European (or German) State Bonds

[EuroShagg]

Hi there!

Building up my Permanent Portfolio (so exciting!).
I'm located in Belgium and looking for the best long-term bond investment.
I thought it would be much easier! I'd like to go with Germans Bunds, but it seems the purchasing of those is not so easy. Apparently, you can't by the 30-year ones directly from the German Finance Agency (only the max 10-year bonds can be purchased directly through the Agency - to be verified). Foreign banks take a 0,5 to 1% commission on the purchase + a yearly mgmt fee. In addition you have to trust the bank won't collapse. Taxes are also to be factored in.

Given these difficulties, I'm wondering about alternatives from long-term bonds on the European market.
Any body have any experience in this domain?

Thanks & greetings to all!
Danny

[tarentola]

For a discussion of relevant European bond ETFs, see
http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/in ... ic=1348.15

[EuroShagg]

For a discussion of relevant European bond ETFs, see
http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/in ... ic=1348.15

Thanks tarentola. This fund isn't traded through my online Belgian broker. Are you in Germany? Could you suggest an online broker over there? I've heard about maxblue, but I've also heard that it is not reliable to keep one's assets with maxblue as it's a daughter company of Deutsche Bank which is not the least risk-exposed...

[Peace]

Hi Danny,
I haven't looked into alternative European long-term bonds so I can't give any suggestions. Just thought I'd share my experience with German bonds. I bought them via ING DiBa. And then I had them transfer the bonds to the Finanzagentur by filling in a form, which I requested from ING DiBa's customer support. It took about 3 weeks, if I remember correctly.
Have you read Marc De Mesel's post about buying bonds?
For other brokers in Germany, see http://www.modern-banking.de/vergleich-brokerage-2.php and http://www.broker-test.de/.
Peace

[EuroShagg]

Hi Peace,

Thanks for the info!
Yes, I've read Marc's blog - it taught me a lot!
It seems he had some problems with his German broker who wanted to close his account cause it didn't like being used strictly as an intermediary. He couldn't guarantee it would work for others.
Was it easy to open an account on ING Diba? Are the conditions good? My problem is German...

Danny