Finance

More stories

Apr 12, 2026

Your Phone Buzzes: The €500K SMS Scam Draining Austrian Bank Accounts Right Now

Sophisticated phishing attacks are targeting Austrian fintech users via SMS, exploiting ID Austria renewals and banking anxiety. Here’s how to spot the fakes before they empty your account.

The 0.68% Loan Lie: Why Germany’s Cheapest Credit Rates Are a Mathematical Fantasy for Most

Those eye-popping 0.68% loan rates plastered across German comparison sites? They’re real, but only for a borrower profile so narrow it might as well be mythical. Here’s what actually determines your rate.

When Your Partner Treats the Sparkasse Like a Security Blanket: A Survival Guide to Couples Investing in Germany

Your partner’s money is rotting in a Girokonto while inflation feasts on it. Here’s how to nudge them toward ETFs without torching your relationship or triggering a Finanzamt nightmare.

Your Brokerage Just Froze €38K: The Trade Republic Nightmare and How to Build a Financial Escape Hatch

When Trade Republic froze a user’s tax reserves for three months, it exposed the dark side of German fintech. Here’s how to protect yourself from platform failures and build true financial redundancy.

Why Your Sparkasse Savings Account Is Secretly Destroying Your Wealth

German retail investors are paralyzed by media scare stories and psychological biases while inflation eats their savings. Here’s why the ‘safe’ choice is the riskiest move you can make.

Your Employer Just ‘Restructured’ Your Salary: The Austrian Net Pay Trap Nobody Talks About

When Austrian companies shift base pay to allowances, they’re not being generous, they’re playing a shell game with your 13th salary, pension, and net pay. Here’s what they’re not telling you.

The €100k Altbau Trap: Why Buying Tenanted Apartments in Austria Is a Wealth Killer

That cheap Altbau apartment with a 70-year-old tenant looks like an easy investment, until you discover Austrian succession laws can chain you to €183/month rent for decades through multiple generations.

Trade Republic’s 0.2% Pension ETFs: Too Cheap to Be Real or Germany’s Retirement Revolution?

Trade Republic’s upcoming Altersvorsorgedepot (pension depot) promises ETFs at 0.2% fees starting 2027. We dissect whether this is a genuine revolution or clever marketing, and what it means for your Riester-Rente (Riester pension) replacement strategy.

The €20,000 SVS Letter That Won’t Send You to Prison: Navigating Austrian Social Security Debt Without a Lawyer

Facing SVS collection threats for unpaid social security contributions? Here’s how the Austrian dunning procedure actually works and what you can do without expensive legal representation.

The ETF Price War Just Hit 0.05%: Why German Investors Are Suddenly Questioning Everything

Invesco’s brutal fee cut to 0.05% for its MSCI World ETF is forcing German investors to recalculate decades of investment assumptions. Here’s what the math actually looks like.

Berlin’s War on ‘Cash Only’: Why Your Favorite Späti Might Soon Face a €10,000 Fine

The black-red coalition’s plan to mandate card payments isn’t about convenience, it’s a €70 billion tax raid disguised as consumer protection. Here’s what the political spin won’t tell you.

Your Financial Advisor Is Eating Your Retirement: The €98 Billion Wealth Drag

How advisor commissions quietly devour your portfolio’s potential, and why that ‘trusted’ bank relationship costs you a fortune in Germany

Read Story→