Returns for everyone: with this idea, quirion launched more than ten years ago as the first robo-advisor in Germany. And ever since, it has made systematic wealth-building accessible to more and more people. Here's what investors get out of it:
Wealth management with no minimum investment. And as a savings plan, starting from as little as €25 a month. It wasn't so long ago that statements like these would, at best, have earned an incredulous smile. To enjoy the special treatment of "private banking," you already had to bring along a fortune. Six-figure minimum investments were the norm.
Then, in 2013, quirion launched as the first robo-advisor in Germany. The goal: returns for everyone. "That's our mission, not just an empty phrase," emphasizes Martin Daut, CEO of quirion. "With the help of digital technology, low-cost ETFs and a scientifically grounded investment strategy, we've dismantled, step by step, the barriers that previously made it hard for many people to access professional wealth management."
At quirion, how your money is invested doesn't depend on the size of the amount you invest. In this respect, every investment sum and every savings rate is treated equally. "Democratizing investing and enabling as many people as possible to make efficient use of the return opportunities of the capital markets: that's an important social task," Daut stresses. "Just think of demographic change and the growing importance of retirement provision."
"Harvesting machines" for long-term return opportunities
The portfolios are built so that people with a wide range of risk appetites can participate in the return opportunities of the stock markets. The basic rationale: in the past, the stock markets have – over the long term and on average – always risen. That's no coincidence; it's because the global economy is geared toward growth. What is entirely uncertain, by contrast, is which stocks exactly will be among the long-term winners. "In the hunt for the supposedly best stocks, most investors burn through an awful lot of money," Daut observes.
Rather than getting drawn into speculation on individual stocks, quirion – above all with its global ETF portfolio – targets the stock markets in their full breadth. Some background: capital market research distinguishes between systematic and unsystematic risks. A company can go bankrupt; an industry or a region can slide into crisis. These are unsystematic risks, and they can be avoided through diversification. What remains is the market risk of general price fluctuations, which is rewarded with the market return.
Investing for every risk appetite
Even an optimally diversified stock portfolio isn't yet suitable for every investor. Depending on your individual investment horizon and personal risk appetite, quirion mixes in bonds. These stabilize the portfolio further. In doing so, quirion pays close attention to keeping your investments aligned with your individual risk profile over the entire investment period. That's because fluctuations in value keep shifting the weightings within portfolios. At least once a year, therefore, the portfolios are realigned with your profile through a rebalancing.
"All of this happens in the background; investors don't have to worry about anything else," Daut explains. "You can sit back and relax and leave the details to our professionals." That applies to product selection too. Because these days, that's quite demanding even with ETFs. After all, there are hundreds of different products, and the differences between them are in some cases quite considerable.
The clever alternative to an instant-access savings account
quirion's global and sustainable portfolios, each available in ten variants, are geared toward long-term wealth-building. But if you only want to invest money for the short term, quirion has solutions for that too. One of them is called quirion Cash-Invest. This ETF portfolio is a clever alternative to an instant-access savings account. It focuses on the money market, again via a combination of specialized ETFs. The yield to maturity – that is, the average return when the underlying securities mature – currently stands at 4.10 percent1 per year.
If you prefer the classic approach: quirion also offers an instant-access savings account with its interest account. It currently earns 3 percent interest per year. And just as with Cash-Invest, you can access your money at short notice. "Both are intended for money that's meant to be parked for a short period while still offering attractive return opportunities," Daut explains. For longer investment horizons, however, it's far more promising to make use of the return opportunities of the capital markets. "With digital wealth management, that happens almost by itself – so there's really no good reason to forgo it."
Find out more about quirion's savings plans here.
1 The target return is variable and depends on market developments. As of 31 January 2024, the weighted yield to maturity of the financial instruments in the portfolio was 4.10% p.a. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
