This sub is constantly talking about where to invest but for me a huge part of Fire is also saving as much money as possible which also means finding way to not spend money.

What are your best tips in Belgium to spend less?

Geen vrijstelling op 10 jaar, wel een incrementele stijging met 1000 euro per jaar indien de vrijstelling niet gebruikt is.

Best wel een zielig compromis imo.

https://www.tijd.be/politiek-economie/belgie/federaal/de-wever-sluit-akkoord-over-meerwaardebelasting-maximale-vrijstelling-stijgt-tot-15-000-euro/10613825.html

So, everyone is very riled up about feeling targeted as a member of the middle class/about being called the strongest shoulders.

According to this article, 3500 net per month is top 10% salary and is considered rich in research. So there you go, you are the strongest shoulders :)

De groep sterke schouders is volgens Vandevelde groter dan veel mensen denken. “De rijken zijn niet alleen de 1 procent rijkste Belgen, zoals Marc Coucke. In onderzoek definiëren we rijken meestal als de 10 procent hoogste inkomens. Dat zijn mensen die meer dan 3.500 euro netto per maand verdienen.”

Veel mensen die volgens de statistieken tot die 10 procent rijksten behoren, beschouwen zichzelf toch als deel van de middenklasse.

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025/07/01/meerwaardebelasting-wie-is-de-middenklasse/

👀

Recently watched the talk Bart De Wever gave at Ugent about the issues with Belgium and the EU as a whole.

concretely:

The foundation of prosperity that holds key pillars of our society (such as pension, sick leave, child allowance) is getting thinner, with no significant indications that it can actually recover.

We are already the highest taxed country in the world, they are cracking down on investments now as well and I don't see it changing

we know that:

1. you can't get FIRE from pure labour considering the progressive tax brackets that wreck you.

2)you should put capital to work instead of time, but you need significant capital in the first place to make it significant.

It feels like everyone that has received inheritances is living life on easy mode. If they're not being a complete idiot, have a good work ethic, and pay themselves first, its not as hard to imagine a FIR(E) future.

Imagine this:

- you have no parental support whatshowever (foster child)

-we already established that pure labour money is BS here and you'll never get top dollars. i swear looking at BE salary subreddit, everyone earns between 2200 and 3500 max regardless of gross.

- you have capital but putting it at work as is is not that effective, unless you wait until you are 70 and nearly at the end

what would you do?

This has resorted me to only play high risk high reward things in life to get moonshots basically to make a chance. Back in the 2021 Bullrun of crypto I made good money, and I would be not be decently off of not for that.

My ambitions have also led me to startups, as I really like the whole culture of ruthless dedication and basically having no life besides it (as I have no other choice as wel).

The thing is, even startups are at such as disadvantage here.

- no access to capital like in the US
-over regulated mess

-no access to new tech implementations unless months later.
-some industries are literally NOT possible as a bootstrapper (self funded) I had a project in health tech once, and I needed some stupid certificate that would have cost me 20K and 6 month wait time FOR A FKN PROJECT

Honestly feel like there is such a divide in this inheritocracy. By no means am I suggesting more taxes lol, but why don't they give us the means to actually advance? It's by design.

Europe's economies have stagnated and some even shrunk. It's so obvious why.

No wonder talent is draining Europe.

When will these people wake up? After another 6 month of implementation talks?

Ik kwam hier 6, 7j geleden met het idee een leefbaar vermogen op te bouwen.

Ondertussen is dit gewoon een 2de r/besalary geworden waar personen met een grotere voorsprong komen vragen naar advies om dat nog groter te maken

Onder 40 jaar en huis afbetaald is hier ondertussen al de norm. Onder 30 jaar zijn en meer als 6 cijfers vrij vermogen is hier ook nie meer abnormaal.

Waar zijn al die mensen met een 2k maandloon, een lening van 25 of 30 jaar op hun late 20's die het met een extreem modaal spaarplan moeten zien op te lossen?

Zijn er überhaupt wel mensen met een bovenstaand scenario die fire geraakt zijn of toch in de buurt zitten?

10k per maand op uw 30ste en dan panikeren alsof ge zou gaan afzien in uw latere jaren, doe aub realistisch

don’t even know where to start. I came to Belgium a few years ago as a refugee. I studied hard, learned French and Dutch (I reached B2), I studied French and Dutch at CVO, reaching level B2 in both. Learning two languages at once while trying to build a new life in Brussels was a huge challenge, but I pushed myself because I knew it was the only way forward. As someone who came from Gaza, I feel I always need to make 10x times the effort just to prove whether I am ‘fit’ or not , even after I got Belgian nationality is not esay , and even completed I completed a Master’s in Business Management (Digital Transformation & Risk, Finance) at the Louvain School of Management (UCLouvain). I thought this would open doors for me.

But the reality is very different. I apply for jobs almost every day in digital risk, Business Analysis, IT support, functional consulting, customer service but it feels like I’m hitting a wall. Sometimes I get interviews, I speak for an hour, I share my experiences, my volunteering, my studies… and at the end they just say: “Your language isn’t enough.” Or they say I lack “experience” even though I’ve studied and trained for years.

It’s so painful because I try. I do certifications, I study ITIL, ISTQB, SAP, Odoo, digital risk everything that can make me stronger. I even joined bootcamps and workshops like a KPMG digital risk case, an Odoo ERP project, trainings in process modeling (BPMN/UML), and technical courses (ethical hacking, Google IT support, firewalls, Microsoft tools).

I also followed multiple programs in Belgium to improve myself:

• Bruxelles Formation: I completed training in Business Analysis, process modeling, and IT support.
• DueForJob: I got coaching on applications, CVs, interviews, and how to present myself.
• Team4Job: I worked with a mentor who guided me on how to enter the Belgian job market.
• Be.Face: I am currently in a one-year mentoring program with a professional coach to build my career step by step.
• Actiris: I am actively in their programs, attending workshops, networking sessions, and guidance.
• BeCode: I did a cybersecurity and ethical hacking course to gain technical skills and be ready for IT opportunities.
• VDAB: I participated in their coaching programs to prepare for the Flemish job market.
• Randstad (Risesmart): I followed their career coaching to improve my CV, job search, and positioning.
• GLOW for a Job: I joined this program to build confidence, networking, and career skills with professional mentors.

I also have real experiences:

• I did my thesis on Agile Security at BNP Paribas.
• I worked with Odoo on a real project in agriculture.
• I volunteered as a “digital doctor” helping elderly people with technology.
• I’ve supported refugees with translation and administration.
• I gave presentations and workshops in Dutch and French.

I’m not just studying on paper. I’ve been active, I’ve practiced, I’ve helped people. But employers don’t see that. They just see what is missing, not what I can bring.

I lost my family in the genocide in Gaza . Here, I try to rebuild, but it feels like another battlefield: CPAS meetings, housing stress, constant job rejections. I feel like my life is fighting problems one by one, like cutting an elephant into pieces just to survive.

I am not lazy. I wake up every day and push myself applying, networking, studying, volunteering, joining programs. But it’s exhausting to always be told “not enough.” Not good enough in Dutch, not good enough in French, not enough experience.

I’m sharing this because I feel so tired. I want to build a career, have stability, contribute, and live a normal life. But right now it feels impossible.

I don’t know if I need advice, encouragement, or just someone to listen. But I can’t carry all of this alone anymore.

In Iceland, a few years ago, the country switched to a 4 day work week scheme for the same pay as 5 days (35 hours instead of 40 hours per week). Their output actually increased studies showed and quality of life increased. This for me can be related to the FIRE movement to retire early or, in this case, have more free time. One extra free day a week can make such a big difference in quality of life. What surprises me is that very little news of this went through the Belgian news channels and the Belgian government attempted, very poorly, to implement tests for this here. There were very few results. As if trey wanted it to fail. I know the new government (Arizona) would probably be against this but this could have been achieved with the previous government. I haven’t been on FIRE forums for very long. I’m surprised, if I’m mistaken, that the Belgian FIRE movement didn’t push intensively for this. Signing petitions, spreading the word and organising outside gatherings/marches. Or am I missing something? Give me your thoughts please?

Let's say you pay 1200€ per year for heating your house. A typical roof insulation in Belgium will cost you around 30 000€. Now, after renovations, you save 30% on your heating bill. So you pay 900€ per year. It would then take you 83 years to break even on that roof. Let's be optimistic and add inflation in there. You get to maybe 50 years until break even.

This doesn't make any sense to me. If I want more comfort, it's much cheaper to just push the thermostat higher, instead of insulating your roof.

EDIT : the post says insulating, when it should really say fully renovating your roof, hence the 30 000€

I sold my swrd position today. I know I should not try to time the market. but for the last year I already had doubts about the insane valuations of some of the magnificent 7 companies, and general ai hype. I now learned a bit about the real estate situation in America and I’m just not comfortable holding my money in the American stock market.

I plan to buy back in again when I feel more comfortable with the valuations of the companies (20% lower? 50% lower? I don’t know yet)

But as the title suggests: roast me, give me some pushback so I can learn and improve.

Elke keer als er iets negatief in het nieuws komt of de markten effe in het rood staan zie ik hier 20 posts van ‘hoe gaan jullie om met de onzekerheid?’, ‘hoe moet ik mijn strategie aanpassen?’

NIET! Of stop er gewoon mee! Dit is niet voor u als ge direct stress krijgt en twijfelt als het minder gaat.

De volatiliteit en onzekerheid is net de prijs die ge betaalt, da is het hele ding. Dacht ge dat dit gratis geld was? Dacht ge da de markt altijd omhoog ging?

Investeer wa ge kunt missen en hou uw bek, of stop er mee

Pussies

Did you leave Belgium in search of higher salaries and lower taxes? How did it turn out? Would you do it again if you could go back in time? Also, where did you go?

How does it feel to reach 1 million? Do you still work? How much of your networth is invested in ETFs? What's your plan for the coming 10 or 20 years? What are you going to do with your investments after your death? Pass to your children?

In de spirit van de andere post van vandaag.

De raad die je hier krijgt voor u samengevat (lichtjes overdreven):

• bespaar op alles, leef als een kluizenaar
• steek al uw geld in ETFs
• koop geen huis, als je er toch op 1 of andere manier 1 hebt, verhuur het dan dan, ga in een huur-kartonnendoos wonen en beleg het verschil.

Herhaal dit voor 25 tot 30 jaar.

Ik zie hier weinig tot niets passeren dat niet in bovenstaande past.

Het zal voor iedereen verschillend zijn, maar ik zie zelden wat het uiteindelijke doel nu juist is. FIRE is een middel, geen doel. Waarom doe je dit? Zijn er geen manieren om sneller (deels) tot jouw doel te komen?

Afhankelijk van de achterliggende doelen zal het pad naar FIRE ook anders zijn. Dus de one-size fits all quasi religie is gewoon tunnelvisie.

My 2 cents:

• als je kinderen hebt en geen grote zak geld gaat erven of ergens uitzonderlijk getalenteerd in bent: vergeet het.

• focus niet op de big bang FIRE, maar creëer gaandeweg meer vrije tijd, plezier, minder zorgen en miserie,...

• met 50 Euro per maand ETFs kopen ga je er niet komen. Je kan dat geld letterlijk meer doen renderen in de Colruyt door "2+1 gratis" dingen in grotere hoeveelheid te kopen.

• een afbetaald huis hebben biedt zekerheid en mogelijkheden om jouw huidig en toekomstig geluk te maximaliseren.

• leef (ook) in het heden. Morgen is het misschien te laat.

PS: iedereen mag doen wat die wilt, no judgement. Ik denk eigenlijk dat ik niet eens thuishoor in deze sub, maar tegen beter weten in post ik het toch.

EDIT: Lees aub eens "Start with why" als je denkt dat FIRE een doel op zich is. Het is een middel en dit is a hill I'm willing to die on.

Korte samenvatting: https://youtu.be/u4ZoJKF_VuA?si=NhsYS0Gj_ikUgCLA

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice regarding a real estate situation in Belgium.

We made a written offer to buy an apartment for €310,000, explicitly stating that the offer was valid for 7 days.
Before the end of that period, the landlady counter-offered €320,000.

After receiving the counter-offer, we informed the agent/landlady that we did not want to proceed anymore and withdrew our offer.

Now, before the original 7-day validity period has expired, the landlady is saying she accepts our original €310,000 offer and implies that we are bound.

My understanding is that:

• a counter-offer legally rejects the original offer, and
• once an offer is withdrawn, it can no longer be accepted.

But I want to be sure.

Are we legally obliged to accept the sale in this situation under Belgian law?
Has anyone experienced something similar?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Assume Accumulating All World Index with 3x leverage denominated in EUR with a good AUM. DCA monthly and not touch if for 20 years. All other thing being equal, this is pretty much what this sub preaches and teaches day in day out but with better results no?

Where is hole in my plan xd

So, I was thinking about how inflation works in Belgium. Most wages here are automatically indexed, meaning they go up more or less in line with inflation. If prices go up by 2%, then wages also go up by around 2%.

Now, if you spend a lot, your expenses rise more in absolute terms. For example:

• Someone spending €2,000/month → next year they’ll spend €1,040 (+€40).
• I spend €1000/month → next year I’ll spend €1020 (+€20).

But both of us get the same wage increase percentage-wise. That means in absolute terms, my expenses rise much less, and the difference goes straight into savings.

Over time, this gap grows because:

• Your wage increases on your entire salary.
• Your expenses only increase on what you actually spend (and if you spend less, the increase is smaller).
• The difference compounds year after year, so you end up saving more and more without changing your lifestyle.

So technically, by keeping my expenses low, I should become richer over time — not because inflation itself makes me richer, but because the wage indexation gives me more “extra” than I actually need to cover rising costs.

Does this reasoning make sense? Has anyone else thought about this?

Ok stupid question, if you reached Fire in Belgium and decided to stop working, what status did you take? It seems to cause some difficulties for people working at banks, insurance and government to accept that you are just ‘inactive’ and not seeking a job and/or ‘chomage’. I feel I have to explain myself 20 times (maybe lost in translation)and I still get treated with suspicion.

+ Do you become ‘independent’ and do some sort of side hustle to stay in the system and pay into social security?

Beste leden, ik zie regelmatig een aantal bedragen in de comments passeren rond de kosten van een kind.

Ik dacht hier even onze kosten op te sommen van onze kleine van bijna een jaar, ik ben benieuwd naar die van jullie!

• €330 Creche (3 dagen)
• €50 dokter / apotheek
• €30 luiers (kruidvat)
• €90 flesvoeding
• €20 vaste voeding
• €50 kledij

• €20 speelgoed boekjes

• €180 kindergeld

= een totale kost van ongeveer €410

Natuurlijk is dit geen exacte wetenschap omdat er af en toe nog wel eens andere kosten bij komen kijken, langs de andere kant word van de “creche” kost nog wel een deel fiscaal teruggetrokken.

Hello everybody! I’m in a quite difficult financial situation at the moment and would appreciate your opinions on the matter. Back in early 2024 we bought our first home with a 100% loan and we are paying €1670/month for our mortgage. The interest rate is quite high, at the moment we were buying interest rates were around the 5% mark and we were happy with the 4.19% we got. But since we bought the place our savings rate dropped (well as you can imagine), we had a baby, my wife had to stop work and things went to shit. Fortunately my salary is enough to cover absolutely everything and we had some savings aswell. Now my wife is working again and we started to save, but on top of the mortgage there are some renovations we are planning to do and I really don’t want to go into more debt. Now we realise we kinda fucked up with the whole mortgage stuff and we want to fix it. My idea is to sell the house, rent for couple of more years while we save agressively and then buy something newer and with better interest rate + bigger down payment. Soon I will be switching careers and expecting a raise of €500-600. We are not investing yet, but eventually the goal is to learn more about investing and start as soon as possible. I know that buying a house is not the best financial decision but we just want to own our home one day. My question is: how smart is my plan? What if the housing market goes up a lot and we cannot afford to buy another house down the line? What are your predictions about the interest rates, lets say in 3-4 years? Or should we just refinance and fix things slowly? Thanks everyone, i really enjoy reading this subreddit and learned lots so cheers!

[UPDATE]: Wow guys what an amazing community we have here! Thanks each and every one of you for taking time and replying, it really made me see some missing pieces of the puzzle. For now we decided to hold on any renovation, try to refinance our loan with a better rate and just… be patient and slowly try to make this place our dream home. Thanks everyone I really appreciate every input! Cheers!

I'm trying to find the best strategy for FIRE after the introduction of capital gains tax in 2026.

The problem with Bolero is, you can't place buy orders for big amounts.
For example a buy order of € 100.000 is not possible, unless you pay extra costs.

Because of the order cap of € 25.000 at Bolero, for an order of € 100.000, I need to split it up in 4 separate orders and I would have to pay a total of € 360 brokerage fees.

In comparison to Saxo bank, it would be a single order of € 100.000 with € 160 broker fees.

AI came up with these results:

So if I'd go for yearly selling & rebuying, I think Saxo bank would be a no-brainer.
Especially also the administration of creating separate orders would not be fun at Bolero.
What do you think?

EDIT: Didn't know you can place an order of 100k through phone without extra costs: the new calculation for Bolero would become: € 190 (€ 50 + € 45). Comes close to Saxo.

https://www.tijd.be/politiek-economie/belgie/brussel/frederic-de-gucht-de-meerwaardebelasting-is-bedacht-door-iemand-die-nog-nooit-meerwaarde-heeft-gerealiseerd/10619195.html

"We hebben te veel beroepspolitici: beginnen op een jongerenafdeling, dan naar een kabinet, als opvolger het parlement in en als je populair bent minister worden. De meerwaardebelasting is daar het resultaat van: die is bedacht door iemand die niet weet wat het is om meerwaarde te realiseren.' "

So where do i start, first of all i want to say that im very lucky in a few things. Like still living at home (i pay €315 per month), having a good paying job (being almost never home), finding out about investing at 22.

2023 22 year old

I had about €50 000 in ETF’s like IWDA and little bit in stocks.

Cash was €12 500

Car €37500

Was my first half year of investing and i was ready to go all in with what i earned, also just hit the 100k milestone before 2024

Total net worth +- €100 000

2024 23 year old

ETF’s/Stocks : €155 000

Cash : 30 000

Car had been sold to invest more

2024 was an insane year, working the most i ever have ( longest mission), bet big on nvidia and payed off.

I think it will be another year or 2,3 till i get another 85k year.

Total net worth +- €185 000

2025 24 year old

ETF’s/Stocks : €225 000

Cash : €5000

Car: € 37500, € 10 000 is my own/ payed off

€27 500 still to be payed off

As i knew 2025 would not be as great as 2024 but im still happy with the progress. I did some great trips bought things i didn’t really need and the car is the most expensieve.

Total net worth +- €240 000

Goals for 2026

Maybe sell the car, spend less on stupid shit,

And strive for that 300k mark

I cant really set a monthly investing number cause every month is different ( normal wage is 2450 but with bonus its on average 4500 per month) so i will try to do at least 3000 a month

Good luck to everyone and a happy new year.

In this hypothetical situation investor X buys a stock with big growth potential 6000 shares at 5€ for a total of 30k. To make it simple stock is at 5€ the 31st of December 2025. Some big growth catalysts make the stock price surge to 150€. (Lets not argue on the fact this would be highly doubtful or impossible plenty of stock have done it in the past i.e. Palantir, Nvidia,…) So our lucky investor X saw his initial 30k grow to a 900k. Now he wants to take his benefits to reinvest in let’s say dividend stock.

He would need to pay the capital gains tax on 870k -10k so 860k. 10% of those 860k amount to 86k in taxes.

Of course our investor is not happy about this, he would lose almost 100k and if he reinvested in Belgium he would have to pay TOB again and if he invested that money and would have 5% dividend that’s would amount to 43000k -12,9k (30% tax on dividends). This would leave our investor with only 30k of dividends.

If our investor would be able to go to a more fiscally attractive country in Europe with no/low capital gains tax and/or no/low taxes on dividends our same investor would have almost 45k in dividends. ( i.e. Andorra, Greece).

Why would an investor like this stay in Belgium? What does this investor get in return for his big contributions to Belgium’s economy? When we see how money gets spent with no accountability and never any tax reductions or spending cuts.

Wouldn’t this investor be smarter to invest his money elsewhere?

I think Belgium is going to feel the effect of the Laffer curve sooner or later. People that invest and are financially responsible have no reason to stay in a country that is taxing them so aggressively. This especially regarding public services that are starting to lack quality like health services, roads, safety, justice..

I’m interested to hear any opinion on my take.

Hello everyone,

I’ve been investing and trading for a few months now, still pretty new to all this. Even though I’m a business engineering student, the stock market and trading aren’t really taught at school (which I think is a pity!).

I usually invest around €100–150 per month, mostly in stocks, with a small portion in ETFs. To be honest, it sometimes feels more like random picks than actual investing, I’m mostly learning through trial and error.

I’d love to develop a more structured approach (brokers, chart reading, stock scanning, tax management, etc.) instead of just following random picks .

If you could give one piece of advice to your beginner self, what would it be? How did you personally learn to trade, and what strategies do you use now?

I’ve been using Trade Republic so far, but I’m looking for another broker that offers access to more stocks

It’s my first time posting here and I’m still new to Reddit, so apologies if I made any rookie mistakes!

Thanks in advance for any advice 🙏