My IKZE investment scheme

For many of you this report will probably be as exciting as watching paint dry. And honestly, that is kind of the point.if you have any questions or tips, please don't hesitate to comment.

This is the first English-language post in what I hope will become a small series about my Polish retirement investing experiment. I just hope this post won't break any of this community rules.
Nothing particular. No leverage. No “next big thing”. No pretending that I am Warren Buffett ordered from Wish. Just regular contributions, ETFs, dividends, a few individual stocks and a lot of trying not to overthink things.
I try to focus on international markets, but want to have a foot in Polish GPW, which is now in ATHs.

The account I am using is called IKZE, which is a Polish tax-advantaged retirement account. Since most non-Polish readers probably have no idea what that is, I will start with a short explanation before moving to the actual portfolio. The app I use is XTB.

What is IKZE?

IKZE stands for Indywidualne Konto Zabezpieczenia Emerytalnego, which can be translated roughly as Individual Retirement Security Account.

It is one of the voluntary private retirement saving accounts available in Poland. It is not a separate investment by itself. It is more like a tax wrapper. Depending on the provider, you can use it to hold funds, ETFs, shares, bonds or other eligible instruments.

The main idea is simple:

1. You pay money into the IKZE account.
2. Your annual payments can be deducted from your taxable income, within the statutory yearly limit.
3. Investments grow inside the account.
4. If you withdraw the money properly after meeting the retirement conditions, the withdrawal is taxed at a flat 10%.
5. If you close the account early, before meeting the conditions, the full returned amount goes into your regular Polish PIT tax scale (18% and 32% over 120k PLN 45

In 2026 the IKZE contribution limits are:

I run a business in Poland, so I can use the higher limit.

There is one important catch: IKZE does not allow partial withdrawals. It is all or nothing. You either keep the account, transfer it, withdraw it after meeting the statutory conditions, or close it completely. That makes dividend investing inside IKZE a bit unusual, because the dividends cannot be used as actual cash flow today. They stay inside the account and have to be reinvested.

So why do I still care about dividends here?

Because psychologically they help. They show that the portfolio is doing something by itself. Small amounts, yes. But still something.

My strategy

I do not pretend to be good at traditional stock market analysis. I do not know how to properly value companies. I do not sit in the evening calculating discounted cash flows between coffee and work e-mails. I also do not have enough time to educate myself deeply enough to become a serious stock picker.

So I chose a strategy that does not require me to be brilliant.

The plan is:

1. Use the full IKZE contribution limit every year.
2. Build the core of the portfolio around FTSE All-World.
3. Add a second pillar of dividend ETFs.
4. Keep individual stocks only as satellites.
5. Reinvest dividends into FTSE All-World after the yearly contribution limit is used.
6. Focus mostly on international instruments, with maybe some Polish ETF exposure in the future.

The main point is not to beat the market. The main point is to build a system that I can actually follow.

What is inside the portfolio?

At the moment, I hold individual shares of:

• ZIM,
• Microsoft,
• Alphabet,
• Orlen,
• PZU.

Why Microsoft and Alphabet? Because in our slightly dystopian cyberpunk future, the giant tech corporations ruling the world may look a little more kindly at their shareholders. I treat them more like symbolic exposure than a deep fundamental investment thesis.

Why Orlen? Because it is a major Polish energy and fuel company. It is also a very political company, with strong state influence, so I do not treat it as a normal free-market stock. This is more of a small satellite position than a serious foundation of the portfolio.

Why PZU? Because it is one of those Polish companies that feels like it will always be there. A big insurer, boring in a good way, and historically quite dividend-friendly.

And ZIM? That one probably deserves a separate post. ZIM Integrated Shipping Services is an Israeli container shipping company listed on the NYSE. A friend from the shipping industry told me not to touch it because ZIM likes to “rip your hands off”. I bought it anyway, mostly because I looked at past dividends. Shortly after that, the stock rose and a takeover agreement by Hapag-Lloyd at 35 USD per share was announced. Sometimes stupidity looks like timing.

At the moment, the structure looks roughly like this:

And the detailed positions:

This is not a perfect portfolio. But at least it has some logic.

Over time, I would like FTSE All-World to become the largest part of the portfolio, ideally somewhere around 40–50%. Dividend ETFs should remain the second pillar, while individual stocks should stay as satellites, not the main engine of the whole thing.

Dividends

Here are all dividends received so far:

Current portfolio status

As of now, my IKZE looks like this:

These are not life-changing numbers. Not even close. But this is where the snowball starts, in the most microscopic version possible.

First 6 PLN arrives. Then 15 PLN. Then 24 PLN. Then one day SPDR pays 54.80 PLN and suddenly the spreadsheet starts looking slightly less ridiculous.

It is still more “coffee money” than passive income, but psychologically it works very well.

Dividends by year

2026 is the first year in which the portfolio actually starts to show visible dividend payments. Still small, obviously. But with regular contributions and reinvestment, those numbers should grow together with the portfolio.

If I manage to continue this until around retirement age, my current rough idea would be to eventually liquidate IKZE properly and move the whole portfolio into dividend ETFs. At that point, the goal would be to create an additional monthly income stream.

But that is a conversation for 20 years from now.

What changed since the previous month?

So the portfolio moved from 24,925.34 PLN to 26,212.14 PLN.

Again: nothing spectacular. But that is the entire point. I am not trying to win the market this month. I am trying to build a boring system that still works when I am tired, busy, distracted or not in the mood to think.

What next?

I still have 2,189.46 PLN of the 2026 IKZE limit left.

Right now I am leaning towards putting the remaining limit into SPDR S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats, and then using future dividends to buy more FTSE All-World.

This may not be the most mathematically pure approach, but it keeps the portfolio psychologically satisfying. The dividend part keeps me engaged. The broad global ETF keeps the strategy from becoming too narrow.

The long-term rule remains simple:

regular contributions + dividends + no excessive tinkering.

Is this portfolio protected against a bear market?

No.

This is still an equity-heavy portfolio. If markets fall, this portfolio will fall too. Dividend ETFs can also fall. Microsoft can fall. Alphabet can fall. Polish stocks can fall. ZIM can probably fall just because somebody somewhere sneezed near a shipping index.

Dividends are not a magic shield.

The actual protection here is not hedging. It is:

1. diversification,
2. regular contributions,
3. a long time horizon,
4. reinvesting dividends,
5. not allowing one single stock to become half of the portfolio again,
6. and trying not to panic.

That is the plan. Not exciting, but maybe that is why it has a chance to work.

Final disclaimer

This is not investment advice. It is only a record of my own decisions, mistakes, thoughts and experiments with IKZE.

I am not encouraging anyone to buy these specific ETFs or stocks. I do think that saving through IKE/IKZE in Poland makes a lot of sense, because it would be a shame not to use available tax advantages. But the exact approach is something everyone has to choose for themselves.

Some people prefer broad ETFs. Others prefer bonds. Others like dividend stocks. Some just want peace and simplicity.

My current model is:

• broad global market,
• some dividend ETFs,
• a few individual stocks,
• reinvestment,
• and not overcomplicating things.

Post rewards: 100% HP.