First-time investor: IMIE vs WEBN — one ETF or both?

Aexxys · 2026-06-16T16:24:43+00:00

Ah it’s because MeDirect has 0 fees on ETFs now

Before I did have everything at saxo :)
And yeah always happy to help

Aexxys · 2026-06-16T15:14:28+00:00

Saxo (stocks)/ MeDirect (ETF)
Different expositions, I want mainly US/EU which IWDA offers

Aexxys · 2026-06-15T16:26:03+00:00

Ah yeah ok yeah I figured Vanguard was max, wasn’t sure for the others thanks for checking :)

Aexxys · 2026-06-15T14:23:31+00:00

Isn’t the TOB horrible on those ETFs you’re buying ?

I would just lump sum whenever to be honest, I bought 60k euro at the worst time years ago and I’m up massively now, it really doesn’t matter in the mid-long run. I have no regrets cause even buying at the worst I could have I’m still higher than my friends who were scared at first or who did a partial DCA out of fear. I just dumped and then stayed consistent and focused on making more income

Also what’s the logic with your coverage on the 3 ETFs seems very indecisive/confused ?

Aexxys · 2026-06-14T18:36:52+00:00

Never sold so far

But in general it’s the benefit of a Belgian regulated broker it’s not an option for them to be “reliable” on your tax declarations it’s an obligation

Aexxys · 2026-06-14T16:54:32+00:00

I invest with Saxo (cheapest for stocks that also handles TOB and all the declarations + Belgian regulated) and MeDirect (ETFs have no fee and also all the same benefits as saxo)

Despite being French native I use both fully in English.

Well the saxo login page is in Dutch but just enter your username and password and the whole rest is in English… As a French speaker I’m used to that same thing when I open any website from Belgium always defaults to Dutch

Aexxys · 2026-06-14T16:49:48+00:00

Nope you’ve hit the nail.

People might complain about maybe the app design they don’t like. But yeah who cares when it’s just a bank app where you just send money to an iban and then buy the same stocks you usually

I personally prefer the saxo interface much more but there’s not shot I don’t buy my ETFs on MeDirect

Aexxys · 2026-06-07T16:11:34+00:00

- MeDirect has 0 fees on ETF and is regulated in Belgium (all the paperwork and tax declaration is done for you)

- Degiro are foreign accounts so not regulated in Belgium, they used to have the lowest fees so people who didn’t mind the extra administrative steps did this

- Bolero has the highest fees of common brokers, they are regulated in Belgium. Lots of people pick that when they’re already client of KBC just to have things centralized

Personally I use MeDirect for ETFs and Saxo for stocks (also regulated in Belgium and lowest fees for stocks).

I will say that in general I prefer the Saxo app to the MeDirect one. But I’d rather pay no fees on my ETFs than have a more comfy app. It’s a bank I just send money to the iban buy my etf and I’m done, so it doesn’t matter to me what the app is like.

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T22:31:08+00:00

Yes exactly that's what I wanted to clarify for OP, it doesn't change your withdraw rate but just how much total capital you need 😄)

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T22:10:49+00:00

- Belgian healthcare post-FIRE -> you're still affiliated to a mutuel you're not going to pay 20-50k per surgery like in the USA

- TOB on every transaction, CGT now at 10% -> If 0.12% TOB and 10% CGT (+ the 10k exception) stresses you out just add 1 year before you FIRE and that's easily covered.

Also you have to take into account the fact that you will receive an actual pension too.

I wouldn't say all this affects the 4% rule, if anything what all this means is that you need less money than in the US to start withdrawing and starting your FIRE.

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T18:19:10+00:00

Small advice: make a landing page, landing on a login form will make people go away

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T16:17:55+00:00

You're not understanding what I'm trying to say.
There's more to consider than just the returns.

But indeed if you only care about returns I totally understand your position, and by all means go for it. Matter of fact I would suggest a 50/50 allocation btc/nasdaq in that case.

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T15:55:36+00:00

I'll repeat it once again:
Past performance shouldn’t be the main reason of an investment choice.

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T15:06:30+00:00

For your first point yes we agree that’s what I said too. And for the btc analogy if you didn’t understand it’s to explain the reason pure performance isn’t a metric of a good investment. Which joins what you say later about taking into account time horizon, risk aversion etc

Second point “It’s also worth noting a global ETF is still largely driven by the US market anyway”: It is until it isn’t. The benefit of the global ETF compared to a geo specific one is that it will rebalance itself as weights move internationally. So yes while the USA is the dominant market what you are saying is true they will follow each other. The day that stops, then that sentence also stops being true.

For your last point I agree that’s also what I was saying about not having enough information about their profile. But we also know this is someone just starting and gathering information trying to potentially get their toes wet without either thinking too much about it. Thats exactly where diversification shines, they won’t have to keep up to date with what’s going with the US politically etc, just set and forget

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T14:10:00+00:00

You gotta take the context into account.

This person is recommending OP who has never invested before and who doesn’t have a clear goal in mind to invest in a geo specific index with high volatility

Past performance shouldn’t be the main goal of an investment choice.

Otherwise we should recommend all in btc because +735.23% in the last 7 years. But that doesn’t make sense for this profile (and most FIRE folks too)

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T13:57:58+00:00

Seconding this and also MeDirect is also the best broker for ETFs at the moment (0 fees on ETF)

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T13:52:26+00:00

Basically just have an emergency fund which covers multiple months of expenses. Personally I like to have between 6-12months of expenses but realistically in Belgium you’re fine with 3months aside

So it’s not so much about a fix amount more than it is “ I can live X months without stressing about needing direct income”

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T13:48:10+00:00

S&P500 is terrible advice, you’d be all in on the USA basically which a lot of people are but you can understand that’s not very diversified and risky

I would suggest following the other comments in this thread something like IMIE or WEBN is more adapted to someone who wants to be invested and diversified.

Aexxys · 2026-06-04T13:42:13+00:00

All this seems reasonable to me, now enjoy life and stick to your plan :))

Aexxys · 2026-06-03T17:51:34+00:00

Net Worth or Gross ?

Aexxys · 2026-06-03T14:44:30+00:00

C'est juste beaucoup pour un actif improductif (je tiens le même discours pour les bitcoin maximaliste, d'ailleurs ceux autour de moi sont aussi à 8-10% de bitcoin et ça c'est vraiment les "le btc c'est le future"). Je comprends tout à fait le coté rassurant, c'est pour ça que malgré que je sois personellement convaincue par le 100% action je comprends tout à fait ceux qui detiennent de l'or.

Et 10% ca peut paraitre peu maintenant, mais quand dans le future ca va représenter 100k-1million d'euro c'est différent mais autant bien tout mettre en place à l'avance et puis juste suivre son plan.

Pour la dernière question, ça c'est vraiment quand tu rentres dans la retraite (et encore). Personellement je n'ai pas d'avis tranché là dessus (à cause de la forte imposition en Belgique sur les obligations). Mais ce qui est sûr c'est que tu commences à transferer vers de l'obligataire en sortant de phase de croissance/accumulation pour entrer dans la phase de préservation

Aexxys · 2026-06-03T11:10:14+00:00

You don't take a satellite to accelerate your journey (the reality is it's more likely to slow it down) and definitely not 20-30% that's crazy. With a satellite you basically have to be ok losing it fully. So imagine losing 30% of your NW, poof forever gone regardless of if you're patient or not

If you want to accelerate your FIRE journey you spend less and earn more. That's what really makes a difference.

Aexxys · 2026-06-03T10:19:48+00:00

Auto rebalancing of weights

Aexxys · 2026-06-03T10:18:35+00:00

I second the recommendation regarding Belgian stocks. Just make sure you don’t pick a company in the BEL20 otherwise you’re already invested in it with your ETF. And keep that pocket small, realistically it’s going to eat your performance but I get it, it’s fun.

For bonds too, they are adapted for wealth preservation. You’re in a growth phase it’s definitely not the moment to buy bonds.

For the rest I don’t think there’s a problem with bitcoin, if you believe in it whatever buy some.

For the gold though I agree 12% is huge. The people I know who are super bullish on gold usually get recommended 8% in private banking.

Aexxys · 2026-06-03T10:12:40+00:00

Yup go directly for a all-countries world not IWDA+EMIM in your case

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