See here for PART 1 and PART 2 of the e-book "Broken Money & the way out."

BACKGROUND:
I spent some time today looking through the Invity people's fintech offering. We met at BTCHEL, where they launched/announced some cool banking features for us Europooreans. https://stacker.news/items/1580878, #1581849* #1585380

Particularly, quite convenient auto-stacking, payment cards with bitcoin/stablecoins, and juicy-af cashback on every spend. (Up to stupidly low maximums, it turns out -.-)

Let's get going, anon (...or not, it's all KYC browskies)

Four Personal Finance Principles

1. "Buy only as much as you can afford to lose"

A typical recommendation: 1—5 % of the total portfolio for beginners. For strong exposure after verifying the framework: 5—10 %. More requires a high tolerance for volatility.

Most of us start like that... and end up with 120-150%. oops.

2. "DCAinstead of timing"
   This is psychology and practice moreso than statistically/economically sound: "Experience shows: DCAbeat the vast majority of attempts at active market timing." This is true only because most people tend to make non-optimal/stupid decisions when under the influence of psych or crazyiness or heavy drawdowns.
3. "Self-custody, as soon as it is reasonable"
   They say withdraw to self-custody above €2,000. Fair enough.
4. "A loan against the asset — an advanced strategy"

Three and four sort of don't work too well together... you usually need some sort of custody (or locked miniscript) to achieve lending.

For Bitcoin there are two models: custodial platforms (Ledn, Unchained, Bitfinex) — rates 10—17 % APR, LTV 30— 50 %. Decentralised protocols (AAVE, Maker, Sovryn, Lava Vault) — rates 4—10 % APR, without counterparty risk.

Not really, for e.g., Firefish (#1238176) you can get very secure and very cheap ones... say 4-6%.

INVITY AS A SIGNPOST

This chapter introduces the tools we build at Invity. It is not an advertisement — it is a summary of what steps you have available.

OK, sure bro.

The most common opening task: where to buy your first bitcoin in euros or koruna. Invity integrates dozens of European and global exchanges. For each transaction it shows not only the spot price, but the total cost including hidden spreads, SEPA/card fees and minimum volumes. The typical fee saved between the cheapest and most expensive exchange on a €400 purchase is 1—3 %.

eeeh, don't believe this is true anymore?

We are an independent comparison tool, not a broker. We don’t actively sell you any financial product. We have no commissions on whether you buy more or sell sooner. Our business interest is that you use the platform long-term — which means you have to be satisfied with what you find here.

PRETTY decent reading list

Understanding money in 2026 is more than a skill — it is a survival strategy. The generation that understood it gained in every historical epoch. The generation that did not understand it grew passively poorer. This book gives you no investment recommendation, will not replace a financial adviser and promises no miraculous gains. It gives you a framework in which you can form your own opinion. Your decision is yours — but now you make it with information the vast majority of people around you do not have.

"Now you know what the vast majority of people around you don’t."

lol, oka fine.

TL;DR for what the company offers:

• Convenient auto-stacking products -- ones that adjust to the market price (simple below/above 120-MA), including a version that uses debt (at 9.9%) to buy additional coins at opportune moments.
• Neat lending products -- though collateral held at another custodian, the minimum loan = €4,000, so quite a bit more than some of the other options available (but much less than Strike, which is the obvious competitor here.
• Sexy VISA card, with 1.5% cashback -- this is both underwhelming and overwhelming at once. Us Europooreans, thanks to EU regulations that cap card fees and protects us from the sorts of redistribution bullshit schemes that are all over American households' finances, don't do cashback. So waving a 1.5% cashback in pure bitcoin to us Europoorean Bitcoiners is making us drool. DOWNSIDE: it's capped to your tier (€500, €1,000, €2,000, meaning your paltry cashback is €7.5, €15, or €30 a month). And to get that tier, you have to autobuy €240, €480, and €960 respectively per month.
• Cheap fees: admittedly, the purchases/card top-ups seem quite cheap (advertised at 0.49% vs e.g. Revolut or Strike at 0.99%) but it's hard to tell what sort of hidden/spread-type fees there might be. Also, there seems to be a tier-level limited to how many spends you can get cashbacks on, unless you're also doing round-up (which is a cool feature, but is totally standard in most fintechs already -- again, Revolut.)

Yeah, I'm pretty excited to try it. Probably won't be as fantastic and incredible as it seems, but I have been looking for a SEPA/Europe-wide banking alternative that's more Bitcoin friendly than Revolut and as a back-up for next time Revolut freezes my funds (#1417296) or the KYC Sword of Damocles falls.

UPDATE: from first purchase, looks like about 2.2% spread to market price. NOT GREAT.

You can use my shady Ponzi scheme referral code (4PJH58) if you're keen on trying. Hashtag, multilevel marketing bullshit. https://invity.onelink.me/OfI3/p4pzan1u