Independent research · Built for Europe
The ETF research desk for European investors
Plain-English guides and free calculators for European investors buying UCITS ETFs — what the funds cost, what compounding does, and what the fees take back.
Data last reviewed Oct 2026
Worked examples, computed by this site's calculators
- Compound interest+€242.836 growth€350.836€300 a month at 7% for 30 years · €108.000 paid inYear 0Year 30
- Fee impact€36.507The same plan with a 0,60% yearly charge costs €36.507 by year 30Cost by year: fees paid plus the growth they never earned
- Savings goal€197 a monthTo reach €100.000 in 20 years at 7%Paid in 47%Growth 53%
A real person signs every page
About the author
Plain-English guides
What a UCITS ETF is, why domicile changes your tax bill, and which numbers actually decide what you keep.
- Getting startedWhat an ETF is, which ones a European investor can buy, and where to buy them.
- Costs & how ETFs workWhat a fund charges, what it loses to its index in practice, and what the label on a share class tells you.
- Building a portfolio€300 a month at 7% for 30 yearsPutting funds together, and what a monthly plan does over decades.
- TaxHow fund taxation is structured across Europe, and where to check your own country's current rules.
Guides
Start here
Read them in this order. The first is the ground floor, and the others are the numbers that decide what you actually keep.
- Getting startedETFs for beginners: what they are and how to buy your first one in EuropeA plain-English guide to index ETFs for investors buying from Europe — what a UCITS fund is, which numbers actually decide what you keep, and the mistakes that cost people the most.19 min read
- Building a portfolioLump sum or monthly? What to do with money you already haveYou have €30.000 and a fund in mind. Investing it at once wins about two times in three, and splitting it buys something real in the third. What each choice costs, what history says about it, and how to split without it turning into waiting.8 min read
- Building a portfolioWealth accumulation with UCITS ETFs: what the monthly contribution actually doesA plan of €300 a month for thirty years pays in €108.000 and ends at €350.836. Where the other €242.836 comes from, which of the three inputs you control, and what the projection quietly leaves out.12 min read
- Getting startedInteractive Brokers alternatives for European beginners (2026)Most people looking for one have diagnosed a cost problem and actually have an interface problem. Here is what European brokers genuinely differ on, who holds your shares underneath each of them, and the protection figure almost everybody reads wrong.13 min read
- TaxThe ETF tax efficiency guide for European investors (2026)Three authorities take a share of an index fund's return and only the last one sends you anything to read. Where the other two are, what they cost, and which of it you can change.13 min read
Tools
Do the arithmetic before you commit
Three questions to answer with numbers instead of instinct. What a plan compounds into, what a fund's ongoing charge takes back, and what it takes to reach a figure you have in mind. Everything runs in your browser and nothing you type is stored.
All calculatorsEvery calculator publishes the assumptions it runs on. A constant annual return is a planning device, not a forecast. Real markets do not deliver the same number every year, and the order the good and bad years arrive in changes what you end up with.
Editorial standards
Why you can trust this research
Independence is a process, not a promise. Here is the part of it you can check yourself.
A real person signs every page
One named investor, writing about funds he holds himself. No house bylines, no anonymous copy, no AI-generated articles.
The tools show their working
Every calculator publishes the assumptions it runs on, so a figure you disagree with can be argued with instead of taken on faith.
Nothing here is monetised
No affiliate links, no sponsored posts, no paid placements. Nothing on this site earns us anything when you act on it.