Visualizing overlaps of ETFs in an UpSet diagram

Today, two topics I find particularly exciting come together: data analysis and visualization, and finance. Choosing the right ETFs is a topic that fills countless web pages and financial magazine articles. However, it’s equally fascinating to explore the overlaps between ETFs. Previously, I compared the Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield UCITS ETF USD Distributing (ISIN: IE00B8GKDB10) and the iShares STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 UCITS (ISIN: DE000A0F5UH1). I also analyzed the performance of these two alongside the VanEck Morningstar Developed Markets Dividend Leaders ETF (NL0011683594) and an MSCI World ETF (IE00B4L5Y983).

The holdings included in an ETF can be downloaded from the respective provider’s website; I performed this download on October 5. The data requires significant transformation before it can be compared. My R-based notebook detailing this process can be found [here]. For the visualization, I chose an UpSet diagram, a relatively new type of visualization that I’ve used in a paper and another project. While Venn diagrams are commonly used for visualizing overlaps between datasets, they become unwieldy with more than 3 or 4 datasets. This challenge is clearly illustrated in examples like this:

The size of the circles, for example, does not necessarily reflect the size of the datasets. An UpSet diagram is entirely different:

Yes, it takes a bit of effort, but it shows much more clearly how the datasets relate to one another. On the far left, we see the size of the datasets, with the Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield having the most holdings—over 2,000. On the right-hand side, we see the overlaps. The point at the very bottom beneath the tallest vertical bar indicates that the Vanguard FTSE […] has 1,376 stocks that no other ETF includes. Similarly, the iShares Core MSCI World has 757 titles that no other ETF contains. In the third column, we see that these two ETFs share 486 titles that the other two ETFs do not include. I find that quite fascinating. For example, I wouldn’t have thought that the Vanguard contains so many stocks that the MSCI World does not.

The VanEck allegedly has one stock that no other ETF contains, but that’s not accurate; that entry was just cash. Otherwise, 81 of its 100 titles are also included in the MSCI World. All of its titles are included in the Vanguard.

It would now be interesting to see how the weightings align. However, that’s an additional dimension that would likely be difficult to represent in an UpSet diagram. Still, it’s necessary to take a closer look at this because the overlaps might result in unintended overweighting of certain stocks. That would be a topic for the next blog post.

Export from ING depot: CSV is not the same as CSV

Depot student Dominik has already provided a good overview of how to export data from the ING depot via the ExtraETF workaround. However, not every tool can handle the CSV export properly. For example, DivvyDiary immediately recognized the relevant columns, but the balances didn’t match. The reason for this is that CSV files can vary significantly, as can the data within them. Sometimes, columns aren’t separated by a comma but by a semicolon. And while the difference between 1,000.00 and 1.000,00 might seem minor to us, for DivvyDiary, a 1000 turned into a 1 because the thousands separator was treated as a decimal point.

The solution: As much as I dislike working with Excel, if you open the CSV file in Excel and then save it again as a CSV, even DivvyDiary (and many other tools) can handle it.

One Year of Not Buying Anything: October Report

October was basically a good month. I bought a T-shirt for my youngest, a party barricade tape, but unfortunately, I ended up buying a new iPhone. I was actually very happy with my switch from the Max Pro to the Mini, but the poor quality of the camera bothered me a lot. In September, I was in Padua and had a rare opportunity to photograph the anatomical theater. Unfortunately, it was very dark there, and the photos turned out terribly. Was it an absolutely necessary expense? No.

1 Year of Not Buying: September Report

September was essentially a good month. The only new purchase I made was a pair of fingerless gloves, as it sometimes gets a bit chilly in the office. However, I didn’t want to turn on the heating just yet.

Then there was the Braun Atelier investment, which I had already written about and am still very pleased with.

However, there’s also an order I placed in September, which won’t arrive until December—the Kindle Scribe, which I might exchange for my Remarkable 2. Is the purchase necessary? Certainly not. I could print any article I want or need to read, and use a paper notebook. Can I work better and faster with paper tablets than with paper? Definitely. What I hope to achieve with the Scribe, I have already described in the article. If the Scribe doesn’t meet my expectations, it will go back. My reMarkable has very low usage costs since I use it multiple times a day. In the end, it’s about considering beforehand whether a technology actually improves something, or if it just serves blind consumption.

1 Year of Not Buying Anything: August Report

August was a moderately successful month. My purchases:

A bike saddlebag with tools for 18 euros. You can’t find something like this used.
Four Wi-Fi controllable energy-saving power strips, which are also unavailable used, for about 50 euros.
A wooden A6 index card box for my Luhmann note-box, for around 50 euros. I could have gotten something like this used, but the few suitable boxes were already quite damaged.

It’s sad because I once had such an index card box, but I gave it up after university. I don’t even know what happened to it. I will think more about the note-box system.

1 Year of Buying Nothing: July Report

The July report went okay. I was really proud of myself for resisting a temptation and not making an impulse purchase, even though it seemed like a good deal. I thought about it for more than a week, and in the end, I did go through with it, but very carefully. It’s about a new phone, where I swapped a flagship model for one that’s a few numbers smaller. I got more money for my 1-year-old phone than I paid for the new one. Why did I do this? Because the huge phone was just too much of a burden. With a smaller phone, it’s not as pleasant for typing and reading, but I’m trying to spend less time on my phone anyway. I tried to find a used model, but wasn’t successful. Apparently, small phones are quite in demand. Instead of carrying around 240 grams, I now only carry 140 grams (yes, you notice), and my pockets don’t bulge as much. My cost per use for the old phone is under 1 euro per day, which I think is fair.

We also bought an extension for our Rams shelf. Again, it was hard to find a used one. My preference was to downsize even more and need less storage, but in the end, we found a compromise. This is also a good example that the things we own not only have their own price but also ongoing costs. The Vitsoe 606 is fairly stable in value, so the cost per use is minimal.

Other than that, I’ve simplified a lot. Ended subscriptions. Looked at whether I could live with alternatives. I canceled Netflix since we barely used it anyway. I’ll also cancel my beloved Headspace, because Apple now offers meditation (though I really dislike the music they use). I’ve parted with old baggage, like consolidating all my domains to a cheaper host. A few more used vinyl records came into my life, which I’ll continue to indulge in as a luxury. But I’ve set a monthly limit for this so it doesn’t get out of hand.

What is minimalism? And how does one start with it?

I will be compiling everything about minimalism in the coming weeks and months, based on my experiences, mistakes, and insights so far. The article will be updated continuously.

What is minimalism?

In addition to being an art movement, minimalism has developed into a lifestyle in recent years. There was even a documentary on Netflix about the topic, narrated by authors Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. On Prime Video, there was the documentary My Stuff – What Do You Really Need, in which the protagonist brought all his belongings to a storage unit and was allowed to take out only one item each day. The fact that he had to run through the city naked in the snow to get to the storage unit at the beginning should not be interpreted as representative of the minimalist movement. Even German television produced a report on the subject, from NDR, titled How Many Things Do We Really Need?

In Germany, minimalists Christof Herrmann and Verena Schürmann are particularly well known, alongside a few others. Depending on who you read, you may come across very alternative lifestyles, but also people who want to live with fewer things, while still leading a relatively normal life. I count myself among the latter group. Of course, there have always been people living in a minimalist way, not always because they wanted to, and certainly, they wouldn’t have called it that themselves. However, the conscious reduction to fewer material possessions seems to be a trend of recent decades. One of the pioneers, even though he probably wouldn’t see himself as such, is Dieter Rams with his design credo “Less, but better.”

For me, minimalism means, on one hand, that I only buy what I truly need. Of course, the line between needs and desires isn’t always clear, and I focus on what truly fulfills my life— and those are not material things. On the other hand, minimalism for me means surrounding myself only with things that make me happy and/or have high utility. Naturally, I’m not perfect, and I’m not always consistent. For example, I’m writing these lines on an Apple MacBook Air M1 with 16 GB RAM and a 2TB SSD. Is that really absolutely necessary? Certainly not. I could be writing these lines on an old used Linux computer. I could also question whether this blog is necessary at all. But I’ve significantly reduced my gadget collection over the last few months. Since 2007, I’ve gone through stronger and weaker phases of minimalism; back then, I even tried not buying anything new for six months. But I wasn’t always strong.

What are the benefits of minimalism?

There are quite a few benefits, and here are probably the most important ones:

The less you have, the less you have to clean. You spend less time tidying up or looking for things.
When you have less, things look tidier right away. That’s incredibly calming.
The less you have, the less you have to take care of. Every item comes with additional costs, whether it’s the space it takes up or the time it requires.
You save your family a lot of time. If something happens to you and your family has to empty your place, they’ll be grateful if there aren’t thousands of things cluttering the apartment.
You’re helping the environment. Because everything that isn’t bought doesn’t have to be produced, doesn’t consume raw materials, and won’t later end up in a landfill, polluting the environment. Now, that’s a good argument!
You save a lot of money. Often, the things we buy aren’t really worth as much as we pay for them, something we realize when we try to get rid of them.
Getting rid of things is a topic in itself, because it’s often associated with effort. You don’t have that issue if you don’t buy anything in the first place 🙂 In the last few months, I’ve sold quite a bit on eBay/eBay Kleinanzeigen, and aside from the fact that in most cases I got far less for the items than I paid, it was often quite annoying. Even though I met a lot of nice people.
You need less space, possibly fewer pieces of furniture, and ultimately, a smaller apartment.

My “wardrobe” is a good example of how little you really need. And there are certainly people who have even less.

What are the disadvantages of minimalism?

Living minimally is just as unconventional in society as, for example, not drinking alcohol.

When I sold my car in 2011, friends and acquaintances told me that I was selling my freedom. In reality, I gained freedom because, as stated in Fight Club, the things you own actually own you. A car requires maintenance, parking, washing, etc. Okay, I have an advantage – I live in the city. But even with other examples, like not having a TV, questions arise. Many people won’t understand this, maybe because they’d have to question their own behavior. I can definitely say that it’s always a conversation topic, just like when I don’t drink alcohol at a business dinner. You easily get suspected of being a recovering alcoholic.

What’s the difference between minimalism and frugality?

Frugality is about learning to live with little money and saving enough to either reduce work hours or eventually stop working altogether. There are obvious overlaps with minimalism, but not every minimalist is necessarily part of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early). On the other hand, every frugal person will have to live minimally to achieve their goals.

I live somewhere in between. I haven’t resorted to eating from the trash, and I don’t constantly calculate how much interest I’ll lose by buying a sandwich at 50. But I don’t buy pointless things anymore, as you’ll see in the next section.

How to start with minimalism?

In my opinion, there are two main tasks:

Emptying your home
Changing your consumption behavior

For the first point, there’s a lot of literature available, such as Marie Kondo’s books. Kondo focuses mainly on asking what really makes you happy about the items in your home. She also has her own tidying technique. Some of it I use too, for example, how to fold T-shirts. It really does make things easier. But I wouldn’t label Marie Kondo as a minimalist. A good question to ask when decluttering is whether you would buy the item again. Another common question is what to do with something that hasn’t been used in years. Often, you delay the decision, so the items neither go away nor have a proper place. In reality, it’s not necessarily the things that weigh us down, but the decisions we need to make about what to do with them. Making decisions is exhausting.

Additional tips:

Sell/donate anything you haven’t used or worn in the last year.
Sell/donate anything broken that you can’t repair.
Do you really need three can openers? The expensive food processor you never use?
Get rid of books that you don’t love.
Use public libraries.

If this already sounds difficult, it gets even harder with the second point. Our consumption habits are the biggest problem. If we don’t get them under control, our home will quickly be filled with clutter again. It’s also not made easy for us to resist. And I have my biggest weaknesses with certain things. For example: When I see a new gadget that I think might help me, I’m usually quick to head to Amazon… but now, I close the browser as soon as I realize it. I used to be constantly looking for the next tool that might help. But now, I don’t believe in tools anymore. With every impulse to buy something, you should quarantine that desire. Is the urge still there after one day, seven days, or 30 days? For example: When the Apple AirPods Max were released, I ordered them. I eagerly awaited them. And then I barely used them. I thought I’d use them all the time, but unlike the AirPods Pro, which I’ve been using daily for over a year, the Max were often empty. I didn’t need two pairs of headphones. It was a total mistake to fall for the advertising. And after six months, I lost 200 Euros when I sold them. For maybe 20 uses. That’s 10 Euros per use. An expensive hobby. And surely everyone has examples like that.

When is it done right?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this. You can only answer this question for yourself.