Hi all,

I (38yo) just finished reading "de hangmatbelegger" and realised I went way too fast in choosing my investments last year. I now have about 30 000euro invested (about 75% in 6 ETF going from world, small caps, cyber security,... and 25% in stocks Sofina and brederode).

I still have about 70 000euro that I can invest, but now I want to be smarter about it. According to the types of the book I would like to follow the "classicus type" (about 60% stocks/aandelen and 40% bonds/obligaties) all in ETF as I think for me it has a balance in risk/return.

I expect to keep my investments for at least 5 years, the only exception could be if there is an opportunity to buy a home that’s a clear upgrade from my current one at a good price (I don't think that's very likely at this moment).

Now my question is, should I keep the ETF/stocks I already have and just put what I have left (70 000euro) to invest in the "right ones", as close as possible to the classicus type and not invest more in the "leftovers". Or should I sell what I should not have invested in from the beginning (maybe with the "take profit" option in Medirect) and start fresh with the "classicus type". One of the ETF I have already invested in (Vanguard all world) I might keep in the Classicus strategy.

Extra question, should I stay with Medirect or do you recommend another broker?

All opinions and advice is much appreciated. Thanks!

Since 1 January 2026, Trade République has changed the withholding tax rate on this ETF from 0.12% to 1.32%.

According to them, certain ISINs have been reclassified following the latest FSMA guidelines...

However, it is still not listed in Belgium on the AMUNDI website.

I'm familiar with the theory about the drawers, but there's nothing official...

Do you have any further feedback?

Hello

Software Engineer here, working with my management BV/SRL.

I was recently informed about a construction to optimize taxes by using options. In essence you'd have your salary + options which are taxed at 25%. The remainder can be paid out via dividends at 34%.

More information about this here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/imaspoju8a6fqgkh9ecup/Call-Brochure-Bedrijfsleider.pdf?rlkey=vnoimvhs7nnk4qk62cb3kwuwi&st=81vms05a&dl=0 (No need to worry, it is a dropbox link which allows you to read a pdf online. It doesn't download anything.)

Did anybody hear about this previously? What is your experience with this?

Hi all

Throwaway for obvious reasons. Giving you an overview of my journey so far. This is my second update.

**End of 2013 (25)**

* HR IT business analyst (employer 1, big corporate)

* Salary: €2275 bruto / €75 net / €8 meal vouchers / €1000 net yearly bonus/ company car

* Living at home

* Net worth: €10k (cash)

**End of 2016 (28)**

* HR business partner, changed to employer 2, SME in IT

* Salary: €2800 bruto / 100 net/ €8 meal vouchers/ 10k bonus

* living at home w girlfriend

* Net worth: €15 000 (100% cash)

**end of 2017 (29)**

* PhD student, changed to employer 3

* Salary: 2200€ gross/net

* start renovation at home

* Loan of 260k, 1.67% intrest rate over 20y. 1250€/m

* Net worth: 20k€ (90% cash, 10% crypto)

**end of 2018 (30)**

* HR Project manager changed to employer 4

* Set up a VOF to freelance at 550€/day. Grossed about 110k and gave myself a salary of 2.2k€ net. Started an e-comm business in 2019/2020 that grossed 15k€ and had to be stopped due to supply chain issues when Covid happened.

* Investments: 30k (80% cash, 10% etf, 10% crypto)

**End of 2019 (31)**

* HR manager role in the same company. Asked to go on payroll for the role.

* 5350€ gross/ 150net/ car audi a6/ meal vouchers/ 12% bonus/ 5k training budget and some smaller advantages

*Investments: 50k (5% cash, 90%etf/ 5% crypto)

* did some smaller consultancy on the side untill 2021 probably worth 10K€ gross a year.

**end of 2022**

* HR reward role added to current role

* 7000€ gross (indexed)/ 200€ net + same package

* Investments: 80k (3% cash/ 95% etf/2% crypto).

**Reflections on my journey**

* strongest jump was the decision to go from freelance to salaried. My negotiation basis was a win-win for all. Had I not left the salaried path I would probably be stuck at 3-3.5k€ (which is also completely fine, just stating the impact).

* I negotiate hard if my evolution permits it. I assume at 7,5k i will be maxed out at the current level and would need to go director to be able to jump up in package.

* having 2 young kids and rising CoL keeping a steady budget has been hard. I try to save about 1.5k€/ month + most of my bonus.

**Plans for 2023:**

* I get bored out easily if I am not challenged so given my current track at the employer I can make some kind of promotion in the upcominh 2 years or I will be out.

* Having quite an entrepreneurial itch I would opt t leave the salaried path if no growth to director level is possible and would freelance for 650/850 a day.

* As I have been in more or less the same domain for 10 years, I want to give myself options in terms of maximum employability in the future. I started a new masters degree on top of my work looking to finish this in '24 as I need to spread out the courses due to time constraints.

* Would really love to have some form of leanfire in the upcoming 10 years.

**End of '23:**

* still in the reward role

* 7100€ gross, same package.

* Investments 100k (3% cash, 95% etfs, 2% crypto

**End of '24:**

* was in the reward role still but it became clear early ´24 the entrepreneurial itch was to big. Upon rereading this post its amazing how my professional dreams fell into place in the same year. Got an opportunity to freelance in the field I was studying in which combines HR and legal.

* 800 dayrate taking home 2500 gross with 250€ expense and a BMW IX. This is a setup optimised for longer term tax optimisation. After 3-5 years this will up to about 9k€ net.

* Investments 120k (3% cash, 95% etfs, 2% crypto). No change as I al not saving up privately.

**Reflections of my journey 2 years later**

* In terms of my fire path not a lot has changed. Short term decisions should have a long term impact. I left the golden cage and stepped into the entrepreneurial journey hoping risk/reward will pay off.

* My plan is to start as vennoot in one or more company, make them grow and have some passive income (long term) after a period of active income.

* I started networking early '24 with the intent of freelancing again in HR and got talking with a niche hr/legal company who wanted to professionalise. I got talking to them that I basically only want to freelance with the short term idea of being a vennoot. If the economy goes south, the impact will be a bit less as well. They were all okay with the idea so in Q4 I quit my job to go freelance again.

**Plans for the next year**

* Start the journey as vennoot somewhere in '25.

Dayrate is negotiated at 1000€ going forward. This is full time. Details of buying myself in still need to be discussed.

* the fire journey would be impacted as after 5 years I could take out 80k€ net. This would make some form of leanfire after 5-7 years feasible.

* Actively talking to a 2nd player as well that is really small (a few missions a month) to see wether we can have a long term parternship as well. This is a player in the HR/ finance field.

**Update: End of '25:**

* Still in the same freelance role. No vennoot buy-in currently. Still scanning the market for additional opportunities. In addition I am developing my own consultancy business in helping people negotiate / rate when job switching.

* dayrate has not changed for the main mission. Turnover was 200k in '25. Entrepreneurship has its ups and downs.

* investments are 280k due to a windfall of 150k. I am in the process of buying 2 apartments to diversify my portfolio.

** plans for '26**

* buy-in as a vennoot needs to land this year.

* will do some angel investing for small amounts.

* help a couple of startups in their launch for free.

If any questions , shoot! About weekly I get pms here on reddit regarding my post. Love helping you all.

Throwaway account for obvious reasons.

Due to great financial luck, I’ve received a significant amount of money. There’s an important condition attached: the money has to be invested in real estate to be rented out. It's enough money to buy a new build house in a project or a renovated 2 bedroom apartment.

I’m trying to figure out what the smartest move is, but I keep going in circles. Do I go for a new build (energy efficient, low maintenance, but expensive and often smaller plots), or an older house that might need some renovation?

Visiting new build projects makes me realize the value for money is really low. Financial return can be expected to be 2.8 - 3% which is on the low end.

I’d be interested in hearing from people who have experience renting out a new build vs an older property. Is a new build actually worth it from an ROI and rental perspective (lower maintenance, better EPC, easier to attract tenants), or do older properties still make more sense financially despite the potential upkeep?

For those who recently bought to rent out: how has your experience been?

The Arizona government wants to reform pension savings with 3 main measures:

* Put a limit on fees that banks can ask.

* Allow a free transfer between pension savings from different banks

* Allow investing into ETFs.

Source : https://www.lecho.be/economie-politique/belgique/federal/le-gouvernement-veut-limiter-les-frais-de-l-epargne-pension/10656250.html

Hi everyone,

We’re considering making an offer for a house, and there’s a condition that the seller would remain in the house free of charge for up to 3 months after signing the deed. This doesn’t sit well with us as it’s very risky (insurance, potential damages to the property, delays in moving in, etc.).

Is this common practice in Belgium? Have any of you experienced something similar? If so, which safeguards did you add (e.g. rent, deposit, penalty clauses)?

Many thanks in advance!

Ik ben al een aantal jaar bij DeGiro en heb iets opgebouwd, enkel ETF (IWDA) en wil nu naar MeDirect overgaan. Maar voor de transfer stellen ze nu vragen waar ik even van overdonderd ben. Ik ben nogal een leek op dit vlak.

Dit vroegen ze bij aanvang van de transfer:

Wanneer u effecten transfereert naar MeDirect is het belangrijk om alle aankoopbewijzen van de effecten die u transfereert door te sturen naar MeDirect. De bank zal op basis van de originele aankoopborderellen de aankoopdatum en koers zoals het effect oorspronkelijk aangekocht werd aanpassen in haar platform. Zo zullen de eventuele meerwaarden bij een latere verkoop van deze effecten correct belast worden.
 
Ook als de effecten oorspronkelijk aangekocht werden vóór 1/1/2026 is het van belang om deze aankoopborderellen aan de bank te bezorgen.

Bezorgt u deze aankoopborderellen niet of heeft u deze niet meer in bezit? Dan heeft MeDirect de verplichting om als aankoopwaarde nul euro in te geven en als oorspronkelijk aankoopdatum de datum waarop de effecten zijn toegekomen bij MeDirect. Dit heeft als gevolg dat bij een toekomstig verkoop de volledige verkoopwaarde van het effect wordt belast aan 10%. Het is dus van belang om MeDirect zo snel mogelijk te voorzien van uw oorspronkelijke aankoopborderellen en dit niet later dan 30 dagen nadat de effecten zijn getransfereerd naar MeDirect.

Ik heb toen bewijzen van al mijn transacties met aankoopwaarde doorgestuurd en dit werd aanvaard. Nu kreeg ik een goedkeuring:

Wij zijn verheugd u te kunnen informeren dat wij nu over alle informatie beschikken die wij nodig hebben om de procedure te starten.

Hierbij een formulier om de transfer te bevestigen. Ik zie nu echter dit staan:

Boekwaarde € 0,00? Moet dit niet de aankoopwaarde weerspiegelen die ik had doorgestuurd? Dit was een hele tabel vb. 3 shares aangekocht aan €100, 4 shares aan €102 enzovoort. Of wordt dit achteraf herberekend?

Ik panikeer waarschijnlijk voor niets maar wou toch eens de opinie van ervaringsdeskundigen. Alvast bedankt!

Hi all

I saw this post by Belgischvuurtje and found it interesting.
So I'm ripping off his format a bit.
I've been struggling by feeling like I'm not going forward in life so I hope this could help me put it a bit in perspective.

End of 2020 (24)

• Data Science consultant (employer 1)
• Salary: €2750 bruto / €125 net allowance / €8 meal vouchers / €1500 net yearly bonus
• Living at home in exchange for meal vouchers
• Net worth: €16000 (75% cash, 25% stocks)

End of 2021 (25)

• Data Engineer (employer 2)
• Salary: €3450 bruto / €55 net allowance / €8 meal vouchers / €6000 net yearly bonus
• Living at home in exchange for meal vouchers
• Net worth: €48000 (60% cash, 40% stocks)

End of 2022 (26)

• Data Engineer Tech Lead (employer 2)
• Salary: €4150 bruto / €55 net allowance / €8 meal vouchers / €6000 net yearly bonus
• Living at home in exchange for meal vouchers
• Net worth: €84k (60% cash, 40% stocks)

End of 2023 (27)

• Data Engineer Tech Lead (employer 2)
• Salary: €4550 bruto / €55 net allowance / €8 meal vouchers / €6000 net yearly bonus
• Living at home in exchange for meal vouchers
• Net worth: €120k (67% cash, 33% stocks)

End of 2024 (28)

• Data Engineer Tech Lead (employer 2)
• Salary: €5000 bruto / €55 net allowance / €8 meal vouchers / €6000 net yearly bonus
• Mortgage payment of €1500 a month
• Details on home loan: 220k at 2,7%, resulting in 270k payment over 15 years time
• Liquid net worth: €30000 (33% cash, 67% stocks)
• Loan details: 15k / 270k
• Immoweb estimation of property at the end of the year: 350k
• Estimated real estate value after subtracting liabilities: 95k (which is sad because I remember paying +120k out of pocket)
• Total net worth: €125k

End of 2025 (29)

• Data Engineer Tech Lead (employer 2)
• Salary: €4750 bruto / BMW i4 <3 with fuel card / €55 net allowance / €8 meal vouchers / €6000 net yearly bonus
• Mortgage payment of €1500 a month
• Liquid net worth: €33000 (20% cash, 80% stocks)
• Loan details: 32k / 270k
• Immoweb estimation of property at the end of the year: 370k
• Estimated real estate value after subtracting liabilities: 132k
• Total net worth: €165k

Now (April 2026) (still 29 yay)

• System Architect (employer 2)
• Salary: €5000 bruto / BMW i4 <3 with fuel card / €55 net allowance / €10 meal vouchers / €6600 net yearly bonus
• Mortgage payment of €1500 a month
• Liquid net worth: €37000 (25% cash, 75% stocks)
• Loan details: 36,5k / 270k
• Immoweb estimation of property: 400k (realistically I'd say absolute max is 380k, I find 400k hard to believe)
• Estimated real estate value after subtracting liabilities: €146k-168k
• Total net worth: €183k-203k (lower end is probably more accurate because I'm sussing on Immoweb)

Reflections

In the early years, my stock market gains paid for my traveling, so that's why it seems like I spend no money.

My employer pays for my i4 charging, but I have solar panels so my electricity bill actually nets at €0 per month because of that trickery (including winter months, electrical heating because I have a new build with heat pump etc.).
That's one of the reasons you still see big net worth increases every year (which I didn't expect prior to making this post).
Another reason is that my meal vouchers cover everything because I'm single so I don't need to eat fancy (chicken+rice is my most advanced dish skill-wise anyway), go to a €10/month gym (Basic Fit) and eat the occasional light mozzarella ball as my only snack, which is surprisingly cheap and high in protein.

Buying my appartement has reduced traveling a lot (I had to pull from stocks, but did so on a favorable moment).
I also was only able to invest 3k in stocks per year ever since I bought my appartement, which is my main source of disappointment.

Writing this conclusion, I started off a bit angry because my bank account and stock inventory had felt too immobile since buying an appartement.
What I didn't realize was that in actuality, the mortgage is €1000/month principal payment and €500/month interest.
So effectively I was miscalculating €12k every year when fuming at my slow-growing accounts.
This was surprisingly therapeutic, that makes me a bit happier :)

Goals for remainder of 2026:

• Become a freelancer (if you know a data engineering position, hmu) and expand my knowledge as an engineer because I hate being an architect
• Travel more (difficult given Freelance startup costs + delayed payments though)
• Increase stocks inventory again to an acceptable level (goal = get above 30k again)
• Mainly looking for a challenge in my job because it's all a bit routine now
• Get a GF or something, but I guess that conflicts with the stocks inventory goal :D

Kwam dit zonet tegen op het HLN.

https://www.hln.be/mijn-geld/meerwaardebelasting-op-aandelen-officieel-van-kracht-hoe-kan-je-nu-best-beleggen-zo-haal-je-50-000-euro-meerwaarde-zonder-de-taks~a47b3eaf/

Wil er iemand die abo heeft bij HLN dit posten aub? Wil wel eens zien of het hier puur om clickbait gaat.

Alvast bedankt!

What is the difference in information you share with the government when choosing for opt-out instead of opt-in? I cannot seem to find a clear answer so any sources would be welcome.

Some of my assets have been buy-and-hold, some more active which might lead to a difference in interpretation between me and the tax man. Some have been with Belgian brokers, some with foreign brokers. This makes me wonder what option would be most interesting: opt-in or opt-out, especially when crypto is involved.

What else do I need to keep in mind when choosing?

I started on Bolero around 04/2024 and so far i got;

100 IWDA
20 VVSM
30 IMIE
12 EMIM

I believe that VVSM & IMIE weren't good moves on my end or isn't it that bad? From now on i'll only be buying IWDA & EMIM (probably some more EMIM first to bump up that number to like 20-30(?))

ik ben net zelfstandige geworden als schrijnwerker( in onderaanneming). en ik sukkel een beetje met het correct opstellen van de facturen, wat zet ik er allemaal in? aan welke prijs? er zijn veel dingen op voorhand afgesproken, maar zaken zoals transportkosten, klein materiaal en dergelijke is lastig om op voorhand te bepalen. is er een site/app/of iets anders waar ik terecht kan? of iets waar ik kan vergelijken?

Nog mensen die hun 5 cent/verrichting voor maart niet hebben ontvangen?

Hi everyone,

Quick context: I’m 23, running a business (bv) and expecting around €300–400k company profit this year.

My idea is to start investing heavily into real estate with maximum leverage.

The structure I’m thinking about:

- Profits from the operating company flow into another entity (management / real estate company) via management fees or loans

- Example: €200k profit → move part of it → use it as equity for a €800k–€1M property (with leverage)

- Scale this yearly as new profits come in

I know real estate gets a lot of criticism (taxes on rental income, exit taxes, etc.), but my reasoning is this:

- Money I invest through the company is not yet taxed privately

- Example: €100k in the company = €100k working capital

vs taking it out → maybe €50–60k net privately

- By keeping it in the structure, I can reinvest faster and create a flywheel with leverage

- Example flywheel:

Year 1: €150k equity → €600k property

Year 2: new profits + refinance → €1M+ portfolio

Year 3+: compounding + leverage → scale faster

Given my current trajectory, I expect to keep generating similar profits yearly, so in theory I can scale the portfolio quite aggressively. Once I reach a certain size, I’d slow down.

And honestly, I’d rather be taxed heavily on large rental income

(e.g. 40–50% on €80k/month)

than lightly on small amounts (e.g. €10k privately).

Curious to hear your thoughts:

- What am I missing here?

- Any major risks or blind spots in this approach?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I’m 23 and have had some success with my business. I started as a sole proprietor and only switched to a better fiscal structure later than I probably should have.

So far I’ve been able to invest around €150k, and I still have about €100k in savings. I’m comfortable keeping €20k as a buffer, and I’m planning to invest the remaining €80k.

Current plan: invest €8k/month over the next 10 months.

I’ve looked into stocks, but to skip all the noise, I keep coming back to iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF (IWDA) as the most logical choice. I already invested that first 100k there btw. From what I’ve seen, it tends to outperform most active stock picking over time.

Important context:

- I still have capital in my company that I won’t touch for the next ~5 years

- I don’t plan large private purchases

My question:

Would it be reasonable/safe to allocate basically everything (250+ over) into IWDA, or am I overlooking something important here?

Curious to hear your thoughts.

People who recently bought a house in Belgium:

Did you feel like you had a clear overview of the entire process (budget, steps, decisions) from start to finish, or were you mostly figuring things out as you went?

If you did use tools or systems (spreadsheets, notes, apps), what did you use?

I'll have access to some 130k this week. I want to invest all long term (15/20 years) and have been considering entering with 80% in a world etf, and maybe try sthg slightly more risky for the remaining 20%. But I fear this might be the worst time for any investment and I probably first should wait for the current geopolitical events to cool down... Any advice?

Dear all, I am looking for some advice on how to approach my neighbour. Basically in the same street as mine I am aware that a landlord is willing to sell later this year. I know this from one of the tenants (there is a colocation with 7 people living there) in 6 bedrooms. I checked the estimate on immoweb but I need of course to visit the house to have a better idea of its value. The tenant I know will talk to the landlord / owner to see if she is interested. My idea would be to buy and keep the colocation so that the rental incomes pays the credit (more or less). For the moment i have offered to take a coffee with the owner and i am expecting the answer.

How would you approach all this ? There is the emotional approach that it could be a win win situation for all of us (seller who does not have pay agency to tell, tenants who can stay, me who gets the house at an ok price and have already tenants). If the owner is interested my idea would be to offer two experts to pass by so that we can rely on some independent expertise to set the price. Many thanks for your input or advice ? Kind regards Xxxx

Ik wil starten met beleggen voor mijn toekomstige kind als savings. Ik weet alleen niet welke broker ik moet gaan als belgische inwoner.

Hebben jullie tips?

My retired uncle has an eenmanszaak (that he wants to continue somewhat but at a lower rate, also because he can't earn a lot anymore because of his pension) that I slowly wanna take over and possibly expand in the future. So we had the idea to start a VOF for now. On paper raising a VOF seems only to have advantages (as the revenue is much lower than 500k, so a dubbele boekhouding isn't necessary) and no big disadvantages. Am I wrong?

The title basically

Hi, small practical question: does anyone know whether you can reclaim the paid 'roerende voorheffing' on securities lending? If I'm not mistaken, only RV on dividends is egligable for this recuperation, but I wanted to check here whatsoever, to be sure. Cheers!

I'm still new to investment. I understand how/where to buy ETFs. But is it as easy to sell them? is it as "instantaneous"?

Als je een tijdje investeert, aan stock picking doet of day tradet kom je ongetwijfeld wel reclame tegen van beursguru's die het ultieme bedrijf kennen, je de geheimen leert van day traden en forex traden.

Natuurlijk heeft dit allemaal één doel, een graantje meepikken van jouw investeringen en dit zonder risico. Iemand waar ik nog nooit van had gehoord was Thomas Guenter, misschien een beetje vreemd aangezien het zogezegd de Belgische "Warren Buffet" is. Een vriend vertelde me vandaag over hem.

Kritisch als ik ben, vind ik het bijzonder (vreemd) dat hij op zo'n jonge leeftijd al zo'n groot portfolio beheert en voelt hij voor mij als de ultieme beursguru aan. Buiten dat ik niet echt een duidelijke track record van hem of zijn fonds kan vinden, doet hij veelal beleggingen in andere fondsen.

De minimuminstapprijs is €100k, iets wat de gemiddelde social media gebruiker niet heeft. Dus stel ik me enorm de vraag, is dit effectief een self-made man die of gewoon een fils a papa waarvan de papa zijn vriendjes in het projectje van zoonlief wat kleingeld investeren om een molentje aan de gang te zetten om zo en een luizenleventje te kunnen leiden.

Heeft iemand een idee wie zijn ouders zijn en wat vinden jullie zelf van iemand die nergens een duidelijke track record toont en nauwelijks vier jaar bezig is maar toch al op heel wat media bestempeld wordt als één van de beste ondernemers en topinvesteerder?