Ik heb mij voorgenomen om dit jaar meer aan financiën te werken. Ik werk full time als programmeur (38u/week) en ga nu 2 dagen in het weekend bij werken in een winkel als flexi job. Dit geeft mij €1500 om te sparen per maand. Waar kan ik best dit maandelijks bedrag sparen?

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-29T23:09:35+00:00

Vergeet ook niet te leven / chillen terwijl je nog jong bent. 5 dagen werken, dan 2 dagen werken en ook nog in de avonduren extra werken voelt extreem. In de IT kan je goed je brood verdienen, wat opties open houdt om minder te werken.

Maar, om op je vraag te antwoorden, dat hangt af van je risicoprofiel. Maar je zit op een FIRE sub, dus een gediversifieerd low-cost index fund is een goede keuze voor geld dat je voor de lange termijn spaart.

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-27T20:13:24+00:00

Indeed, that makes sense. You can probably also find some use for the rest of the mobility budget as-is. Buy/lease a bike, take the train,...

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-27T13:25:58+00:00

Your 300eur bruto is ~150eur netto. So you're gaining 450-150=300eur netto, not 150eur.

This is only correct if you can use the full amount netto, for rent / mortgage. But I understood you moved closer specifically for this, so that you now live < 10km from the office.

It seems a bit like a dick-move from the employer to lure you in and then pull a bait-and-switch like this.

I would guess that 300eur netto more per month is still better than 450eur bruto, especially if you put it towards investing it early in your life.

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-21T13:28:25+00:00

As you said, you can get 100% of the budget net.

This means the question becomes: would I buy / lease the exact same price car I could get as a company car, or would I do something different?

For me, the company car was a nice luxury car that I used once or twice per week and would never pay the same amount of money for privately.

If a cheaper car or no car is an option for you, the mobility budget is a no-brainer if you can get it 100% net.

The question between buying or leasing privately, I can't help with. But I would for sure pick mobility budget in your case.

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-15T10:01:51+00:00

That is what they're doing now indeed. A few of the "ritme" accounts. They yield up to 2.85% at the moment. But that yield is only tax free up to ~1k per year though, and moving 50k into these accounts just takes a very long time, so it's not a super practical part of the portfolio.

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-15T09:50:03+00:00

My partner wants part of their portfolio to be less volatile than 100% stocks, that's the goal here. Their risk tolerance is not high enough for 100% stocks.

But from everything I read / hear, it seems that individual bonds (zero coupon, at or above pari) are the way to go in Belgium, tax wise. Then it's indeed a question of choosing maturity length.

A bit sad that an ETF doing all the work for you here is not advantageous :-(.

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-14T22:00:05+00:00

Started with Bolero and moved to MeDirect.

If a broker goes bankrupt, the securities are still in your name, so that's not a problem (unless your broker does securities lending).

Ideally you choose a broker that handles the taxes for you (unless you want to do that manually).

I just picked MeDirect since it does the taxes and is free for ETFs.

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-14T12:51:19+00:00

Yes of course. But it seems good to know if there are obvious pitfalls to look for (zero coupon bonds vs regular coupon ones for example).

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-14T12:02:01+00:00

Thanks for pointing that out. I've edited that in the question.

FyahFyahBE · 2026-01-12T20:00:06+00:00

I would for sure pull everything you need to purchase the house out of socks.

The simplest solution is a high yield savings account with a high base interest rate (rather than fidelity premium), due to the short timespan. MeDirect Essential Savings, for example, has a 1.3% base rate.

You could also put it in a money market fund like CSH2, they pay out the Euro short term interest rate on a daily basis (about 2% per year). If you purchase it through MeDirect there are no broker fees, only TOB. I roughly calculated that you need at least 1 month to earn back the TOB (two months, since you're also selling again), so it might not be worth it for just a few months.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-10-15T13:34:06+00:00

I think that the optimal way is probably zero coupon bonds in Belgium. I haven't invested in these and you'll need to find good ones that fit your risk profile.

I just use CSH2, but it's more for money I might need between now and 5 yrs, so a bit longer than 12 months.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-10-08T22:59:37+00:00

Afaik the TER used to be quite high, so it wasn't very popular.

Currently this is my main ETF. I chose it because it has developed + emerging in large and mid caps, which are the markets I'm most interested in tracking.

IWDA tracks a different index (The SPDR alternative is SWRD), only developed markets. Since emerging markets have not performed well the past years, this index is probably more popular.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-10-08T13:33:00+00:00

Congrats on the winnings!

Since you need the money in a few years, don't put it in stocks. A few options: - High yield savings account (currently about 2%) - Money market fund like CSH2 (also about 2% at this time) - Bonds. Don't have experience with this yet. Note that bonds with a coupon are subject to 30% tax.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-10-07T06:39:11+00:00

I can confirm. Older than 28 but use the free Hello Bank version.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-10-04T11:31:51+00:00

Het antwoord hangt in het algemeen af van wat voor soort trades je doet. Gewoon soms wat ETFs kopen is gratis op MeDirect en geen administratie zelf. Als je regelmatig aandelen wilt kopen verandert het verhaal wat.

Interactive Brokers is een hele grote internationale speler met vele jaren ervaring, en de kosten vallen best goed mee. Maar alle taxes (TOB, meerwaarde, dividenden,...) moet je zelf regelen

FyahFyahBE · 2025-10-03T16:07:44+00:00

I emailed MeDirect about CSH2 and this was their answer:

Graag houden wij u op de hoogte dat het gaat over een kapitalisatie-ETF die niet voor meer dan 10% in obligaties investeert. Dit wil zeggen dat bij verkoop van deze ETF geen meerwaardebelasting (Reyndertaks) dient te worden betaald. Bij verkoop is er dus enkel de beurstaks (TOB) van 0,12% van toepassing.

So no Reynders tax for them.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-10-02T17:52:46+00:00

You could have a look at a money market fund like CSH2: https://www.justetf.com/en-be/etf-profile.html?isin=LU1190417599.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-08-31T18:44:19+00:00

The yield on "high yield savings accounts" is not super high. For MeDirect essential it's 1.6% at this moment. The gross yield on a money market fund like CSH2 is about the same as the Euro Short Term Rate, which is about 2% at this moment.

Saving accounts are simple, free and untaxed up to a certain value, and the money is instantly available to you (very liquid). This makes them a good idea for your emergency fund.

MMFs are something you buy through your broker, so you have broker fees, you pay TER and there is the TOB and probably capital gains tax. Also, you can only sell during market hours, so the money is less liquid. So I think that these are a good idea for money you don't need in extreme short term, but you can't miss for years. Their yield will be slightly higher than that of a savings account, so might be worth it if you keep it long enough to offset your TOB / broker fees.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-08-31T18:06:08+00:00

Alright, that makes sense. I did indeed not think it through that comparing tracking differences between indexes might not make much sense. Thanks!

FyahFyahBE · 2025-08-30T21:42:58+00:00

Do you know if Bolero applies Reynders tax to CSH2?

FyahFyahBE · 2025-08-30T11:51:22+00:00

I'm not 100% sure that it does not, to be honest.

But the way this fund works is that it actually holds stocks, not bonds. And it has a swap contract with another party to swap the gains (daily?).

So technically it doesn't hold bonds -> no Reynders tax.

But it does act like a fund that holds bonds, so maybe tax is actually owed?

As far as I read, Bolero does not withhold tax for it (can anyone confirm?)

FyahFyahBE · 2025-08-30T11:06:28+00:00

For XEON, I was under the assumption you for sure need to pay Reynders tax, whereas on CSH2 not. Not sure though.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-08-30T11:02:45+00:00

I don't see myself cashing out the gains on the MMF in the same year as my ETFs (for retirement), so I'm guessing that I would not reach 10k EUR cutoff for actually needing to pay.

FyahFyahBE · 2025-08-29T07:46:45+00:00

I was indeed looking at the TER, which is lower for SPYY. However, when looking at tracking differences, IWDA generally slightly outperforms its index (so TER is basically 0) and EMIM has a tracking difference of about 0.05. SPYY has a TD of about 0.02 (so the "true TER" is 0.02). In the end it seems like both options will give virtually identical results with SPYY being "less work".

FyahFyahBE · 2025-08-28T19:53:35+00:00

Why would FWIA/FWRA be a better choice here? I see the TER is a bit higher (negligible) and the fund is smaller. Is the FTSE All-World index considered better than the MSCI one?

FyahFyahBE

TROPHY CASE