When Ben moved from New Zealand to Belgium to work as a lawyer, his existing investments came with him: a portfolio of individual stocks, run with help from a financial advisor back home.
But the nature of his legal work meant that holding individual stocks no longer worked. The compliance rules around inside information meant every trade, buying and selling, had to be cleared.
Every time I wanted to do a trade, both to buy and to sell, I would have to seek commission from someone sitting in New York. Take a couple of days. Could be quite awkward.
He needed something fundamentally different. Something that didn't require approving each trade. Something hands-off.
The search for a robo-investor
Ben went looking for a fully automated platform. "The first thing I was looking for was a robo-investor, something where I could fully automate the process."
In Belgium, the options are limited. "I think there's only about three or four offerings."
He compared them all. The verdict was clear: "Curvo is the easiest, the cheapest, most straightforward."
What set-and-forget actually looks like
For Ben, the value isn't in dashboards or features. It's in how rarely he has to think about it.
Really what I'm after is sort of a set-and-forget type solution.
How often does he think about strategy? "Almost never."
His monthly director's salary feeds an automatic plan into Curvo. Once a year, his annual company dividend lands and a larger lump goes in. The portfolio compounds quietly in the background while he gets on with his work. With no national pension to count on as an expat, that same portfolio is Ben's retirement plan, aimed at stepping back from high-intensity work by 50.
Letting his accountant do his job
Belgian tax is its own beast, especially for a lawyer running a personal service company.
As a lawyer, I have my own service company, which means a huge amount of my revenue actually sits in this company. There's a lot of tax complexity on my end.
Curvo doesn't try to be his accountant. But it gives his accountant clean reports. "Being able to just throw the stuff over the fence and let him deal with it is much better."
How he describes it to friends
Ben has become a vocal recommender. Charlotte's conversations at parties have brought 20 to 30 people to Curvo, and she has never taken a cent for it.
I'm a bit of an evangelical. I have recommended it to a number of my friends.
His pitch is simple:
It's a robo-investor platform. Like a bank account where you deposit money and it takes care of the investment piece.
For most of his friends, that's exactly what they want. "They know very little about investing, and are ultimately quite lazy and a little bit risk averse. That's exactly what they're after."
You might be wondering
Why can some professionals not invest in individual stocks?
Ben's legal work comes with compliance rules around inside information. Every trade, buying and selling, had to be cleared first. "Every time I wanted to do a trade, both to buy and to sell, I would have to seek commission from someone sitting in New York. Take a couple of days." An automated index portfolio removes the problem: there are no individual trades to approve.
What does "set and forget" actually mean?
For Ben it means rarely thinking about his investments at all. His monthly salary feeds an automatic plan, his annual dividend tops it up, and the portfolio compounds in the background while he works. How often does he think about strategy? "Almost never."
Is Curvo a good fit if you don't want to manage your money?
That's exactly who Ben recommends it to. "I tend to describe it as a robo-investor platform. Like a bank account where you deposit money and it takes care of the investment piece." For friends who know little about investing and don't want it to become a second job, hands-off is the appeal.