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Hedging: yes or no?
July 29, 2026
Hedging against USD swings isn't free: the real cost is the interest rate differential between the US and the Eurozone - currently ~1.32% a year. These cost are not visible in the fund's TER. On a 4% USD yield, hedging eats a third of it. My rule: EUR exposure for most bonds, part of equities, rest unhedged.
Part 1 - Portfolio objectives
June 6, 2026
My retirement portfolio objective: a 6% nominal return over 20 years, dropping to 3% income at a 5% or lower return. Built from 75% stocks, 10% bonds, and cash/gold, with three extra conditions: 40% EUR exposure, an underweight US position (45% vs ~63-71% benchmarks), and overweight Asia and emerging markets
About the blog
This blog is for European retirees that need an income stream from a portfolio of investments. It discusses ways to select assets, organize and guard your investments and do some portfolio management.
The blog's author is a retail investor documenting his investment journey. Not a finance professional or an investment advisor.
For more information on how I set up my portfolio and what decisions I made, see here. This is the first post of a complete series.
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Overlap between ETFs - Part2
August 26, 2026
More overlap checks within my Dividend & Value sleeve: MSCI World Value duplicates about 90% of what I hold in Vanguard (5.71% of my total portfolio), and small-position TDIV duplicates 97% of Vanguard (2.3% of the total). I keep TDIV anyway - it pulls my regional allocation closer to target despite the overlap.
Sequence of Returns Risk
August 11, 2026
Sequence of returns risk is the danger that poor investment returns early in retirement, combined with regular withdrawals, shrink your portfolio. This can produce poor outcomes in later years, including completely running out of money. Here's how it works, and what you can do about it.
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