the same period, enough for a solid emergency fund or house down payment. The critical move isn’t the amount, it’s the Automatisierung that removes decision fatigue.
The Controversial Truth About Market Timing
Critics correctly note this six-year period (2019-2025) included a historic bull market. The pandemic crash of March 2020 recovered in months, not years. The 2022 “crash” was more of a sideways grind. The investor admits they “bisher kaum Korrekturen mitbekommen” (hardly experienced corrections).
This is both valid criticism and missing the forest for the Bäume. The real test comes during a multi-year bear market like 2000-2003 or 2007-2009. Would the €1,500 monthly contributions feel like throwing money into a black hole? Probably. But here’s the counterintuitive math: bear markets are when you accumulate the most shares for your money, which then supercharge returns during the recovery.
The German saying “Nach mir die Sintflut” (after me, the flood) captures the typical investor mindset, get mine and exit. But wealth is built by those who view downturns as Einkaufsmöglichkeiten (shopping opportunities) rather than catastrophes.
What This Means for Your German Financial Life
If you’re an expat or German resident looking at these numbers with a mix of inspiration and cynicism, here’s the actionable breakdown:
- For Beginners: Open a Depot with a German broker like Trade Republic, Scalable Capital, or Flatex. Set up a Sparplan for €50-100 monthly into a MSCI World or FTSE All-World ETF. Forget it exists. Increase the amount only when you can do so without checking your portfolio weekly.
- For the Experienced: Audit your portfolio complexity. If you have more than 5 ETFs, you’re probably over-engineering. The tax reporting alone will become a nightmare. Consider consolidating into 1-2 broad market ETFs and focus your energy on increasing income rather than optimizing asset allocation.
- For the Skeptical: Yes, €1,500 monthly is unattainable for many. But the math works at any scale. The investor’s journey from €100 to €1,500 monthly likely involved career progression, not just cutting coffee. Focus on the percentage: they saved an increasing portion of their income, not just a flat euro amount.
The Final Euro
The most subversive aspect of this story isn’t the wealth accumulation, it’s the Langeweile (boredom). German financial media loves stories about clever traders, crypto millionaires, or real estate geniuses. Those narratives sell. They promise shortcuts. They let you dream about being the exception.
This investor’s story promises none of that. It offers only the cold, unsexy truth: invest consistently, increase your savings rate over time, and do nothing during crises. For six years. Then repeat for another six. And another.
The Zinseszinseffekt doesn’t care about your intelligence, your connections, or your market predictions. It only cares about time and consistency. In a German financial culture that worships security and dreads uncertainty, perhaps the safest move is also the most boring: einfach nur weitermachen.
