Series: This is how investing works
Wealth accumulation
Don’t be afraid of stocks! How to save with little risk for old age
Why a sensible investment is so important
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When it comes to investments and finances, the Germans are a disaster: fearful, conservative, stubborn. With the result that the money still ends up in the income-free savings account. Of the star explains in a series how even beginners lose their fear of stocks.
It’s maddening: the savings account is practically dead. At least you no longer get interest on your savings there. If you want to increase your money, you have to invest in stocks. But ignorance and fears make Germans hesitate: buy stocks? Oh better not.
Investing money in stocks is neither complicated nor dangerous – if you stick to a few rules of the game. And that’s where things get tricky. Because only eleven percent of households owned shares in 2019, according to a Bundesbank study. The reasons for this: shares are too insecure, according to an evaluation of the Deutsche Aktieninstituts and the Stuttgart Stock Exchange . Many respondents said they knew too little about stock markets. Almost half of the respondents found the whole topic too cumbersome.
According to the Deutsche Bundesbank, Germans are slowly feeling their way towards the stock market. After all, 12.35 million Germans – and thus one in six – are invested in the stock market or at least through funds. But: The most popular are still current and call money accounts to save money.
Stocks are high-yielding
In short: savers leave hard cash behind. Because in the long run, apart from short-term price fluctuations, stocks are just the most profitable investment. Even those who invested properly in the stock market shortly before the financial crisis can look forward to a return of around five percent. Anyone who invests in the stock markets over the long term can look forward to a decent plus: Around 8 percent are in it every year with DAX shares.
Ignorance shouldn’t deter savers from the stock markets. Because even those who do not want to gamble and do not want or cannot use all financial products are in good hands there. Because there have long been simple products with which one can earn money from the long-term upturn in the markets.
Investment: Don’t be afraid of stocks
The portal “börse.de” has calculated that those who invested 10,000 euros (i.e. more than 20,000 DM) at the start of the DAX would have been able to look forward to a return of 2096 percent at the end of 2018 – and thus the amount to more than Have increased 202,000 euros. The DAX experienced major fluctuations. Wars, the bursting of the dot-com bubble at the beginning of the 2000s, the introduction of the euro, the economic crisis – the leading index did not chug slowly up, but was repeatedly thrown back. And then struggled.
One thing is clear: if you want to make provisions for old age, you can’t avoid shares. But how do you get shares? What do you need for that? How much knowledge should you bring with you? And: is there a simple variant? Of the star explains in the series “This is how investing works” step by step how you can invest in stocks without fear – and even with little idea.
Part 2: what is a depot? And how do I find the right one?
Part 3: Stocks for beginners: Even laypeople can save for old age with funds and ETFs
Part 4: Shares for the anxious – this is how security-conscious people can invest money
Depot comparison: Here is the overview.