List of tools I use
(some of these are affiliate links, but I only accept affiliations from tools I like and use)
Interactive Brokers (affiliate)
Interactive Brokers is the broker I use since 2016. It’s my favorite broker and one of my main sponsors.
It’s one of the oldest brokers around (founded in 1978).
It’s one of the brokers with the most assets under management.
IB has low fees and almost any financial product available.
It’s a publicly traded company on NYSE (Ticker IBKR).
Its S&P credit rating (in 2024) is “A- Outlook Stable” (while a sovereign nation like Italy has a S&P credit rating BBB).
In Italy, IB is authorized by the CONSOB (Italian Authority).
Please read my Interactive Brokers 101 guide to know more about why I think IB is the best broker for my investments.
Finpension (affiliate)
Finpension is the BEST Pillar 3A in Switzerland. lowest fee on the market, 99% investable in stocks, highly customizable, zero fees underlying ETFs, many tax benefits. I moved my and my wife accounts with them before they offered a referral program, so I’m really happy to share my code with you all.
Use my code MRIPI6 while registering, and deposit at least 1000 CHF to participate to a one in a thousand chances of winning 6883 CHF! Expected value of your ticket: 6.88 CHF 🙂
Full transparency disclosure: I’ll get a reward of 25 CHF per referral.
Same affiliate code (MRIPI6) can be used when opening a Vested Benefits Account or the Finpension Invest Wealth Roboadvisor.
Again, I love the tool and I’m uber-satisfied by their product. I was recommending it before they introduced the referral and I’d keep recommending it if they shut down the offer.
Amazon (affiliate)
I almost exclusively buy stuff on Amazon.
PF is our bank in Switzerland. I used to have a UBS account. I closed it in 2017. We now have several accounts with PostFinance: 3 CHF denominated, 1 EUR denominated and 1 USD denominated. We also have 3 Pillar 3a Pension accounts and Mrs RIP has her Vested Benefits Account with PF. It used to be free, now we pay 5 CHF/Month. We’re kind of satisfied, except when they behave like a 1900s bank.
Cembra is our Credit Card provider in Switzerland. It’s free of charge and has a 0.33% money back in cumulus (Migros) points.
A must.
Revolut (affiliate)
I joined the Revolut cult in August 2019. Revolut is our Credit Card of choice for payments in a different currency than CHF. We use Revolut for online payments in EUR, USD or GBP. It’s free of charge (below a certain amount), but also gives no cash-back.
My usage of PayPal is decreasing over time. It used to be my default way of sending money to other people, but things are changing fast. Both Revolut and PostFinance (and many other alternatives in Switzerland, like Twint) allow me to quickly send money to people and pay online. I still use PayPal to receive money for my services and for donations.
I write a lot. I take notes. I journal.
Before Roam, I only used Google Docs, and before that Text Files.
Roam changed my way of taking notes and organizing my Personal Knowledge Management system.
I try to use Roam for productivity and CRM as well, but still need to find the perfect setup.
It used to be free – it still is for me – but now they closed their beta. Once they’ll reopen, it will not be free anymore. I will probably pay for it, even though price point seems to be at 15 USD/Month…
Google Drive, Docs, Sheet and Slides
Spreadsheets are still my favorite tool when it comes to my personal finances.
I use Google Office Suite for almost everything. I like their cloud and office solutions!
The blogging platform I use for this blog.
This used to be my favorite “online meeting app” before the Covid-19 pandemic. I still use it when I want to meet someone. I have a room (whereby.com/retireinprogress) where I sometimes log in and meet random readers 🙂
Free online Visualizations and Calculators
cFIREsim – FIRE Calculator
FIRECalc – old FIRE Calculator
Networthify – Early Retirement calculator
InvestingFees – A simple online tool to show you the impact of fees on long term investing
Numbeo – Cost of Living comparison
Portfolio Visualizer – Portfolio and investment analytics platform (free for personal use)
Portfolio Charts – Portfolio Visualization
Mad Fientist FI Spreadsheet – Mad FIentist has a nice section of his blog called FI Labs, with a lot of interesting tools. Must admit my Net Worth Spreadhseet is way richer than his 🙂
Ciao,
ma la cumulus mastercard si può richiedere anche da chi vive in Italia o è solo per i residenti in Svizzera?
Non lo so, e in ogni caso non ne vedo il valore se vivi in Italia. Perché dovresti volere una carta in Franchi Svizzeri con un cashback molto limitato?
Roam Research vs obsidian owuld be very useful 🙂 I’m using evernote but is becoming slow and too bloated
Ciao Mr.Rip
Magari te lo hanno gia’ chiesto: ma che PC usi per coding (e quando eri in google lo stesso?)…Windows based o Mac o Linux?
Portatile o assemblato?
Ti ho appena scoperto su YT.
Grande
Ciao da Gianluca
Ciao Mr. Rip sono interessato al tuo servizio di personal finance coaching, c’è un modo per contattarti e chiederti alcune specifiche? Grazie.
Ciao
hai dei tuoi tool excel da condividere?
Grazie 🙂
Stefano
Salve Rip
Sono un giovane, anzi, giovanissimo studente che quest’estate gli piacerebbe aprire un blog in inglese che spiega in maniera semplice, coincisa e non troppo approfondita argomenti di cui mi appassionano molto, in particolare sono la tecnologia e la matematica. Fortunatamente, in quanto studente, quest’estate avrò praticamente ogni giorno libero a mia disposizione per poter concretizzare questo mio progetto. però ho una domanda (spero non troppo stupida), il blog dovrei crearlo con WordPress oppure programmandolo in css, html e javascript (così da avere una personalizzazione maggiore)?
P.S ho ottime competenze nella programmazione quindi non dovrei seguire un corso da zero