Hi all 💙

Some evenings just hit different. Forty-five of us sat down for dinner at Galerie Ron Mandos (@Prinsengracht, Amsterdam), mid-exhibition, paintings all around the table, one question quietly sitting over the wine glasses: is art actually worth buying?

We brought in three women to answer it honestly. Hester Alberdingk Thijm (Director, AkzoNobel Art Foundation, thirty years building one of the Netherlands’ most respected corporate collections), Pip Greenaway (the artist behind last year’s Best of Graduates, back at the gallery that gave her her start), and Lediane Toledo (private collector, predominantly of female artists, who connected all of us). By dessert, the room had completely shifted.

And since, already two of our Cohort 4 members bought art!

Here’s the high-level recap. 🚀 (Want the full, unfiltered version; every quote, every number, every “wait, what?” moment? It’s attached to this email!)

But first:

🥂 Cohort 5 Is Almost Full

Speaking of rooms filling up fast: so is Cohort 5. As of today, 45 incredible women have joined Cohort 5. Again shaping up as a very sharp group: women building serious careers across law, finance, sustainability, and beyond. Think: The Brauw, J.P. Morgan, ING, Bain & Company, L’Oréal, Air France-KLM, Mollie, Amsterdam UMC, TNO, European Climate Foundation, entrepreneurs — to name a few.

We are so thrilled to get started in September! But there are only a few final spots left before we close the cohort.

If you’ve been on the fence, this is your sign. Reach out to us directly, or apply through the waitlist here.

We’d love to have you in the room for what’s next. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!

Let’s get into the content.

🖼 So... Is Art Actually a Good Investment?

Hester didn’t dodge it. As a pure financial asset, she called art “mediocre” — roughly 2% a year in real terms over the last century, about the same as government bonds and under a third of what global stocks deliver. No dividend, real costs (insurance, handling), and the market is genuinely down right now: the multimillion-euro trophy pieces lost almost 40% of their value last year alone.

So if you came for the returns, consider yourself talked out of it. Good, because that clears the way for the real reason people buy anyway: what Hester calls the emotional dividend. You get to look at something you love, every single day, for as long as you own it. Not a number you can put next to a bond yield, and nobody at the table pretended otherwise.

🔑 The Three Things Stopping Most Women From Starting

Hester named them straight: money, knowledge, identity. And then took all three apart.

Money isn’t the barrier people think it is. An original print or a fresh graduate-show piece can cost a few hundred euros, and most galleries will happily let you pay in interest-free instalments. You just have to ask. Knowledge, too, is less about a degree and more about trusting your own eye. What stops you in the room matters more than what the market has already approved. And identity? You already belong here: last year, women collectors outspent men by nearly half on average, and two-thirds of them bought work from an artist they’d only just discovered. The entry level of the market — exactly where you’d start — is the part that’s actually growing.

💡 Beyond the Wall

The most interesting reframe of the night: when you buy from a living artist, Hester said, you’re not buying an object, you’re buying them time. A first sale, early in someone’s career, is often the difference between an artist continuing and quitting. That’s not a financial investment: it’s a human one.

Lediane put her own spin on it: “I don’t buy to match. I want pieces with their own character — things that make people stop and ask, ‘wait, what is that?’ My collection is a representation of the different stages of my life.”

✅ If You Want to Start This Week

Don’t wait to feel like “a collector.” Go to one gallery or one graduate show. Talk to one artist. There are no stupid questions, just check first that it’s actually their work on the wall. And if a piece makes your heart beat a little faster and it’s within reach: buy it. You become a collector the moment you take the first piece home.

The full recap, including the do’s and don’ts, what can go wrong, and the reading list Hester keeps close, is in the attached PDF. Genuinely worth five minutes with your coffee. ☕

💬 Final Thoughts

What made that evening at Galerie Ron Mandos special wasn’t just the art. It was the same thing that makes every YGT session special. A room full of women asking the “stupid” questions out loud, trusting their own eye, and reminding each other that financial confidence (in art, in stocks, in anything) is built one honest conversation at a time. Not alone, but together.

So remember!! You got this. 💪

– Eva & Tessel

P.S. This is not investment advice. Want to become a member? The final spots in Cohort 5 won’t last — apply via the waitlist, or just reply to this newsletter and we’ll help you sort it.

Art As An Asset

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Hi all!

We have to start with some news we still can’t quite believe: YGT made it onto the Dutch news (NOS), the Dutch Financial Times (FD) and De Financiële Telegraaf! 📰

Three of the biggest names in Dutch media came to see what happens when a room full of women rolls up their sleeves and assesses an entire sector together — in this case, the space economy. We walked them through exactly how we do it: no jargon for the sake of jargon, no pretending anyone has all the answers. Just curiosity, sharp questions, and the courage to ask the “stupid” ones out loud.

Want to have a read? Here (FD) and here (Financiële Telegraaf) you go!

Seeing our community described in national media was a real pinch-us moment. And it’s proof of something we’ve believed since day one: you don’t need a finance degree to think like an investor. You just need to start. And start we did — with maybe our most ambitious topic yet: investing in space. 🛰️

A huge thank you to Femke Majtlis and Emilie de Haes, and the team at Mollie for having us in such a great space. Here’s the recap.

🌍 First, a quick history — because it explains everything

Space used to be a government-only game. The way our deep dive framed it, the space economy has moved through three eras:

• The 1950s: pure government money and government rockets, driven by political will and the US–Soviet space race.

• The 1990s: governments still paid the bill, but private companies started building the hardware.

• 2010 → today: the commercial era — driven by profit, growth and competition between companies, not just countries.

So what flipped the switch? Reusable rockets. 🚀 When you can land a rocket and fly it again instead of throwing it away after one trip, the cost of reaching space drops dramatically. Suddenly, launching becomes repeatable — and a repeatable business is something you can actually invest in for the long term.

This is the difference between “old space” (government-led, slow, expensive) and “new space” (commercial, privately funded, satellite constellations, mass production and far faster innovation).

🏗️ The “Space Stack”: four layers, explained simply

This was the lightbulb moment of the evening. The whole industry fits into a four-layer stack :

• Layer 1 — Getting there (rockets). The trucks of space. Think SpaceX. High cost, high risk.

• Layer 2 — What you send up (satellites & sensors). The cargo. Companies like Airbus.

• Layer 3 — The data highways (communication). The shipping lanes of space — Starlink beaming internet back down to Earth.

• Layer 4 — Apps that solve Earth problems. Taking all that raw space data and turning it into something useful down here. This is where it gets wild.

A few facts from Layer 4 that genuinely made us go “wait, what?“:

• 🛰️ Radar satellites scan disaster zones so insurers can assess damage in hours instead of weeks.

• 🐟 Satellites catch illegal fishing by spotting the boats that suspiciously switch their GPS off.

• 🤖 AI reads satellite imagery for near real-time intelligence.

• 🧪 Coming next: manufacturing in zero gravity (protein crystals and ultra-pure optical fibres that are hard to make on Earth), and robot “janitors” that grab dead satellites out of orbit.

💰 Follow the money

Morgan Stanley estimates the space economy could be worth $1 trillion by 2040 — and reckons roughly 70% of that growth will come from Layer 4 software, not the rockets themselves.

Which brings us to the line of the night:

“Sell the shovels — don’t dig for gold.” ⛏️

In a gold rush, the people who reliably made money weren’t the miners — they were the ones selling shovels. Same idea here: the rocket builders (Layer 1) carry the most cost and risk, while the data and software layers (Layer 4) tend to be higher-margin and lower-risk. Worth keeping in mind when you see a flashy rocket headline.

⚠️ The risks we didn’t gloss over

No deep dive is complete without the uncomfortable parts:

• Regulation: who gets which orbit and which radio frequencies, so satellites don’t literally crash into each other? 💥 Still being figured out.

• Supply chains: specialised parts, few suppliers.

• Space debris: there’s a lot of junk up there already, and it’s a growing problem.

• Slow timelines: space moves on multi-year development cycles — a world away from the speed of, say, AI.

🛸 The big question: do we buy the SpaceX IPO?

This is what everyone wanted to talk about. SpaceX is unusual because it plays in every layer — rockets, satellites, and data via Starlink.

But the room had real hesitations: a sky-high valuation, a value proposition that partly rests on things that don’t exist yet, and — let’s be honest — mixed feelings about backing Elon Musk.

Where the group landed: wait and see. 🤔 Exciting industry, but not a “buy it the second it lists” situation.

💡 A practical IPO tip we loved: never use a “market order” during an IPO. Prices can spike wildly in the first minutes and you could end up paying far more than you intended. Some brokers let you “reserve” shares in a queue instead — but even that’s no guarantee you’ll get them, or at the price you hoped.

📊 The ETFs we put under the microscope

If picking a single company feels too risky (totally fair), ETFs spread your bet across many. Here are the four the community unpacked. As always — not investment advice, and please double-check names, tickers and availability on your own broker before doing anything!

• UFO (US74280R2058) — Holds ~43 companies across all four layers, and even sneaks in non-space names like Garmin. Nicely diversified by geography, but future performance is hard to judge — and heads up, it wasn’t available on some European brokers when we looked.

• ARKX (IE000AON7ET1) — Holdings roughly doubled over the past year, which is exciting… but we wondered out loud whether the hype had already peaked. It leans heavily on hardware (Layer 1), and most of us preferred exposure to the data/apps side (Layer 4).

• NASA (US87975E7765) — A brand-new fund (launched March 2026) with an unusual structure: it holds SpaceX shares through a special vehicle that only converts after 180 days. A way to get SpaceX exposure — but very volatile, with no track record yet. “Wait” felt sensible here.

• JEDI (IE000YU9K6K2) — A passive tracker following the MVIS Global Space Industry index: 25 companies focused on telecoms and the industrial layers. A strong performer in May 2026 and suited to a long-term horizon — though with only 25 names, it’s more sensitive to how individual companies do.

Where we collectively landed: a pass on the SpaceX IPO for now, and a tentative yes to the JEDI ETF as a long-term, diversified way to ride the sector (again: this is no advice)🌟

✅ Walk the talk (your homework!)

In case you’re curious to go further:

• Favourite one space ETF on your broker app and just watch it for a month. No buying required, pure observation counts.

• Compare two of them on fees, holdings and geographic spread, and ask yourself: does this fit my strategy? (No clue what your strategy is yet? Perfect: write down what you like and what confuses you, and bring it to the next session.)

• Set a Google Alert for “SpaceX IPO” so you can learn from the news as it actually unfolds. 📲

💬 Final thoughts

Being on the NOS and in the pages of the FD reminded us why we do this. Financial confidence isn’t built alone, in silence, by people who already “get it.” It’s built in rooms like Tuesday’s — challenging each other, laughing at the jargon, and daring to have an opinion on something as enormous as the space economy.

You did that. We’re so proud. 💪

You got this.

— Eva & Tessel

P.S. This is not investing advice. Want to become a member? Head to our LinkedIn and comment #join on one of our posts.

Hi all 💙

Some sessions you leave with a notebook full of scribbles and a head full of “wait, I never knew that.” Our deep dive into gold was one of those.

We gathered for a session hosted by Marie Münch and Lisa van Zoelen, with a very special guest: Robert Pflaum, a full-time real estate investor who also (plot twist) owns a gold mine in Brazil. Yes, really. We’ll get to that.

Here’s everything we covered. 🏅

🌍 First: why are people talking about gold right now?

Gold has been around forever (literally), but 2025 was its year. Prices rose by 60% in a single year, a surge that even seasoned investors didn’t fully see coming. So what’s going on?

A few things are happening at once:

The dollar is weakening. Since 1971 (the so-called Nixon Shock), gold and the US dollar have been decoupled. The US printed a lot of money to fund the Vietnam War, confidence in the dollar wobbled, and gold went its own way. Fast forward to now: the dollar is under pressure again, and gold tends to shine when that happens.

Central banks are buying. This is the big one. Countries like Russia and China have been buying gold at record levels — specifically to reduce their dependence on the dollar. After the US froze Russia’s dollar reserves in 2022, a lot of countries quietly started asking: “what if that happened to us?” Gold doesn’t belong to any one country: it's one of the very few assets that sits outside the global financial system's political power structures.

Geopolitical tension is high. Gold is a classic “safe haven” — when the world feels uncertain, investors move money into gold. It’s not a new pattern, but it’s an unusually strong one right now.

Long-term forecasts from Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan suggest gold could reach $5,000–$6,000 per ounce by the end of 2026. Take forecasts with a grain of salt, but the direction of travel is clear.

🇧🇷 Wait, someone on the call owns a gold mine?

Yes! Robert Pflaum — a real estate investor based in Berlin — joined us to share his experience investing in a gold mining operation in the inland highlands of Brazil. His story is a great lesson in what real-world investing actually looks like (spoiler: messier than the spreadsheets suggest).

How it started: Robert was initially involved in an iron ore project. When legislation changed and that fell through, he was offered a gold project instead. He said yes — driven partly by trust in his partner, partly by genuine excitement about the mineral. Not exactly a textbook due-diligence process, but honest!

What they actually do: Rather than digging new mines, they buy leftover material (”trash”) from local small-scale miners who previously used illegal and toxic processes to extract gold. They then process this material legally through a small plant that crushes, mills, and separates the gold using a hydrocyclone. The whole process — from raw material to gold — takes just a few hours.

The challenges were real. Three years after building the plant, the nearby river dried up. They had to switch to salty groundwater, which required completely changing their chemical setup. Getting regulatory approval for any expansion requires submitting a 200-page proposal. And the plant only recently got reliable electricity — it now runs 24/7.

The saving grace? The gold price. When they started, gold was around $1,200/ounce. The all-in sustaining cost for miners is typically $1,500–$2,500/ounce — so at current prices, they’re profitable. Robert’s honest take: “The high gold price saved this project.”

His key lesson for us: “This was a gamble. I trusted a friend and was excited about the mineral. It worked out, but that’s not a strategy I’d recommend.” ;)

🌱 But what about the environmental side?

Gold mining has a real shadow side, and we didn’t shy away from it.

The impacts include high water and energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, deforestation, and in illegal operations, mercury contamination and biodiversity loss. Social impacts can include displacement of communities, child labour, and in some regions (particularly the Congo), gold revenues funding armed conflict.

The good news is there are alternatives and certifications pushing the industry in a better direction:

Recycled gold makes up about 30% of global supply and requires roughly 90% less energy and water than newly mined gold. A meaningful difference.

Certification schemes are growing. The main ones to know:

• Fairmined & Fairtrade — focused on small-scale mines, emphasise human rights and environmental standards, third-party audited, highly trusted

• IRMA (Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance) — covers large-scale industrial mines, positively assessed by the OECD

• LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) — sets the baseline for quality and purity on gold bars, and is the standard most ETCs are built on

The catch: certified gold typically costs 10–20% more, and covers only around 1% of global production. It’s a start, but we’re not there yet.

💛 So should gold be in your portfolio?

Here’s what we took away from the discussion:

Gold is not a growth asset. It won’t double your money or give you exciting returns. What it does do is hold its value over time, unlike cash sitting in a bank account, which is slowly eroded by inflation.

Think of gold as a stabiliser. A buffer. A “things go wrong and my portfolio doesn’t collapse” kind of asset.

The common recommendation? 5–10% of your portfolio in gold: enough to feel it, not so much that you’re betting on it.

📊 How do you actually buy gold?

For European investors, the most practical route is an ETC (Exchange Traded Commodity). This is a fund that tracks the price of gold: you don’t have to physically own any. Most are physically backed, meaning the provider holds actual gold in vaults on your behalf. Each share represents a fraction of an ounce.

The most well-known option: iShares Physical Gold ETC (ticker: SGLN), widely available on most broker apps.

What about physically owning gold? It’s still the dominant form of investment globally — especially in countries like China and India. In Germany, physical gold gains are tax-free after one year, which is a nice bonus. If you buy through a service like Gold Republic, you own grams of gold stored on your behalf — this typically falls under box 3 tax in the Netherlands (but double-check with a tax advisor).

One more thing: there are currently no widely available ETCs fully backed by Fairmined or Fairtrade certified gold. If certification matters to you, physical gold is currently the more realistic route.

✅ Your homework

1. Look up iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) on your broker app and add it to your watchlist. Watch how it moves compared to the stock market over the next month.

2. Reflect on your portfolio balance. Do you have any gold or commodities at all? Is 5% of your current investments something you’d feel comfortable allocating?

3. Curious about certified gold? Look up Gold Republic or your local national mint — some offer responsibly sourced options that you can actually hold.

💬 Final thought

What made this session special wasn’t just Robert’s story. It was the room asking the honest questions. Is gold actually ethical? Is this just hype? What does it mean that central banks are quietly stockpiling it?

There are no perfect answers. But sitting with those questions, together, is exactly how we get better at this.

Gold has been a store of value for thousands of years. Whether it has a place in your portfolio is a question only you can answer — but now you have what you need to decide.

You Got This. 💪

— Eva & Tessel

P.S. This is not investing advice. Want to become a member? Head to our website and subscribe to the waitlist.

Hi all 💙

Last Friday we had one of those evenings you leave feeling genuinely inspired, and even more convinced that what we’re doing here really matters.

We gathered at the SkyNRG office for a Cohort 4 drinks session, hosted by Theye Veen (CCO of SkyNRG), with a great speech from Jacqueline van den Ende (CEO of Carbon Equity). Two founders who are building businesses at the intersection of finance and the energy transition, and who were generous enough to share not just their company stories, but their personal investment journeys too.

Here’s the recap. 🚀

🌍 Two Founders, One Mission: Steering Capital Toward the Future

We were welcomed into the SkyNRG office 💚 Theye took us through what SkyNRG has been building for the past 15 years: tackling one of the hardest problems in the climate transition — aviation. Most aviation emissions come from burning fuel. SkyNRG’s answer is Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), and they’re now taking it a major step further by building their own refinery in the Netherlands to produce it at scale. A project that requires massive financing — coming from private equity players to pension funds. It’s a powerful example of what it looks like to go all-in on a transition that genuinely needs to happen.

Jacqueline shared her deep conviction that “money decides the shape of our future.” Her path started unexpectedly at HAL Investments, led her to entrepreneurship in the Philippines, a personal awakening about climate change, and eventually to founding Carbon Equity: a platform that channels private capital into climate solutions.

Her own portfolio is built in three layers:

• Liquid cash for safety and flexibility

• ETFs on the stock market (because active trading takes time)

• Long-term capital invested in Carbon Equity funds — diversified across technologies such as geothermal energy, critical materials, AI, and more

Her definition of wealth stuck with us: it is not about being rich, but having freedom, autonomy, and control over your life. It’s not just about what you earn — it’s about the gap between what you earn and what you spend, and what you consciously do with that difference.

🌱 Deep Dive: Net-Zero Investing & the Food Transition

Following the speaker sessions, Wiep van Eck (Blink Impact) and Laura Taal-Groeneveld (founder of Reviver) (Cohort 4 members) took us through a deep dive on net-zero investing, with a special focus on the food sector.

The Big Picture: What Does Net-Zero Actually Mean?

The goal is to be climate neutral by 2050. To get there without halting economic growth (which is still needed to raise living standards in lower-income economies), we need to pull two key levers:

1. Reduce the energy intensity of our economies

2. Reduce the CO₂ emissions intensity in every sector

Which Sectors Are Leading?

Not all sectors are moving at the same pace:

• ⚡ Electricity production is the standout. Renewables have grown so fast that they’re now cheaper than fossil fuels in most markets.

• 🚗 Road transport is catching up. EV sales hit real momentum. But we asked ourselves the uncomfortable question too: if EV batteries depend on mining, what does that mean for the ethics of our investment?

• 🏭 Industry (cement, steel, chemicals) is the toughest nut to crack. Capital-intensive and in need of technologies that are still in early phases of development.

• 🍽️ Food & agriculture is complex, distributed, and facing powerful lobbies. More on this below.

💡 Recommended tool: Project Drawdown — a database of climate solutions ranked by impact and scalability. A great starting point for finding investment ideas aligned with your values.

ESG vs. Impact

As highlighted in one of our previous newsletters on Renewable Energy Investing (YGT #8), it’s important to realize the difference between impact and ESG investing. In short: if you want your money to accelerate change, don’t stop at ESG. Look into climate-focused ETFs and stocks. And this time we focused on: is investing in a more sustainable food transition worth it?

🍎 The Food Transition: Promising, But Patience Required

This was probably the most nuanced part of the evening, and the most honest.

The food system accounts for almost 25% of global emissions, covering agriculture, land use, and deforestation. The solutions exist (alternative proteins, regenerative farming, food waste reduction), but the investment picture is complicated.

**Public stocks in this space are highly volatile. “**Beyond Meat” had a spectacular IPO in 2019 — and has since lost most of its value. “Oatly” faced controversy and has stabilised at a much lower price. The sector is heavily influenced by consumer sentiment and lobbying (yes, there are real lobbying battles over whether you can even call it “oat milk”).

The bright spot? TOMRA (ticker: TMRAF) — a Norwegian company using AI sensors to reduce food waste — stood out because it solves a problem that saves clients money. Commercial logic + impact = a more sustainable business case. Has not necessarily shown strong growth in the past years, but might be one to track in the future?

Our takeaway from the evening: For now, if your goal is portfolio growth, food transition stocks are not the best bet. Technology, robotics, and AI are stronger plays for returns. Invest in food transition because you believe in a company’s mission, not because you’re expecting big returns very soon. Most of the really exciting innovations are still in private markets and will hopefully soon have more public market presence. This was our take-away; what is yours?

💬 Final Thoughts

What made Friday special wasn’t just the content, it was the energy in the room. Brainstorming market outlooks together, challenging each other’s views, and asking the questions that feel “stupid”. A reminder that financial confidence isn’t a destination. It’s built in moments exactly like these. Even on Friday evenings: we were so proud!!

We’re here to keep showing up: for ourselves, and for each other. On a mission to build financial confidence. And to have fun and network at one of the most beautiful offices in Amsterdam - a big thank you, SkyNRG!

You got this. 💪

– Eva & Tessel

P.S. This is not investing advice. Want to become a member? Head to our LinkedIn and comment #join on one of our posts

Hi all 💙

During our first Cohort 4 coffee meetup, the discussion was already on 🔥

“Which broker should I choose?” was the question on everyone’s mind.

So… we listened, we compared, and we’ve finally put it all together in one place:

✨ The You Got This Broker Checklist!

A 12 pages guide, for every YGT member who’d ever wondered:

“Is this the best broker app for me?”

Spoiler: there’s no universal “best” broker, only the one that works for you. All the apps we mention are already being used by some of the YGT members (note the list is not exhaustive). So don’t overanalyze. Pick one and begin.

We’ll share some of the items we compared brokers on in this newsletter, so you’ll know what to look for when selecting yours.

🎓 Starting with: what is a broker?

A broker is the platform (usually an app or website) you use to buy and sell investments: like ETFs, stocks, or funds.

Think of it as the bridge between you and the financial markets. You decide what you want to invest in, and the broker executes the order.

Some brokers offer lots of bells and whistles (advanced charts, global market access), while others are designed for simple, automatic investing. What matters most is finding one that matches your style, and helps you stay consistent.

💡 So… what actually matters?

Choosing a broker isn’t just about what’s cheapest or flashiest. It’s about what fits you, your habits, your goals, your future investor identity.

Here’s what we now know to check for:

🛡 Regulation & Safety

Before we talk features or fees: is the broker EU-regulated? Is your money protected if something goes wrong?

✅ All brokers in comparison are regulated. Most use segregated accounts, meaning your investments remain yours even if the broker goes under.

🔁 Automatic Investing

If you don’t want to think about investing every month, this is a must-have.

💛 Standouts: Trade Republic, Trading 212, BUX

Bonus: Some offer fractional shares too (aka only buying a part of a share), so you can invest exact amounts.

📦 Product Range

From ETF junkies to index fund minimalists, we all have different needs.

🔍 Want tons of options? → DEGIRO, IBKR, Saxo

🤓 Want simple set-it-and-forget-it? → Peaks, Brand New Day

🎯 Most of us? Somewhere in between Trade Republic and Trading 212 hit the sweet spot.

💰 Costs & Fees

Fees compound too, just like returns. We found out there were so many different costs involved when investing, that were different per broker. We won’t summarize all of them here, but some Highlights ⚡ from our comparison:

• Trade Republic: €0 for auto-invest, €1 per trade

• DEGIRO: low manual trade costs, but watch for connectivity fees (aka the fees you pay per unique exchange you invest on)

• Revolut: great if you already bank with them

• Brand New Day: easy but higher long-term platform costs

Check FX (currency conversion) fees, platform fees, and exchange access costs. They can sneak up on you.

📱 Ease of Use

You could pick the most powerful platform out there… but if it overwhelms you, you won’t stick with it.

⭐ Beginner favorites: BUX, Trading 212, Brand New Day, Revolut

💻 Advanced flexibility: DEGIRO, IBKR, Saxo

🎯 Our YGT Picks: Based on You

Thanks to your input at our session, here’s how we’d sum it up:

“I want to invest monthly and never think about it again.”

→ Trade Republic, Trading 212, BUX

→ Or hands-off: Brand New Day, Peaks

“I want full control + low fees.”

→ DEGIRO, IBKR

“I don’t want to pick my own ETFs.”

→ Brand New Day, Peaks

“I’m curious about niche ETFs or global markets.”

→ IBKR, Saxo, DEGIRO

And don’t forget:

📲 If you’re starting a new account, ask for a referral code from someone around: often you both get a little bonus.

✅ Walk the Talk: Choose Your Match

Here’s your challenge for the week:

💡 Pick 2 brokers from the checklist and download them.

Do a side-by-side comparison using our table.

Ask yourself:

• Which one feels easiest to stick with?

• Does it fit my goal: hands-off or hands-on?

• Am I OK paying a little more for simplicity, or do I want to optimize for control?

Our take: this is also helpful if you’re already investing with one of these as features change regularly. It might be useful for you to switch brokers or add another one..

💬 Final Thoughts

This checklist is a work in progress, just like all of us 😉

We’re not here to find “the best broker.”

We’re here to learn, grow, and take that next right step: whatever that looks like for you.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. But it should make sense to you.

And if it gets you one step closer to investing with confidence?

That’s a win.

You’re not too late. You’re not too early. You’re right on time.

Just start exploring!

You got this. 💪

– Tessel & Eva

ps. This is not investing advice. Want to become a member too? Go to our LinkedIn and comment #join on one of our posts.

Hi!

Recently, we sat down with Cohort 2 to reflect on 2025, and what we want 2026 to become.

For us, 2025 marked something great: the real beginning of You Got This.

Not just as a place to learn about money, but as a community that believes in taking action, while diving into the things that are happening in the world right now. But also, to start seeing and especially treating financial wealth as part of our health. It is freedom, independence, and power.

How we see things?

1️⃣ Learning can become a very elegant way of postponing action

YGT is a space we learn each other to ask questions and decide, even without perfect certainty. We also learn, something that always feels productive and linear. But honestly, what we experienced:

• clarity often comes after you move (aka: start investing),

• confidence grows because you act,

• and waiting until you feel “ready” usually means waiting forever.

Like 2025, 2026 will be the year to Walk your Talk. To put words into action.

2️⃣ Time isn’t linear, it’s cyclical

Progress doesn’t move in a straight line. Just like financial markets 😉, your confidence about money and learning curve move in cycles too.

There will be moments where you feel on top of all insights and your portfolio, and moments where you doubt everything again.

That doesn’t mean you are behind. It means you’re learning.

Progress isn’t pushing forward nonstop. It’s showing up again after doubt. After a pause. And especially, showing up while you’re busy running your life (really, like all of us!).

Exactly the kind of thing that’s easier, and more sustainable, when you do it together.

Like 2025, 2026 will be the year where we will keep showing up consistently. For ourselves, and for each other.

2025 Market Highlight: a quiet but hopeful signal on sustainable investing 🌱

As proud Carbon Equity investors, one thing we were genuinely encouraged by in 2025: sustainable investing is quietly holding its ground on the public markets too.

While headlines suggested otherwise, green stocks actually began outperforming some of the world’s most crowded trades. Not in a hype-driven way, but steadily. That matters. Because it signals something deeper than a trend.

It lined up perfectly with our deep dive on energy and renewables that Cohort 1 members hosted in 2025, where we saw why this is happening. Renewables continue to win:

🫰 on cost

⏫ on efficiency

🚀 on momentum

☀️ on availability

In other words, the case isn’t just moral, it’s structural.

Markets don’t always move fast. But over time, they do tend to move toward fundamentals.

For us, that was good news. Not just financially, but because it confirmed something we strongly believe: capital and impact don’t have to be opposites. And judging by the conversations we’ve had with you, that belief clearly resonates.

If you’re curious, this Bloomberg piece captures the shift really well:

Green Stocks Are Beating World’s Biggest Trades, Even Gold

Launching Cohort 4 — our first official You Got This year program 💫

Starting at the end of this month, we’re kicking off Cohort 4.

This first-time, year-long program is for those who feel that 2026 isn’t just about collecting information, but about creating structure around action while having fun and being part of a great network. Built for its members, by its members.

The focus:

• learning about and making investments,

• clearing up your investment strategy,

• building confidence through repetition,

• holding each other accountable,

• and leaning on the group when motivation dips.

We will continue with deep dives, coffee sessions and expert sessions. Always grounded in what’s happening right now 💪🏼 And we’ll keep sharing our insights via these newsletters with you!

Cohort 4 is currently oversubscribed, with over 50 amazing women from Berlin and Amsterdam. If you’re interested, stay tuned for Cohort 5. ✨ And let us know if you’d like to receive early access.

Just do it one step at a time.

You Got This 💙

Eva & Tessel

Hi all 💙

At You Got This, we’re not just picking stocks or funds—we’re exploring what kind of future each of us believes in— but doing that together. It starts with staying curious, pitching your ideas to each other, and digging into sectors that spark our interest.

At the BeleggersFair in the Beurs van Berlage last month, we came back with a notebook full of ideas. Not investment advice—just inspiration to help you explore what excites you while staying true to your financial strategy (e.g. for the short or long term) and ethical values.

Just read along, write down what gives you that sprinkle of enthusiasm, start exploring more about that theme (e.g. dive into some ETFs and companies we mention) and take it with you to share at our next coffee session! It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to understand everything — what matters is building confidence in sharing what you believe could be the next big thing.

🌍 Future-Forward Sectors to Explore

These themes popped up again and again—across expert panels, investor conversations, and market trend talks. Use them as a jumping-off point for your own research and reflections.

🛡️ Defense & Aerospace

What happens when Europe decides to build muscle? A €800 billion investment in defense and security that was launched this year—that’s what. This is not only about tanks and fighter jets 😉 This is about supply chains, software, and smart materials powering the next generation of European resilience.

This booming investment sector is especially being driven by companies that operate in two worlds:

💡 Think “dual-use” businesses—they produce both consumer goods and military-grade systems, thereby diversifying where they get their revenues from.

Companies that are catching investor attention (be mindful with individual stocks):

• ✈️ Airbus, Boeing – household aviation names with deep defense contracts

• 🧠 Palantir – controversial but powerful data & surveillance tech player

• ⚙️ MTU Aero Engines, Safran – aviation engineering with military applications

• 🏭 ArcelorMittal, Bekaert, Aperam, BHP, Eramet – industrial giants providing the metals, steel, and rare materials that fuel both energy and defense supply chains

👉 How do these align with your ethical values? Investable or not?

ETFs to explore that were mentioned for more diversified exposure:

• Amundi Stoxx Europe Defense

• BNP Paribas Bloomberg EU Defense

• iShares Europe Defence

• VanEck Defense UCITS ETF

👉 These are all “Article 6” funds, meaning they exclude direct weapons manufacturing, but still offer access to companies enabling defense infrastructure—think logistics, software, hardware, aerospace, and industrial metals.

💬 This isn’t about glorifying war—it’s about understanding where governments are putting capital, and how that shapes markets. Defense is no longer a taboo sector for institutional investors—it’s becoming a core piece of Europe’s economic strategy. Most of us were not sure whether to invest actively in this sector or not due to ethical considerations. With Cohort 1, we did a deep dive on cybersecurity, which is also tied to protection of Europe. And also mentioned by many at the BeleggersFair (read further below)…

🔐 Cybersecurity: The Market That Never Sleeps

As digital threats get smarter, companies and governments are pouring billions into staying ahead. Cybersecurity is no longer optional—it’s a core infrastructure layer of our modern world.

And the numbers back it up: the sector is expected to grow 12% per year through 2028 according to ABN AMRO that presented at the conference.

🔍 Here’s how to break cybersecurity it down:

• Edge security → the guard at your digital front door (think logins & your devices)

• Threat detection → the alarm system that spots hackers before they strike

• Network protection → the high-security vault for corporate data flows

💼 Companies + ETFs on the radar:

• Palantir – controversial, yes—but deeply embedded in governments and cyber defense

• Global X Cybersecurity ETF – diversified exposure to security players worldwide

• First Trust NASDAQ Cybersecurity ETF – focuses on U.S.-based cybersecurity leaders

This sector is growing in both urgency and opportunity—and could be a strong candidate if you’re looking for tech exposure that’s both defensive and long-term relevant. Reach out if you want to learn more - as we already did a deep dive on this topic ourselves!

🛰 Space & Satellites: Investing Beyond Earth

Space isn’t just for astronauts anymore.

It’s about communication, defense, data, and precision tech—and Europe and the U.S. are racing to build their orbital edge.

Satellites enable everything from global internet to GPS accuracy and battlefield intel. And the companies making this happen? They’re still early, underpriced, and mostly under-the-radar. 🚀

📡 ETF to explore (recommended by the speaker on stage):

• VanEck Space Innovators UCITS ETF

🛰️ Key companies inside:

• AST SpaceMobile – building satellite-powered mobile networks

• Rocket Lab – launching small satellites efficiently and frequently

• EchoStar – enabling broadband & satellite-based communications

This sector is high-risk, high-reward—but if you believe space is the next frontier, this could be your gateway in. I was really intrigued by this sector and now following some of these companies on LinkedIn to keep an eye out!

🧊 Data Centers & AI Infrastructure: The Picks & Shovels of the Digital Age

Every time you ask ChatGPT a question, stream Netflix, or scroll Instagram—you’re using a data center. These mega-facilities power AI, cloud computing, and everything in between.

And they’re under pressure: AI needs more power. More cooling. More space.

One company name stood out at the fair: Vertiv

📊 Why Vertiv?

• They build cooling + power systems for hyperscale data centers

• Preferred infrastructure partner of NVIDIA (great, or very risky?)

• Increasing operating margins

• Poised for expansion through acquisitions

• Pricey, but always has been—some call it the “hidden enabler” of the AI boom

📣 This is a classic picks and shovels play: don’t bet on the gold rush (aka AI or data centers themselves), bet on the ones selling the tools. Interesting thought, but again, be mindful when investing in individual stocks.

🧠 Wisdom from Warren: Value Over Hype

We ended the day with a timeless reminder from Warren Buffett:

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

The lesson? Just because something is popular or expensive, doesn’t mean it’s valuable. And just because something is boring or under-the-radar, doesn’t mean it’s not a smart bet.

📌 Buffett looks for companies where the intrinsic value—based on real cash flow, assets, and potential—is higher than the price. He often buys when everyone else is scared.

What this would mean for you: don’t always chase the hype. Learn to recognize value, think long-term, and stay grounded in what you believe in. We already started doing that for the company Klarna ourselves, remember?— we’re really getting smarter! Do you agree or are you chasing the hype?

✅ Walk the Talk: Your Turn to Explore

This month’s challenge is simple:

✨ Pick one sector. Ask yourself: Do I believe in this future? Does this fit my strategy? Am I curious enough to learn more?

No clue where to start? Chat with us, or start chatting with ChatGPT. Start reading the news, or listening to a short podcast about public stocks every morning. You don’t have to understand everything, but write down topics that draw your attention!

That’s the moment it clicks — over time, your initial curiosity will turn into questions, conversations and confidence! Some podcast tips to get your excitement going:

FT Unhedged

Wall Street Breakfast

15 Minutes of Finance

Beurs | BNR (Dutch)

❤️ Final Words

You don’t need to know everything. You don’t need to invest right away. But you do need to explore. Because confidence doesn’t necessarily come from certainty—it comes from curiosity + consistency + courage. And we are here to develop these skills.

You’re not too late. You’re not too early. You’re right on time.

And don’t forget —you got this. 💪

– Tessel & Eva

Hi friends,

One thing that’s super important to us? Getting comfortable with what’s actually happening in the market.

Because the best way to learn about investing is to look at real examples — it’s fun, and it makes everything click.

A few weeks ago, we gathered to unpack Klarna’s much-anticipated IPO.

Why? To understand what it really means when a company “goes public” — and what to look for when considering investing in a single stock (versus an ETF). Klarna felt like the perfect case: a brand we all know, finally hitting the stock market.

So, what’s happened since?

Klarna’s share price started at $45.82, dropped to $38.44 when we met, and now sits around $35.28.

A decrease over the past weeks — which raises the question:

👉 Is this a good time to buy because the price is lower?

👉 Or a signal to stay away because of the downward trend or business model?

The first step to answering those questions: understand what the company actually does.

That’s where we started — no jargon, no silly questions, just a curious group of women trying to make sense of what happens when a buzzy fintech we all use hits the stock exchange.

And honestly? We had a lot of fun doing it.

Check the recap below — to get your brain going again 👇

PS: This is not investment advice.

Next up: our first You Got This Coffee in Berlin!

We’re bringing the community together in Berlin for the very first time — a relaxed morning coffee where we talk money, investing, and how to take real steps toward financial independence.

📅 Friday, October 31

| 🕗 08:00–10:00 AM

| 📍Berlin Mitte

Sign up here → https://luma.com/zfllt9xz

🌸 First things first: What’s an IPO?

An IPO (Initial Public Offering) is when a private company sells its shares on the stock market for the first time. Suddenly, you and I (not just venture capitalists) can invest.

Some reasons for why companies do this:

• Raise capital for growth or debt repayment

• Boost visibility and credibility

• Give early investors (like early employees) a chance to cash out

But for us as investors, IPOs often come with hype and volatility. Prices can swing like crazy in the first weeks.

💳 Klarna in a nutshell

Before we started looking through investor’s eyes, we spend some time on understanding the business better. To get an idea:

• Founded: 2005 in Sweden

• Business model: “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) — Klarna pays the merchant, and the shopper pays Klarna back later.

• Scale: 111 million active users across 26 countries, working with 790,000+ merchants

• Revenue: Mostly from merchant fees (~3% of sales) and late payment fees

• Customers: online shoppers who like flexibility

Sounds shiny, right? But let’s check the fine print.

⚖️ The risks

Three big red flags came up in our discussion:

1. Regulation – Governments are tightening rules on BNPL to protect consumers. New EU rules will force Klarna to run stricter credit checks, which means more cost and potentially fewer customers

2. Credit risk – Klarna takes on the shopper’s debt. If defaults rise (especially in a downturn), Klarna eats the loss

3. Competition – Apple (who failed btw), PayPal, Affirm… even banks want a piece of the BNPL pie. With more options, merchants may push for lower fees

📉 Stock performance so far

Klarna’s IPO priced the company at $14 billion, shares initially popped to value it near $20 billion, but that’s still a long way from its $46 billion valuation peak in 2021. A sobering reminder: hype doesn’t always equal lasting value…

🧐 So… investable or not?

We borrowed two checklists:

• Pim Verlaan (Jong Beleggen de Podcast) asks:

  • Do you understand the product?

  • Is it here in 20 years?

  • Does it have a moat (brand, network, stickiness)?

  • Is it recession-proof?

  • Worth at least $10 billion?

• Warren Buffett asks:

  • Do I understand the business?

  • Do you like the people running it?

  • Is the price attractive?

  • Is the industry growing?

  • Would you hold for 10 years?

We went through all of them, and by those measures, Klarna is… complicated. The brand is strong and the industry is still growing, but the risks (defaults, regulation, competition) are real. Most of us decided to watch and learn. We’ll host another session on Buffett’s third question - to dive deeper into whether the company is actually worth buying it for this price.

💡 Takeaway for us

Whether or not you buy Klarna stock, the lesson is this: always ask the tough questions. Just because something is popular with your friends (or splashed across the media) doesn’t mean it’s a solid investment.

And remember — we don’t have to jump into every IPO. Sometimes the best move is to watch, learn, and wait. Start looking around, start believing what will be the next big thing, and sometimes dive in it with a bit of courage! Write it down, bring your notes and start the discussion with us!

Also, it is cool to use IPOs to learn about investing, but to still spread your investments over ETFs (way less risky!).

You Got This!

And we really mean that. You are clever, independent and probably curious - so use those tools to make a move and turn words into action! We’re here to help you with that.

So see you next time :)

Tessel & Eva

Hi there!

Excited to share some new insights & things that are coming up.

Our first cohort broke down Klarna’s IPO last week which we’ll share in the next newsletter: we really loved the depth and interaction of it! And our second cohort dove into budgeting your income and expenses, ETFs (exchange-traded funds), and the ever-so-annoying topic of fees when buying on the stock market. As always, no jargon and no silly questions exist — just practical insights we can actually use. Every chat brings out fresh angles (despite similar topics sometimes), so we keep dropping our session highlights in the newsletter for you.

We feel like this is really the power of a group of smart women?! Let’s go!

💸 Budgeting

We talked about the 50/30/20 rule, to remember:

• 50% for fixed expenses (rent, utilities, insurance)

• 30% for fun and discretionary spending

• 20% for saving and investing

That last bucket is especially interesting: how much do you actually save versus invest? I’m still figuring it out, but so far I’ve landed on splitting the 20% into half savings and half investing. From there, I divide the investing part into two-thirds in highly diversified, more stable ETFs, and one-third into my “fun bucket.” That’s where I experiment with niche ETFs (like cybersecurity or biotech) and a few individual stocks. My thinking is: I’m in this for the long game, but I also want to learn by doing—because I genuinely enjoy it. Especially together with you!

We circled around a template to do you checks and balances: it’s now up to you to fill it in!

Another interesting take-away for tracking your spendings: some of us tried finance apps like Dyme and bank-specific tools to track spending. The surprising part? Fixed costs often looked higher than expected when broken down monthly — a good reminder to keep tabs! Think about things like your yearly waste collection fee surcharge (’afvalheffing’)…

📊 ETF and why we like them as beginning investors

Think of ETFs as a basket of stocks — an easy way to diversify without buying 50+ companies yourself.

Popular (more diversified) ones in this group included:

1️⃣ Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD Acc (IE00BFMXXD54)

2️⃣ Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF - (USD) Acc (IE00BK5BQT80)

We picked an ETF again, and walked through our You Got This checklist. Some new things came up:

• What to do with different currency exposures when buying that ETF (USD vs EUR)?

  • Currency exposure means your investment can fluctuate not only with the stock market, but also with exchange rates. If you’re investing long term, just be aware of the extra volatility. If you’re investing in the short term, currency swings matter much more because they can quickly eat into your returns (or boost them, but that’s luck).

• Where to find the Total Expense Ratio (TER) and why is it important? (hint: less fees = more money in your pocket)

  • You’ll find the TER in the fund factsheet or on sites like Morningstar or the ETF provider’s website. It shows what % of your investment goes to fees each year. Lower TER = more of your returns stay with you.

• How to benchmark the performance vs broader benchmarks. Aka how do you know this one is performing well?

  • Compare the ETF’s returns to its stated benchmark (e.g., S&P 500 for an S&P 500 ETF). Over the long run, it should track closely, minus fees. For example, since 1957, the S&P 500 index has delivered an average annual return of over 10%. You can also compare to broader indices (like MSCI World) to see if you’re getting the exposure you want.

✨ Action item: run your ETFs through the checklist! It’s in the Whatsapp group.

📱 Brokers: which one is best for you?

This keeps on a recurring question. We’re setting up a session to compare all platforms - but we need your help! Stay tuned on how we would like you to contribute.

We’ll compare platforms like DeGiro, Trade Republic, Saxo, and 212 - but open to anything else too!

An exciting one, because they keep on launching new features: for example, with Trade Republic you can now invest in private companies as well, with 212 you can use AI to make your own ETF and DeGiro expanded their ETF Kernselectie (the ones with lower fees) this week!

🧺 Random basket of tips and things coming up!

👏 Our LinkedIn page is live - go follow to get updates more frequently and to build this movement!

🌲 The Wisdom Tree Cloud Computing ETF was mentioned - it is one that reached 40% annual returns in 2023. That performance has been dropping in the past years, but it would be fun to use our community to find the next big 40% return ETF!

🇮🇳 We’re organizing a deep dive on emerging markets ETFs with Cohort 1 & 2

🆘 We’re organizing a session on What broker to choose?! Stay tuned.

🇩🇪 We’re hosting our first Berlin YGT Coffee! Send it to your Berlin friends please 😃 Date: 31st of October!

📻 Book/podcast tip from a reader related to how we see finances: as a true pillar of your overall health. The five types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom, also reflected in this podcast: The 5 Types of Wealth That Will Change Your Life - Sahil Bloom

🦸🏼‍♀️ Final words

We just want to say: we are proud of you. Of you who is taking the effort to read these letters, listen to podcasts, download a broker app for the first time, asking your colleague on what’s their favorite ETF, investing money, tuning into our online sessions, joining the coffees and talk and think about money as part of your health.

We truly believe in empowering each other and know that achievement requires community. This is just a reminder that you are fully part of that!

See you tomorrow at our morning coffee Cohort 1 & 2! Can’t wait.

You Got This.

Tessel & Eva

💙

Hi you 💙

Still glowing from our first-ever community wide You Got This coffee last week — 30 of you showed up, bright and early, in the middle of your busy lives. And it was so good! ☕✨

What we loved most?

How authentic the conversations were.

Apart from two of you making their first investment in real time (!!), it was not just about “how to invest” — but why we want to learn.

You told us:

“I want to be the one deciding over my finances - beyond boyfriends and dads.”
“I want to know when I'm saying yes or no when I invest.”
“I want to learn the financial language to feel more confident”

We saw bankers chatting with UX designers. Consultants swapping tips with climate tech enthusiasts. Your profiles are all so unique - and it really does not matter if you speak the language of finance already or not at all. So please feel welcome, whatever your level of knowledge is. We’re here to grow together. No matter where you are at, this community is ment to help you take the next step!

It reminded us again: this group of women is powerful. We’re just getting started — and your early support means everything. Because all we need is a group of women holding each other accountable!

🚨 Big news: Klarna wants to IPO

Yes — that Klarna. The Swedish fintech giant known for "Buy Now, Pay Later" just made headlines. It's aiming for a $14 billion valuation with a 2025 IPO [this is the moment a private company decides to sell shares (aka a piece of their pie) to the public (like us) for the first time]. $14 billion is down from its peak valuation of $45B in 2021, but still massive.

We’ve already been chatting about it in our WhatsApp group — and saw a great opportunity: let’s use Klarna as a practice case to build our own investing opinions. Would we buy… or not?

So we’re making it a team effort tracking moment. Here's what that means:

👀 We’ll all keep an eye on Klarna’s path to IPO
📊 We’ll learn and discuss what to look for in a company pre-IPO
🤔 We’ll explore whether it's a stock that fits our values and strategy
🎯 And when the IPO happens — we’ll decide if and when we’d invest
🚀 After which we follow what happens with the stock

Because let’s be real: an IPO isn’t an “opportunity” by default. It’s just a moment. What happens next is anyone’s guess.

👉 Want to start forming your own opinion?
Here are two reads to get you going:

• Forbes: Klarna IPO Aims for $14B Valuation

• Kiplinger: Should You Buy KLR Stock?

We’ll keep coming back to Klarna in the next sessions and newsletters — not because it’s necessarily a “hot stock,” but because tracking it together is how we build our own investing lens. And Klarna is just a company all of us probably know.

Want to get a bit into IPOs? This (Dutch) podcast helped me a bit with getting the full picture. Listen in from minute 18. Please let us know in the reactions if you have an English alternative to share!

🧠 Financial wellbeing is health

Congrats, you hit your movement goal!
✅ 10k steps
✅ Healthy HRV
✅ 8+ hours of sleep

But what if we celebrated this too?
🎉 You just made an investment
🎉 Talked about money with 5 friends this week
🎉 Cancelled a subscription you don’t use

An Apple Watch or Whoop never tells us this, but it’s absolutely part of your health: taking care of your finances.

When we started moving finances into the health bucket, it changed for us. Suddenly, checking in on personal money felt as normal as going to Pilates or hitting 10k steps.

Because here’s the truth: health is the one thing we always make time for. And financial health deserves the same consistency.

And we get it.

Life is full. Your calendar is full. Your mind is full.

So here’s the first tip to make it real (and doable):

💡 Start thinking about your energy levels.
When are you most clear, present, dedicated to yourself? Choose these hours to prioritize (financial) health.

Is it early morning? A quiet lunch break? An hour in the evening before bed?

Block 30 mins for you. To learn, reflect, plan, take action. Even if it’s just journaling what news confuses you, listening to one podcast during your bike ride, or opening your bank account. And don’t worry if you don’t have the answers - the questions are exactly what we need you to bring to the table at You Got This. We depend on you. On each other.

Also: just putting this out there… we’re thinking about hosting a little sporty get-together — maybe a walk, a run, or a pilates session. Two kinds of health in one go: physical and financial. Sounds pretty efficient to us 😉 Let us know if you'd be up for it!

You got this 💪

We’ll be back soon with more: an emerging markets deep dive is on its way, we’re working on launching Cohort 3, and talking to a lot of people who can help us grow - as we really want to involve all of you!

In the meantime:
Track Klarna.
Map your energy levels and start prioritizing.
Keep showing up.

The best investors are not the smartest, loudest or the fastest — but the ones who stay in the game.

You Got This.

💙
Tessel & Eva

Hi,

This Friday we’re inviting you to join the entire You Got This community for coffee in Amsterdam. 💥

✨ Cohort 1
✨ Cohort 2
✨ Future cohorts on the waitlist

All in one room — ready to talk money, investing, mindset, and goals.

This coffee is for everyone:
🙋‍♀️ If you’re just getting started and want to learn the basics
💪 If you’re already investing and want to share experiences, tips, and inspiration

A space to:
💬 Open the network and connect with women on the same journey
❓ Ask your questions — big or small
⚡ Get motivated to invest and take your next step

No slides. No pressure. Just coffee, connection, and real conversations.
Bring your notebook. Bring your questions. And let’s make money talk feel normal.

👉 Sign up here!

You got this.
– Eva & Tessel

Hi all 💙

If there’s one thing we learned from our latest session, it’s this: sustainability [read: a cleaner planet] isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the economy we’re all heading into — and the earlier we position ourselves as investors, the more impact (and returns) we can potentially create.

Last week’s deep dive into sustainable & climate investing sparked some 🔥 conversations. From the difference between ESG and actual impact investing, to real stocks and ETFs you can buy today, we covered a lot of ground. Here’s the recap (and some action points for you!!). No clue what you’re reading? Write your questions down and dare to ask them next time!

Thanks a lot Joosje, Eva and Bodine for hosting this great session!

Ps - Introducing… our first-ever Coffee that is open to all You Got This members + waitlist! ☕ scroll down for more info! [it is already next week!]

☯️ ESG vs. Impact: seems the same, is different

We broke down what ESG really means: it’s a framework for risk management, not a guarantee that a company is saving the planet. Fun fact? Shell can actually score higher on ESG than Tesla — because it manages risks more “professionally.”

So while ESG ETFs are a decent starting point (and often perform similarly to the S&P 500), they’re not always aligned with your values. That’s where impact investing comes in: actively choosing to fund the energy transition.

Our takeaway: if you want your money to accelerate change, don’t stop at ESG. Look into climate-focused ETFs and stocks.

⚡ Spotlight: Renewable Energy Stocks (aka companies)

The clearest sustainable investment opportunity? Renewable energy. Why? There is something interesting happening as renewables beat commodities (fossil fuels):

🫰 on cost
⏫ on efficiency
🚀 on momentum
☀️ on availability

Energy is prosperity - which means that a society's economic well-being, growth, and a high standard of living are fundamentally dependent on its ability to access and utilize sufficient, affordable, and increasingly sustainable energy. And now, renewables are just cheaper than fossil fuels. Makes sense, right?

Here’s the companies that stood out in our discussion. Please note that this is not investment advice!

• NextEra Energy (NEE) — A U.S. giant in wind & solar. Stable, with predictable cash flows. Fun twist: they’re now investing in powering AI data centers, which could be a massive growth driver.

• GE Vernova (GEV) — The breakout star with a whopping +230% return 1-year return as of late July (!!). But heads up: valuations look stretched. A cool company, but maybe wait for the hype to cool off before jumping in.

• First Solar (FSLR) — Took a hit from tariff drama earlier this year, but bouncing back strong. Key player in U.S. solar — and one to watch if policy winds shift in its favor.

• Brookfield Renewable (BEPC) — Think of it as the “steady one” in the group. Wide portfolio, long-term contracts with names like Microsoft. Less sexy, but more solid.

• Vestas (VWS) — The EU’s wind champion. Strong on paper, but wind is lagging solar right now. Some of us would wait before betting here.

Our takeaway: renewable energy stocks are tied to mega-trends (AI, electrification, energy security that we all need). They’re volatile, but long-term they’re powering the future.

📊 Clean energy ETFs (aka baskets of companies)

Want to take less risk? We got you as ETFs are your friend. They spread risk across dozens of companies, while letting you ride this rising clean energy wave.

Here are some of the ETFs our community unpacked:

• iShares Global Clean Energy (INRG) — Covers big players like First Solar and Vestas. Heavier concentration on these big players (for example, the biggest position in the portfolio is First Solar and accounted for 9% of the total value of this ETF when we analyzed) => higher risk/reward if all goes well

• L&G Clean Energy (RENW) — More evenly weighted across companies, cheapest ETF available on our broker app (of the ones we discussed). Could be a good one if you want to learn while investing (costs around €10 when we discussed)

• VanEck Low Carbon Energy (SMOG) — Also invests a bit beyond wind and solar, for example in EV companies and hydrogen. ±70 companies can be found in this basket, offering worldwide exposure

• Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy (PBW) — U.S.-heavy and focused on ±75 innovators (small/mid cap companies). Exciting, but more volatile, meaning the returns go up and down more frequently

💡 Pro tip: Most clean energy ETFs are still young, so don’t obsess over past performance when you look into one. The real case is future demand. So a good question to ask yourself is if you believe in the energy transition!

🔮 Long-term risks & new tech

We also talked about the elephant in the room: what if new energy tech (hydrogen, fusion) takes over in 10 years?

The good news: ETFs adapt. They swap in the winners over time. So you don’t have to pick the technology of the future — just back the transition as a whole if you’d like, which is what you can do with ETFs.

✅ Walk the Talk

Here’s your homework (yes, yours!) in case you’re ready to invest in clean energy:

• Track at least one renewable energy stock this week. You can ‘favorite’ them on your broker app so you can find them easily.

  • This can be one of the ones listed above, but I’ll (Eva) track Oklo.Inc (OKLO) — a company rolling out nuclear energy in which I’m a big believer!

• Try to compare two clean energy ETFs (on fees, holdings, geographic spread) yourself and get a view on if they fit your investment strategy. No clue what your strategy is? Just take a look, write down what you like and what you don’t understand. We got you covered in our next coffee session next week!

🎧 Tip of the week

News article: FD on moving away from fossil fuel investing [in Dutch - but easy to Google Translate]
Extra tip: Set Google Alerts for “clean energy stocks” or specific companies like “First Solar” — it’s a fun way to learn from real news as it happens.

☕ Join our coffee to talk money together!

Introducing… our first-ever Coffee that is open to everyone ☕

August 29 from 8:00–10:00am in Amsterdam

We’re bringing the chats out of the online world and into real life.

Come have a coffee with us on Friday morning, August 29th. Whether you're in Cohort 1, Cohort 2, or on the waitlist — you're welcome to meet us and the community, network, ask all of your questions about YGT or just use this morning to get motivated to invest (for the 2st, 2nd or even 100th time) 😉

Save the date!

📍Amsterdam City Center [location visible when registered via Luma]

🕗 8:00–10:00 AM

📅 Thursday 29 August

➡️ Sign up here — space is limited but feel free to invite anyone who’s ready to talk money.

💙 Final thought:
Investing in sustainability is not just about returns. It’s about directing our capital toward the world we want to live in. And the fact we’re having these discussions together — asking the “stupid” questions, diving into the nitty gritty together, and finding out what we truly find important— is exactly how we grow.

You’re not late. You’re right on time. 🚀

You got this.

– Eva & Tessel

Hi you!

We’re still buzzing from the kick-off of Cohort 2 last week. Another 50 women joined our active group of aspiring investors — each with her own story, background, and motivation — but all with one shared goal: building financial independence. 🔥

This first session reminded us again why we started You Got This in the first place.

Lawyers, founders, finance pros, creatives, consultants — no matter your field, talking about personal money is still weirdly taboo. We're here to change that.

If you’re in Cohort 2: Welcome — we’re so excited to have you here.

If you’re reading along from earlier days but still not in any cohort: keep reading, keep showing up. You’re part of this too. And this week we have an exciting announcement for you! 💌

Introducing… our first-ever Coffee that is open to everyone ☕

August 29 from 8:00–10:00am in Amsterdam

We’re bringing the chats out of the online world and into real life.

Come have a coffee with us on Friday morning, August 29th. Whether you're in Cohort 1, Cohort 2, or on the waitlist — you're welcome to meet us and the community, network, ask all of your questions about YGT or just use this morning to get motivated to invest (for the 2st, 2nd or even 100th time) 😉

Save the date!

📍Amsterdam City Center [location visible when registered via Luma]

🕗 8:00–10:00 AM

📅 Thursday 29 August

➡️ Sign up here — space is limited but feel free to invite anyone who’s ready to talk money.

Cohort 2 is ON 🚀

We kicked off Cohort 2 with 50 new women, and it was so good again!! 💥

These sessions prove it: women are 300% ready to own their finances — they just need the space to talk and learn. 🗣️

This isn’t a masterclass. It’s a movement.

One that says: You don’t need to have it all figured out — you just need to start.

Some color on Cohort 2:

✨ Again a great network of women from across tech, law, sustainability, finance, and beyond

✨ A shared desire to stop hesitating and start learning

✨ Beginning investors all the way to more seasoned continuous investors

We’re also seeing just how much knowledge already lives inside this group. That’s what makes this special: it’s not just us talking. It’s all of you showing up and sharing.

Walk the Talk 📒

We stick to our mission: we always walk the talk. Because a few small actions go a long way. Here’s what’s on your to-do list right now (yes, on yours!!):

✅ Download a broker app (DeGiro, Trade Republic, etc.) (if you don’t have one yet)

✅ Open it, click around, note what feels confusing (also when you’ve already been investing)

✅ Get a notebook to jot down thoughts, tips, wins

Oh — and bring your notebook to our coffee session on the 29th. You’re here to learn how and dare to talk money 😉

Is the question “WTF is a broker” already on your list?

Podcast of the week 🎧

Only one week in with Cohort 2 - and some great suggestions already being shared around. This week’s suggestion:

Financial Feminist

Hosted by Tori Dunlap, this one’s a fan favorite for a reason. It’s smart, funny, and jam-packed with stories, strategies, and the some pep talk.

For sure available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

That’s it for now.

This community is growing.

And the energy? Growing even more.

You got this.

Eva & Tessel

Hi newsletter readers!

Newsletter #6. To all who’ve been active with us in Cohort 1, and to all those who are still waiting. We see you. And we hear you.

• “I want to stop being passive and take control of my financial future.”

• “I don’t know what I’m doing but I want to learn.”

• “I need help turning interest into action.”

• “I’d love to talk about money with other women.”

• “Let’s break the taboo and make finance fun and accessible.”

We asked you what you hope to find at You Got This. And we asked what your financial experience is.

We received 129 responses—far bigger than what we expected but what made us realize that this is so necessary, there is demand, which gives such an empowering feeling and excitement to get us all going!

We also strongly feel we want to continue You Got This in the best form possible. But we also know we should keep going the momentum. We will be launching Cohort 2 today for the 50 first sign-ups on the waitlist. And we’ll add all of you to our community group where we’ll keep you informed about events we will host for everyone. Because we feel like there is no time to waste.

We had a great weekend in Berlin the past two days to brainstorm on how we will facilitate everything in the best form possible, with the resources we have. We used your initial waitlist answers as guidance but we would also like to use this opportunity for another round of your feedback / thoughts on what you would like to see. Feel free to comment on this post, or contact us via Whatsapp or LinkedIn.

Want to share with more of your friends, colleagues, family? Here is the sign-up link.

Curious about the different profiles in the community so far? - here’s a little break-down on everyone’s experience and needs:

🌱 What kind of investor are you?

🔰 The curious beginners

“What even is a portfolio?”

• Most of you are just getting started. Be proud of yourself that you’re here!!

• You’ve told us you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, unsure where to begin, or scared to mess up.

• Some of you are dipping your toes in with ETFs on platforms like DEGIRO already — let’s go!

🛠️ The confident-ish intermediates

“I’ve got one ETF… now what?”

• You’ve been investing for 1–3 years in ETFs, funds managed by external parties, or maybe some stocks.

• You’re hungry to level up: diversify, fine-tune your risk profile, and explore new strategies.

• You’ve moved past “just starting” — now you want your money to really work for you.

👩‍💼 The undercover pros

“I work in finance… but still feel lost with my own money.”

• Some of you come from high-finance backgrounds: VC, PE, banking, startups — the works.

• But managing your own portfolio? That’s different.

• You’re here for smart insights and connection with other brilliant women on the same wavelength. To explore, learn more, teach others and have a place that feels safe.

🎯 What you’re really looking for

📚 To Learn (without feeling dumb)

• You want to understand the basics: where to start, how to plan, what strategies make sense.

• You’re done outsourcing financial decisions to partners or parents.

• Many of you want your money aligned with your values — ethical, sustainable, and future-proof.

👭 A fun space to connect

• You're looking for connection. A safe, fun space to learn and grow together.

• Many of you have felt alone in your financial journey — especially in male-dominated environments.

• This community is your corner where questions are welcome and no one judges.

💪 Real tools and action!

• Most of all, you want to learn by doing — together, with accountability and support.

• You want more than just theory.

• Hot topics: risk tolerance, portfolio building, long-term planning, and WTF is going on with the market.

We are really walking the talk now! And again: we see you, we hear you. And you will see and hear from us soon as well.

You got this!

Tessel & Eva

Hi all 💙

This week we did our first deep dive, hosted by Noor, Eline and Mies from Cohort 1! And it had a buzz. We dove into a topic that’s becoming more and more important—yet might not be top of mind when thinking about investing: cybersecurity.

We hear the word often. But what does it actually mean? And more importantly—where are the opportunities for us as investors? In the session, we explored:

✅ What cybersecurity really is and what solutions exits

✅ Why it matters right now

✅ Which companies you can already track or invest in—also in Europe as the big names are usually US companies

✅ How ETFs can give you easy access to the market—and what to watch for in terms of cost, exposure, and focus

We realized cybersecurity is so much more than a tech buzzword. It’s a fast-growing sector that is becoming one of the most critical pieces of the global economy— and a space we’re excited to explore further together!

Note that this newsletter will go into a bit of detail - don’t let it scare you! Write down all of your tiny and big “stupid” and “smart” questions - as it will actually fuel conversations. Always feel free to reach out, we love to think together with you.

👩🏼‍🏫 Cybersecurity 101

Cybersecurity is like having a really good lock, cameras, motion sensors and a bodyguard—but then for everything that’s digital. It protects computers, networks, and data from bad actors like hackers, viruses, and online trickery. Why does it matter? Because a single cyberattack can shut down hospitals, power grids, or even government systems.

Common threats include phishing (sneaky emails), malware (harmful software), ransomware (your files held hostage), and DDoS attacks (websites that are overwhelmed until they crash).

Protection comes in many forms: from securing networks and devices, to safeguarding the cloud, apps, sensitive info, and even physical systems like factories.

🧠 Why Cybersecurity?

In 2024, global cyberattacks rose by 30%. The average organization faced 1,636 attacks per week—and nearly half of them cite AI-driven threats as their top concern. And then in Europe alone, 2024 marked a cybersecurity market size of over 75 billion euros!

This isn’t a niche issue anymore. Cybersecurity is shifting from “nice-to-have” to mission-critical—and that creates an investment case.

But here’s our catch:

Most cybersecurity companies are American. The ETFs we looked at? Over 65% U.S.-exposed.

So what if we want something different?

🌍 Europe: Under the Radar, But Growing Fast

We explored a growing list of European cybersecurity players—from the UK’s Darktrace and Switzerland’s Nexthink SA, to private up-and-comers like SoSafe in Germany and Outpost24 in Sweden. With the EU pushing for digital sovereignty, the landscape is shifting: more funding, stronger policy support, and (hopefully) more homegrown success stories.

Does this sound like a smart investment opportunity—or are you still more comfortable with U.S. exposure?

With €1.3 billion lined up from the EU to invest in AI, cybersecurity and digital skills - this market sparked our curiosity—and gave us a clear reason to dig deeper. We’re now tracking this theme more intentionally, especially in Europe, to better understand the market and explore where our investment confidence might grow next 👀 It’s exciting to see how we’re holding each other accountable to stay curious, pro-active, and informed!

📊 ETF Comparison

We compared 5 cybersecurity ETFs (from the managers WisdomTree, Global X, First Trust, L&G, BlackRock) on price, costs, index, geographical exposure, number of companies in there, weight of the top 10 companies in the total portfolio, return and ESG. Turns out that CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet and Cyberark Software recur a lot in these ETFs! Note to ourselves: to better understand what these companies do and how they are valued.

Check out this table for an overview of cybersecurity companies included in some of the most popular ETFs. The abbreviations (like WSBR, BUG, CBRS, etc.) are called tickers—these are the short codes used to identify ETFs on the stock market.

🔍 We’ve done our homework - but how do we Walk the Talk?

We discussed a lot. How can you now translate this in a simple action?

• Start tracking some European cybersecurity companies that are listed (like CrowdStrike) and maybe some that are not listed on the public market yet (like SoSafe) to get to know them a little bit. In general, companies on the public market are a more established, but private companies often showcase faster innovation and growth.

  • Tip: follow companies you’ve heard of (or the ones described in this newsletter) on LinkedIn, or via Google Alerts - this way, you’ll be on top of the latest news and you’ll get to learn fast

  • Tip 2: subscribe to Sifted newsletters as they often share expectations of private companies going to the public market soon — a good source if you’re interested how the transition to private to public companies go!

• Some of us got inspired and took the leap—buying our very first cybersecurity ETF (!!), each decision based on our own strategy and preferences. For example, if you're investing for the long term, you might lean toward an ETF with broader diversification (i.e. more companies, potentially lower risk). Others were willing to reduce U.S. exposure in their portfolio and instead looked into ETFs with a stronger focus on Europe or emerging markets

❤️ What This Means

We’re training ourselves to recognize potential—and to be early, not late.

We’re also practicing something bigger than investing:

Being intentional with our money, and daring to speak up about (finance) topics we don’t know anything about

This session was again a great example of this - we again asked the question we felt “stupid” about, but were actually great fuel for our discussion

You’re not late. You’re not behind. You’re right on time.

And every insight you gain helps all of us grow.

Thanks a lot Noor, Eline and Mies for preparing this session!

Let’s keep the momentum going.

– Tessel & Eva 💙

Hi all 💙

What a session we had last week! From real talk about budgeting to bold ideas around cybersecurity investing, our fourth meetup was buzzing with energy and insight. Whether you're still figuring out how much you can invest—or you’re ready to dive headfirst into the market—you’re exactly where you need to be.

Here’s our recap, fresh takeaways, and what’s coming next:

🧠 Let’s start with you

Before talking ETFs and market trends, we turned the lens inward—because your investment plan starts with you: your goals, your income, your comfort zone.

We explored 5 steps to build your personal strategy:

Step 1: Know what’s coming in (and going out)

A question often asked: how do I best divide my income? The 50/30/20 rule is a helpful shortcut: 50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings/investing

Step 2: Set your goals (this one was harder than expected)

Why are you investing? For a home? Early retirement? Donating to charity? A sabbatical? Split your goals into short (0–2 yrs), mid (3–5 yrs), and long term (5+ yrs). Sharing ours inspired some new thinking—and that’s the magic of this group

Step 3: Find your risk profile

What if the value of your portfolio dropped 20% overnight? 😅 Some of us would panic, others might see a buying opportunity. Knowing your risk tolerance helps shape your strategy

Step 4. Discover your financial identify. WTF is that? That’s up to you!

What do you value? What are your strengths? Where do you have knowledge? What are your blind spots? Where do you want to learn? Your financial identity isn’t fixed—it evolves through asking questions, staying curious, and sharing perspectives. That’s exactly what we’re building here: a space to grow and figure it out together, for you.

Step 5: Build your portfolio (bit by bit)

While you get clarity on your situation, goals, risk, and financial identity—you’re already ready to explore what’s out there. There’s no need to rush—but starting small can be a powerful way to learn. We’re navigating this together.

📈 Spotlight: Market Trends & Company Talk

We took a look at Novo Nordisk and the hype around Ozempic—a real-world example of how one product can shape investor behavior.

We also zoomed out to explore:

• How to read company financials & market reactions

• Why understanding the narrative behind a company is just as important as the numbers

• Whether cybersecurity is a booming opportunity or just buzzy hype

• Curiosity about tracking pre-IPO companies early (so when one shows up at the public stock market for the first time- we’re ready to buy them 😉 )

🎓 Collective Learning, Collective Growth

We’re co-creating something meaningful here. These ideas came up in the group:

• Create a shared space for financial news, podcasts, articles (we’re on it!)

• Have members research and present on specific ETFs or sectors (volunteers welcome!)

• Track 1-2 sectors or companies as a group over time

This is how communities grow—from learning to doing, and eventually… investing with confidence by yourself, but not alone.

✅ Walk the talk

Here’s what we’re working on before next session:

1. 📊 Personal Budgeting:

   Use the tools we shared (check the deck and the Cohort 1—WhatsApp) to map out your money flows—and get a grip on what you can realistically invest. Let’s discuss uncertainties during the coffee time!

2. 🔐 Cybersecurity Deep-Dive:

   Next up for Cohort 1: cybersecurity. We’ll look at the market, relevant ETFs, top stocks, and whether this sector fits your investment strategy. Want to prep? Here some suggestions:

   • 🎧 Podcast: Jong Beleggen x Ronald Prins (NL)

   • 📈 Article: Cybersecurity Stocks Overview

❤️ Final Words

We’re not here to rush. We’re here to grow intentionally. Whether you’re analyzing IPO pipelines (if this brings a frown to your face, write it down!) or wondering how to start investing with a tight budget: this space is for you.

You’re not too late. You’re not too early. You’re right on time.

And hey—you got this. 💪

– Tessel & Eva

Hi all 💙

Thursday a week ago, something really exciting happened.

We hosted our first-ever You Got This: Coffee x Money Talk at Bocca in Amsterdam—and it was everything we hoped for (and a little bit surreal too).

A group of women. At 8:00 AM. Talking ETFs, brokers, savings, and investing strategies—like it’s the most natural thing in the world.

Because it should be.

And yet, how often do we actually see this? Women casually talking money. Owning the conversation. Asking dumb and smart questions. And writing them down on post-its. Taking real action.

✨ It felt like we were breaking an invisible rule—and we’re so ready for it!

🧠 What We Talked About

This session was all about demystifying ETF investing (please don’t stop reading if you think “what the heck is an ETF?!”) ****—and wow, we had questions. We turned them into sticky notes, and now, into something even better: a checklist to help anyone (yes, you!) feel more confident when evaluating ETFs.

But first, we took one step back by talking about:

• 💬 Budgeting basics: the 50/30/20 rule (50% of your salary toward needs, 30% toward wants, and 20% toward savings & investing) — and how you might divide that 20% for savings & investing

• 💸 Investment goals: do you already know if you are you after long-term growth or maybe passive income? What’s your time horizon for your financial dreams?

• ↗️ Choosing a broker: we shared what platforms we use and why (spoiler: reliability matters)

• 🌍 Why ETFs - Exchange-Traded Fund (aka a ‘basket’ full of shares of different companies) make sense: they offer built-in diversification, especially great for beginners and passive investors. It seemed like our first cohort is quite a big fan of investing in ETFs. Fun fact: Tessel finally bought her first ETF!!

✅ Our Go-To Purchase ETF Checklist

We finalized our practical (non exhaustive) list made by Cohort 1 to help you assess ETFs like a beginning pro. You can find the checklist in the Cohort’s Whatsapp group!

👛 Hypothetical scenario to use the checklist: imagine a friend tells you to buy the S&P 500 ETF. You go to your DeGiro (or other broker) app and type in “S&P 500 ETF”. A loooong list appears. What should you check before you buy?

Think about: ISIN numbers, the ETF’s replication method, costs & fees and past 5-years performance…

☕ Real Talk = Real Confidence

We’re learning that financial confidence doesn’t start with perfection—it starts with open conversation.

We’re pretty sure there were at least a few terms that made you go, wait… what does that even mean? Or do I even have an opinion about this? And that’s completely okay. We don’t expect you to know them all. What we do encourage? Write down your questions. Dare to ask them.

You’re finally in a space where the homework isn’t to have the answers—it’s to ask the questions behind them.

Whether you’re asking what an ETF actually is, what a ticker symbol is, or weighing tax-efficient ETF strategies, there’s no “too basic” or “too advanced” here 💙

📅 What’s Next?

We’re keeping this momentum going. Here’s what’s coming up:

🗓️ Next YGT Meet-up: see date in the chat!

🗣️ Guest speakers → We’re currently scouting experts on to discuss and ask questions about the ETF checklist, but also pensions, impact investing, and other forms of investing like crypto. Let us know if you are or know any!

🤎 For now, we decided to keep this group size cozy, to up to around 50 people in Cohort 1 so we can really get to know each other and at the same time find the right format for YGT! We want to be open to all women interested in this topic, but in a meaningful way! So continue to spread the word and invite eager women willing to learn, grow and take action! We’re working hard on launching the next cohort in the right format - so tell your friends to be a little more patient & feedback is always welcome! 😊

💬 Still Wondering About…

From our last Thursday’s sticky note brainstorm, here are the top questions we’ll dive deeper into soon:

• Where do I look to know what ETF or stocks I should be buying?

• On what frequency should I invest? Every day / week / month / year?

• I want to place an order to buy an ETF but some many options appear - what should I choose?! (aka limit order, market order, day orders or GTC)

• Should I even start investing with study debts and/or ambitions to buy a house soon?

• How do I make sense of financial news when it feels like a different language?

Keep asking, keep learning. That’s how we grow. 💪

💙 You Got This

Let’s keep making this the new normal: Women. Talking money. With confidence, clarity, in a safe community.

Every coffee conversation like last Thursday’s chips away at the old narrative—and builds something better.

See you at one of the next ones?

– Tessel & Eva

Another great session is in the books—and wow, it’s inspiring to see how we’re already moving from ideas to action. Whether you were there live or want a quick recap, here’s what we explored together on April 9:

🌍 The Market Moves, But So Do We

We looked at current events: Trump’s tariff announcement triggered volatility in the markets and gave us a real-time example of why emotional investing is a trap and long-term thinking wins. Some of us saw a buying opportunity; others felt hesitant. That’s okay. The key is to have your strategy—and stick with it.

✨ Lesson learned: when you’re about to invest, make sure your broker app doesn’t crash on you—as Tessel discovered when her Trade Republic screen froze at the exact wrong moment. A good reminder to choose your platform wisely!

💡 Spotlight: ETF Investing 101

We deep-dived into ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)—one of the most accessible ways to start investing. Here’s what stood out:

• Diversification is key. One ETF can spread your risk across countries, sectors, and currencies.

• Popular picks: Vanguard FTSE All-World, iShares Core MSCI World, and S&P 500.

• Other cool picks: biotech, cybersecurity, the German economy, India, and “sustainable” versions of popular ETFs.

• Pro tip: Always check long-term performance (5+ years), fees, what’s inside (top holdings, sectors, currencies), and whether the ETF is physical or synthetic.

And yes… a checklist on what to look for when buying ETFs is coming soon 👇

📝 What We’re Working On (Together!)

🛠 ETF checklist – in the making

We’re building a tool to help evaluate ETFs based on performance, cost, sustainability, and more.

👩‍🏫 Inviting experts!

We’re lining up guest speakers on pensions, crypto, impact investing, and market movements.

Know someone great? Let us know!

🤔 What’s On Our Minds

These are the questions shaping our next sessions:

• How do I balance long-term goals with short-term needs?

• Which broker should I choose—and are they reliable?

• What’s the difference between physical vs synthetic ETFs?

• What happens if an ETF provider goes bankrupt?

• Am I too early (or too late) to start investing?

• How do I build a strategy that works for me?

Keep them coming—we love these!

☕ Next YGT Meet-up: Coffee x Money Talk

🗓 Thursday, April 17

Let’s meet IRL for casual conversation, questions, and investment talk—plus, we’ll continue refining the ETF checklist together.

👀 What’s Ahead?

• Want to invite a friend? Share the waitlist link here

✅ Just Getting Started?

Here’s how to take the first step:

1. Download Trade Republic or DeGiro

2. Explore the interface—even if you don’t invest just yet

3. Drop your questions in the WhatsApp group of your cohort —we’re all learning together

4. Start thinking about your strategy & diversification (tip: check last week’s slides for examples—you don’t need everything figured out before you begin 😉)

📒 Resources

• Explore more:

  🎧 Jong Beleggen (podcast)

  📲 Young Trader (Instagram)

🔥 One Last Thought

We’re not here to be perfect investors (yet)—we’re here to be curious, courageous, and consistent. And learning together makes it that much more powerful.

You got this. 💪

– Tessel & Eva

Thank you so much for joining our very first session last Friday! 💙

We’re super excited to be building this community together - one that supports, empowers, and inspires women to take charge of their financial present and future. You are the only one in charge of your own financial decisions, but you are not alone in asking the right questions, finding answers, and sourcing experts that can support these decisions.

Here’s a recap of what we covered, what questions came up, and what’s coming next:

Name change 💪

Going forward, the community is called: You Got This - Empowering women who want to invest.

Why? You Got This (YGT) is a sentence that we find super empowering in every aspect of life. Sometimes all it takes to feel the courage to get out of your comfort zone is to hear a simple phrase: you got this.

So finance too difficult? No way! You got this.

🌟 3 Key Takeaways from Session #1

1. We’re building more than a group—we’re building a movement to take action.

This first session already felt like a safe space, with everybody willing to give input and take action. It might have felt even a tiny bit awkward at the same time, as we’re so not used to talking about money in a sole female environment. The energy in the room was definitely aligned: we want a place to ask our dumb questions, learn, share knowledge, grow in this topic and act.

2. We have a room full of different backgrounds and questions—what a strength!

We have a cozy group ranging from total beginners to more seasoned investors and savers, with backgrounds in consulting, healthcare, private equity, writers, people working for corporates, start-ups, and entrepreneurs… After the session, we were so impressed by this great network of people asking question we hadn’t even thought about! 🤯 Although some of us are based in Berlin or Copenhagen, we’re all Dutchies- although we’ll internationalize soon!

3. We walk the talk

We’re kicking things off with a “practice what you preach” mindset: our first action item is to download the Trade Republic app or DeGiro app and create an account— to explore the world of investing first-hand. We also encourage you to share your questions and answers in the chat. We only have one rule with sharing relevant (news) articles - you should have read them and preferably add context on your key take-away / questions.

❓This first coffee led to great questions already

Let’s use these questions as a starting point in conversations and to find the relevant experts! Recommendations from within your network are always welcome.

• Portfolio construction: how much should I invest, save, spend, allocate to pension?

• Sustainable investing and banking: where do I start?

• How do we dare to take more risk in investing?

• Investing with study debt, what should I do…?

• Pension investing: what opportunities are there for freelancers and start-ups employees?

We’ll be diving deeper into these topics in upcoming sessions—keep the questions coming in the WhatsApp group and upcoming sessions!

📆 What’s Next?

🗓 April 9 – Expert Session #1: Investing 101: Fundamentals

The format: next to addressing a certain topic, each session will also shed some light on one investment opportunity (think ETFs, individual assets, etc.) & one insight in what is happening in the market that could influence our decisions / could affect our portfolios. We’ll test if this format works, please share your feedback!

☕️ April 17 – Coffee x Money talk in Amsterdam (exact location TBD)

A relaxed get-together to connect in real life and chat about money and everything related that worries or energizes you.

📲 Walk the talk #1

Download the Trade Republic app or DeGiro and explore setting up your account. No pressure to invest (yet!)—just take that first step and explore the differences between the two.

❤️‍🔥 Final thoughts that we want to share

For now, we decided to keep the group size cozy, to up to around 50 people so we can really get to know each other and at the same time find the right format for YGT! We want to be open to all women interested in this topic, but in a meaningful way! We’re not there yet - so continue to spread the word and invite eager women willing to learn, grow and take action! When we reach the 50, we’ll start a waitlist that can be circled around.

Keep the dialogue going, and feel free to suggest topics or guest speakers you'd love to learn from.

You got this. 💪

– Tessel & Eva