Investing money for craftsmen: Investing successfully in 2026
You work as a craftsman (electrician, plumber, carpenter, tailor…) and put in a solid effort every day. Perhaps you are wondering whether your current financial situation will really suffice for the future. Even though your income is generally stable, you probably feel that rising living costs and high rents, especially in many cities, are increasingly limiting your financial flexibility.
As a tradesperson, you are in a very good position to make sensible decisions about your financial investments at an early stage. Here, we show you how you can build up your assets step by step with a well-thought-out strategy and secure greater financial independence.
In brief:
- Your salary as a craftsman is an important foundation, but you will mainly succeed in building up your wealth through investments.
- ETFs enable you to achieve long-term capital growth with moderate risk.
- P2P lending provides you with ongoing interest income and creates an additional source of income, completely independent of the stock market.
- With sensible crypto investments, you can give the whole thing an extra boost and increase your returns even further.
- Automated savings plans ensure that you can invest regularly without much effort, even when your job is taking up all your time.
Why financial investments are so important for craftsmen
Many craftsmen are fully occupied with construction sites, customer orders and organising their business, leaving them with little time to manage their own finances. However, building up your own assets also requires a clear structure, planning and foresight in order to achieve long-term prosperity.
If you put a lot of energy into your job every day, it is understandable that you might put off financial decisions or leave your money mainly in a safe but low-yield instant access savings account.
However, those who actively engage with their financial issues, develop a clear concept and implement it consistently can build up genuine financial freedom step by step.
As a tradesperson, it is therefore particularly worthwhile for you to take control of your financial investments at an early stage and tailor them specifically to your goals.
- A good salary alone is not enough: as a tradesperson, you can earn a decent living, but real wealth only comes when you use your income wisely and don’t spend it all on running costs. Without targeted investments, your financial freedom will always fall far short of what could actually be possible.
- Rising living costs: Inflation causes your money to lose purchasing power over time, even if your income remains constant.
- Changes in everyday working life: digitalisation, changing customer requirements and economic fluctuations in the skilled trades sector are making financial reserves increasingly important.
- Pension provision is a must: the state pension and your company pension will often not be enough to maintain your standard of living in later life. Craftsmen who start investing extra money early on can close any gaps in their pension provision and look forward to retirement with much greater peace of mind.
- More freedom and self-determination: Financial independence gives you the opportunity to accept assignments more consciously, plan time off, or invest in further training and new business ideas. If, on the other hand, you lack reserves, you often remain trapped in structures that leave little room for change.
These points clearly show why craftsmen should take responsibility for their financial investments in order to gain greater security and freedom.
The compound interest effect: your best friend when building wealth
Compound interest is a mathematical principle whereby your invested money grows faster and faster over time.
If you regularly invest part of your income and leave both the returns and the original capital invested, a growing cycle is created in which interest generates new interest, causing your assets to grow at an increasingly accelerated rate.
This is what makes the compound interest effect so powerful:
- Growth with momentum: Interest on interest already earned accelerates the growth of your capital with each interest period. This creates an effect whereby your assets grow not only steadily, but at an ever-increasing rate.
- Time is money: the longer your money remains invested, the more interest you earn and the stronger the compound interest effect. A long investment horizon is therefore a decisive factor in allowing the effect to unfold to its full potential.
- Consistent saving pays off: even small regular amounts can add up to a considerable sum thanks to the combination of time and compound interest. The key is to stick with it and not withdraw your earnings, but to consistently reinvest them.
- Turbocharged returns: Higher interest rates further amplify the compound interest effect and lead to significantly greater final assets in the long term. Even a few percentage points more in returns can make the difference between moderate and very high assets over the years.
Take advantage of the compound interest effect to build up your wealth step by step as a tradesperson. With patience, consistent deposits and a clear plan, you can build up a stable financial cushion in the long term.
How exactly does the compound interest effect work?
The capital you invest generates interest, which you do not withdraw but reinvest. This means that in future you will not only receive income on your original amount, but also on the interest you have already earned, so that your assets grow faster and faster over time, resembling an increasingly steep curve.
A simple example illustrates this clearly: if you invest €1,000 with an annual return of 7%, you will receive €70 in the first year, which you reinvest immediately, so that in the second year you already have €1,070 working for you. In the following year, the 7% is no longer calculated on the original €1,000, but on the increased total amount.
After two years, your credit balance will already be around €1,144, and this effect will increase with each additional year.
You can think of it like a snowball that gets bigger and bigger as it rolls, gaining momentum, which you as a tradesperson can use to build up your wealth step by step and secure greater financial independence in the long term.
Example: 7% annual return with a continuous savings plan
To show how powerful the compound interest effect can be for you, let’s take the following example: As a craftsman, you invest in a broadly diversified ETF portfolio that yields an average return of 7% per year.
| Monthly amount | 5 years | 10 years | 20 years | 25 years | 30 years |
| 250 € | 17.305 € | 40.905 € | 115.674 € | 166.712 € | 235.978 € |
| 500 € | 34.610 € | 81.810 € | 231.347 € | 333.424 € | 471.956 € |
| 1.000 € | 69.220 € | 163.619 € | 462.693 € | 666.849 € | 943.912 € |
This example clearly shows how important the time factor is when investing. Even if you are a tradesperson and only manage to save modest amounts each month, the combination of perseverance and compound interest can ensure that your assets grow significantly over the years.
The earlier you start investing, the more you will benefit from your returns earning interest, creating a real snowball effect. Those who start early often have to invest significantly less per month to achieve the same long-term goals.
Keep track of your spending: low fees reinforce the compound interest effect
In order for the compound interest effect to take full effect, your invested money should work for you undisturbed and over a long period of time. High fees and avoidable costs significantly slow down this effect because they reduce your return year after year.
Even seemingly low annual costs of 1 to 2% can add up to a five-figure sum over decades, which you will miss out on when building your wealth. These costs are paid directly from your income and your invested capital, so that with each interest credit, less money is available for further compound interest.
As the investment period increases, this difference becomes more and more noticeable because the lost returns can no longer earn interest. High fees therefore weaken the very effect that is supposed to accelerate the growth of your assets.
That’s why it’s worth consistently looking for low-cost products with a low total expense ratio, known as TER, when selecting your funds and ETFs. This way, a larger portion of your returns will remain in your portfolio and can continue to work for you instead of disappearing into fees.
As a tradesperson, it is particularly important to take a close look at investment costs if you want to make the most of the compound interest effect. Low costs make your long-term wealth accumulation much more efficient and help you achieve your financial goals faster.
Attractive investments for craftsmen: Invest wisely and profitably
If you want to make long-term provisions for your retirement, it may be advisable to invest regularly in ETFs and, to a limited extent, in P2P lending using a clearly structured savings plan. This allows you to combine attractive return opportunities with broad diversification of your money.
- ETFs (exchange-traded funds): These track entire market indices and perform in line with the general economy on average, making them an efficient building block for long-term wealth accumulation. With an ETF savings plan, even craftsmen can invest globally with small amounts and benefit from potential increases in the value of many companies.
- P2P lending: Specialised platforms allow you to lend your money directly to private individuals or small companies and receive regular interest payments in return. They offer additional return opportunities, but are associated with higher risks such as credit and platform default and should therefore only make up a small portion of your total assets.
The combination of ETFs as a stable core and P2P lending as a supplement can provide a sensible mix of stability, returns and diversification. This allows you, as a tradesperson, to invest your money in a structured way, spread your risk more effectively and gradually build up assets for your retirement.
ETFs: Invest globally and benefit from growth
Exchange-traded funds track entire markets or indices such as the MSCI World (ISIN: IE00B4L5Y983) or the S&P 500 (ISIN: IE00B5BMR087), allowing you to invest in many companies at once with just one product and take advantage of global economic trends.
As soon as you invest money in an ETF, you indirectly become a co-owner of numerous companies and benefit from their long-term performance.
Fund companies take care of tasks such as administration, recording and distributing dividends, and regularly adjusting the composition of the fund (i.e. rebalancing) for you, allowing you to put your money to work with relatively little effort on your part.
Example: 9% return per year with the S&P 500
The S&P 500 is one of the most important stock indices in the United States and, according to Investopedia, has yielded an average annual return of around 9% over the last 20 years. If you invest in an ETF that tracks this index over the long term, you will automatically benefit from the growth of the American economy.
Why ETFs are a worthwhile investment for craftsmen:
- A stable basis for your portfolio: Even though ETFs are subject to price fluctuations, their broad diversification means they are considered less risky than individual shares and are therefore very well suited as a solid core component for your long-term wealth accumulation.
- Little effort: You can conveniently use ETFs via a monthly savings plan or a one-off investment, and once the plan is set up, investments continue automatically without you having to constantly track prices or actively trade.
- Broad risk diversification: Your money is spread across many regions, sectors and companies, which means that losses on individual positions are often offset by gains on others, reducing the overall risk.
These points show why ETFs are a very practical and well-thought-out way for you as a tradesperson to grow your assets over the long term and with relative ease.
This is how I invest in ETFs with a return of around 9%
My portfolio consists of approximately 37% ETFs on developed markets and around 42% on emerging markets (emerging market ETFs), allowing me to benefit from both the stability of industrialised countries and the additional growth potential of emerging markets.
Many emerging markets offer higher growth rates in the long term, but are also subject to greater volatility, making them a promising but riskier addition to any portfolio.
I conveniently manage my portfolio with Scalable Capital, which offers a very wide selection of ETFs and free savings plans, making regular investing particularly easy. The clear app and automated execution of savings plans are especially useful if you don’t have much time in your everyday working life to actively manage your investments.
A strategy combining developed and emerging markets can provide a good balance between security and potential returns, and is well suited to craftsmen who want to build up long-term wealth and grow in a controlled manner.
It is crucial that the chosen weighting matches your personal risk profile and that you think in terms of decades rather than years when considering your investment horizon.
Here’s how you could get started:
- Select two broadly diversified, global ETFs: ideally one that invests in developed countries and a second one for emerging markets.
- Then set up an automatic savings plan that runs monthly so that you invest regularly without having to think about it all the time.
- Once a year, review whether the distribution of your investments still matches your financial goals and adjust it if necessary to maintain your balance between risk and return.
With this simple strategy, you as a tradesperson can build up your assets step by step, spread your money worldwide and achieve reliable returns in the long term. It’s all very straightforward and based on a clear system.
P2P lending: Additional income independent of the stock market
With peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, you lend your money directly to private individuals or small businesses without a bank acting as an intermediary. You can invest your capital via specialised platforms such as Bondora or Mintos and sometimes achieve higher returns than with traditional savings accounts.
The respective providers are responsible for checking the creditworthiness of borrowers and for the entire administration and processing of repayments. In return, as a lender, you regularly receive the agreed interest on the money you have lent.
P2P lending are particularly appealing to people who need or can obtain financial resources outside the traditional banking system. As a tradesperson, you can currently achieve annual returns of between 6 and 15% with such investments, which is a very lucrative alternative to instant access savings accounts.
This is how a P2P lending works in practice:
- Private individuals or companies use specialised platforms to submit requests for loans that they need for various purposes, such as renovation work, major purchases or business investments.
- The platform then conducts a thorough credit check and assesses the applicant’s risk in order to decide whether to approve a loan and under what conditions.
- You decide for yourself how much you want to invest and share the financing of the requested loan amount with other investors.
- As soon as the borrower makes repayments, the amounts plus the agreed interest are transferred to your account regularly and proportionally.
- The platform takes care of all administrative tasks, ongoing monitoring of credit history and, if necessary, debt collection procedures against defaulters.
This type of investment allows you, as a tradesperson, to diversify your overall portfolio in a targeted manner and benefit from solid returns that are independent of share price and stock market developments.
Why P2P lending are particularly interesting for craftsmen
- Predictable income: On most platforms, your interest and repayments are paid out and credited to you monthly or even daily. This is particularly attractive if you are a tradesperson looking to build up an additional, automated income that runs independently of fluctuations in your orders.
- Independence from the stock market: Even in periods when the stock markets are under pressure or performing poorly, your P2P investments continue to generate regular interest payments. This creates a level of reliability that share portfolios often cannot offer.
- Little effort: Automated systems such as Auto-Invest at Mintos or Go & Grow at Bondora take care of the entire investment process, from selecting and granting loans to ongoing monitoring and collecting repayments. So you don’t have to worry about a thing.
This makes P2P lending an excellent source of additional income and offers you, as a tradesperson, the opportunity to grow your wealth in the long term, ideally in combination with ETFs. This mix allows you to smooth out fluctuations in your portfolio and strengthen your financial stability as you work towards your personal goals.
1. Invest easily with Bondora and earn interest daily
If you are looking for a particularly simple way to invest your money profitably, Bondora’s Go & Grow is an easy way to get started.
Simply transfer the desired amount to your Bondora account, and the platform will automatically distribute it across numerous different loans. This allows you to earn interest income on a daily basis without any significant administrative effort. The current return is approximately 6% per annum.
Your advantages with Bondora at a glance:
- Extremely straightforward: you don’t have to manually select individual loans or worry about administrative details. All processes run automatically in the background.
- Available daily: You can withdraw your invested money at any time; normally, the amount will be available to you again after one banking day.
- Passive income: Every day, the interest earned is credited directly to your account.
However, it is important to understand that even established and large P2P platforms such as Bondora carry certain risks. There is always the possibility that borrowers will not make their agreed payments on time or at all.
Good to know:
Bondora has been active on the market for around 17 years, employs over half a million investors worldwide and has invested more than €1.7 billion in loans to date. A total of around €159 million in interest income has already been paid out to investors.
2. Invest flexibly with Mintos and achieve higher returns
If you are a tradesperson and would like to have a little more control over your investments, Mintos is an interesting and flexible option. On this platform, you can invest in loans to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses in various countries and regions.
This gives you access to a diverse selection of different lending projects, allowing you to distribute your capital according to your own preferences.
Your advantages with Mintos:
- Attractive returns: Depending on your personal risk tolerance, you can earn annual returns of between 6 and 15 per cent with Mintos.
- Repurchase guarantee: Should a borrower fall behind with their payments, many of the lenders on the platform will repurchase the loan in question, offering you, the investor, a certain degree of protection.
- Flexible management: With the Auto-Invest feature, you can manage all your investments fully automatically, or you can manually select individual lendings if that gives you more control.
- Broad risk diversification: By spreading your capital across numerous different borrowers and several countries, you reduce the risk of individual defaults jeopardising your entire investment.
However, bear in mind that there have been cases in the past where some lenders have encountered financial difficulties or had to file for bankruptcy, resulting in only partial or delayed repayments to investors.
Mintos therefore offers numerous filtering and setting options, which makes the platform somewhat more challenging to use, but gives you considerably more scope and freedom in designing your personal investment strategy.
3. Sustainable investments at Ventus Energy
Ventus Energy gives you the opportunity to invest directly in sustainable projects in the fields of renewable energy and energy infrastructure, such as wind turbines, solar power plants and advanced storage systems.
In this way, you are making an active contribution to the energy transition and, in return, receiving regular interest payments on your invested capital.
Your advantages at Ventus Energy:
- Attractive returns: You can expect interest rates of up to 17% per annum.
- Daily interest credits: The daily distribution of interest income automatically reinforces the compound interest effect and leads to faster asset growth.
- Transparent projects: You will receive comprehensive information on all projects and regular buy-back offers for your shares, giving you flexibility.
However, you should be aware that Ventus Energy is designed more for larger investment amounts. The minimum investment is usually at least €1,000. Furthermore, investments in energy projects are susceptible to market changes and economic fluctuations, which is why they carry a certain amount of risk.
For you as a tradesperson, this type of investment can still be an interesting opportunity to combine expected returns and sustainable investment in a meaningful way.
This is what your financial investments as a tradesperson could look like in 2026
In my own portfolio, I deliberately combine different types of investment in order not only to ensure my long-term financial security, but also to generate an additional, reliable source of income.
You can use this approach as a template or adapt it to suit your personal goals and preferences. However, it is important that you pay attention to a few basic points:
- High returns with acceptable risk: striking a good balance between potential returns and security is crucial.
- Regular income for greater financial freedom: automated income streams give you independence and reduce your dependence on your daily earnings.
- Automate as much as possible to save time: the less time you actively spend on it, the better the strategy works in everyday life.
Depending on your personal risk appetite and your current life situation, your investment strategy will naturally vary greatly. Some craftsmen place great value on security and predictable income, while others are willing to take more risk at the outset if it means higher profits. There are many different paths to success.
In my view, however, it is particularly valuable to focus on automated and passive sources of income that require little attention. In the next step, I will introduce you to two specific investment opportunities that are ideal for this purpose.
- Conservative portfolio for security and stability
| Investment | Share in the portfolio | Goal |
| ETFs | 70 % | Long-term, stable growth |
| P2P lendings | 20 % | Regular cash flow |
| Cryptos | 5 % | Additional yield driver |
| Call money | 5 % | emergency reserve |
- Aggressive portfolio with a focus on returns
| Investment | Share in the portfolio | Goal |
| ETFs & individual shares | 50 % | Long-term, global growth |
| P2P lendings | 25 % | Regular interest income |
| Cryptos | 20 % | High return potential with higher risk |
| Call money | 5 % | Short-term reserves for emergencies |
Why this strategy makes sense for craftsmen:
- ETFs: These form the solid foundation of your portfolio. They allow you to participate in global economic growth over longer periods of time, while at the same time benefiting from moderate risk and normal market fluctuations.
- P2P lending: They generate additional income. Through ongoing interest payments, you continuously increase your disposable income and tap into another reliable source of income with minimal administrative effort.
- Cryptocurrencies: This asset class is characterised by increased volatility, but at the same time offers you the potential for disproportionate growth and exceptional profits.
- Savings accounts: These are ideal as emergency funds if you need liquidity at short notice or want to park your capital temporarily in a safe place without tying it up for the long term.
These investments fit well into the portfolio:
- ETFs: In a well-thought-out portfolio, many investors rely on a balanced mix of ETFs from industrialised countries and emerging markets, such as the iShares Core MSCI World (ISIN: IE00B4L5Y983) and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets (ISIN: IE00B3VVMM84). This allows you to benefit from the stability of established markets while also participating in the growth opportunities offered by emerging economic regions.
- P2P lending: Platforms such as Bondora or Mintos offer interesting opportunities for solid returns with manageable risk. They score points for their ease of use, long market presence and automated systems that save you a lot of work.
- Cryptocurrencies: With a smaller share, you can increase your overall return. Trading platforms such as Binance or Trade Republic enable you to carry out transactions quickly and easily without any significant administrative effort.
- Savings account: At Trade Republic, you currently receive around 2% interest on your uninvested capital (as of January 2026).
This combination can represent a balanced and clearly structured investment strategy for craftsmen, sensibly combining long-term asset growth, passive income streams and a solid sense of security.
Conclusion: High-yield investments for craftsmen in 2026
As a tradesperson, it is crucial to build up a well-thought-out nest egg to secure your long-term financial freedom. Even if your income is mostly stable thanks to regular jobs and projects, you should not rely solely on future jobs or potentially increasing daily rates.
Use the investment options presented to actively put your capital to work for you and become less dependent on short-term fluctuations in orders.
A well-thought-out mix of ETFs, P2P lending and a moderate proportion of cryptocurrencies can provide you with a reliable foundation. This allows you to participate in global economic growth, enjoy ongoing interest income and avoid having to deal with daily stock market fluctuations.
Many of these investments can be fully automated, saving you a considerable amount of time and reducing your administrative workload to a minimum. By spreading your capital widely across different types of investments and regions, you can minimise your default risk in the long term.
The earlier you start investing, the greater the effect of compound interest and the faster your assets will grow over the years.
With these financial investments for craftsmen, you can combine security with attractive return prospects and build up your assets efficiently, calmly and with an eye to the future, without neglecting your business.
FAQ: Frequently asked questions about investing money for craftsmen
