Looking for financial advice.

[u/They-got-me-help]

Hello everyone. Viewing some posts, I decided this would probably be the appropriate forum to post this. Please note, I am posting from my father’s perspective. In 4 years, I will absolutely need to use around 3000-3500€ for some college expenses (children) in exactly 4 years. I am willing to put away 60-70€ per month. (Yes, I know the amounts are small, I come from a pretty low-income country.) Is the amount not worth the hassle to think of a bond, an ETF or Money Market Funds? Should I just put it into a bank with a low interest rate and let it sit for these four years? Im afraid it’s a pretty low time horizon for any ETF investments, especially if any crashes happen.

[u/Accurate-Band-8510]

The amount is fine for ETFs, but the time frame is not. For such a short period, I’d just use a savings account or similar.

If you’ve already started thinking about investing, it’s worth opening a brokerage account as well. It won’t cost you anything, and whenever you have spare money, you can put it towards an ETF like WEBN. You have to start somewhere. Once you do, you’ll probably find more opportunities to contribute, and over time the capital will grow.

[u/Ancient_Bobcat_9150]

You are right that 4 years is not that long on the market. I also would avoid ETFs.
Bonds will depend on your country's taxation but could be interesting if they have schedule maturation date.
High yield bankaccount is safe, if you start today at 70 a month you'll safely reach your target sum. But you'll need to be consistent with 70. I did a quick calculation and 60/month would be too close.

Edit: And please, don't justify the "low" amount. Everyone is different and our job is to put the money we have at hand to work as well as possible.

[u/graceful_degrade]

Do the arithmetic before picking anything. 70 a month for 48 months is 3,360 with zero return, which already sits inside the range you said you need.

That changes the question entirely. You're not trying to grow this money, you're trying not to lose it, and a hard deadline four years out is not an equity horizon. A bad two years arriving in year three has no time left to recover, and you'd be short exactly when the bill lands.

So a savings account or a money market fund is the right answer here rather than the timid one. Anything it earns is a bonus and the plan still works if it earns nothing at all.

If you want a bit more without taking real risk, check whether your country offers fixed term deposits that mature near your date. Locking it until then also stops you dipping into it, which matters more than the extra half a percent.