Do triple check that; the law I think says you have to maintain your investment, which I have always taken to mean the number of units you bought, not the value. Likewise if your fund falls in value you don’t have to top up.
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If it’s allowed (I’m not sure), you’d probably have to be prepared to add funds if the market tanks.
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I replaced my SDIRA investment with personal funds in November, and along the way my lawyers cautioned me that at all times I must maintain AT LEAST the original number of investment UNITS. So, the implication is that it is the units that count, not the value, so harvesting gains is not allowed, unfortunately. This is the advice of my lawyers - It sounds like other lawyers see things differently, but I would be very wary of doing this.
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My understanding, from research and my lawyers, is that you have to maintain the principal investment the full five years. I’ve been told that you can withdraw dividends but that’s it, and Optimize doesn’t pay dividends.
Rumor is that Optimize has a couple of new GV eligible funds in the works, maybe one will be dividend paying and there will be a way to change investment strategies without moving the cash around?
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Makes you wonder how AIMA would view a fund that takes in €500k investments of 5000 units at €100 per unit. Then six months later the fund pays investors a dividend of €90 per unit. Your investment is intact: you still own the original 5000 units; it’s not your fault the fund sent you a €450k check…
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While researching my investment I came across some leveraged funds where you’d put in 300-350k euros, they’d loan you the remainder and then after 5 years your principal would be returned, the loan would be repaid and the lender would get any growth from the fund as profit. The consensus seemed to be that this structure may not hold up to scrutiny unless the loan was from outside of Portugal.
I’m actually not sure how IRA investors handle RMDs. Maybe they’re young enough that they don’t need to take distributions.
Thanks for sharing this. Honestly, the most reassuring part is not even the profit, but the fact that the redemption actually worked smoothly and the funds came back without drama.
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I’ll give you another one.
What if I cash out completely from fund 1 and invest only 500k into fund 2. I am sure that should be allowed.
Especially since many people will have closed funds expiring.
So if you made money let’s say 20%, wouldn’t it be a safer strategy to take our profits after 3-4-even 5 years?
Even if technically allowed, I can’t imagine it’s common - and AIMA isn’t consistent with the common stuff, so I assume it’d be no end of trouble convincing the bureaucrats that what you did is ok
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The rules say you have to make and maintain the investment for duration of the GV period.
The most conservative reading of the law is that once you make the investment you don’t touch it for the entire GV period - if it was real estate you don’t sell it, take out a mortgage against it or otherwise dispose of it, if it was a financial investment you don’t touch the principal or any gains from it.
Obviously this can’t be a hard and fast rule, though, because sometimes funds dissolve or expire and presumably the state would want to keep that money within Portugal. The consensus in prior conversations is that switching funds might be seen as a failure to maintain your investment which could jeopardize your GV status and that if it must be done your attorney should probably petition AIMA for permission to do so. I suspect they’d have no problem with reinvestment due to fund dissolution but they might have a very different attitude about changing investments to take profit.
If you’re lucky enough to be making a significant profit from this whole process why mess with it?
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I guess you were one of the 40? 
Some people will still think Portugal is worth it, for its own sake, because they like Portugal in the same way its people probably often do - despite its own government and inability to get out of its own way. Or they like its people. The ARI GV PR isn’t what they want, but it’s sufficient to purpose or they’re already hooked on the place.
For some, residence in any EU country is better than no residence at all, or Schengen access is valuable in and of itself because they don’t otherwise have it. Many people are coming from … straitened… circumstances, after all.
And for some, it completely just isn’t anymore and it’s time to leave.
The problem for investment firms like Optimize isn’t just the loss of current investors (like myself), it’s that very little new money is flowing in. Optimize is trying to incentivize new investors, such as offering them a complimentary 5 day vacation to Portugal.
A 5 day vacation is not enough for me to make a mediocre investment in GV that won’t lead to citizenship.
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They should eliminate the 1% funding fee and lower expense ratio.
So like time-share sales tactics now. In case you didn’t think PT GV hucksters could sink any lower.
Yes but it’s not a huge problem they are done just fine I am certain, even if they only have 30-40+ clients like me. Total. 
That would be smart but it’s not the way Portuguese firms think.
Congrats to you! I wish funds had been available when I invested in 2021 (or at least I didn’t know of them) as now I have to wait and hope that I can get my EUR350k investment back from Mercan ‘when they decide to honor their side of the contract’. This nightmare is still going to take at least another year for me to completely shut down, but I carry the same sentiment as you, and wish I knew in September 2025 what we did in December 2025, as I would have never paid the $7k for my ‘first residency card’ which brings nothing of value to me.
Did you ever get the actual catd?