Pointedstick wrote:Is this a common problem in Portugal?

Not really.

There are obviously some dubious issues going on with some bank and trading companies regarding derivatives products, however for the most part I do not think that Portugal is any worse or better than any other countries.

Those assets being in USD or EUR is meaningless.

What is important is your/my currency (EUR). The CAGR is obviously in EUR.

Regarding the performance of a EU-PP portfolio, I have actually did some testing (which may be replicated in the future... or not!) from 1 July 2007 onwards. The following is the performance that it gave me:                       CAGR 2007 (July-Dec) 2,92 2008               -3,31 2009               ...

The problem for an European in holding a US LT bond is: a) They will have to buy them in the secondary market (no idea of the tax implications) b) They will have to buy a ETF in America Be careful with the 2nd alternative, since Capital Gains Tax may be triggered in the USA above $ 60k upon your dea...

Frugal, put those 10% (or whatever percentage, since the VP is completely independent of the PP) in a global ETF that tracks the MSCI World (or the MSCI World ACWI if you like EM).

You can look at justetf.com for the best ETFs that track those indexes.

Set it and forget it. Nice and easy. 

Well, I am quite sane and it served me well the last decade. iShares Euro Government Bond 15-30yr UCITS ETF. Current allocation: Italië: ~ 30%, Germany ~ 28 %, France ~22 %, Spain ~ 10 %, Netherlands ~ 8 %. Cost 0,2 %. And it is very easy to buy/sell. I also like the Lyxor UCITS ETF (FCP) EuroMTS 1...