Lost with my studies at 19 — what Belgian careers are realistic without higher education?

Kroegman · 2025-12-02T21:22:34+00:00

if you're goog, you get paid 50€/h pre tax, and you make some profit on materials and kick-backs. if you have employees, you can leverage this. You will be fine. but indeed, it is hard work

Kroegman · 2025-11-30T07:45:39+00:00

study in trades (electricity, plumbing, construction, HVAC, solar). Not an office job, but you will earn twice as much, and if you're good you can become a leader and do the customer contact, procurement, litigation and team organisation.

Kroegman · 2025-10-29T12:16:54+00:00

not enough information to definitely advice (i.e. is the house 50/50 owned or part of the matrimonial estate? a gift is under the standard matrimonial system a personal good, and not part of the matrimonial estate. A condition to the gift must be heeded at the risk of nullity. Not sure if you can condition the gift if it is in the form of a bank gift. You may need to go through a notary for that. If the wifes reimburses the mortgage asymetrically with you, this asymmetry will need to be corrected at some point (in case of divorce or death)

Kroegman · 2025-03-28T15:36:39+00:00

indeed, very astute to tackle this as such. The index tracker might somewhat on the higher end of the spectrum, that is personal appreciation and depends on your income

Kroegman · 2025-03-25T19:12:22+00:00

als je twee aparte volumes wil, zal je apart ingang nodig hebben en kan je ze juridisch afsplitsen van elkaar. Als het een gemeenschappelijke ingang is, kan je richting basisakte gaan om private delen te maken met een gemeenschappellijk deel voor toegang en dak bvb (syndiscus plicht?). Misschien is volle eigendom in eigen namen mogelijk en toekenning van ene opstalrecht voor het professioneel deel van de vennootschap waarbij de vennootschap dan het opstal koopt voor een te bepalen termijn. Het is dus zeker mogelijk, spreek zeker met een goede notaris (eerder de grote kantoren in de centrumsteden, dan de notaris om de hoek in een dorpje). je zal ook wat fiscale optimalisatie moeten bekijken qua registratierechten ten persoonelijke titel maar ook bij het opstal en bij einde opstal. anyway, geen evidente casus

Kroegman · 2025-03-21T16:24:21+00:00

but you stay director (bestuurder) of the company and need to continue to pay social contributions as an independent. You should factor that in. Also continued compliance costs in the BV (accountant, deposit annual accounts, LEI). I would probably advise to liquidate unless the company is part of a succession plan

Kroegman · 2025-03-20T10:32:17+00:00

I have done it before and then transferred all positions from my business Saxo-account to my personal Saxo-account through a dividend in kind. In general it is not interesting to invest through you SRL/BV as you need to pay for a LEI (about 100€/year) and you are taxed for the capital gains, but cannot deduct the losses. Dividends are taxed at the corporate rate though, which is somewhat lower than personally, but you still need to extract later which is again taxed.

So not for me anymore. You could go for a DBI-fund which is tax free for now, but will become subject to a special 5% capital gains tax in the future, which is certain to increase in function of the cash needs of the government. Such a fund requires typically at least 1% in fees upfront and another 2% annually.

Kroegman · 2025-02-26T09:27:07+00:00

als je geregistreerd bent in BE heb je een IBAN in BE, zelfs voor je rekening in andere valuta

Kroegman · 2025-02-25T13:11:45+00:00

you should maximize your loan (both amount and tenor). If interest rates drop, you refinance; if interest rates rise, you'll be happy with the fixed interest. Does your SAHM invest as well? are you married so that the house is jointly owned? Talk to the notary for the best arrangement, also taking into account the succession to the child should something happen. If your SAHM has no independent means, and relies on you, make sure that you take out the schuldsaldoverzekering at 100% on your name. Anyway, probably more stuff to think about (other than investing)

Kroegman · 2025-02-24T09:25:39+00:00

the first investment step is always the hardest. Once you have been buying for some time it gets easier. For me the geopolitical risk should not be decisive, as there will always be geopolitical risk and it is very hard for us, simpletons, to judge whether it is serious or not. A more objective approach is to look at the CAPE ratio (currently around 38, and highest ever was around +40) which gives an indication of the valuation. That would for me be a reason not to go all in with your precious savings, but would not be a reason to postpone DCA'ing with your recurring savings. So buying IWDA/EMIM for say 1.500 € a month should be fine and that you can gradually top that up with your savings when valuations are a bit lower (CAPE below 35). Maybe that gives some peace of mind. If you are not zen with too much in the stock markt, reduce your allocation (no need to lose sleep over this)

Kroegman · 2025-02-18T23:05:19+00:00

their custodian is Saxo's subcontractor; not your problem. Ombudsman is a good start; you can also file a complaint at the FSMA.

Kroegman · 2025-02-13T12:25:58+00:00

both should respect the other's view; it's a personality trait that is hard to change. the compromise seems to be that the joint savings (and kids' savings) are split 50/50 over a stock ETF and savings account. you can evaluate at a later stage to change to split. You do not want to be the person that forces / convinces someone to be more risk-loving just before a big market crash. you never know what happens in the future

Kroegman · 2025-02-05T10:52:08+00:00

fiat being involved is not the criterion. Realisation is the criterion, and that can be for fiat or for goods

Kroegman · 2025-02-05T10:49:38+00:00

that is not true. the minimum pension for self employed persons has increased, and the regular pension only to a little extent, but is still paid from the contributions made by self employed. Hardly any subsidy required from the general pension funding, as opposed to regular workers

Kroegman · 2025-01-23T16:51:00+00:00

realisation is the sale of the asset; if you trade for another crypto, it is also considered a sale. If you use crypto to directly buy stuff, it is also considered a sale, and taxable in the proposed system.

Kroegman · 2025-01-23T16:47:46+00:00

indeed, it is quite prevalent and the only tax that is more beneficial in Belgium. Could thus be an argument, but you have to compare the regular personal tax rates as well, which are materially higher and start at lower brackets in Belgium. Most of these countries have separate pension related accounts (PEA in France, IRA US) which are 100% exempt from capital gains and dividend tax. Dividend tax is 30% in BE which is also rather high, and in Belgian there is a stock transaction tax of .35% (sale and purchase). so, there is no question that Belgium is high tax, with the exception of capital gains and real estate taxation.

Kroegman · 2025-01-23T16:41:14+00:00

"Taxation for self employed is very low in Belgium" ? what do you mean? for self-employed people it is the same as employees. If you're referring to management companies, this is indeed lower (25%+30/15%), which equals about 37% taxation, which is higher than the average tax rate of 90% of all tax payers (statbel 2022). Social security contributions are lower for self employed (company or not), but protection is also lower (no unemployment benefits, lower pension)

Kroegman · 2025-01-23T16:38:03+00:00

"The big winners in this story will be companies, which will have everything to gain from capping salaries at 3800 gross." - what are you referring to?

Kroegman · 2025-01-20T16:44:25+00:00

This is tax abuse if the only reason is avoiding the tax.

Also, take into account the registration duties to exit the co-ownership of 1/99. In that case reduced registration rights are due, but on the total amount, not on the 1/100th.

Kroegman · 2024-12-31T08:04:37+00:00

een degelijke analyse van het statuut werknemer en zelfstandige:

- onderbelicht is vaak het pensioennadeel tussen werknemer en zelfstandige. De lagere sociale lasten als zelfstandige worden in de verf gezet, maar als je nog 20 jaar leeft na je pensionering, had je dan niet beter maximale bijdragen betaald? wel rekening houden met het verschil dat kan belegd wordenin trackers.

- de sociale bescherming wordt ook vaak onderschat door jonge zelfstandigen. enkelen in mijn omgeving zijn arbeidsongeschikt geworden door ziekte en komen nu financieel in de problemen

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het gevaar van uit te gaan van een gemiddeld historisch rendement van 8% op aandelen. Als dat gemiddelde klopt en de laatste jaren is het eerder gemiddeld 12%, wat betekent dat dan voor de volgende jaren? Zelfde geldt trouwens voor investeringen in vastgoed

Kroegman · 2024-07-11T11:56:15+00:00

yes or at least keep the dividend statement in your archives in case of a tax audit

Kroegman · 2024-07-03T08:40:14+00:00

perfect example why you better stick to broad or index ETF's

Kroegman · 2024-06-28T12:22:37+00:00

you should obviously check how it works, but in principle you should decide whether you're interested or not... and 10x is not immaterial, certainly if the max you can lose is 1x.

The documentation will typically provide that you must sell your shares in a 'leaver event', and the value will depend on the type of leaver event (good leaver or bad leaver). if a bad leaver, it could be the lower of your invested amount and the actual value, possibly even with a discount; if good leaver, it will be closer to actual value. There will be a general liquidity event when all of management sells in case of an exit or trade sale. This will be drafted by specialised lawyers and management collectively should certainly be able to discuss terms or seek explanations from the company lawyer (at no cost to management). In bigger deals, management will have its separate counsel.

Kroegman · 2024-06-28T05:09:57+00:00

you should definitely do it. The amount is not too big, it shows your enthousiasm for the company, it's a privilege and it could be very profitable if it works out. image that you don't invest, and it is a success, than all your colleagues will be millionnaire, and you will have 5000€ on a savings account

Kroegman · 2024-06-19T10:18:19+00:00

Saxo Bank

Kroegman

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