This is a slight deviation from my usual topics, but after having taken a nearly year-long trip, seen wonderful sights, eaten amazing food, experienced cultures and made new friends, I now find myself settled down on the other side of the world, in Sweden.

Naturally there have been a number of adjustments to coming here, one being that banks pay 0% on your savings. Of course, mortgages and loans are also lower than I’m used to, but I don’t have a mortgage here – so what to do with my savings now that I’m working full time again?

Here is a review of some of the solutions I’ve found, for any curious expats wondering whether to bring their savings into the country (or native Swedes wanting to change things up a bit!).

For those who don’t want to read all the details, I’ve included a summary table at the bottom.

I should note however, that to make the most efficient use of these banking systems, you do need BankID/MobilBankID to approve the immediate transactions. 

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SBAB 

Out of all the ‘standard’ Swedish banks this one is by far the best that I found. It offers an online-only savings account at a fixed 0.60% interest, which is of course covered by bank guarantee. It may not sound that high, but this is a higher rate than the other banks offer even on 6 and 12-month fixed term deposits. And it’s better than 0%. I use this as a supplement to my transaction account.

Pros:

• No risk
• Quick and easy access to your money
• Simple mobile app with few controls means you can probably work it out even if you don’t speak Swedish.
• Instant account opening with BankID
• Money is in your account next business day.

Cons: No real cons but a few niggles.

• The (at least Android) app is somewhat annoying since you can’t save recipients and so have to type in your transaction account number every time you want to make a transfer out (if it’s to another bank).
• It also stays logged in even if you try to close the app, and will keep reminding you about this until you go back in and manually log out.
• No summary of how much you’ve earned – so if you don’t want to wait until the end of the financial year but, like me, are motivated to save by seeing your account grow, you’ll need to set up your own spreadsheet or similar to track your deposits, withdrawals, and interest earned.

Avanza 

Venturing into the world of easy-investment to try and get the most out of my savings, I opened what Swedish banks call an “ISK” (Investment Savings Account) with Avanza. These work by having a balance, like a bank account, and investing through managed funds where you can withdraw your money at any time without having to sell or buy in whole units of shares. Many other banks also offer these ISKs, but I’ve only tried Avanzas.

Not knowing much about buying shares and bonds, I tested two of their Automated funds, one set at aggressive/high risk, and another set at moderate/medium risk. Initially, I was really pleased with the performance but after a few weeks my accounts lost all their profit and some of my capital as well. It’s now slowly creeping back up again.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Instant transfer from many Swedish banks
• Potential to make a decent return of 10-15%
• More advanced traders can self-select their funds, or rookies like me can use the automated settings and trust their fund managers

Cons:

• Like any trading on the global market, there will be fluctuations and loss is possible. It’s probably best to use an account like this for medium term investments of 3-5 years rather than short term, since that gives you a better chance at recovery and growth
• It’s very slow. Although the money arrives into your account immediately, it can take up to a week to actually confirm the purchase of a fund. Likewise when selling, the quickest you’ll get your money back and free to invest in other funds or transfer out is 3 business days
• I found that the account with ‘lower’ risk (Auto 2) earned less but actually lost more with each fluctuation, so I decided to withdraw from that fund completely

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I’d initially thought to split my savings equally between SBAB and Avanza, adding a little more each month to both to hopefully get some returns but also play things a bit safe, but I wasn’t really satisfied with either option, so I went looking for alternatives, and found 4 that seemed to be reliable and had mostly good reviews.

I’ve just started out with these, so a review of their actual performance will follow a few months down the track, but here are my initial thoughts. All four options below allow you to start with a small investment amount of your choosing, such as 100€ or 500€

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Bondora 

Bondora is an Estonia-based P2P lending platform that also operates like an ISK. Information on the website is accessible in both Swedish and English.

Pros:

• It’s fast. Money arrives almost immediately through direct deposit from Swedish banks (via Trustly)
• Quick access to money – operates like an ISK and you can withdraw at any time
• Daily summary of earnings – even with a small deposit you can see a few cents growth the day after depositing
• Questionnaire helps you select the most appropriate account set up for your needs, and there are options for both experienced fund investors and those wanting the work done for them (Go & Grow)

Cons:

• Not easy to figure out how to change your account type or open other account types once you’ve been ‘allocated’ into the one they view as most appropriate
• The fully automated account has a somewhat lower interest rate for an investment portfolio, which is currently fixed at 6.75%

CrowdEstate 

Another Estonia-based P2P platform, CrowdEstate specifically enables P2P loans in the real estate sector, with some in corporate finance. Currently there are live projects in Estonia, Latvia and Italy.

Pros:

• Minimum investment of 100€ per loan
• Best for medium term investments as many loans are for 3-4 years
• It is possible to buy other investors out of loans that have just a few months left, but the return will be a little lower
• Typically 10-15% returns but range from just a few % up to about 20%.
• Website in English
• A lot of detail about each loan
• Secured and unsecured loans available, so you can select your risk level to some degree
• Autoinvest option

Cons:

• Slow. I’ve been waiting 4 business days and my money still isn’t live in my account
• Exit contracts early only by selling on the second hand market
• Limited number of loans available, so you may not be able to invest where and as much as you like if you aren’t fast

Mintos 

I was interested in Mintos because it seems to be well reviewed, and regarded as being quite flexible. Based in Latvia, it operates on a loan basis.

Pros:

• Large pool of loans across industries and countries means you can diversify and reduce your risk
• You get a detailed breakdown of the status of your investments, including which ones are overdue on payments
• The option to control your portfolio, or ‘auto invest’
• Choice of currencies to make your deposit in, so you can choose how much SEK to deposit rather than selecting a EUR amount and waiting to see the conversion. Pay by bank transfer, transferwise, or several other e-money providers
• Detailed breakdown of loans including duration, interest rate, and source provider
• Rates range from 5-18%
• Website in English

Cons:

• Also a bit slow. Currently waiting on the 3rd business day to see my deposit in my account
• Currency exchange fees apply to loans in various currencies
• Some projects may take several months before they start making interest payments, so you won’t see a quick return
• Exit contracts early only by selling on the second hand market

Kameo 

Kameo is a Danish based P2P lending platform operating in Sweden and Norway and specifically focused on the Nordics. Similar to CrowdEstate this system is based around individual loan-projects, but it’s not restricted to real estate.

Pros:

• Low risk (verified loans)
• Return of 5-15% depending on which loans you help finance
• Earnings are submitted to Skatteverket and automatically included on your tax statement
• Control – you can choose the loans you wish lend to
• Lend in small increments (500kr)
• Interest is paid out monthly

Cons:

• No information in English
• Low diversification on small investments since you must select the individual loans to finance
• You cannot withdraw your money at any time, only when the loans are concluded
• Capital may be repayed monthly, quarterly, annually, or at loan conclusion, so carefully review the terms of each loan
• Limited number of loans available, so you may not be able to invest where and as much as you like if you aren’t fast

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From my experience so far, Bondora is my recommendation for short term investments mostly due to its speed and instant gratification (a big bonus for me when wanting to motivate myself to save more!), but Mintos also seems to be very flexible with a lot of data available and I can see why it was well recommended. If you’d think these suit your needs and you’d like to try them out, I would be grateful if you use my referral links!

Thanks for reading 🙂

Bondora – https://bondora.com/ref/emilyc

Mintos – www.mintos.com/en/ref/9FEPMV

Please note that of course this does not constitute financial advice, and is merely my observations of several platforms. If you are looking for a personalised investment strategy, please visit a financial professional.