An emergency fund or a contingency fund

I once saw an interesting video on YouTube about investing. The main point it made was, in a nutshell, that before you even start investing, you should first pay off your debts (particularly consumer loans, credit cards, etc.) and then start building up a solid emergency fund. All of this should happen before you even think of investing a single, hard-earned euro in shares or ETFs. The target figure given here was 10,000 dollars, which I have now converted into euros for the sake of simplicity. As I am currently 100 per cent invested and do not have an emergency fund, I have decided to build one up. At the moment, I have €55.84 to get started – which is half a per cent of the target amount. At the moment, the whole thing looks like this – and, unfortunately, it’s still looking a bit sad.

To build up my savings a bit faster, I’ve decided to set aside €50 a month for my emergency fund. On top of that – because of my long train journeys to work – I take part in paid online surveys. These ‘polls’ also bring in a bit of money, which I plan to put into my emergency fund. However, this money comes in quite irregularly.The emergency fund is actually meant to be the third pillar itself – I’ve decided to invest the whole amount in a money market ETF, specifically one that pays out dividends. The interest will then be reinvested until the target amount of €10,000 is reached. I’ve chosen this money market ETF. The dividends and the occasional survey rewards are reinvested as soon as €50 has been accumulated. It might take a while, but starting is half the battle. How did you build up your emergency fund, and where do you keep yours?

After half a lifetime, I'm back

How do I start writing again after such a long time? A lot has changed in my life, and I had to focus on the important things—but eventually, my passion for blogging was reawakened. I'm writing in English now—I hope native speakers will forgive me if it doesn't sound very fluent—but for me, it's a way to improve my skills in the language. I took a new job, moved, bought a house, and did a lot of other things. Above all, though, I’ve radically changed my investment philosophy—I now have a fixed monthly savings amount and have been investing in the stock market again since November 2019.It was important to me to stop focusing on so many little things and instead concentrate solely on my portfolio—protecting it and letting it grow. It was a very good time in the market, despite the COVID-19 crisis and the war in Ukraine, and my portfolio performed accordingly. It has now reached a quite substantial size, and I’m no longer a small investor—I’m playing in the lower mid-tier now :-) . Here is my newly restructured portfolio, which will have been active for exactly six years in November. I’ll discuss some of the individual stocks in the portfolio in a later post. The monthly change in euros is, of course, not zero, but since this is my first post, I'll use that as a starting point.

Stock	ISIN	Buy (€)	Price (€)	Qty	Value (€)	MoM (€)
Grupo Mexico S.A.B. de C.V.	MXP370841019	3.92	11.11	2000	22232.00	0
VANGUARD SP 500 UCITS ETF	IE00B3XXRP09	79.33	126.78	161.5	20481.42	0
Microsoft Corp.	US5949181045	348.34	433.35	31	13433.85	0
Alphabet A	US02079K3059	175.49	307.20	40	12288.00	0
JPMorgan Chase & Co.	US46625H1005	141.30	306.25	39	11943.75	0
iShares Core MSCI World ETF	IE00B4L5Y983	79.07	128.36	77.1	9896.56	0
Union Pacific Corp.	US9078181081	201.10	254.15	36	9149.40	0
WisdomTree Global Quality Dividend ETF	IE00BZ56RN96	27.46	36.93	232.5	8586.23	0
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. B	US0846707026	329.40	450.75	14	6310.50	0
Allianz	DE0008404005	230.96	437.20	12	5246.40	0
Imperial Brands plc	GB0004544929	21.59	32.64	115.1	3756.86	0
Bank of America Corp.	US0605051046	27.67	54.32	68	3693.76	0
Sumitomo Mitsui Inc. (SMFG)	JP3890350006	12.66	37.21	99	3683.79	0
VanEck Developed Markets ETF	NL0011683594	54.81	55.30	55.7	3080.21	0
DHL Group	DE0005552004	43.25	55.72	55	3064.60	0
Chevron Corp.	US1667641005	131.82	161.64	17	2743.80	0
Cisco Inc.	US17275R1023	44.15	104.10	25	2602.50	0
Cal-Maine Foods Inc.	US1280302027	72.32	73.26	31.8	2329.66	0
Ahold Delhaize	NL0011794037	30.74	33.27	69	2295.63	0
Itochu Corp.	JP3143600009	3.54	11.07	177	1959.39	0
American Express Co.	US0258161092	257.67	294.65	6	1767.90	0
ONEOK Inc	US6826801036	61.40	75.69	23	1740.87	0
Rio Tinto plc	GB0007188757	61.73	87.84	19	1668.96	0
California Water Service Group	US1307881029	41.75	43.20	37	1598.40	0
Waste Management Inc.	US94106L1098	206.02	198.98	7	1392.86	0
VANGUARD FTSE Japan UCITS ETF	IE00B95PGT31	30.17	45.44	29.6	1345.02	0
Colgate-Palmolive Co.	US1941621039	71.34	80.13	15	1201.95	0
Amphenol Corp.	US0320951017	122.58	145.38	7.4	1075.81	0
Iluka Resources Ltd.	AU000000ILU1	4.10	4.38	241.1	1056.01	0
Duke Energy Corp	US26441C2044	107.27	107.60	9	968.40	0
WisdomTree Physical Gold ETC	JE00BN2CJ301	341.40	373.14	2.3	858.22	0
Deutsche Telekom AG	DE0005557508	29.51	29.01	30.3	879.00	0
WisdomTree Physical Silver ETC	JE00BQRFDY49	47.07	54.75	12	657.00	0
Astroscale Holdings	JP3119820003	5.46	6.60	86	567.60	0
Heidelberg Materials	DE0006047004	185.01	160.45	2.7	433.21	0
Total Sum					0.00	0.00

I'm currently setting aside €775 each month for the following securities. I can't afford more right now, but that's still a decent chunk of change. Here are my investments for August 2026, which are already included in the table above. The last two positions still show zero shares, as the savings plans for these will not be executed until the end of the month.

Stock	ISIN	Monthly Investment (€)	Acquired Shares
iShares Core MSCI World ETF	IE00B4L5Y983	100.00	0.779
VANGUARD SP 500 UCITS ETF	IE00B3XXRP09	100.00	0.787
WisdomTree Global Quality Dividend ETF	IE00BZ56RN96	100.00	2.706
WisdomTree Physical Gold ETC	JE00BN2CJ301	50.00	0.135
WisdomTree Physical Silver ETC	JE00BQRFDY49	50.00	0.938
VANGUARD FTSE Japan UCITS ETF	IE00B95PGT31	50.00	1.108
Heidelberg Materials	DE0006047004	50.00	0.305
Deutsche Telekom AG	DE0005557508	25.00	0.853
Amphenol Corp.	US0320951017	100.00	0.332
Iluka Resources Ltd.	AU000000ILU1	50.00	12.051
VanEck Developed Markets ETF	NL0011683594	50.00	0.00
L & G Global Quality Dividends ETF	IE0005AJA0P1	50.00	0.00
Total Monthly Investment		0.00	-

It truly feels Surreal to be hitting "Publish" again after 11 long years of silence on this blog. So much has changed since then, but coming back to this space feels like coming home—only with a clearer mind, a stronger strategy, and a portfolio I’m proud to share. Looking ahead to the coming month, the global markets remain a fascinating, if somewhat volatile, playground. Between shifting central bank policy rate trajectories in the US and Europe, ongoing geopolitical tensions, and dynamic shifts across international markets, we are bound to see some turbulence. But as long-term investors, we know that short-term market noise is just background music to a solid savings strategy. I’m genuinely excited to document this journey here once again, step by step, and I’m so glad to have you along for the ride. See you in the next update!