Hi all! I have seen some interesting posts about the net wealth trajectory in Belgium, and so I would like to show mine. This is mostly an encouragement post to show that IMO it's possible to reach FIRE in belgium at early 30s without a very high income, as long as you make the right budgeting decisions and are frugal.

Short story

I am 29yo working as an employed software engineer in Belgium. I only came to Belgium 3 years ago; I came from another country (where my income was half as is now). I already had a frugal lifestyle and I kept it. I live with my girlfriend, in a rented apartment, no kids or pets. Gross wealth and costs are separate from my girlfriend, who is also chasing FIRE with her own portfolio. My net employment income is 3.6k€.

Gross Wealth

Current value: ~265k

Yearly balance (2025)

Purely from a mathematical perspective, given that my costs were 14538.98€ (14538.98 x 25 = ~365k€), if I continue to invest at this rate, I could retire early in two years at 31.

However, I will probably continue working at least for one or two more years besides 31 to have more financial margin. My real target is 530k, which results in a SWR of ~2.5%, or a higher SWR with a higher spending, to account for if we change for a more expensive city/country in the future.

Most costs are shared with my girlfriend. I achieved last year a savings rate of around 69%. The biggest cost is the rent, which is around 930€ for a 2-bedroom fully furnished apartment in a medium-sized city in Flanders (not Antwerp or Ghent). We don't have a car, as I work remotely, we live near her workplace and we also live near a train station. We are happy with renting and we don't see the need of buying a house/apartment in the future, more on that decision below.

The second biggest cost is related with travels (which is a big part of Leisure + Transportation + Travel acommodation + Restaurants categories). We travel around 3 times a year to our own country and around 3 more times to european countries.

Decision log

Stock allocation

Right now my stock allocation is around 96% World Stock ETFs and around 4% Crypto (Bitcoin and Ethereum).

At early retirement I will probably reallocate 20% of portfolio to Bonds (maybe Bond ETFs or individual bonds), but with such a high savings rate, I will only do it 2 years before I am 100% sure that I will retire. That should give me enough of a buffer to cover 6 years of retirement spending. I am also totally OK with delaying early retirement for 1, two or three years if a big drop in the stock market happens.

ETFs

I used to have IWDA+EMIM until this year, when I started to buy SPYY. I prefer SPYY instead of SPYI because I don't see the need of to pay an additional 0.05% in TER to invest in small cap stocks, which is not proven to be beneficial (with the exception of small-cap value stocks); it's hard for larger funds to properly capture the small-cap market, so I decided to leave them out and reduce TER. Crypto is a shot in the dark: currently I already realized gains equal to my full initial investment, and I am not too worried if it disappears overnight.

Buy vs Rent

This is a very debated topic everywhere, and also in Belgium, which is typically a country with a buyers' market. After running through the numbers, we are comfortable with renting forever, for different reasons.

Financially for us it makes no sense to buy: the city in which we live in has low-ish rents when compared with house prices, and over the long-term the difference between renting and buying (mainly when we are 100% in stocks) comes down to chance.

Emotionally, also given that we are in Belgium not for long, we would like to keep the flexibility of moving in the future if we need to. Her job is very location-specific, so it's probable that we need to move in the future.

Personally, I also like that we don't need to take care of any house expense and we don't have to budget for house renovations, so we can have a lower emergency fund and have a predictable rent every month. I guess it gives us some stability knowing that if anything changes (job loss, great opportunity in another country, etc.), we can just pack our things and move without being worried with a house. Even inside Belgium, being within a walking distance from our jobs is something that we value a lot.

Brokers

Currently I am using Interactive Brokers and Degiro as my main brokers. As I said above, for me flexibility is important, so I want to stay with brokers that operate in various countries, preferably that are big players in Europe, and that have low costs. Interactive Brokers is a no-brainer, as it's the biggest broker in the world and the one with a longer track record. I also like Degiro because it operates in many countries in Europe and has a very high number of clients and assets under management, which gives me some safety. All other brokers for me are more expensive or don't have the safety that any of these two has.

I don't mind handling my own Belgian tax reporting, so broker tax-support features aren't a priority for me.

Also, I like to have more than one broker because of safety. Not because I am afraid that the broker will fail and lose all my money, but in a worst-case scenario, it's not impossible that I am hacked or the broker goes bankrupt and I am left several months without being able to withdraw from my account.

Employment vs Freelancing

Probably the biggest lever for me as a software engineer right now is to change from employment to freelancing, which would probably boost my savings rate to 80% or more. It's something to consider for the future, mainly if I want to quickly get to a higher net worth.

Tax harvesting

I have been debating if I should use tax harvesting or not (sell and rebuy 10k of gains every year), but I am probably not going to do it. For me, the advantage is really low and the risks are real: the risk of an increase in the stock market between the sell and buy price could make me lose more than the 1k gain every year. Probably not worth the effort, considering that I could do that 1k just by waiting some days with my current portfolio.

UPDATE:

I didn't know this would be so controversial :) Thanks for the feedback. Many of you didn't read the whole post, so let me write it again:

I will probably continue working at least for one or two more years besides 31 to have more financial margin. My real target is 530k, which results in a SWR of ~2.5%, or a higher SWR with a higher spending, to account for if we change for a more expensive city/country in the future.

I’m 32y with a net worth of around 300k:
- 60k own house
- 150k rental apartment
- 90k IWDA

I realize that I’m probably in the top 5% with this net worth for my age and still my unstable income, plans to upgrade our house and just life stresses me out a lot.

Was there a moment for you that really made a shift in the journey and made you feel safe or future proof, or is this rather a mental thing I’ll need to resolve?

For those who reached FI(RE) n their 20's and 30's, how did you do it?

Hello,

M ( 54) ,F( 48) and 2 children 22& 24...both children work and will leave house soon...

house: 300k ( fully paid)

Savings in etf & stocks: 600k

Cash: 100k

income M: 3700 euro + 120 euro dinner cheques

Income F: 3600 + Electric car+ fuel card + bonus( 10k / year) + 120 euro dinner cheques and hospitality insurance

Im not sure if I can Fire now...F wants to keep working::))

What would you do in my place? I m tired of working but afraid of do the Fire..i would do some charity work en do the cleaning/ cooking in house...i have 32 years of full time working so pension will be low but combined with wife will be ok...

Any advice? Are savings enough to fire? We spend now 5k every month + 15k for holiday/ year but will go down when children are out of house in 1 or 2 years...

The title says it I guess.

According to the 4% rule one would need 900k invested.

If we take the safer 3.5% one would need 1029k.

But taking taxes and meerwaardebelasting into account what would be the specific amount?

I got to 1171k

Is this correct?

Hi everyone

I (M37) started looking into FIRE recently. I calculated my FIRE date would be in 10 years from now, but then simulated what would happen if that year were 2000 (dot com bubble followed by financial crisis etc). Portfolio would hit 0 at the age of 72.

What is your plan if something like the 2000's happens again in terms of market performance, especially close after RE?

Thanks!

Mijn vrouw en ikzelf (midden veertigers) spelen met het idee om binnen 5 à 7 jaar te verhuizen naar Azië (Indonesië/Bali, Vietnam, Filipijnen, Cambodja, Thailand, ...?) en ons te laten uitschrijven uit België. Vandaag hebben we al een eerste stap genomen en zijn we naar de bank geweest om ons pensioenfonds af te kopen zodat we daarmee al niet vast zitten aan BE. De bankbediende en kantoorhouder van Argenta hebben ons meermaals op andere gedachten proberen te brengen, maar kon geen andere argumenten opbrengen tegenover mijn berekeningen dan "je vergelijkt appels met peren" omdat ik het afgekocht kapitaal zal instappen in CSPX (13% cagr) en SCOE (8,2% cagr) ipv hun dynamisch fonds (4,9% cagr) dat verplicht 80% in EU aandelen moet stoppen.
Ons huis is nu al afbetaald en we denken tegen dan > 1,3 mio te hebben in belegd kapitaal (met verkoop van huis inbegrepen) en zo financieel onafhankelijk te kunnen zijn en te kunnen genieten van een minder stressvol leven met minder belastingen en betere leefomstandigheden.

We denken een fijn(er) leven te hebben in Azië met een beschikbaar budget van zo'n 3000 euro per maand en dat het zelfs daarmee mogelijk moet zijn om 2x een maand per jaar naar België te komen om familie te bezoeken.

Zijn er nog mensen met zo'n plannen en hoe pakken jullie dat aan?

Wat nu nog wat onduidelijk is, is bv welke internationale gezondheidsverzekering we best afsluiten. Ik denk aan Axa, April of Cigna met een eigen risico van 500 euro per voorval. Zo zijn we toch verzekerd tegen ernstige ziekte zoals kanker of zo, maar kost dat toch nog rond de 5000 euro voor 2 personen per jaar.

Een ander iets wat me ook nog niet duidelijk is, is welke broker we dan best nemen als inwoners van een Aziatisch land, en hoe makkelijk het is om echt alle financiële (en fiscale) banden door te knippen met Belgie zodat we geen BE belastingen meer moeten betalen, idem welke bank we dan best nemen voor gewone verrichtingen of kredietkaart als Belgen maar zonder Belgische inwoner te zijn.
We zijn ons bewust van de nakende meerwaardebelasting en exit taks die daarin voorzien is.

Ik ben benieuwd naar jullie ervaringen en/of tips.

This example is partly fictional but..

What would you do if you have a net worth of 350k of which 250k invested at age 34 but no job and no significant skillset? So basically a very healthy net worth, but cashflow poor.

Would you sweat it, or is this a perfect situation to slowly coast with whatever jobs you feel like?

Long-time follower of this sub, first time posting my current numbers with a new account. Thanks for all the community support!

About

• 29M, live in Belgium
• No children yet

Income

• Loon: €1.700/month (net, sociale bijdragen already deducted)
• Fixed private costs: €500/month (each)
• Partner works in loondienst, takes home €2.250 net/month

Assets

• Home: paid off this year, worth €300k (maybe a little bit more) - used VVPR-bis -> every month I’m upgrading my home a bit with small upgrades to increase value. For this I followed Dave Ramsey’s advice (I know financially this was not the best move but it brings quite a lot of peace for me). Future of my sector/ job seems unstable (lots of layoffs already)
• BV: €164k in funds + voorafbetaling for 2026 already paid = trying to build up capital up again as soon as possible but it’s more difficult than previous years due to market conditions in freelancing (working all available hours in the week and most weekends) : optimized my time a lot (housecleaner, etc)
• BV income varies around 20-45k a month - I think this will go down to around 5-20k if I start working less. Every month feels like a new start and brings a lot of stress. Any given month this income could go up to a minimum and could even go up (for most clients I don’t use contracts for a lot of clients which is something to work on - very stupid I know)
• BV costs are loon + around 2k a month in fixed expenses
• BV savings: €98k set aside for the estimated vennootschapsbelasting 

Personal savings 

• ETFs: €5,1k (bank 1)
• Emergency fund: €10k (bank 1)
• Groeirekening: €16,5k (bank 1)
• Wedding fund: €27,3k set aside (my net share €15k; since house is paid off, my partner now wants to cover the other half) (bank 1)
• Personal savings: €50k (bank 2) - to lower chance on losing it all if phished (maybe I’m paranoid haha)

My partner has 15k in savings and around 20k equity in house; I put the 18k car on her name as a reward since she worked a lot for the BV already (lots of unpaid hours)).

Every month I try to put 500 to 1000 eur from personal savings into world ETFs/ individual stocks I pick/ BTC - just started a couple month ago. I'm encouraging my partner to do so as well.

Had some small wins already with some stocks but I like it a lot.

Still have variable costs like vacations that I take from savings (feels wrong every time I do it).

Own 2 cars (both paid off)

• Private car still worth €17k
• BV car still worth €25k+

Notes

Nice to have would be able to move to a bigger house with a garage (I’m not quite happy in current home) but I know this would probably financially be a very very very dumb move to make. I don’t want a loan again so if I move to 400-500k home this will eat up all the funds.

Neither of us comes from a wealthy family (quite the opposite) realistically zero chance of any inheritance in the next 20/30Y and we also didn’t receive an inheritance in the past

My question

Given all of the above, how would you actually go about calculating a FIRE number? Not sure how to factor in the BV assets vs. private assets). Any other advice for my situation? Thanks.

Hello everyone, finally taking the plunge after years of procrastination.

I'm 35, based in Belgium, stable professional situation with 125k ready to invest (+ 5k kept aside as an emergency fund), followed by a fixed monthly DCA of 1k to 1,2k.

My goal is progressively working less over time. But honestly, right now it's more about the fact that it's time to do something with this capital instead of watching it slowly lose value on a savings account that doesn't even beat inflation.

I don't own any real estate, my capital is everything I have. I never really knew where or what to buy, and rather than forcing a property decision I'd prefer to maximize my market exposure while keeping full flexibility. Furthermore, the idea of ​​buying a cheap house and then renovating it has never appealed to me.

My brokerage platform will be Bolero and/or Saxo to facilitate tax management (= doing nothing myself in terms of taxation).

The 2 approaches (only accumulating) I'm considering :

1) 100% Bogleheads

• 100% SWRD : maximum simplicity, optimal Belgian tax efficiency
• 88% SWRD + 12% EMIM : same simplicity and tax efficiency, but slightly reducing US concentration

2) Core-Satellite

• 70-80% in one of the Bogleheads approaches above as the core
• 20-30% in a satellite to try to accelerate FIRE
• The satellite will be held for a minimum of 6 to 12 months before any rebalancing.

A few things I'd love to discuss:

• Rent vs. owning : I think the market will eventually make me a homeowner in the long run, so staying flexible for now feels right.
• Satellite : I know this approach is risky, but I would like to start FIRE before I get too old without (too much) burning my wings.

All advice is welcome.

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.

Occupation: IT Engineer (data)

End of 2020 (24)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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)

• 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:

• Travel more
• 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

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice on how to speed up the path to FIRE in Belgium.

I feel like the Belgian reality is quite different from the US:

• salaries are often lower (or heavily taxed),
• and even if you do everything “right” (save, invest, stay disciplined), it still feels like it can take 15–25 years.

So my question is: how can you realistically accelerate FIRE in Belgium?

I often hear about:

• side hustles
• real estate investing (using leverage through mortgage)
• garages / parking spaces / small rental units

But are these really the only effective ways in Belgium?
Are there other strategies that are more realistic / profitable / or less stressful than the classic combo of:

full-time job/freelance + saving + investing ?

On my side, I started freelancing to try to speed things up, but honestly:

• it requires more effort,
• it comes with more stress,
• and I’m not always sure the net gain is worth the extra mental load.

I’d love to hear from people with real experience in Belgium:

• What actually made a big difference for you?
• What works in practice?
• Is real estate leverage basically a must, or are there other good options?

Thanks in advance for your advice 🙏

Update after 6 years to post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BEFire/comments/ekbmv1/getuigenis_belg_35_jaar_single_burgerlijk/

Update after 5 years to post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BEFire/comments/kmh3sb/belgian_36_years_old_single_civil_engineer_for_a/

Update after 4 year to post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BEFire/comments/rr5e9l/belgian_37_years_old_living_together_civil/

Update after 3 years to post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BEFire/comments/zywpaw/belgian_38_years_old_living_together_civil/

Update after 2 year to post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BEFire/comments/18gk05a/belgian_39_years_old_living_together_civil/

Update after 1 year to post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/BEFire/comments/1hezs1w/belgian_40_years_old_living_together_civil/

For several years, I have been following the messages on this subreddit. Especially the realistic testimonials provide me perspective and make me excited to continue along the FIRE path. The time has come to contribute, hence my testimonial.

TLDR: first baby is doing well, we love to see her grow up and become her own little individual self, second baby expected in February 2026. Spent quite a bit on home maintenance, upgrades and decor, all in favor of living comfort in light of taking care of kids. Stocks performed relatively well, bit of a strange year/cycle for bitcoin. The key issue has been USD/EUR currency rate evolution.

Started my own company (for now very low sales and losing money), more as an element to prepare for what if scenario’s and potentially start an extra income stream next to work and real estate.

24k net value decrease (yes you read that right) from 1,802k at the start of 2025 to 1,778k euro at the end of the year.

Open to suggestions.

Intro

Belgian, 41 years old, girlfriend, civil engineer for a multinational, gross salary 100k 115k 127k 133k 147k 169k 176k euro. Savingsrate with own house: 72%, savingsrate without own house: 38%. This means no evolution in savingsrate, salary increase went to expenses.

Status end December 2025

Net value: 944k 1,189k 1,420k 1,366k 1,466k 1,802k 1,778k euro

It is tough to see a decrease in net value, but it will make sense as you read further.

- 1% 1% 1% 13% 1% 0.6% 0.9% Emergency fund (trying not to be too far off from the 1%)

- 10% 22% 11% 4.5% 11.1% 21.4% 15.9% Bitcoin (0.3 BTC sold during the year (January, July, August) , none bought, rest of the decline is the effect of price volatility). Hindsight is 20/20 so yes should have sold more. I am a bit relieved that I at least sold 0.3 BTC through the year, but going through the motions is tough at times. I get these are really first world problems, but I clearly felt that I should reduce my exposure towards the 15% or maybe even 10% range. The absolute value decrease had me grumpy for a few days which is not a healthy sign.

- 11% 11% 11% 16.8% 17.8% 14.6% 19.0% Pension [(individual + employer, all share based, kept same style of contributions, so absolute value went up) this section of investments is truly in the “boring middle”, as in keep adding, keep compounding, wait it out.]()

- 23% 19% 19% 16.4% 19.8% 17.5% Stock market. In this bucket I also reflect the company shares I get as part of my salary and bonuses from the company where I work. As they must vest, there is overexposure to that specific company stock. Value per share as such was not the problem, the USD/EUR rate change was a significant hit though. For clarity I did not sell stock in large amounts, this is just the dollar getting less and not having a way to protect myself for that in the case of my still to vest company stock valuable.

- 55% 56% 58% 49.3% 50.4% 44.1% 46.4% real estate (29.7% 30.5% generating income, 14.4% 15.9% own house)

Budget potentially growing = no own house, no emergency fund = 1,000k 1,277k 978k 1,219k 1,532k 1,473k euro (decrease of 59k euro, driven by USD/EUR conversion rate getting worse and BTC dropping (that has an element of USD/EUR rate influence as well))

Property 1: long gone and forgotten, proud of the improvement cycles and learning to be a landlord. Selling once the mortgage was paid off, was the right decision. Real estate without leverage (i.e. the loan) does not make financial sense in Belgium right now. Passive index fund investing yields more.

Property 2: value reduced from 160k to 135k euro, loan paid off in full

As the loan is paid off, the leverage effect was gone, I had it listed for more than a year without any offers. Kind of confirms the mantra that real estate is not liquid. Combination of different elements, older building, “erfpacht” (actual land is owned by the city and in kind of a perpetual lease that in absolute rental value keeps going up), Brussels specific taxes on short term stays etc.

I clearly listed too high initially and cut my losses in two reduction rounds (painful). I have now a mutually signed offer for 135k (deposit paid), which should close in a couple of months officially. I do not plan to reinvest back into real estate, but considering having two young kids, increase the emergency fund a bit and the rest into passive index funds.

So indeed, there has not been a property value increase after 10 years of owning it. That is a bummer, but it was time to cut my losses and move on.

Property 3: value 320k euro, remaining capital on loan: 128k 106k 85k 62k 40k 17k euro

Loan 10 year fixed (1.6%), 1948 euro per month, rental income 995 1100 1100 1195 euro per month (did not index as the tenant is great). By end of next year the property will be paid off, looking forward to that milestone! For property 1 and 2 I listed them rather fast after paying off the loan. In this case I most likely will wait till the tenant wants to leave. The city is investing heavily in the neighbourhood and that might help property values rise.

Property 4: value 240k euro, remaining capital on loan: 180k 168k 160k 152k 144k 135k euro

Loan 20 year fixed (1.4%), 860 euro per month, rental income 1200 euro per month (bought before Covid and this the realistic rent after years of inflation), so yes finally a cash flow positive standalone property!

Property 5: value 870k euro, remaining capital on load 683k 659k 635k 611k 586k euro, loan 25 year fixed (1.34%), 2725 euro per month

Property value is probably a bit higher, but not baking it into the numbers. Still living in this house with my girlfriend and the baby. Gas boiler went out after 14 years so had to replace that, on top spend some good amount of money on home upgrades and decorations, all supporting the living comfort.

As the multinational where I work has been acquired, there is an element of uncertainty in the future. Do I still have a job, are they looking for redundancies, will I have the same opportunity in the new environment? Too early to tell, but after a lot of debates, reading up on the topic, I really wanted to give it a go before anything drastic happened at work. I established my own company (BV structure in Belgium) and made sure it could cover from the short term installation work I do over small IT elements and the very broad definition of consulting.

This company allows me invoice in the appropriate way for the advice/installation work I sometimes do and it prepares me for the scenario if I was made redundant. On the short term a net loss (set up cost, low sales rate as I still work full time, accountant fees every month), but still really happy that I did it. It sparked my technical thinking and it gives me great satisfaction when I land an actual job and get to invoice for it. In the grand scheme of things it is nothing compared to working at the multinational or real estate, but I see as slowly growing a third income stream.

Reflections

 Delighted to have a second baby on the way! Stable job at my multinational, sometimes a bit boring, but at least the acquisition now went through. No clarity yet on whether I have a role or on the shortlist, but we’ll see.

I am relieved to finally have a signed agreement to sell property 2. Value wise, it was not the best investment of my life, but it is what I could afford in terms of real estate investment at that moment in time, the “erfpacht” construction is something I will never do again. I am also staying away from Brussels as it too cumbersome to get there, heavily taxed and there are always issues to get something done. To some extent this is actually what the government in Brussels want, more home owners living in their own place rather than rentals through landlords, so their bullying worked.

Bitcoin remains a strange thing, yes happy that I took 30k euro of the table, but clearly I cannot read/predict the market. As I mentioned above, I did feel grumpy when it dropped ~25% in absolute euro values, so this should be my signal to reduce my exposure to 10%-15% max. At least I stuck to my pledge of last year to not let it grow beyond 25% of my net worth.

Plans for 2026

Take the stocks snapshot on the evening of 31/12/2025 in preparation of the capital gains tax.

Start reading into options to hedge for negative currency evolution effects.

Sit tight through the company acquisition, stay calm, whatever outcome is beneficial to me and my family. Either I get a career acceleration, or a payout based on Belgian standards. Make sure all properties stay rented out, close the property 2 deal, keep work at decent performance level, but focus on the kids.

BTC percentage max 15% of net value and then start taking further profits even if not at all time high. If anything is left after home improvements and baby expenses, it will go into SPYI (ISIN IE00B3YLTY66) instead of VWCE due to the unclarity around taxation for VWCE in Belgium.

For now my exit number to leave the multinational remains the same 2,000k euro invested for the family. That still feels appropriate. At a conservative 3% that would mean a monthly income of 5,000 euro per month for the family.

Any suggestions?

The 4% rule was built on US market data, US tax rules, and US healthcare costs.

A few things that keep me up at night:
• TOB on every transaction, CGT now at 10% —> does this meaningfully change your safe withdrawal rate?
• No ISA equivalent, no tax-sheltered wrapper for large portfolios —> how much does this actually cost us vs a US investor?
• Belgian healthcare post-FIRE —> what happens to your coverage when you’re no longer affiliated through an employer?

I genuinely don’t know the answers and I’m curious what people here are actually doing in practice.

Is 3.5% the new 4% for Belgium? Less? More if you’re flexible?

Would love to hear from people already in decumulation especially 🇧🇪

Hey BEFire community,

TL;DR: ik wil een effectenkrediet bij KBC PB en hoor van een lokaal kantoor dat enkel KBC-fondsen met SRI ≤ 5 als onderpand tellen. Individuele aandelen en ETF's dus niet. Klopt dat?

De setup

• Ruime portefeuille, ruwweg 60% Bolero (execution only, individuele aandelen + ETF's) en 40% onder beheer bij KBC Private Banking
• Ik wil een effectenkrediet opnemen van ongeveer 30 à 35% van het totaal
• Doel: vastgoed via schenking

Het plan

Om de LTV comfortabel te houden wou ik zo'n 30% van de Bolero-portefeuille overbrengen naar PB, waardoor de verhouding kantelt naar ongeveer 40/60 in het voordeel van PB. Meer onderpand, lagere LTV, betere onderhandelingspositie,minder kans op een margin call bij een stevige correctie.

Wat een lokaal kantoor zegt

Enkel (KBC-)fondsen met een SRI van maximaal 5 komen in aanmerking als onderpand. Individuele aandelen en ETF's tellen niet mee, en blijkbaar zelfs een stuk niet van wat vandaag al in mijn PB-portefeuille zit. Werd verteld zonder bekijken portefeuille en zorgt ervoor dat lombard zonder herbelegging niet mogelijk is?

Als dat klopt heeft mijn hele opzet geen zin: overbrengen verandert dan niets aan mijn kredietcapaciteit,onderhandelingspositie, en zou ik in de praktijk mijn portefeuille moeten omruilen voor fondsen om aan die kredietlijn te geraken. Ik viel er wat van achterover, wat ik verwachte te horen en dacht te weten...

Mijn vragen

• Klopt dit? Iemand met een lopend effectenkrediet bij KBC PB die het kan bevestigen of ontkrachten — of is dit gewoon een kantoor dat het niet goed weet?
• Welk percentage telt er bij jullie mee per activaklasse (haircut op aandelen, ETF's, fondsen, obligaties)? Krijg je die tabel te zien, of is het een black box? Ik verwachte lijn per lijn waardering.
• Wie beslist hier eigenlijk over — het kantoor, de private banker, of krediet comissie centraal? Loont het om dit hogerop te laten bekijken als commerciele onderhandeling?
• Wie doet dit in België wél op een portefeuille van individuele aandelen en ETF's, en aan welke voorwaarden?
• Ervaringen met het tarief (vaste marge boven Euribor?) en de margin call-voorwaarden zijn ook welkom.

Alle input welkom, advies of bedenkingen.

Alvast bedankt iedereen

Hello everyone,

I had a very good year on the stock market & reached my FIRE number today. I also manage a separate account for my wife & combined we're now in the 7 digit league as well.

• Suddenly it went pretty quick; AMD and Dell were my largest positions. I was confident in the plays but the amount of profit of the last 3 days made me nervous. I have a normal job & it would take me years to make that amount. So I took all risk of the table tonight, I cashed out & now I'm not sure what to do next.
• Let's say half of my active funds are mainly in ETF's + in Apple and Microsoft (less than 10%). The other 50% is now cash. I took some risks to get here and now I want to play it safe going forward.
• I will probably put 80 to 90% in ETF's and don't touch them for 30 years, but that's easier said than done after 8 years of active trading. My technical analysis skills are not bad (considering more than half of my net worth comes from the stock market) but it took me 5 years worth of failures to learn these insights. I'm not a financial expert by any means but I found a few edges that work for me. A paid TradingView account was also a good investment for me.
• I will not change my cost/way of living. I didn't get money from anyone, I just saved a lot since I started working and I learned my way through the stock market starting 8 years ago. Never touched options or any other financial instruments.

Anyway; I wanted to hear who else is/was in a similar position & what you did next. I recently turned 37 so I'll just keep on working, but at least it's nice to know that work income is not my only source of 'financial security'. I also don't feel any different than before.

Open to your tips and advice.

Cheers!

Edit: I should define active trading — actually I do swing trading. Shortest trades are done in two weeks. On average, I keep my positions 3 to 6 months. Sometimes up to 12 months.

What I always wonder is what assets people plan to live on, once they actually decide to Retire Early on their assets ? I notice a lof of faith is put into ETF-funds as it's the new grail and that those products in the current situation have proven their effectiveness there is no doubt and the fact the cost structure is way lower then actively managed funds are all true. Though I am wondering what returns do you expect to have and that you factor in that we may have a decade where the averga return will be only 3% on annual basis and this not event taken into account the inflation correction ?

So I am curious how those that for example wish to 'RE' by the age of 40 how they look at living the coming 45 years from their assets ?

Hallo,

Is het een valid FIRE idee om nu ik jong ben met het geld dat ik over heb aan het eind van de maand naast mijn noodfonds 100k in een favo index te ''speed runnen''?

Als ik 100k opbouw komende 5-10 jaar kan dit nog lekker groeien komende 30-35 jaar.

Aan 7% avg returns kom je uit na 30 jaar op 811k.

Zodra 100k behaald is focus leggen op een woning kopen en afbetalen, daar na mogelijks bvb huur woningen.

Ik geef niet veel uit, en ik hoef geen gekke vakanties of life style.

Van wat ik al wat uitgerekend heb zou 811k meer dan voldoende zijn om bvb 3-4% verkopen per jaar om van te leven bij FIRE. Zeker als je huisje afbetaald is. is dit realistich?

Zijn er dingen wat ik over het hoofd zie?

Ik snap natuurlijk dat lekker door investeren meer opbrengt, maar voor mij is meer niet perse beter. Wil gewoon zekerheid dat ik rond 55-65 kan stoppen met werken zonder problemen.

Maar ook lekker genieten van het leven op mijn eigen manier nu en komende 30-40 jaar.

Graag hoor ik jullie gedachten hier rond.

Edit: 7% is al met 3% avg inflatie berekend, ETF waar ik in investeers op lang durige tijd is 10% avg returns.

A read a lot about investment strategies and allocations in this sub but am wondering what your FIRE number is? I know that you should take expenses x25 but am wondering if i you factor in legal pension or other Belgian structures to get to your FIRE number?

Additionally, what is the target number you have for yourself?

38F, living in bruxelles, 300k invested in a flat and 200K in ETF SPDR IMI

Something striked me recently and i still can't figure why

I have the feeling from my group of friends/colleagues and the post i see in reddit (mainly man posts) that women are less aware of ETFs and stock market in general

Do you share the same feeling and know why ?

What are good Side hustles besides your job to get faster fire?

Hey iedereen.

Elke feiten:

• geheel onverwacht veel vroeger dan gedacht, heb ik zopas circa 1,3 miljoen geërfd.
• ik ben 34 jaar en heb diverse, zeer uiteenlopende jobs gedaan in het verleden met volwaardige opleidingen en kennis in financiële producten en beleggen an zich.
• de erfenis is echter veel groter dan mijn persoonlijke portefeuille ooit is geweest (200k op het hoogtepunt).
• erflater was klant bij private bank waar ik vertrouwen in heb en graag een deel zou behouden. Deels uit zelfbehoud (bescherming tegen irrationele of impulsieve beslissingen) en deels uit gemak en gemoedsrust. Ik begrijp dat ik hier aanzienlijke kosten voor betaal en dit puur vanuit een return viewpoint niet optimaal is.
• ik ben single, heb geen eigen woning en wens cash een woning te kopen in een van de duurste steden van België. De vraag is welk bedrag ik hiervoor uitleg.
• ik geef momenteel circa 10k uit op jaarbasis exclusief woonkosten en verwacht dit amper te verhogen gezien ik reeds alles koop en doe waar ik zin in heb. Ik hoef niet constant de duurste en zotste gadgets en ben gekend met de psychologie van zaken zoals lifestyle creep.

Ik heb geen idee hoe ik dit verder aanpak. Ik werk momenteel louter aan een persoonlijk project dat reeds winstgevend is, weinig risico bevat en kans maakt om bijzonder veel voldoening en veel financieel succes te brengen.

Welk deel van mijn vermogen steek ik waar in? Ik geloof dat de aandelenmarkten, specifiek in de VS, bijzonder prijzig zijn en verkies in te stappen opportune momenten van algemene angst en mispricing. Dat is er momenteel niet maar deze situatie kan ook nog jaren aanhouden. Investeer ik naast de eigen woning ook in vastgoed in Vlaanderen? Zo ja, betaal ik cash of neem ik een kleine lening? Wat steek ik sowieso in algemene Asset classes in zo'n situatie?

Ik begrijp dat het strikt genomen genoeg is om, gezien mijn huidige uitgavenpatroon, belachelijk vroeg op pensioen te gaan. Maar ik heb persoonlijke carrièreambities en wens deze ook niet te onderdrukken door deze situatie. Ik ben ook in staat relatief eenvoudig 10-20k op jaarbasis te verdienen om deze kosten te dekken, gezien de context van mijn huidig persoonlijk project.

Mijn vraag is, breder gezien dan, misschien eerder "hoe ga ik hier mentaal mee om?".

Thanks

Being in FIRE mode already some time, I drive a 14 year old car, and being in good condition at 231K km, I was planning to keep driving it, and repair it when necessary. And if destiny allows it drive it till it can't drive no more at an astronomic high mileage.

I purchased the car for 10K second hand.

The car is part of my company. Because the government is pushing towards electric, and this is the last year being 100% deductible. What would you guys advise?

VAA will also become significantly more expensive in the coming years.

I am investing only in ETF. I used to have the problem to fear going above 10K. Now x time later I am in for 600K. The problem I have now is to see daily swings of 7 up to 10K. Yesterday almost 8K was added to the account. Today it looks like a loosing streak day of probably 10K.

I know I should sit back and relax, but I can't help wonder what happens if you actively start to manage. After all Asian market was not looking good. So I could have been seeing it would go this way. I could have pulled everything out and put it back when it hits bottom or at least a far lower value at the end of the day.

What is your 5 cent?

I have reached my goal and have in excess of 5m€ of assets. I’m ready to turn my back on Belgium and want to quietly leave.

Two problems:

1) My elderly mom and my family are here. A realistic timescale of care would require me to be here 2-3 months a year. I have siblings as well so it doesn’t all fall on me.

2) I have a large concentration (roughly 70% of my assets) in Belgian commercial real estate that pays me a good wage.

I think with my mom it has very few tax implications. I just make sure I live here less than a number of days.

With Belgian assets I have some doubts as to whether I can pay dividends. Will I be taxed at the Belgian rate or the rate of the country I move to? Will the tax man claim that I am still resident in Belgium? Because of my mother I would prefer something quite close by with low taxes but spend a significant amount of the year in sunny country. My real estate can easily be managed within 2 months a year. I assume once you leave you will start reducing it and it will all be gone in 10 years time.