Most people get their paycheck at the start of the month. . .

Over the following weeks they spend money on bills, meals, other expenses. . .

and then if anything is left over at the end of the month. . .

and that’s a BIG if, isn’t it. . .

they invest that money.

If that sounds familiar, flip the script.

Invest at the START of the month instead of the end. 

Set up an automatic transfer:

As soon as your paycheck lands, send 5 or 10 or 15% to your investment account.

Invest the money immediately so you’re not tempted to send it back.

Then live for the rest of the month as if your real income is lower. 

This new habit will supercharge the single most important factor for your future wealth:

Your savings rate.

This is more important than your investment strategy. . .

More important than luck and market timing. . .

Get this right, and financial freedom is in your future. 

Try it and let me know how it goes!

.

P.S.

Don’t have an investment account? Haven’t started investing yet?

No problem.

Send your monthly payment to a high yield savings account instead. 

And watch this video I made on how to invest for beginners!

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post Do THIS to reach financial freedom sooner appeared first on Tom Crosshill.

When I ask people here in Europe, they say:

• Have rich parents
• Be friends with government ministers
• Move to a high-income country like America

It makes me sad – many Europeans don’t even believe they can build wealth. 

But the data shows you don’t need a high income to build wealth

A few years ago Dave Ramsey did a massive study that surveyed 10’000 American millionaires.

Here’s some of the key findings:

• 79% received no inheritance from their parents
• 80% came from middle or low-income families
• Most worked regular jobs like engineer, accountant, or teacher
• 75% said regular, consistent investing was responsible for their success

There is NO reason we can’t do the same here in Europe.

Don’t take my word for it – here are the numbers

Invest €500 a month for 10 years – you have €100K (assuming a 10% annual profit).

Invest €300 a month for 20 years – you have €216K.

Invest €200 a month for 40 years – you have €1.1 million. 

Want to play with the numbers yourself?

Grab my free Financial Freedom Calculator here

Put in your assumptions and see how your wealth can grow.

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post Research study: how millionaires are made appeared first on Tom Crosshill.

We were poor.

My parents lived paycheck to paycheck and expected a tiny government pension.

I hated seeing how money stressed them out.

So I decided to break the cycle.

In my twenties, I moved to the US and got a job on Wall Street. 

My goal – to learn from the smartest investors in the world.

What I discovered surprised me – “Wall Street investment secrets” are mostly hype 

Wall Street investors like to PRETEND they have “secret strategies” so that clients will trust them with their money. . .

But for their personal investments, the smartest investors on Wall Street use one simple strategy:

• Warren Buffett recommends it for 99% of investors.
• It’s backed by Nobel Prize-winning research.
• It takes just 3 hours per year.
• It is one of the safest, most reliable long term investments out there.

Of course, I’m talking about ETFs and index funds.

Just €200 a month invested in index funds over your career can make anyone a millionaire.

A BIG fraction of American millionaires have used ETFs and index funds to get there. 

Almost every smart investor in America uses these investments.

Here in Europe, ETF and index investing is THE biggest overlooked opportunity for growing your wealth

After I left Wall Street and moved back to Europe, I co-founded a company called INDEXO which brought this strategy to my country.

With this strategy, we got our clients the BEST investment results in the whole country:

It was amazing to see the results our clients were getting. 

So once I retired from the company, I decided on a new mission: 

To help Europeans reach financial freedom with ETFs and index funds. 

If you are totally new to index funds and ETFs:

Go watch this video where I explain how they work 

If you already know the basic principles of index funds and ETFs:

Watch this video where I explain my approach to finding the best ETFs for European investors.

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post The true secret I learned on Wall Street appeared first on Tom Crosshill.

First, there’s Anna.

Anna is a dedicated employee, working 9-5.

Her paycheck is steady…

She has excellent health insurance and benefits…

Her vacations are regular like clockwork…

…but her financial progress is comparatively small.

Anna works hard for 5 years and only gets a 20% salary increase, barely keeping pace with inflation.

Then there’s Matteo.

Horrified by the thought of working for 40 years, Matteo invests his life savings and starts his own business. 

His path is full of risk…

Sleepless nights…

not enough time with kids…

health problems from overwork…

…and a rollercoaster ride of uncertainties. 

But after 5 years of stress, and a whole lot of luck, the business gets traction.

There’s finally good profit coming in.

For the first time Matteo can afford to relax. 

And maybe in another 5 years he can sell the business and retire early.

If you’re walking Anna’s path as a salaried employee, that’s a totally legitimate choice. 

Being an entrepreneur is much harder than most people realize. . .

getting your business to profitability is a slog that can take years. . .

and many entrepreneurs will never become wildly successful millionaires. 

Going into business is especially tough if you have a family, visa considerations, or simply a job you love. 

But what if I told you it isn’t all or nothing?

What if I told you that you could gain many of the rewards of entrepreneurship…

Without the sleepless nights…

the risks…

..or actually having to run a company?

Enter passive investing. 

Passive investing is the bridge that connects the stability of Anna’s world with the dynamic growth of Matteo’s. 

When you invest in an ETF, you buy the shares of several hundred top companies in one go. 

Think of it this way:  

Every day, millions of employees show up at their companies… companies that you own a piece of.

They work hard, innovate, and make money for the company. 

And as the company earns a profit, part of that profit goes to you.

It’s like having an army of the world’s most diligent workers striving to make you richer…

…without you having to manage them or the business they’re in.

So, if you’re yearning for a taste of Matteo’s financial rewards…

…passive income that grows over time…

…without leaving the security of Anna’s path…

Passive investing in ETFs might just be your golden ticket.

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post Employee vs Business Owner appeared first on Tom Crosshill.

At first, I hated every minute of it.

The weights hurt. My muscles screamed. I wanted to quit.

But something shifted recently. I started to enjoy the burn.

Because when those weights hurt, I know I’m getting stronger.

This got me thinking about suffering in other areas of life – such as investing.

You get the best results if you can take the pain.

If you can stay calm when your portfolio drops 30% in a crisis.

If you can resist the urge to panic-sell when the news is screaming about market crashes or Donald Trump’s latest wild announcement

(we all just had a chance to practice in April with Trump’s “tariff dip”). 

Unless you’ve trained for it, most people can’t handle this kind of suffering.

So they make emotional mistakes that destroy their wealth.

They sell low when they should be buying.

They run away just when the biggest opportunities appear.

Here’s what I believe:

In today’s society, we’re trained to run away from any discomfort.

We want instant gratification. Quick fixes. Easy money.

But the people who develop the skill to embrace suffering?

To accept it and even welcome it?

Paradoxically, they suffer less in the long run.

Because while others are trapped in the 9-to-5 rat race forever…

working until they die because they never learned to invest through the tough times…

these people are building real wealth.

They’re creating the passive income that leads to true freedom.

The gym taught me that pain is temporary.

But the strength you build lasts long after the pain is gone.

The same is true with investing.

The discomfort of watching your portfolio fluctuate?

That’s the price of admission to financial freedom.

Most people aren’t willing to pay it.

That’s exactly why it works for those who are.

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post Learn to enjoy the suffering appeared first on Tom Crosshill.

Many investors have portfolios of just 5 to 7 individual stocks.

They think they’re making smart bets.

But they’re actually asking for trouble.

Over the past 90 years in the American stock market, around 11% of all stocks were total failures.

But here’s the really scary part, which really struck me when I heard Canadian financial advisor Ben Felix mention it in a recent video:

As many as 40% of US stocks experienced catastrophic losses of 70% or more – and never recovered.

If you hold just a handful of stocks, you’re gambling with your future.

Now, some people think 20 to 30 stocks is enough diversification.

That’s certainly better than 5 to 7.

Having 20 to 30 stocks does reduce volatility – how much your portfolio swings up and down.

But you’re still likely to get a suboptimal long-term result.

Why?

Because there are thousands of stocks in the market.

And just a tiny fraction of them create all the wealth.

Over the past 90 years, just 83 stocks out of 26,000 were responsible for half the investor wealth creation in the entire US stock market.

Think about that for a moment.

Half of all the wealth creation came from 0.3% of all stocks.

So if you own just 20 or 30 stocks…

Chances are you won’t have many – or even any – of the most profitable companies in your portfolio.

You’ll miss out on the powerful gains that really compound your wealth over time.

You’ll watch from the sidelines while other investors succeed.

According to research, you need 200 to 300 different stocks to be truly diversified.

But there’s no way for amateur investors to manage that.

You can’t research hundreds of companies.

It’s expensive to buy all those individual stocks.

It’s completely unrealistic.

That’s exactly why index funds and ETFs are such a great solution.

They let you own hundreds or even thousands of stocks with a single purchase.

They capture those rare, wealth-creating companies automatically.

They give you maximal diversification at minimal cost.

While stock pickers are gambling on a few companies…

You own a piece of the entire economy.

While they’re missing out on the next Apple or Amazon…

You’re guaranteed to capture whatever the next big winner turns out to be.

While they’re stressed about picking the right stocks…

You’re calmly building wealth with near mathematical certainty.

Which approach sounds better for your financial future?

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post How many stocks do you need to have a diversified portfolio? appeared first on Tom Crosshill.

I’d get to my desk and see a list of 50 different projects.

My chest would tighten. Stress levels would spike.

I’d spend all day jumping from project to project.

And accomplish almost nothing on any of them.

Everything changed when I adopted a new mindset.

I decided I would consider myself successful if every week I just did three things:

1. Help all my investment students with their questions
    
2. Make one good YouTube video
    
3. Make one improvement to my business

That’s it.

As a result, I stopped trying to do 50 things at once.

I picked one main priority for the week and focused on it until it was done.

Paradoxically, my productivity skyrocketed.

And I felt much happier.

Here’s the thing that beginning investors don’t realize:

The same principle applies to investing.

Many beginners watch tons of videos and read endless blog posts.

They research 100 different investments. Hot stocks. Crypto coins. Trading opportunities.

They spend hours per week obsessing about their strategy.

But they never actually build any real wealth.

Meanwhile, successful investors just do three things every month:

1. Put aside a chunk of income for investing
    
2. Buy a diversified index fund or ETF
    
3. Avoid making mistakes (in other words, avoid doing anything else)

That’s it.

If you relax and focus on just these three things…

You will get much better results than people who spend 20 hours per week “researching” investments.

Because while they’re paralyzed by information overload…

you’re actually building wealth.

While they’re chasing the latest hot tip…

you’re systematically growing your passive income.

While they’re stressed about market timing and stock picking…

you’re calmly on your way to financial freedom.

The path to wealth isn’t complicated.

It’s simple.

In fact, it’s so simple it can be hard to believe. 

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post I used to struggle with overwhelm every single day appeared first on Tom Crosshill.

“Can I use AI to invest?”

Maybe you’ve seen ads online for “profitable trading bots”, promising an easy way to get rich.

The bad news? Those ads are usually scams.

If someone actually had an AI that could reliably beat the market…

They’d just use it. Quietly. And make a lot of money for themselves.

The only people I believe are really making money this way?

Big hedge funds with supercomputers and teams of PhDs.

So – does that mean AI is useless for regular investors?

Not at all.

If you ask ChatGPT to critique your financial plans, you will get some powerful insights. 

If you ask ChatGPT, “What’s the best way to invest?”

It will give you some great ideas.

Something like: “Buy a low-cost ETF or index fund. Diversify across countries and industries. Keep your costs low.”

And that’s solid advice. It’s the right answer.

But here’s the thing—you don’t even need AI to get that.

That answer has been around for 15 years.

Blogs, books, YouTube videos – including mine – will tell you the same thing.

So why aren’t more people investing here in Europe?

The problem isn’t information.

It’s confidence.

It’s not that you can’t find answers. . . it’s that you can’t trust the answers you find. 

When it comes to investing your savings, you want to feel certain about the fundamentals:

– What’s a reliable investment app I can trust with my savings?
– What taxes do I need to pay in my country?
– What’s the right strategy for my age and goals?

And here’s where AI struggles.

Ask a question 5 different ways and you will get 5 different recommendations. 

It will give you advice based on incomplete information, missing key details that could lead to a completely different conclusion. 

Plus it will make up facts – or “hallucinate”.

Like when ChatGPT told me IUSQ is a MSCI World ETF (it’s not)

Or when it told me my country – Latvia – taxes unrealized investment profits (it does not). 

You should absolutely use AI on your investment journey – but you’ve got to do it right.  

AI can help you become a successful investor.

Just don’t trust it blindly to do everything for you. 

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post Can I use AI to invest? appeared first on Tom Crosshill.

Exciting highs. Sudden drops.

And if you’re not prepared, those drops can mess with your head.

Here’s a trick that helps me stay calm—both as a parent and as an investor.

I’ve got two young kids. And when I come home after a long day, they are often tired, grumpy… even kicking each other.

If I’m not mentally ready, I lose it.

So before I walk in the door, I take five minutes and talk to myself:

“This evening may be messy. That’s okay. I’ll stay calm. I want to be a good example.”

And it works—most of the time

I do the same with investing.

When I see my brokerage account go up, I remind myself:

“This won’t last forever. The market will drop again. That’s normal. And when it does—I’ll stay calm. I’ll keep investing.”

And when the next drop comes—and it always does—I’m not surprised. I’m ready.

If you’re feeling nervous about your investments, give this a try.

Talk to yourself before the market does.

And keep taking action.

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post Investing = roller coaster appeared first on Tom Crosshill.

Maybe you have a shoe addiction.

Or you’re addicted to expensive coffee.

We laugh about it, but here’s the truth:

A lot of us are addicted to overspending.

And it’s keeping us poor.

We use all our money to make other people rich.

We leave nothing for ourselves.

Nothing to invest. Nothing to build wealth with.

Nothing to create the financial freedom we want.

So I borrowed a technique from people who’ve overcome much worse addictions.

Alcohol. Drugs. Gambling.

Here’s what I started saying to myself every morning:

“Today, I will not overspend.”

I don’t worry about tomorrow.

I don’t stress about next week.

Just for today, I’m not doing it.

Once I started this simple practice…

I managed to cut back dramatically on food delivery.

And several other bad spending habits.

The money I was throwing away?

It went straight into my investment account.

Here’s why this works:

When you think about “never spending money on unnecessary things again”…

It feels overwhelming. Impossible.

But just for today? That’s manageable.

And here’s the beautiful part:

Every day you succeed, you get stronger.

Every euro you don’t waste becomes a euro that can multiply through investing.

Every small victory builds momentum toward financial freedom.

Try this technique starting tomorrow morning.

See how you do.

I think you’ll be surprised at how powerful it is.

I help busy Europeans become confident passive investors through a practical, step-by-step training program called The Index Masterclass.

Click here to access my free training for European investors.

The post My food delivery addiction appeared first on Tom Crosshill.