It's just the translated version from the original Motley Fool article by the way: https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/08/13/your-guide-to-early-retirement.aspx
They didn't even invest the time to make it EU/Germany specific as they mention 401k, IRAs, etc. in the article as a way to invest...
For investing in France, I would recommend Épargnant 3.0.
Bear in mind, I am an American who has an unusual interest in finance and foreign languages. I basically read the book for fun and since I don't live in France, I haven't had the ability to test the book's principals for myself. That being said, I would follow most of this book's advice if I was pursuing FIRE in France.
Personally I'm using YNAB. It's primary used for monthly budget planning and tracking your spending. YNAB have good support for various types of accounts so your checking account balance won't be messed up with your loans and investments. It also has tools for bank integration and simple data analysis. It is also easy to export/import data if you need to.
If OP is considering moving abroad after making £££ in London they'll need to be careful with which tax shields they use. UK ISAs (tax sheltered accounts, for those who don't know) only keep their tax status in the UK. If OP lives elsewhere any interest/dividends/capital gains in the ISA will be taxable. Pensions might work better as countries typically have agreements on transferability of retirement accounts so OP might want to check out a SIPP (self-invested personal pension).
​
Otherwise, besides rent London is pretty good. Food is averagely priced (not like Switzerland lol), cycling is easy and public transport plentiful. Healthcare is free and high quality, although tends to be functional rather than luxurious. Your doctor might be a crowded surgery at the bottom of a tower block, not a small office that looks like a hotel lobby. But that's okay. For entertainment, a lot of museums don't charge, there is always stuff along the river, there are lots of parks, etc. Meeting people can be hard but there are lots of interest groups and stuff on meetup.com.
Lots of good advice already in this thread. One more book to throw into the mix to learn the principles: https://www.amazon.es/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore/dp/1118921283
The same philosophy adjusted to Spain is well summarised here: https://bogleheads.es/guia
Both resources are for the Bogleheads way, there are others of course.
It is currently an android-only app. Everything is saved locally and it handles the problems with currency conversion. I am the developer:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.badraccoon.portfolioman
It is an app and in early stages, but in case if you are interested:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.badraccoon.portfolioman
It solves most of the problems with the currency conversions for europeans.
I tried more than 10 android apps for budgeting a and settled on Money Lover. Been using it for a year now and no regrets. There is also a web version which syncs all data with the app, and I have written a Python script to download all my expenses and produce more extensive graphs.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bookmark.money
Since I wasn't satisfied with the choice on the Play Store, I developed my own little net worth tracking app, so that's what I use right now. Pretty basic at the moment, but gets the job done for me. I'm still actively adding new features though, so in case you try it, I'd love to here what you think or what you are missing! https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.networth.networthtracker
I started by using a free budget mobile app. Two years ago I moved to YNAB and it's what I use since then. Though, the last table I've done it myself based on data exported from YNAB.
Only link I could find for now https://www.schwab.com/active-trader/insights/content/mastering-order-types-stop-limit-orders
> The stop price is the price that activates the limit order and is based on the last trade price.
Obviously, Degiro might deal differently, but I'd imagine the last price or bid should be used, not the ask price.
In almost 10% (6 out of 68) rolling 20y periods between 1926 and 2013, dollar cost averaging or not investing at all was a better strategy than investing immediately. Drawing a comparison between succeeding at timing a recession and winning the lottery or saying that you'd have to be a super genius to do it is very misleading.
I don't trust etoro the company is based on cyprus and $25 withdraws fee is very high, but you can check some reviews here: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.etoro.com
If you are looking for further guidance it's worth checking out Nomadgate.com or /r/digitalnomad could also be useful. Shameless plug: I've been preparing an airtable with tax rates, tax system per country, feel free to check it out: https://airtable.com/shrbacDQJ6A34583Z
It's a personal resource for me so I can't vouch every number is correct.
Trading212: yep, thet use IB services, correct.
ETORO: they offer real stock trading and CFD trading too. Both can be useful investing. I agree that we should be careful with scams, but this is true for every broker. If a broker is audited and allowed by official financial authorities in the European Union, and also offers investor insurance, that's OK for me.
"When you open a non-leveraged BUY (long) position on a stock, you are investing in the underlying asset, and the stock is purchased in your name. This also applies to fractional shares: for example, on eToro, you can invest as little as $50 to purchase part of a share whose price per unit is $1,000.
When you open a non-leveraged BUY (long) position on a stock, you will pay zero commission* — no markup, no ticket fee, no management fee.
eToro also offers additional functions using CFD trading. With CFDs, you can open SELL (short) positions and use leverage."
At the moment I don't know whether I have trust in NOK as I've not looked into this in years. Quite shocked how much money I lost, but that's my own fault. If I look at this: https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=NOK&to=EUR&view=10Y we're talking about a downward trend since 2012 :(
It depends mainly on the format that your bank exports to. Unless your bank exports to QIF, your best option is usually CSV.
The guide for CSV in the wiki should be detailed enough: https://www.gnucash.org/docs/v3/C/gnucash-help/trans-import.html
If your bank does not export CSV or QIF, but the export, as an example, Excel, you will need to afterwards convert the Excel file to CSV (that should be quite straight-forward).
But if we focus on the investment side, it will depend mainly on if your bank exports the right information (prices, number of shares etc). If you have them, in principle you can do it with the CSV transaction import wizard. Otherwise, you may need to first import the transaction and the correct value of number of shares, price, etc. (I believe that GnuCash will assume 1 to 1 (e.g. 100€ -> 100 Shares).
Of course, feel free to relay this question to /r/GnuCash
I found this app called stock events. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.stockevents.android Sorry quick reply no formatting. But I think it's only US based stocks and free up to few stocks
The best Android app I have found for tracking portfolio performance is Webull:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dayup.stocks
Ignore the "live trading" section and just manually enter your portfolio in "simulation holdings". They have data on price, NAV, dividends, etc. for funds and ETFs, and the standard line/pie graphs for your portfolio.
Lots of good advice here. Another book I would recommend looking into is Your Money or Your Life. It focuses less on investing and more on your relationship with money and how to build a path towards becoming FI.