Category: Finance & Economics
Recession Predictions vs Economists & the Media
“Economists predicted 9 of the last 4 recessions.” People often get obsessed with predictions and live in continuous fear of a market collapse. This is my attempt to convince you that uncertainty is normal. As someone that strategically invests since 2017, I know how to filter out the noise and sleep comfortably with a 7 …
I Didn’t Get Lucky – The Opportunity in Bitcoin
I keep seeing people in investing communities that are vocal about the alleged risks of Bitcoin. And price speculation is perfectly fine when observing an asset purely as an investment. However, that’s far from Bitcoin’s value proposition. But it’s understandable. This is mostly done by bad stock pickers that consider $BTC gambling, think that dividends …
Capital Gains Taxes in All EU Countries (for ETF Investors)
If you’re an index investor, you might want to compare the treatment of profits across various countries. Whether you plan to live off of your portfolio or simply want to optimize while accumulating, understanding the tax framework is of utmost importance. In this post, I’ll do a detailed breakdown of how UCITS ETFs are taxed …
Bitcoin Tax in All EU Countries (Capital Gains & Wealth Taxes)
If you’re a Bitcoin HODLer, this post might be not only relevant, but potentially life-changing for you. Whether you plan to live off of $BTC or simply want to optimize your taxes while stacking, understanding the tax treatment of this asset is of utmost importance. In this post, I’ll do a detailed breakdown of Bitcoin …
Investing Expenses – Full Breakdown
Investing is associated with various types of expenses. Your goal as an investor is to keep these as low as possible. Below are a few examples of expenses you’d face as a stock market investor: TER (Total Expense Ratio) Entry and exit fees Broker/bank fees Transaction fees FX conversion costs Taxes Not all of these …
Dividend Leakage – Understanding the Hidden Cost
Dividend leakage is an expense that many investors accrue without even knowing. It’s a hidden cost related to investing in international ETFs/funds that’s not reported in their factsheet or prospectus. In this post, I’ll explain what is dividend leakage and how to calculate it yourself. I generally recommend against dividend investing, but if you’re already living off …
Investment Taxes in ALL EU Countries
It’s here, ladies and gentlemen! After many hours of research, I compiled a list of all taxes relevant to European investors. For each EU, EEA, and EFTA country, I’m covering the following: Capital Gains Tax Rate Dividend Tax Rate Wealth Tax Rates Exit Taxes Note: this post is for individual investors. Not for workers or entrepreneurs. If …
Netherlands – File Your Tax Returns in 3 Steps
It’s that part of the year when reporting our taxes is due. If you feel overwhelmed understanding the Dutch tax system, you’re at the right place. Doing your tax returns in The Netherlands is actually not complicated at all. At the end, you need to report the following categories: Box 1 – Income tax Box …
Capital Gains and Wealth Tax in The Netherlands (Box 3 Taxes)
In this post I’ll explain how capital gains and wealth taxes work in the Netherlands. Let’s first cover the one that’s easier to explain. Capital Gains Tax in The Netherlands The capital gains tax in the Netherlands is 0%. Yup, you’ve read that right! Regardless of how much gains you realize, you pay nothing on …
Market Efficiency (Efficient Market Hypothesis)
Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) is the hypothesis that securities trade at their fair value i.e. their prices reflect all currently known information. In this post, I’ll explain how we determine if a market is efficient or not, in a beginner-friendly manner. Basically, it’s a matter of how fast trading activity reflects new information in prices. …
The Death of the Gold Standard – The Aftermath (Part 2)
In my previous post on this topic, I wrote about events in recent history that lead to the death of the gold standard. I’ll do a short recap and jump into the aftermath – what’s been going on after we went off the gold standard. The Gold Standard: Modern History These are the major events …
Obstacles to Efficiency – Taxes, Price Controls, Trade Restrictions
Welcome to the third and last post of the Supply and Demand Series. The first two posts described the self-regulatiing nature of the free markets and their efficiency in maximizing revenue and benefit to society. In this post, I’ll talk about government intervention and regulation. Specifically, how government impositions make the markets less efficient by …
Consumer and Producer Surplus & Deadweight Loss
This post is an extension to Supply and Demand – an Introduction, where we explained supply and demand curves, equilibrium price and quantity, and aggregate supply and demand. In this post we’ll understand what consumer surplus and producer surplus are. Reminder Here are the supply and demand curves for a certain good X. As we can see in the picture, the …
The Death of the Gold Standard – What Happened in 1971 (Part 1)
The gold standard is a monetary system where a country’s currency or paper money has a value directly linked to gold. Investopedia, What is the Gold Standard? Throughout a major part of human history, gold was the only globally recognized unit of account. And it still has that status, as every system/country/empire agrees on its …
Supply and Demand – An Introduction
The law of supply and demand is something that’s often referenced, but rarely understood. Even people with formal education in economics that can explain how it affected certain situations in the past can’t really apply the knowledge to forecast the future. In other words: this post can make you psychic, practically. Enjoy this gentle introduction …