How you actually withdraw the money

Two people retire on the same morning. Same age, same 600,000 in the pot, same low-cost world tracker, same plan to spend a little over 4% a year. Thirty years later, one of them dies with more money than they started with. The other ran out at 82

A 3% raise in a 3.4% world

Three numbers that quietly moved your money this week - and why the ECB's latest hike is already sitting on Europe's mortgage statements.

The EUR 70 saving that costs EUR 2,000

Why chasing a cheaper index fund can backfire, what Airbnb does with 12 billion dollars that isn't its own, and the trading habit two-thirds of young men regret.

The year the rate cuts didn't come

A central-bank U-turn, a record fine that barely dented Meta, and record profits your paycheck never saw - four numbers that moved this week, plus the chart that shows what 'safe' really pays.

Why not just buy 30-year bonds at 6%?

Someone on Reddit asked the question that a lot of people are quietly thinking. If a 4% withdrawal rate is supposed to be safe for retirement, and a 30-year government bond pays around 6%, why bother with stocks at all? Just buy the bond, collect 6% forever, and skip

Is it too late to invest at all-time highs?

You have money to invest. You open the app, look at the chart, and see a line that has gone almost straight up. The S&P 500 closed at 7,652.86 on 24 August 2026, a rounding error away from its own record. Some part of your brain

The $40 trillion in your mortgage

Washington borrowed its way past a round number this week, and the bill arrived in European bond markets. Plus: what one quarter of AI spending actually costs a shareholder.

The $1.42 trillion IOU behind the rally

Record borrowing is fuelling the market, the AI boom is quietly financing itself, and a struck-down tariff bill is now trading at a discount. Three numbers, and what they mean for your money

23,000 jobs gone. Stocks hit a record

Why a shrinking job market and a record-high stock market are the same story - plus the EUR 100 trick that beats every hot tip.

Ten stocks, 37% of your index

Europe just built a single price feed for your ETFs, Mexico quietly out-exported its own car industry, and a head-start calculation worth EUR 421,000. This week's letter.

A diamond is forever. De Beers wasn't

De Beers spent 130 years convincing the world a diamond never loses its value. In July 2026, the company itself sold for less than the price of a new mine shaft.

The 0.05% that pays you EUR 8,130

A fee cut you did nothing to earn, a record quarter that burned through a billion, and a chart that makes the phrase \"euro-area debt\" fall apart.