And here is my August 2020 Passive Income Update. We are officially five months into the pandemic.

Beach on the Aegean Coast of Turkey in July 2020

Despite the pandemic, this past month felt quite special to me: I finally returned to Turkey, and it feels real good to be back. It is so interesting to see and experience how people in Turkey are coping with COVID-19 and its economic ramifications. I can report that things feel safe and I am excited to spend my summer here!

Also in terms of investing, July was a great month. While I spent time with friends on the Aegean coast and in Istanbul (see photos of this blog post), my passive income has crossed the 1,000 EUR line again: In July 2020, my passive income was 1,005.79 EUR:
– P2P lending: 583.83 EUR
– Real Estate Lending: 186.76 EUR
– ETF Dividends: 69.27 EUR
– Stock Photos/Videos: 165.93 EUR

Total Passive Income from P2P Lending, P2P Real Estate Lending, ETF Dividends and Stock Sales.
Total Passive Income from P2P Lending, P2P Real Estate Lending, ETF Dividends and Stock Sales.

Roadtrip along Turkey’s Aegean coast.

Passive Income Breakdown:


August 2020 Passive Income Investment Portfolio
August 2020 Passive Income Investment Portfolio

P2P & Real Estate Lending Overview – August 2020 Passive Income Update

As part of my August 2020 passive income update, here is a quick overview of passive income that I was earning this past month from three (3) P2P Lending and two (2) Real-Estate P2P Lending platforms that I am currently investing in.


  • Mintos: I have 32,100 EUR auto-invested on Mintos in loans from 24 loan originators (all with ratings from A+ to B+) in 20 countries. Yes, certain loans are up to 60 days delayed (especially now during COVID-19), but all loans have buyback guarantee.

    I had adjusted my auto-invest portfolios at the end of June, lowering the minimum interest rate to 10%, which “reactivated” my auto-invest portfolio. As a result my interest income on Mintos in June was 381.59 EUR (=self-calculated interest rate of 11.28% p.a.). My total earned interest on Mintos is 8,319.18 EUR.

    What else? Read my 2020 Mintos Review and Experience (including my Auto-invest Portfolio) settings here.
My Mintos Dashboard August 2020
My Mintos Dashboard August 2020

  • Twino: A great month for Twino! I added 6.000 EUR to Twino at the end of June, which were immediately invested. My total investment on Twino is now 13.500 EUR and my monthly interest on Twino climbed to 121.39 EUR (= 10.51% p.a.). The average loan duration of my loans on Twino is 9.18 months. All are with Buyback and Payment guarantee.

    What else? TWINO has launched a referral program. New investors who sign up with this link (https://financialfreedomjourney.eu/Twino) and invest at least 100 EUR, will get a 15 EUR bonus (as well as I receive a 15 EUR bonus).
Twino Portfolio Stats August 2020
Twino Portfolio Stats August 2020

  • Swaper: I lowered my investments on Swaper at the beginning of the pandemic and currently have only 1,400 EUR invested on the platform. My passive income from Swaper in July was 80.85 EUR. Some loans that were delayed in May and June…and the payment guarantee kicked in!

    What else? Swaper is currently running a promotion offering new investors who sign up through this link and invest 5000 EUR or more a 16% interest rate on all new investments during the first three months. The bonus will be activated after the first successful payment.

  • EstateGuru: I have build a lot of trust in EstateGuru and have added 11,000 EUR in June. My total investments on EstateGuru are 16,000 EUR which are invested in 41 real estate projects in Estonia, Latvia, Finland and Lithuania. 39 out of the 41 loans are performing on time. The other two are 12-26 days late.

    My average interest rate on EstateGuru is 10.97% p.a. For me EstateGuru is a great platform to diversify my risk by investing in real estate loans that are secured with a first-rank mortgage (physical security).

    As I mentioned in previous posts, almost all my loans on EstateGuru are either bullet or full bullet loans, which means that either principals or both interest+principals are being paid in full at the end of the loan period. Unfortunately, that means that some months I receive large interest and principal payments, some months I receive nothing. In July, I received 66.59 EUR in interest payments.

    What else? My EstateGuru review explains details as well as shows how to receive a 0.5% bonus as a new investor in the first three months. EstateGuru currently has some new loans available (11.5% p.a. & 12.00% p.a.).
My EstateGuru Dashboard August 2020
My EstateGuru Dashboard August 2020

  • CrowdEstate: As I have mentioned in previous posts, my experience on CrowdEstate is very mixed and I am on my way out. I have 5 investment projects remaining, 3 of which are significantly delayed (90+ days) and bankruptcy has been filed against one borrower (H.M Seafood OÜ).

    I suspended my auto-invest on CrowdEstate in January 2020 and withdrew my first 600 EUR in early February and another 450 EUR in March. The transfer arrived the next day, which was great. After my withdrawal, I still have a total of 950 EUR invested in CrowdEstate, which I will slowly withdraw as princial and interest payments are arriving. I have the option to sell my remaining loans on the secondary market for a 2% sell free, which I decided to not do as I am in no rush.

Early morning views of Kalkan in the south of Turkey in July 2020.

ExchangeTraded Funds (ETF) Update – August 2020 🥳

Even in times of COVID-19, I hold onto my opinion that investing in an MSCI World ETF back in 2016 was one of the best decisions of my life. I am explaining details in my ETF portfolio post, but in a nutshell, I believe there is no better and more cost-effective way to save & invest long term (e.g. for retirement) while earning passive income from dividends than through ETFs.

Why would I say that? Since I started investing in the MSCI World ETF in 2016, the value of the ETF has increased by 42.37% (despite the recent coronavirus-related shock in stock markets). The shares that I bought originally for 145.09 EUR a piece are currently valued 196.72 EUR.

As of today, I am holding 80,624.05 EUR in MSCI World and MSCI Emerging Market ETFs. The value of my ETF portfolio decreased by -0.78% in July but I am confident that it will continue to gain in value over the coming months/years, just like it did over the past four years.

My ETF Portfolio since beginning of this year (c) justetf.com
My ETF Portfolio since beginning of this year (c) justetf.com

Moving my ETF Portfolio to Degiro

I am in the process of moving my ETF portfolio to Degiro. After many years of investing at my regular bank (ING Bank), I am moving my ETFs to Degiro, a well-know and big European broker which offers a free online trader account and much lower transaction fees than my regular bank. When buying and selling ETFs, Degiro charges €2 + 0.03% per ETF trade which is the lowest I have seen on the market.

The trader account is absolutely free and more than 200 ETFs can be bought and sold without any transaction fees (1 transaction per month) More about DEGIRO and their free trader account here.

I was inspired to move to Degiro throug a post from my fellow investor blogger thepoorswiss.

My 1,000 EUR monthly ETF savings plan

Many of you will know about my 1,000 EUR monthly ETF savings plan which I talked about in my January Blog Post. It’s automated, runs in the background, and keeps buying MSCI World ETFs worth 1,000 EUR on the first of every month. It’s a fantastic way of cost-averaging and keeps me committed to my financial savings goals. More about my ETF savings plan and why it was such a great idea to go back to an automated saving plan in this blog post.


That’s it for my August 2020 Passive Income Update! If you are interested, please follow my journey on my Facebook page Financial Freedom Journey for more frequent updates. And as always: If you have any questions or comments, please pop them in the comment section below. Or get in touch via Facebook or Email.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and please do practice social distancing and save lives!
Peter 👋