Become someone who verifies before investing
In 5 min you'll know: how to activate 5-layer protection: emergency fund, debt, insurance, digital security and (Portuguese securities market regulator)
In Block 1 you built your emergency fund (Lesson 6) and learnt to protect yourself digitally (Lesson 9). In Block 2 you mapped the insurance universe (Lesson 10). Now you are going to connect everything into an active protection system — and learn how to verify whether whoever wants to sell you investments is legitimate. The rule: before investing a single cent, verify the entity with the and never transfer money to anyone who is not registered.
Before you continue: if you're already saving automatically every month, what happens if digital fraud strikes — how do you protect your money?
(Answer in the next paragraph.)
Your financial protection has five layers, in this order: (1) an emergency fund with 3–6 months of essential expenses (covered in B1-L06); (2) a plan to eliminate expensive debt — credit cards and consumer loans with a (annual percentage rate of charge — total credit cost) above 8% should be paid off before any investment; (3) essential insurance coverage — health, motor third-party liability and, if you have dependants, life insurance (did you check the exclusions from B2-L10?); (4) digital security — two-factor authentication on all banks, unique passwords, and phishing awareness (review B1-L09); (5) investment literacy — knowing how to distinguish an authorised financial intermediary from a scam.
The fifth layer is where the CMVM comes in. The CMVM is Portugal's financial markets regulator — the entity that registers and supervises anyone selling shares, bonds, investment funds, (retirement savings plan with tax incentives) and other financial instruments in Portugal. Before opening an investment account, buying a fund or accepting an "opportunity" someone offers you, go to the CMVM website (www.cmvm.pt) and check whether the entity is registered. If it is not, it is illegal. Full stop.
The (Portuguese insurance and pensions regulator) does the same for insurance and pension funds — did you verify your insurer with the ASF when we covered insurance in B2-L10? If not, do it now. Active protection is not a one-off event — it is a habit. Check annually whether your financial intermediaries remain registered, whether your insurance policies still cover what you need and whether your emergency fund is fully funded. A protection system that is not reviewed degrades silently.
Notice: Mowei is a financial education and comparison platform. We are not investment advisors authorised by the CMVM, nor insurance intermediaries authorised by the ASF. This lesson is general information, not personalised advice. For decisions on investment intermediaries, consult the register at investidor.cmvm.pt; to verify insurers and pension funds, consult www.asf.pt.
Verify the entity on CMVM before investing (30 seconds) →
Your promise: This fortnight, I will verify the emergency fund, debt list, insurance policies and CMVM registration of every intermediary.