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Investing in the Netherlands as an Expat
Hello there, hope you’re doing good. Usually, I write technical content related to software engineering, programming and best practices. But this time I would like to share my personal experience with something different, something that everyone deals with every day, Money and Investments 💰. This is not the money lesson kind of thing, Am no expert in this space, just sharing my experience and findings on various investment options being in a new country.
Although the title says the Netherlands the concepts we talk about here are common and most of the platforms are available in several other countries.
Background
A little bit of background, am a software engineer and I am from India. Last year I relocated to the Netherlands due to work. I like Personal finance & money management, after all, it's our hard-earned money, then why not put in an extra effort to properly manage it. It's not the money that attracts me (well you know am lying :), let's say not just the only reason), rather the work & effort we put in, it's like a puzzle or game (a real one), and the joy of learning & finding solutions for it. As a software engineer, I find it quite similar to solving business & code challenges.
Okay, we can begin now, first, let's understand some basic concepts.
Inflation is an economic term that refers to an environment of generally rising prices of goods and services within a particular economy. As general prices rise, the purchasing power of consumers decreases. … For example, prices for many consumer goods are double that of 20 years ago.
Eg: If you had $100 in 2000 and didn’t invest it, it would only have around two-thirds of the purchasing power in 2018 i.e it will be worth $66. If you don’t invest your money, it loses value over time due to inflation.
This is why investing is important and mainly I like the idea of money working for us rather than us working for the money. And I have an amazing line to emphasize it,
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn’t, pays it.” — Albert Einstein
Back in India, there are several risk-free investment options available like,
