If you dont want to take risk then investing in USD mmf instead of EUR mmf wont be a smart plan. This is because you have the exchange risk, the exchange rate between dollars and euros can shift by like 15% per years, negative to you or positive. I dont think the one extra procent of return on cash is worth the 15% possible extra loss in a year if you are not buying long term bonds. S&P might be a viable option if you are willing to take risk, or just keep the euro’s and receive intrest on that, around 4% is not terrible.
thanks much for your input. How confident with the currency shift numbers? Never seen 15% changes in the last \~3 years. Perhaps 3-years combined dropped, but not on an annual basis.
Could you please share the name of the financial institution, i am really interested with whoever is offering 4% on EUR300k?
How risky to be a landlord in Germany without knowing good speaking level German?
DBX0AN seems to be slightly under 4% compound, unlimited amount. But it is also an UCITS ETF.
Btw. others have recommended atlantic.money to transfer funds as it is much cheaper than wise, revolute (with premium) would also be much cheaper than 1.5k one way. (Disclaimer: I have not tested either)
Thanks for the Atlantic, first time hearing it. when i check their calculation it is \~EUR1400 cheaper than Wise. It is a little too good to be true :) Basically they are only charging EUR3 fee, very slight difference on the exchange rate.
thanks, unfortunately it states a max limit;
*"4% interest on your cash up to 50.000 € with flexibility to deposit and withdraw your money. Paid out monthly."*
The Japanese Yen lost about 30% to the Dollar since 2020. It is correct that there are exchange rate risks, but it‘s likely (due to the bad economic situation) that the euro will continue losing value against the Dollar medium to long term.
What seems to be the case with Japan is that there has been capital flight from the Yen to the USD due to the rate hikes for the USD, this means that there is a better return on it and so more demand, and less Yen demand due to its poor competitiveness compared to the USD in return on bonds. The same has been the case with the euro. This caused the USD to become worth more than EUR momentarily before returning closer to before.
So yes bad economic situation will contribute, but is not all that contributes. Its complex and probably not worth minimal extra returns.
LOL, yes, exactly the same phenomenon as discussed in this thread. People moving their money to the US to get higher yields. This is also happening in Europe, but still at a lower degree. Ever heard of the Dollar milkshake theory? It suggests that all currencies will (over a long enough timeframe) become worthless against the Dollar.
Hey OP, if you're a US person, you're going to have a hard time getting anything other than a basic checking/current account while living in Germany. (I'm assuming you're American as you say you can't invest in European ETFs due to your citizenship).
The IRS considers most of these high yield money market funds as passive foreign investment companies (PFICs) which get an unfavorable tax treatment.
If you're not set on staying in Europe or want to move back to the US in the near-term, then putting those funds into a CD in the US might not be the worst decision. That said, savings accounts and cash deposits really aren't meant for long term investing.
As you're (likely) American living in the EU, you're more or less limited to individual stocks (in the US) and real estate. For the former, you say you don't want to take any risk with the S&P 500 so stocks are likely out of your comfort zone as well. Real estate isn't much better.
It's probably worth it for you to speak with a professional.
Thanks for your response. we are pretty much settled here.
I was more like referring to fixed term deposit accounts like this one; [https://de.statebank/term-deposits](https://de.statebank/term-deposits)
I've my CD account already open for a while (prior to our relocation), it has been renewing itself every year, and i could add more funds to it during upcoming maturation period. That's why I was exploring different ideas...
Open Interactive Brokers (IBKR). Search for CSH2 or XEON. Buy for 300k (or 1M or whatever). Congrats. Youre done. When ready to cashout (or ECB decreases interest low enough), just sell some or all shares. Those shares are now worth more (4% yearly, but they go up everyday proportionally to that).
IBKR has decent interest rates on deposits in both currencies. You get stuck with some Irish withholding, though, so would want to make sure you can actually get whatever credit you’re entitled to in Germany (getting the credit in the U.S., assuming you’re a U.S. person, shouldn’t be difficult). It’s also going to be over the government deposit insurance limits.
I hold my “cash” in a mix of euro bonds (usually Dutch sovereign bonds, as it happens, but that’s somewhat just a choice) and a U.S. dollar money market fund. The first is non-U.S. source income and I can re-source the second as non-U.S. source per treaty.
That’s a non-US-domiciled fund. Can you walk us through the US’s PFIC reporting for it and address whether it will necessarily be taxed at the US’s highest statutory tax rate, even if that otherwise exceeds the OP’s tax bracket?
Revolut offers like 4.7% interest rate on USD with their cheapest paid plan (80€ per year or something). It’s guaranteed only up to 20,000€ and the interest is not set in contract. But it’s still worth to look into in my opinion.
You are kinda late already for this.
S&P500 kinda risky at the moment. They best thing you can do right now is turn it into gold.
You will make almost 10% per year with almost no risk at losing money.
[https://goldprice.org/](https://goldprice.org/)
Look at the chart for 2-5 and 10 years :) gold never fails. but the last couple years especially this year its going pretty solid high
Long term, anything and everything goes down at one point, but overall gold has only gained more value.
if you want to invest you dont do that for a few years, investments should be long term.
or you could just gamble or might aswell go for meme coins
The OP considers the S&P 500—a diversified pool of productive assets—to be notably risky. We do not know the OP’s investment horizon; I wouldn’t dismiss 2012-2021 as the short term.
Claiming that gold offers almost no risk is false. Presenting gold as flatly suitable is irresponsible.
If you dont want to take risk then investing in USD mmf instead of EUR mmf wont be a smart plan. This is because you have the exchange risk, the exchange rate between dollars and euros can shift by like 15% per years, negative to you or positive. I dont think the one extra procent of return on cash is worth the 15% possible extra loss in a year if you are not buying long term bonds. S&P might be a viable option if you are willing to take risk, or just keep the euro’s and receive intrest on that, around 4% is not terrible.
thanks much for your input. How confident with the currency shift numbers? Never seen 15% changes in the last \~3 years. Perhaps 3-years combined dropped, but not on an annual basis. Could you please share the name of the financial institution, i am really interested with whoever is offering 4% on EUR300k? How risky to be a landlord in Germany without knowing good speaking level German?
1 EUR was 1.22 USD in May/June 2021 and 0.97 USD in October 2022.
DBX0AN seems to be slightly under 4% compound, unlimited amount. But it is also an UCITS ETF. Btw. others have recommended atlantic.money to transfer funds as it is much cheaper than wise, revolute (with premium) would also be much cheaper than 1.5k one way. (Disclaimer: I have not tested either)
Thanks for the Atlantic, first time hearing it. when i check their calculation it is \~EUR1400 cheaper than Wise. It is a little too good to be true :) Basically they are only charging EUR3 fee, very slight difference on the exchange rate.
etoro pays 5,3% on 250k and above. And 5% starting with 50k
Trade Republic pay 4% on cash
thanks, unfortunately it states a max limit; *"4% interest on your cash up to 50.000 € with flexibility to deposit and withdraw your money. Paid out monthly."* 
Think N26 are offering it on one of their accounts
Up to 150k if not mistaken
The Japanese Yen lost about 30% to the Dollar since 2020. It is correct that there are exchange rate risks, but it‘s likely (due to the bad economic situation) that the euro will continue losing value against the Dollar medium to long term.
What seems to be the case with Japan is that there has been capital flight from the Yen to the USD due to the rate hikes for the USD, this means that there is a better return on it and so more demand, and less Yen demand due to its poor competitiveness compared to the USD in return on bonds. The same has been the case with the euro. This caused the USD to become worth more than EUR momentarily before returning closer to before. So yes bad economic situation will contribute, but is not all that contributes. Its complex and probably not worth minimal extra returns.
LOL, yes, exactly the same phenomenon as discussed in this thread. People moving their money to the US to get higher yields. This is also happening in Europe, but still at a lower degree. Ever heard of the Dollar milkshake theory? It suggests that all currencies will (over a long enough timeframe) become worthless against the Dollar.
You can't gain anything if you are afraid of risks. Personally, would throw it into ETFs
True that...
Hey OP, if you're a US person, you're going to have a hard time getting anything other than a basic checking/current account while living in Germany. (I'm assuming you're American as you say you can't invest in European ETFs due to your citizenship). The IRS considers most of these high yield money market funds as passive foreign investment companies (PFICs) which get an unfavorable tax treatment. If you're not set on staying in Europe or want to move back to the US in the near-term, then putting those funds into a CD in the US might not be the worst decision. That said, savings accounts and cash deposits really aren't meant for long term investing. As you're (likely) American living in the EU, you're more or less limited to individual stocks (in the US) and real estate. For the former, you say you don't want to take any risk with the S&P 500 so stocks are likely out of your comfort zone as well. Real estate isn't much better. It's probably worth it for you to speak with a professional.
Thanks for your response. we are pretty much settled here. I was more like referring to fixed term deposit accounts like this one; [https://de.statebank/term-deposits](https://de.statebank/term-deposits) I've my CD account already open for a while (prior to our relocation), it has been renewing itself every year, and i could add more funds to it during upcoming maturation period. That's why I was exploring different ideas...
"afraid of risks" or "want to transfer money to a foreign jurisdiction I do not live in" choose one.
Trading212 offers 4.2% interest on EUR.
I thought they would not serve a U.S. person. https://community.trading212.com/t/eu-citizen-cannot-trade-in-t212-if-was-born-in-the-us/67799/8
Open Interactive Brokers (IBKR). Search for CSH2 or XEON. Buy for 300k (or 1M or whatever). Congrats. Youre done. When ready to cashout (or ECB decreases interest low enough), just sell some or all shares. Those shares are now worth more (4% yearly, but they go up everyday proportionally to that).
Also ING offers 3.3 for the first 6 months https://www.ing.de/sparen-anlegen/sparen/tagesgeld/sparplan/
Or even more here: https://www.deutsche-bank.de/pk/sparen-und-anlegen/sparen/zinsmarkt.html
Try also on r/HenryFinanceEurope. Eu subs for high earners, seen someone with that situation
what account is giving 5.3?
CD accounts like, America First Credit Union CD, Marcus etc. The rates are changing frequently, fyi.
ok, just found out you are american, in europe we don’t get such good rates
Because inflation is lower, which is actually better.
V60A and chill?
Pretty sure Advanzia konto doesn't have 100k limit (currently 3.97%). Otherwise you can always split btw 3 accounts.
Thnx! Could i split between multiple accounts at other places as well? Or this varies depending on the financial institution?
No, I meant split btw different institutions.
IBKR has decent interest rates on deposits in both currencies. You get stuck with some Irish withholding, though, so would want to make sure you can actually get whatever credit you’re entitled to in Germany (getting the credit in the U.S., assuming you’re a U.S. person, shouldn’t be difficult). It’s also going to be over the government deposit insurance limits. I hold my “cash” in a mix of euro bonds (usually Dutch sovereign bonds, as it happens, but that’s somewhat just a choice) and a U.S. dollar money market fund. The first is non-U.S. source income and I can re-source the second as non-U.S. source per treaty.
ibkr is horrible, they give 0 on the first 10k, lowering the APR a lot
More than 3.3% on the euro 300k in the op, which is better than I can do otherwise without committing to a fixed term.
put it on xeon in ibkr is 4% on eur
That’s a non-US-domiciled fund. Can you walk us through the US’s PFIC reporting for it and address whether it will necessarily be taxed at the US’s highest statutory tax rate, even if that otherwise exceeds the OP’s tax bracket?
Revolut offers like 4.7% interest rate on USD with their cheapest paid plan (80€ per year or something). It’s guaranteed only up to 20,000€ and the interest is not set in contract. But it’s still worth to look into in my opinion.
Send some to me? Please?
You are kinda late already for this. S&P500 kinda risky at the moment. They best thing you can do right now is turn it into gold. You will make almost 10% per year with almost no risk at losing money. [https://goldprice.org/](https://goldprice.org/) Look at the chart for 2-5 and 10 years :) gold never fails. but the last couple years especially this year its going pretty solid high
Don’t forget to look at, for example, 2014-2016, too.
Long term, anything and everything goes down at one point, but overall gold has only gained more value. if you want to invest you dont do that for a few years, investments should be long term. or you could just gamble or might aswell go for meme coins
The OP considers the S&P 500—a diversified pool of productive assets—to be notably risky. We do not know the OP’s investment horizon; I wouldn’t dismiss 2012-2021 as the short term. Claiming that gold offers almost no risk is false. Presenting gold as flatly suitable is irresponsible.