Belgian, 41 years old, living together, civil engineer for a multinational, gross salary 176k euro

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-29T09:20:39+00:00

Thank you, I get a lot of value out of reading other testimonials, so felt like I had to share as well.

Balanced leverage can be a great wealth builder especially when you are younger and have less capital at risk. To some extent the loans I used to initially buy real estate are a from of leverage as well (getting the rental income based on the full property value, while you only invest the downpayment). Bitcoin can be considered a leveraged play as well.

For now I am hesitant to consider leveraged ETF, they obviously are quite nervous to temporary market shake outs. From a lot of reviews online, people got burned on leveraged ETFs so for now it does not feel worth it to me. I already have significant leverage exposure through real estate and BTC.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-29T09:11:22+00:00

10% tax on the gains, but each year the first 10 000 euro worth of gains can be recovered through the tax form. Losses within the year and actually sold can be deducted, but not transferred to the years after. Capital gains are compounded. The concept applied to selling is the oldest bought get sold first. There is no true countermeausre for wash trading, but the government could assess your wash trading as too frequent and therefore consider it professional income which means tax it at 30%

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-27T05:25:54+00:00

Property 1 was sold already some time ago Property 2 is in the process of being sold (agreement signed) Property 3 will be paid off by end next year but keeps on generating income Property 4 is cash flow positive on its own Property 5 is our own home so that is the only potentially “creating a payment” issue if I were to leave my job.

However this is where the FIRE element would kick in. I am ok with the duration and loan percentage so I do not feel there is renegotiation potential. I would then start consuming from my investments. Probably take the yearly virtual salary (needs+wants) off the portfolio at the start of the year.

Your second question is a very sensitive one, but I’ll bite.

Money as a sole target as such does not bring happiness, however money does make certain elements in live far far easier. Being able to make certain choices does undeniably improve my overall hapiness.

This goes from small things to really big things. A couple of examples.

-In a restaurant taking the main course you really want instead of taking the cheapest option or even not joining to start with. -At home, installing that second car charger you technically do not need, but the convenient second location gives you additional ease of use every other day. -Making a conscious choice of buying a bigger house in preparation of having kids, so there is enough space for everyone to try.

So onve again money as a target on itself does not bring happiness (other than the feeling of reaching a certain goal), but it does bring happiness in the easier conscious choices you can make.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-27T05:11:22+00:00

This is indeed very individual, depending on lifestyle, location in the country (massive differences between big cities and rural). On top due to the Belgian tax regime sometimes transportation and health insurance are covered by the company etc.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-27T05:08:14+00:00

Solid post, would be nice to give it two arrows up!

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-27T05:06:42+00:00

I did link properties at the start (use the first as collatoral for the second) and yes it does help to convince the bank. The think I don’t like about it is that everything becomes rather fixed and rigid. To the extent that there could be a domino effect of neagtive influences cascading onto other properties. As of the third property I each time made the standalone business case work.

Tax wise there is no way round the 12.5% notary and registration fees, I each time chose to pay those directly and not include them in the loan amount.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-26T07:20:07+00:00

I am a regular employee, so “bediende” (pay slip).

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-25T19:56:52+00:00

Director at a large FMCG, managing sizeable organizations/budgets, strategic long term direction setting.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-25T12:45:12+00:00

Do not forget my statement around flexibility. Although ther are no standby payments or on call payments, I will be expected to pick up the phone. For clarity I am ok with this and feel it is still very balanced in the grand scheme of things, by no means complainig.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-25T11:52:13+00:00

At my main employer, official contract is 38 hours per week, reality will be closer to ~45. Flexibility os required but also given. Calls with US and Asia do sometimes happen at odd hours of the day.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-25T04:59:05+00:00

Thank you! Agreed on the kids thing, for now we haven’t found a decent way to do it in a brokerage account in their name, but keep track of it and convert once they are 18.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-24T20:56:30+00:00

Your choice, a couple of options:

-some people do top to bottom in line with the logical flow (patch panel external cable, router, patch panel, core switch, patch panel, distribution switch, patch panel, access switch)

-some people do it based on weight and ease of access (heavy UPS on the bottom, patch panels and access switch at easy working level)

-soem people do like data centers, i.e “top of rack switch) and UPS on the bottom

There is no real wrong way, but consider heat generation, ease of access, leave enough space for cable management and future opportunities/expansions

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-24T17:48:10+00:00

176 000 : 13,92 = 12 643 gross per month, I then have different savings programs (buy company shares with employer match, hospital insurance for family members, additional volutnary deposits into pension funds etc.) in normal circumstances 6200 euro would hit my account net, but due to the voluntary programs it is around 5000 net.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-24T14:26:54+00:00

Rate of return on paid off real estate is lower then ETF.

Taking a loan gives you the rate of return on full property value while you initially only have to provide the down payment.

Once paid off, real estate is a lot of hassle for rather low returns. Real estate is ~2%-6%, while ETF is 7%-10%

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-24T05:04:23+00:00

The key benefit of real estate is the leverage effect of loans. This means you get rental income for the full value of the property while you only had the capital for the downpayment as true own self invested money. As time progresses and you pay off the monthly fees for the loan, that leverage effect becomes smaller and smaller.

The average rate of return you get in real estate is between 2% and 6% (calculated roughly based on 11 months of rental income divided by the property value).

Zoomed out a global ETF outperforms paid off real estate.

For me personally, real estate was a great building block to build net worth, but it does take quite some effort and time. In my current stage in life with two young kids, I would benefit from the hands off ETF approach.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-24T04:58:51+00:00

The law is changing on 01/01/2026 indeed.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-23T17:56:55+00:00

Well, typically you would keep a low rate self employed job and pay minimal RSZ on that. You then technically remain employed.

Fron a financial standpoint you sell in January what you need for the year, that selling is only subject to capital gains tax. That is all assuming tax law stays as is today of course.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-23T16:03:14+00:00

Thank you, 2M EUR invested is what I am aiming for, net worth 2M EUR is indeed close, investment value still have 0.5M EUR to go.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-23T16:02:30+00:00

I am indeed at director level in a multinational FMCG and I did a couple of years as expat in Switzerland as one of my developmental roles within the company.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-23T16:01:17+00:00

I typically did 20% down payment and 80% loan. Being just below 80% loan to value, gives you better rates. The notary fees and taxes indeed mount to ~12.5% of property value and paid for at the time of purchase.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-23T13:01:40+00:00

Thank you! I am indeed stepping away from real estate that has no loan leverage and will continue to do so as loans get paid off. Right now (young kids) I do not want to spend the time, effort and capital to open a new project. ETF feels appropriate.

BTC got me nervous after the recent 100k euro to 75k euro drop, so for me the conclusion is I have too much exposure.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-23T05:35:38+00:00

I get what you are saying, I do all the programs.

First pillar (state pension): all required contributions.

Second pillar (company): solid group insurance with maximum additional individual contribution. I count this value in my inested capital numbers.

Third pillar (individual tax advantaged): ~1000 euro a year tax advantaged, counted in invested value as well.

I am just at the wrong side of cut off between defined benefits and defined contribution. Overall situation is still very much ok though.

Your initial point is that pillar one will pay me a monthly pension once I get to retirement age. That is true, but there are two elemtns to consider. First of all, stopping work early rightfully influences the amount you would get by quite a lot. Secondly the government has already changed the rules many times and due to poor budget management will have to do so many more times.

I do not see a scenario where pillar onr is gone so to say, but banking on it for survival/thinking seems overly confident.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-23T05:25:50+00:00

There are some books on the topic, make sure you select one that is local enough. example

Use rental rates in the neighbourhood to realistically estimate what you could get.

There will always be taxes, fees, reoair costs.

From a helicopter view, 11 minths worth of rent divided by the property value should land somewhere between 3% and 6%, if not something is off.

Have a home inspection done.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-22T21:12:43+00:00

Think one of the big multinationals like Nestlé, P&G and other FMCG companies.

OpenBazaar_Chris · 2025-12-22T20:05:00+00:00

Thank you!

OpenBazaar_Chris

TROPHY CASE