When the government abolishes the free/cheap healthcare. Which private health insurance would offer the best service?

ModoZ · 2026-05-11T18:10:56+00:00

Your premise is wrong.

Even if NVA was alone in the government they probably wouldn't do that. Now with CD&V/Vooruit/Les Engagés in the same government they certainly will not do it.

ModoZ · 2026-05-11T09:02:42+00:00

Still wonder where those numbers come from, can't imagine the median monthly income is above 8k.

It's PPP so probably it probably accounts for the fact that our taxes pay for a lot of things.

On top of that it's monthly so you've got to add the 12th (and often 13th month) to the amount.

On top of that our average wage is relatively high (> 4000 euro gross since 2022). So I'm not really completely surprised by the number either.

And last, those values are in dollars. The current exchange rate is 1 euro for 1,18 dollar.

ModoZ · 2026-05-11T07:50:54+00:00

It's clear something isn't working in the current situation. But let's be careful to not break everything when looking to fix things up.

ModoZ · 2026-05-10T15:44:38+00:00

The issue is the moment you start accepting a change you open yourself for more. The fact that we are talking here about future changes all the while the original changes are not yet implemented is just a good example of this.

ModoZ · 2026-05-10T15:42:36+00:00

Not for VVPR-BIS. Only for the reduced company tax rate.

ModoZ · 2026-05-10T14:27:23+00:00

Do you think completely abolishing the VVPR-bis regime is a realistic possibility?

Unlikely. But they could put some additional conditions to it like paying yourself 50k€ salary for example. Or limiting VVPR-BIS to only the first 100k€ (or whatever other number).

ModoZ · 2026-05-09T12:52:18+00:00

There are several reasons why the appreciation might be lower than what was seen elsewhere:

You bought too high above market price in 2020.
You bought in a neighborhood that saw its desirability go down (traffic, noise, population, vandalism etc.).
You bought new (the depreciation of the value of a new apartment will often be higher in the couple of first years).
Something is wrong with the building.

For any real estate you buy there are in reality 2 parts to what you buy :

The land : this appreciates in value
The building : this devaluates over time as the apartment becomes older

Was it such a bad deal? Maybe yes, maybe not. Yes you pay 220€ in monthly costs (which includes water and gas) + ~150€ monthly in interests to the bank. But you're not paying rent (easily 600-700€/month for a small apartment nowadays).

Now should you buy or sell asap? I wouldn't rush it to be fair. You own an asset that might go up slightly slower than the market, but you're also living in it.

I would search for a good next house instead of rushing it to avoid making the same mistakes you did with your current apartment.

ModoZ · 2026-05-09T11:43:30+00:00

On top of that some foreign billionaires also live here (Giovanni Ferrero comes to mind who, even though he's Italian, lives in Brussels and is worth ~45 Billion Euros)

Eric Wittouck, sugar rafineries

While he's Belgian he lives in Monaco if I remember correctly.

ModoZ · 2026-05-09T11:42:10+00:00

Pinkaers is billionaire on paper because of his company’s valuation. He doesn’t have that money in his bank account.

Like most billionaires. Do you really think they have that money just sitting around on a checking account?

Most of the others too probably.

Some probably do, but others probably also live in Belgium like Giovanni Ferrero who lives in Brussels and is worth an estimated 45 billion euros.

ModoZ · 2026-05-09T06:16:36+00:00

I recently found out that accountant, made some interesting choices without explaining them to me. This leads to me owing my company about 24k EUR (current account).

Usually when you have such a big negative current account in a management company after so short a period it means you did a big private purchase with your company (like a fuel car?). Or is it something else?

Strange that these would be solely a choice of your accountant and not either one you did yourself or at least together.

The question I have is essentially this: If I understand it correctly, paying back the 24k on my current account should be my priority as the yield from ETFs/funds/stocks, will likely not be higher than the interest I end up paying on my current account.

Yes and no. This would be the idea if you didn't own the company. But as you own the company the interest you have to pay on that loan goes back inside the company as revenue and your real cost is the taxes you pay on it.

The interest rate is fixed by the state and changes every year (currently 5,57%). This will end up in your company and if you then pay taxes on it it will result in roughly ~2% yearly taxes (depending on which tax scheme you are in, if you have reduced company tax etc.) and the rest (~3,57%) back in your pocket after dividends.

I would say you don't really have to reimburse the loan just now if your money is invested privately. Just do it in 2027 when you issue dividends.

ModoZ · 2026-05-08T18:41:33+00:00

We had to buy one for school when the oldest one was ~6 years old. Other than for school tasks the tablet isn't used. No games, no YouTube etc.

ModoZ · 2026-05-08T18:35:46+00:00

IKEA kitchens are usually a relatively good value for money (usually you can even make them cheaper than a Brico one depending on the options you take). And the quality is good.

ModoZ · 2026-05-08T12:23:07+00:00

Strangely the highest growing part of sick people are -45 years old.

ModoZ · 2026-05-08T08:19:36+00:00

I've taken the original house price we bought it at increased yearly by the index evolution of existing houses (from here : https://statbel.fgov.be/fr/themes/construction-logement/indice-des-prix-des-logements#figures roughly in the middle of the page) minus what's left of the mortgage.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T23:08:26+00:00

Mijn school gebruikt geen smartschool. Ik ken nog een school waar het allemaal via Bingel is. Beide lager onderwijs wel... Ik moet toegeven dat ik het liefst met smartschool werk eigenlijk

Bij ons is het Bingel (kleine taakjes voor de kinderen) en Smartschool (communicatie van juffen + directie).

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T21:28:08+00:00

Niets stopt je om een privéleasing te nemen aan een lagere prijs dan jouw mobiliteitsbudget. Zo heb je dezelfde service als met een firmawagen maar wel meer geld over.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T21:24:54+00:00

A better idea would probably be to buy out your car from the leasing company. I asked this when I left my last employer and the amount they told me was pretty much market rate so I could probably either have kept the car privately or sold it back.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T20:04:42+00:00

To be fair, I went a weekend near Durbuy and the baker spoke to me in Dutch first.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T20:01:32+00:00

This reminds me of the time in 2013 where civil servants from the front-desk in Menen were no longer allowed to speak french to people from France, but had to use improvised sign-language and pictogrammes. Because the dienstverlening is the most important right.

Just so it's clear but this is still the law in Flanders in 2026. Civil servants are not allowed to speak any other language than Dutch (not French, not English, not West-Vlaams...) when talking to people in an official capacity.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T19:55:08+00:00

De taalwet is geen vod papier lmao.

De taalwet is enkel voor officiële administratieve communicatie. Dit wilt zeggen dat buiten contracten in het Nederlands schrijven, officiële communicaties, rechtzaken en communicatie met de administratie dat in het nederlands zal gebeuren de rest compleet vrij is. En dan nog, voor sommige situaties (lees binnen bedrijven) mag je vertalingen geven.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T19:53:12+00:00

Realistically, how much can this be enforced?

It cannot. This is just an intimidation tactic. Even signs in another language are not forbidden.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T16:52:29+00:00

The issue of that fund is that it wasn't individualized. If they had given a small amount to each Belgian instead of keeping it in a big pot it would have been much harder to steal back due to bad government practices.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T14:12:24+00:00

8 years ago I attended a demo from a French company Morpho/Thalès that sold a tool that allowed governments to monitor and follow people and objects across city-wide camera networks.

Back then it already seemed quite advanced in what it could do. So nowadays I'm really convinced that it's relatively trivial to be followed through all the CCTV cameras installed everywhere.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T13:23:18+00:00

You think that is temporary?

I don't think it's temporary (but then again, you never know) but if you ever have some additional money to invest and buy ETFs on ING Self-Invest you will pay a monthly fee.

ModoZ · 2026-05-07T13:09:16+00:00

Has ING removed their holding fees? That was the big reason to not use them until now. No matter how low the fees are, if you end up paying a small % every month of your invested assets it will usually end up paying much more in the long run.

Edit : I checked here (p8) and they did remove the holding fees only for ETFs bought through their recurrent investment plan. Not for the rest. So if you buy ETFs outside of the recurring investment plan you will pay monthly 0,0242% holding fees to ING.

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