Our philosophy

Principles

Read our convictions that guide us on our mission to solve the pension crisis for our generation.

Improve your financial well-being

Your financial well-being starts with developing good saving habits. But when you've set those in place, what do you do with all your savings? We believe that too much money is sitting on savings accounts, earning almost no interest and is slowly being eaten away by inflation.

Instead, your savings could be working for you. For this reason, we believe that investing is a crucial tool to achieve our mission: to improve the financial health of our generation and ensure that the financial future of each one of us is secure.

Helping you meet your financial goals

Your investment portfolio should help you achieve your financial goals, even if that goal is something as vague as "saving for a rainy day".

For the long term

Every investment carries risk. Even though the global economy has been growing consistently over the last 100 years, there have been periods of downturns where returns were negative (think about the corona crisis!). To iron out temporary fluctuations in the markets and end up with a positive return, it's important to invest for the long term.

Unfortunately, there aren't any investments through which a quick buck is guaranteed without taking a lot of risk. Investing is for the long term, speculation is for the short term.

Follow the market

We believe that passive investing (also called "index investing") is the best strategy to guarantee long-term success. This follows from our conviction that the financial markets are efficient.

Concretely, we think that investments shouldn't be timed based on market sentiment, or worse, feelings and emotions. Active investing, or trying to beat the market by outsmarting other players in the financial markets, is most often not worth the risk nor the additional cost [1].

Instead, we believe in a "buy-and-hold" strategy, in total alignment with a long term view. Some may call it unsexy, but we are convinced that good investing is boring!

Diversify, diversify, diversify

No one can predict the future. Today's winners can quickly become tomorrow's losers (the dot-com bubble?) whereas average industries can suddenly become the hottest thing. Think about Zoom and other online communication companies during the Corona-crisis. The best way to deal with this uncertain future is to put your eggs in many different baskets. Because it turns out that missing out on a winner in your portfolio is a lot worse for your return than having a loser [2].

We believe in diversification across:

  • many different countries around the globe
  • sectors and industries
  • company size

Invest only in what has been proven

Investment portfolios should be built to stand the test of time. They should invest only in assets that are widely understood and that, through decades of research and usage, are predicted to earn significant returns over the decades to come. Concretely, this means index funds of stocks and bonds.

It also means we don't think the following are sensible investments:

  • P2P lending
  • alternative assets such as art, bottles of fine wine, etc...
  • your uncle's great stock tip

Don't invest in destructive companies

Investments should focus on a guiding principle: do not invest in companies that are destructive to the planet.

Seek simplicity

We believe that portfolios with few assets are better than complex portfolios:

  • they're easier to analyse and understand
  • complex allocations beyond market-cap weighting imply being smarter than the market, which is counter to our belief that the markets are efficient
  • they're cheaper because less transactions are needed for each round of investments

Accessible for all

We believe that everyone should be able to invest and earn the dividends of the global economy, regardless of how little money they can invest.

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Why you shouldn't invest this way

Our philosophy is not for you if you're looking for:

High-risk investment

You want to invest in newer or riskier types of assets such as
crypto-currencies.

Active managment

You are looking for an active manager for your investments.

Picking stocks

You want to actively pick stocks
to invest in.

Quick buck

You want to make a short-term investment.

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Questions you may have

Can I choose what I invest in?

Not quite. You will be matched with the portfolio that suits you and your goals. A broker may be a better option if you want to actively choose what to invest in.

How safe is my money?

Safety is vital. We recommend that you read more about how the safety of your assets is ensured.

Can I keep track of my investments?

You sure can. You have 24/7 access via the app.

How much does it cost?

It costs a yearly fee between 0.6% and 1%. Check out the details.

I still have questions.

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References

[1] "ESMA study finds high impact of costs on performance, especially for active equity funds" (www.esma.europa.eu)

[2] "Focusing on aggregate shareholder wealth creation measured in US dollars, we find that the top-performing 1.3% of firms account for the $US 44.7 trillion in global stock market wealth creation from 1990 to 2018." (papers.ssrn.com)

Explore the portfolios

Learn how they're put together