What? Why would someone want to switch from a neo-broker to a more or less traditional bank? Especially if the account was moved from ING to Scalable Capital 18 months ago? Isn’t ING much more expensive, less flexible, and, on top of that, less cool than Scalable Capital?
Continue reading “From ING to Scalable Capital and back again”Scalable Capital Erfahrungen nach 5 Jahren und Neuentdeckung Growney
I’ve written quite a bit about Scalable Capital over the years, so here’s my retrospective after 5 years of experience. In May 2016, I opened my first portfolio with a 10% VaR (Value at Risk), and a year later, I opened another with a 20% VaR. In 2016, I also gave a sum of money to my financial advisor, but a few months later, so the data isn’t directly comparable. My advisor charges 1% and reimburses kickbacks and account fees, so the fees are roughly comparable. The data, here the time-weighted returns, don’t exactly speak in favor of Scalable Capital:
| Portfolio | 2016 (Partial Year) | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 (YTD) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SC 10% VaR | 2,96% | 1,83% | -4,92% | 13,43% | -3,55% | 1,44% | 10,09% |
| SC 20% VaR | – | 3,87% | -6,88% | 14,26% | -10,45% | 4,59% | 2,64% |
| Financial Advisor Portfolio | 0,45% | 8,91% | -9,06% | 19,08% | 4,3% | 6,83% | 32,01% |
5 years is still not a long time span, but the performance is far from what my financial advisor achieves. The 20% VaR portfolio was also rarely above the 10% VaR portfolio. Therefore, I decided to close that portfolio (this can be done via the profile), and I’ll continue monitoring the 10% VaR portfolio.
What also contributed to my decision was the data protection incident in October 2020 and the way Scalable Capital handled it. When I asked in the chat, I was pretty much brushed off. And if you search for the information on their website, you’ll find a link somewhere in the footer, but it seems like it hasn’t been updated in a while. At Scalable Capital, I will keep my above-mentioned portfolio and also my Free Broker investment.
If you sign up via my referral link at Scalable Capital, you and I will receive a small bonus! There are no additional costs for you.
Growney
I came across Growney through a tip from Finanztip. I was looking for a way to invest money for my children with less than €10,000 in initial capital. There is no children’s account available there, which has the disadvantage that the saver’s allowance is used up. But, what I found convincing, is the option to give relatives the IBAN of the portfolio (which is called the “investment goal”) so they can simply transfer money, which is then invested according to the chosen strategy. I no longer have to worry about it myself. Investments can start with €500 or €25 monthly.
I also set up a portfolio for myself, and what I really like is the option to invest entirely sustainably.
Growney does not offer an app. Initially, this isn’t a big deal, since most users already have too many apps installed. However, navigating through the mobile site is a bit cumbersome, as the login link is initially “hidden” in the burger menu.
What stands out is that it takes unusually long for a deposit to be invested. This is not clearly explained. Money that was credited two days ago is simply still displayed as cash. Unlike Scalable, it also seems that there is no real-time display of the portfolio value, and sometimes it doesn’t even seem to be updated daily. Growney may not be as sleek as Scalable, but that’s really not important.
If you sign up via my referral link at Growney, there’s a bonus for you and me (this bonus changes from time to time, so please check what is currently available).