Just 15 years ago, investing was an uphill battle: making appointments, waiting, moving around, explaining your situation, then going home empty-handed to wait again, only to finally get some concrete recommendations a few weeks later.

Fast forward to today, where the landscape has changed. A lot.

"FinTech" now allows everyone to easily access financial services from any phone, tablet or computer.

Millions of people have taken the leap without leaving their couch, opening investment accounts and making their first investments with just a few clicks.

Yet despite this convenience, many others still hesitate to take the first step, whether it's fear of making mistakes, fear of losing money, or lack of time, 

But then, is going solo the solution when you have so many doubts?
Or is it better to get help?

Let's explore the pros and cons of each approach to help you see things more clearly 🙂 

Why invest solo?

Investing still carries this reputation of a discipline being reserved for experts. Most people vastly overestimate the effort and knowledge needed to get started, thinking they need to know how to do complex calculations, analyze tons of data... when in reality, those stereotypes mainly apply to professional traders.

Like any new skill, there's an initial learning effort to understand the basics and try your first experiments. But after you get started, it's mainly about maintenance : occasional monitoring with a few adjustments from time to time. No rocket science 😊

That’s because the fundamentals for a winning strategy are based on a few simple principles: diversify, invest regularly, keep your investments long-term, and don't panic during downturns.

So what are the concrete benefits of investing solo?

1. You gain expertise

Over time, you should be able to naturally understand market mechanisms better.
You develop better judgment because you learn to filter information that deserves our attention from what's just noise. Gaining this understanding makes us more confident and calmer when making decisions.
For example:

• If a bank advisor suggests an investment we don't believe in, we are able to articulate why.

• If we see an offer that seems too good to be true, we can quickly identify what's wrong.

• If the media announces the end of the world, we know we're probably at the bottom of the cycle.

Over time, all this hands-on experience builds your confidence 🙂

2. Lower costs

Delegating your investments also means paying for a service. Someone will spend hours if not days, analyzing your financial situation, understanding your goals, and providing personalized recommendations.

But how much does this cost?

Wealth management advisors or financial investment advisors have two compensation methods:

• Either they take a commission on the amounts invested, typically 2% to 5% depending on the investments. (I let you estimate how much this would cost you here)

• Or they charge for their consulting time, typically €150 to €500 per hour. (Knowing that the more complex a situation, the more hours of work needed)

Important note: European regulatory differences

The availability of these compensation models varies significantly across Europe:

Some countries such as the UK, Netherlands (as well as Denmark and Finland to a limited extent) have implemented commission bans. Financial advisors cannot receive commissions from product manufacturers and must charge fees directly to clients. This has led to lower costs and reduced conflicts of interest.

Most other countries in Europe such as France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Serbia and more still allow advisors to receive payments from product manufacturers.

If you're in a commission-ban country, you'll only encounter fee-based advisors. If you're in a commission-allowing country, the questions about advisor compensation in this newsletter become especially important for understanding potential conflicts of interest. Sometimes the same advisor can offer both types of compensation.

Either way, going solo means you avoid advisor costs altogether and keep more of your returns, since you would mainly pay brokerage fees or online banking fees (often free or a few euros per month) and the fees for the investments you choose.

For example, if you choose diversified and low-cost investments like index ETFs, these fees typically range from 0.2% to 0.5% per year. In this example, the total cost would be less than 1% in annual fees, all charges included.

3. You gain flexibility

One of the big advantages is this total freedom to make decisions. Want to increase or reduce your monthly contributions? Need to take a temporary break? No problem. When you manage yourself, you adjust according to your current needs, without having to justify yourself or wait for an appointment.

But this total freedom also comes with a flip side 🙃

The challenges of investing alone

1. Our emotions

This is probably the biggest trap waiting for us.

At least, that's the problem identified by Nobel Economics Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and researchers at Morningstar: our emotions push us toward terrible timing.

We buy when markets are euphoric and optimistic (and prices are high), and we sell when fear is palpable (and prices are low).

Morningstar calls this the behavioral gap and shows that this poor timing costs us an average of 1.7% return per year.

Knowing this allows us to put tactics in place to avoid falling into the trap, like investing a regular amount regardless of whether prices are high or low (also known as Dollar Cost Averaging or DCA).

But even with these tactics in place, there's still a risk we'll sabotage ourselves. And that's where an advisor can serve as a guardrail and prevent us from doing something we will regret later 🙂

2. Home Bias and Familiarity Bias

Investing in what we know seems logical at first glance.

Spontaneously, I would feel more comfortable investing in French or Austrian companies that are part of my daily life than in a Brazilian company I've never heard of.

Same thing when it comes to sectors: an IT developer will naturally be drawn to tech stocks, a healthcare professional to pharmaceutical companies.

However, this logic exposes us to two problems:

1. First, we limit ourselves and miss opportunities in other regions or sectors that could be more promising.

2. Then, we overexpose ourselves to a single sector or geographic zone.
   If the French economy or the pharmaceutical industry goes through a crisis, and that my portfolio is heavily concentrated on French or pharmaceutical companies, I will directly suffer the consequences.

We can still build our portfolio taking these biases into account, or rely on an advisor who will suggest a diversified portfolio based on our profile and goals.

3. Time and energy required

Getting informed, analyzing, monitoring your investments, rebalancing your portfolio when needed... This takes time, but also the desire to do it.

Time that we don't necessarily have or would prefer to spend on something else.

Desire we don't especially have, because we're reluctant to do something that feels like work in our free time.

Personally, I do enjoy researching these topics. I don't mind spending time on it. But I also understand this isn't everyone's cup of tea 🙂

_{Professional guidance: the benefits}

1. Someone you can count on when in doubt

Many solo investors are overwhelmed by doubts:

• Is this strategy really making sense?

• Am I missing something risky?

• Am I diversified enough?

• Do I have too many redundant investments?

Or when markets are falling:

• Is this temporary?

• Should I buy more?

• Should I sell?

• Should I rebalance my portfolio?

This emotional support is often undervalued, but it's one of the most valuable contributions a good financial advisor can bring : helping you get rid of your doubts and regain calm.

2. Expertise on specific topics

An advisor masters areas we don't necessarily know: tax optimization, estate planning, tax declarations...

They also have experience with market cycles that we don’t (especially when starting out). They can explain how an approach or strategy that seems brilliant today is actually very similar to a phenomenon that ended badly in the past.

That's why you should also ask questions when first meeting them. Whether it’s about their philosophy, their approach, how they think they can help you best. Don't just answer questions they have for you. Come ready with questions to evaluate them as well and see if there's a fit.

The Downsides of Professional Guidance

1. Higher costs

We already talked about this earlier, but professional guidance can cost between 2% and 5% per year depending on the advisor's compensation method. For significant amounts, this quickly represents very significant sums.

You need to make sure that the value provided justifies the cost compared to managing your investments on your own. Someone that is starting out and just wants to test if they can handle market volatility might not need such expensive support that comes with delegating their investments.

2. Risk of conflicts of interest

If you live in a country where commissions are quite common, you need to be aware of conflicts of interest.

Most advisors receive commissions on the products they recommend, which can influence their suggestions whether it’s conscious or not.

For example, for life insurance where you invest €5,000, the advisor might receive between 3% and 5% commission, or €150 to €250. These fees are directly taken from your investment.

If you opt for this type of "free" service, ask yourself the right questions:

• Does the recommended product really match your situation and goals?

• Are the fees competitive compared to other solutions?

• Does it really suit you?

To avoid bias, you can turn to independent advisors who only charge hourly fees. Since they don't receive commissions on products, their advice is more objective. They have no financial interest in directing you toward one investment or another.

In all cases, it's important to understand how your advisor is compensated from the start. Don't hesitate to clarify this point several times if necessary.

3. Risk of dependency

By delegating everything, you can gradually lose control of your investments.
What I mean by that is that you no longer know why you own this or that fund, or why you avoided certain sectors of your portfolio.

And this develops some vulnerability.

That's why, even with guidance, it's important to stay involved in your investments. Ask for explanations, understand the logic behind each recommendation, challenge weak recommendations, keep an overall view of your strategy.

You need to stay the decision-maker! 🙂

So how to choose based on your situation?

To guide you in your thinking, here are some non-exhaustive indicators. If several of these points speak to you, guidance is worth considering:

• You have significant amounts to invest

• You don't feel like spending time and energy on these topics

• Guidance fees don't bother you

• Your tax situation is complex

• You want to have someone to talk to in case of doubts or questions

If you want guidance

Make sure your advisor is properly registered with the relevant authorities in your country. Clarify their compensation from the start.

Ask all your questions, because there really are no stupid questions: a good advisor will take time to explain and adapt to your level of knowledge.

If you just want someone to tell you what to invest in and automate the transfer

Then robo-advisors can be an interesting option, as they're specifically designed for different portfolio types.

You’ll first need to answer a questionnaire to better define your profile and preferences. Then, the most suitable model is automatically recommended from existing portfolios.

It's a middle ground: less expensive than classic guidance but slightly more expensive than investing completely alone.

And if you want to invest solo?

Start with small amounts, with the goal of testing and learning.
Do your research: read books on investing, watch videos on YouTube, listen to specialized podcasts, chat with people in your circle who also invest to learn from their experiences.

PS: First time I'm mentioning this here, but I'm working on a book coming out in French in 2026! 😊

To conclude

You can very well start solo then get help when your situation warrants it: growing wealth, complex tax situation, or simply wanting to delegate.

Or go the other way: start with guidance to learn the basics, then continue solo if you no longer find added value from your advisor. But before you start with an advisor, make sure you understand how easy it would be to switch or leave if you're not satisfied.

Nothing is set in stone.

In all cases, it's important to commit to a minimum. Even with the world's best advisors, you should be able to understand their recommendations and evaluate whether they truly suit you.

It's your money, your goals: you should remain in command 😊

Take care,
Nessrine