• My Net worth reached 614618 EUR (+ 11470), the 700k is coming closer by the day!
• April was a mixed month and I actually used it to buy the dip on some of my stocks. Its not unusual that there is a sell off before earnings.
• I spend just 5 days in Porto this month, but I also took the time to visit Frankfurt on a short citytrip #keeptravelling

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Trip #1: Porto (Portugal)

I went to Porto for 5 days in April. This time I went to a small restaurant close to the river. I was convinced I would end up in a tourist trap but a colleague convinced me to go there, and I was surprised to learn that the prices were very competitive compared to the center of the city. I had the salmon for 13.5 EUR for example and we shared a botle of Vino Verde house wine for 13 EUR (but not a very good one in my opinion).

The place was called Ribeira’s Restaurante Bar and as you can see on the photo bellow we had the most amazing view of the river and the salmon was a really decent portion and very tasty!

I stayed at the Hilton Arts hotel in Porto and I can say the staff was extremly friendly, the breakfast was great and the rooms were up to Hilton standards for sure. The only thing I missed was a gym, so that might keep me from doing longer trips to this hotel, but for a 5 day trip this would be my prefered hotel in Porto!

The room was paid by work but it was about 135 EUR per night at the time, but this might have been because it just opened or it was low season because I saw it went for 200 EUR per night in May already (like all hotels in Porto btw).

In my last blog I wrote about the personalised treatment you get in Hilton hotels and the dissapointment that I did not get the same in the Accor hotels, and again with this visit Hilton has proven that they are setting the standards for all other hotels to follow.

Trip #2: Frankfurt (Germany)

I drove to Frankfurt after landing in Brussels, it was only a 4 hour drive and I had not been to this city yet. Additionally I had a friend living there so I used that opportunity to see the city.

The city center was crowded but beautiul. Additionally there is a beautiful walk near the river where you can relax in summer. I would say this city is absolutly worth a visit!

A public transport ticket was 3.4 EUR, for food I usually had brunch and something small in the evening I just went to the markets and tried different things. An apple wine for example was 3 EUR.

I had brunch at Dining Raum (21 EUR) and Mainkai (16.5 EUR) for breakfast menu and a coffee (photos bellow). The food with both of them was absolutly delicious!

Clearly Frankfurt is much more expensive then Portugal, but its absolutly worth a visit.

This is not a travel blog, but FIRE is a about travelling as well, so I’m happy to share some of my trips and the expenses I made.

I stayed in the Ibis Frankfurt City for 60 EUR per night. I also parket my car there but thought that the 60 EUR for 2 nights of parking was a bit expensive, as it costed almost as much as one night for the room. The Ibis is a 2* basic hotel, and I don’t have anything bad to say about it. Apart from the parking cost the price / quality is quite good for a last minute booking (I booked it just a few days in advance).

How is your portfolio doing YTD? Leave a comment bellow!

My Portfolio

My Portfolio has increased to 279560 EUR (+6489).

ETFs

The core of my long term strategy is ETF‘s. My ETFs have a YTD gain of 8239, proving once again that they are a VERY effective strategy!

Dividend-Value Portfolio

My dividend-value Portfolio dropped a further 2-3% after an initial loss in March and is now also reporting a loss YTD. I do think that as positive earnings come in there will be a rise in May of my portfolio.

I now also received more dividends in the first 4 months of 2023 then in the whole 2022 combined. Of course having a lot of European stocks I did expect most dividends to come in around this period.

I bought more stocks of Care propery Invest (a BE REIT with an attractive dividend) and CLIQ and ATS who had dropped before the earnings season.

So far Colombian Banking System, Halyk Bank, Novartis and Intel have had good or even amazing beats of expectations.

BASF reported mixed results and Nobia AG did just terrible as they stack up debt to try to get their factory online.

• I bought more stocks of Care propery Invest (a BE REIT with an attractive dividend) and CLIQ and ATS who had dropped before the earnings season.
• So far Colombian Banking System, Halyk Bank, Novartis and Intel have had good or even amazing beats of expectations.
• BASF reported mixed results but good guidance
• Nobia AG did pretty terrible as they stack up debt to try to get their factory online. Lucky its a small position that I will just hold. Being 45% down it has been my worst investment so far.

Growth Portfolio

My Growth Portfolio has not had the best year this year either. It remains to be seen if it can rebound still in H2.

Crypto

Airport Lounges visited this month: 1 (Value about 30 EUR/time)

I am HODLing all coins I get from cash back for now and was able to already collect 8627 coins.

If you want to use my referral link to get a crypto.com visa card, you can use it here, then both of us will get 25$. I’ve been using mine since October 2021.

Real Estate

I currently owe one apartment that I purchased in 2010 for 136.000. I got it re-estimated in 2020 at it was valued at 185.000 EUR. I did a re-evaluation of my apartment that values it at 205000 EUR.

Startups

Right now I have 1200 EUR still active in startups. I would like to sell this as quickly as possible.

I am using Spreds to purchase these startups.

Check out this post if you want to know how you can invest in startups.

Peer to Peer

Retirement funds

I get an update just once a year, so I will update it also just once a year. This is from end of 2022. I will update it again in December 2023.

Savings

This was last updated on 31-12-2022.

I just update in December, as I don’t think its very spectacular to write about my savings here.

YouTube

Check out my channel & videos here

Thank you all for your support!

What blogs are coming up next?

• For now mostly videos and monthly portfolios are planned!

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