Combine saving with investing

Investing may generate better long-term returns on your money than saving. However, you could lose all or part of your initial investment. Investing involves risks. Share prices can drop in a volatile market, slashing the value of your investment.

Diversifying your investment portfolio will help to reduce these risks. You can opt to invest in shares, funds or ETFs of certain companies or sectors, for example. Or you can spread your risk across different investment products, such as bonds, liquid assets, property or investment funds. Please note: investing involves risk: You could lose all or part of your initial investment.

• For people who are willing to take a bit more risk
• No certainty about the possible returns: you could lose all or part of your initial investment
• Choose the risk level that is right for you
• Investing involves fees, such as service and transaction fees

The Dutch deposit guarantee scheme protects your savings up to €100,000 per account holder, per bank. This means that there is no risk of losing your money up to this amount. If you want to generate returns on your savings, but want to avoid any risk, saving is your best option. However, it’s possible that your money will eventually lose spending power, depending on interest rates, inflation and the number of years you keep it in your savings account.

• For people who want to avoid risk
• Saving gives security, you know where you stand and what the interest rate is
• The Dutch deposit guarantee scheme protects your savings up to €100,000 per account holder if a bank goes bankrupt
• There are no fees involved if you also have an ABN AMRO current account

There are various ways of saving money and earning interest to let your assets grow:

• With a savings account. You can deposit or withdraw money whenever you like. The interest rate can vary per year.
• With a Savings Deposit. You deposit your money for a fixed term of 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 years, at a pre-fixed interest rate. If you withdraw all or part of your savings mid-term, you will usually face a penalty.
• With a Green Savings Deposit. You deposit your money for one year at a fixed interest rate. At least 70% of your investment is invested in green projects. You can only withdraw money mid-term in exceptional circumstances.

If you’re considering investing or starting a Savings Deposit, we recommend that you keep some money as a buffer for unforeseen or major expenses. The size your financial buffer needs to be depends on aspects such as your income, whether you own a house and whether you have children. The Dutch National Institute for Family Finance Information (Nibud) has a buffer calculator (Dutch) to help you work out what would be a good financial buffer for you.

If your financial buffer is large enough and you have money left over, and if you can manage without a certain amount, investing may be an interesting option for you. One way of starting would be Guided Investing. This option provides you with online guidance to help you choose one of the five ABN AMRO ESG Profile Funds, which are managed by our experts.

Let’s say you want to start with investing. What’s a good place to start? And how do you know which type of investment is right for you, with your specific lifestyle and spending patterns? The following questions might help you to find out:

1. Do you have money left over at the end of the month, and enough for unforeseen expenses?
2. Are you willing to take a bit more risk for the chance of better returns on your savings?
3. What is your investment goal?
4. How soon do you want to achieve that goal?
5. How much investment experience do you have?
6. Are you aware that you could lose all or part of your initial investment?
7. How much time do you want to spend on monitoring your investments?

You can also complete our online investment choice guide. This will give you a quick idea about whether investing is right for you.

Now you need to choose your investment option. Guided Investment is a quick and easy way to start if you’re a beginner and don’t want to spend too much time monitoring your investments, but do want to make your own decisions. If you have more time and want to be more involved in compiling your investment portfolio, you could buy and sell on the stock market yourself with Self-Directed Investing Basic or Self-Directed Investing Plus. If you plan to invest over €50,000, you’re eligible for Portfolio Management.

Please note: investing involves risk: You could lose all or part of your initial investment.