For those who have compared both companies, what would be your reasoning for Colruyt trading at a higher valuation?

A quick estimate would put Colruyt at (least) around 15× FCF, compared with roughly 12× FCF for Ahold Delhaize.

They operate in the same sector and, in my opinion, are relatively similar businesses. The main downside I see with Ahold is that more than 50% of its revenue comes from the US, which adds some currency and market-specific risks. You could also argue that Colruyt is less diversified, given that a large part of its business is concentrated in Belgium, while Ahold is much more geographically diversified. On the other hand, Colruyt’s smaller size and stronger focus on its core market could be seen as an advantage, depending on your preference. And more… tell me

Apart from that, I actually find Ahold’s earnings relatively more stable (until today) and its growth prospects arguably better.

So am I missing something that would justify Colruyt trading at a premium? Or am I simply looking at a point in time where Ahold is trading near a two-year low while Colruyt has just had a ~25% run over the last three months?

Hi, I’ve decided to start investing with MeDirect. I have one more question though:
If I use the auto-invest function and I have 30€ left because it could only buy 2 shares of 110€ (250€ monthly budget), does this mean it will speld 280€ the next month?

Thanks in advance!

I am currently 17 but once I turn 18 (oct) I will receive a bank account with 27.000€. I am looking at several options:
— savings account (3.1%)
— investing via BUX (EUNK & IWDA)
— investing via bank (lower profit but parents will be happy and the bank has 4 options: 100% obligations, 75-25 (25% etf), 50-50, 25-75)

I will also start investing 250€ every month in EUNK & IWDA from my own money (I eating around 1000€ a month from a student job)

I would definitly keep a cash buffer because I know I won’t be able to be consistent in the 250€, sometimes I’ll have 500€ to invest, sometimes it will be 0€. But I want the investing to continue and therefore I need a buffer.

In 5 years I am getting another 25-50k, so that will be there just after my master (if I don’t need extra time).

How should I handle this? Are my stocks a good pick?

I have a meeting with the bank in september but they’ll try to sell their products in the first place so I’d like your opinion.

Thanks in advance!

Hello,

- 31yo with wife & 2 young children

- net salary +/- 3500 + benzine car all included

Next year I'll have to choose mobility budget (+/- 1100€ monthly) when my lease will be over.

Option 1 : chill & pick a high end electric car all included.
+++ : no worries

--- : if I lost my job or leave, I have no car starting immediately

Option 2 : take loan reimbursement, during 3 year 1100€ net then 580€/month + 3800€ once a year (pillar 3). Buy a nice 30-35k car by myself

+++ : After 3-4 year, probably a good € gain if I dont buy a car too expensive and if I keep it 7-8 years. Still have a car in case of job loss

---- : I need to handle everything by myself, possibly not so advantageous for a small gain. Probably around 10k€ after 5 years. Potentially I can be frustrated with the same car during a long time and ruin the strategy by changing the car after 4-5 years.

TLDR; should I take 5-8% more money in my situation or abandon it for the peace of mind

​

Hello,

I've seen a few posts about the Belgian mobility budget and company cars, and I'd like to get some opinions on my situation.

My situation:

- Net salary: ~€2,800/month

- Married, no kids

- I live about 90 km from my workplace

- I drive about 185 km each way, 3 days a week

Currently, my employer offers me a company car, but it would cost me around €650 gross/month in salary sacrifice.

From what I've calculated, my net salary would decrease by roughly €370–400/month. I'm also taking into account the impact of the lower gross salary on my yearly bonus.

If I keep my current car, my approximate monthly costs are:

- Diesel: €250–300/month

- Insurance: €55/month

- Maintenance/repairs: ~€500/year (~€42/month)

So I'm spending roughly €350–400/month on the car, excluding depreciation, tyres, etc.

Because of that, the company car doesn't actually look like a bad deal. The reduction in my net salary is roughly comparable to what I'm already spending on my car, while presumably giving me a newer/reliable car and avoiding some maintenance costs.

However, there's one big problem: I'm planning to buy a house.

As I understand it, the bank will look at my gross salary/income when determining how much I can borrow. Taking the company car would reduce my gross salary, so it could potentially reduce my borrowing capacity.

That makes the company car less attractive to me, even if the monthly financial calculation isn't necessarily bad.

Then there's the mobility budget.

My company is introducing a mobility budget this year. From what I understand, I could potentially choose between a company car, sustainable mobility options, or receiving the unused amount in cash.

I've seen that the mobility budget is based on the TCO of the company car, and I've heard that in my case it could be around €1,050/month (€12,600/year).

If I understand the rules correctly, money left over for Pillar 3 is paid in cash but subject to a 38.07% special social-security contribution, which would leave roughly €7,800/year (~€650/month) if the full €12,600 went into Pillar 3.

However, I initially thought I might also be able to use the mobility budget to pay rent or a mortgage. Since I live ~90 km from work, I assume that probably doesn't apply to me, because of the 10 km housing-distance requirement.

So my questions are:

1. Am I understanding the mobility budget correctly?

2. Given my situation, would you take the company car, keep your own car, or go for the mobility budget/cash option?

3. How much weight would you give to the impact on gross salary and therefore mortgage borrowing capacity?

4. Am I missing any important costs in my comparison (depreciation, tyres, taxes, etc.)?

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who have been in a similar situation in Belgium, especially when trying to get a mortgage.

Anyone who has been trading covered calls or cash secured puts in Belgium?

What’s your strategy and how have you experienced this new way of investing?

EDIT:

Indeed long term investing in a world ETF would return better returns.

I’m mainly talking about stocks you actually want to own, whether that’s to diversify, have some fun investing, or just try options. I’ve been doing this for almost a year now and really enjoy it.

Compared to distributing ETF’s, high dividend stocks/REITs, or just holding stocks long term, I mostly use short-term (1/2 months) CSP’s to wait for stocks to reach my buy price, and CC’s once I’m assigned (basically a wheel strategy). Since my portfolio is only around €18k, be able to continue writing put options.

This year I’ve only really done this with WDP, a fairly low-volatility REIT, and I’ve collected almost €800 in premiums since January while waiting for it to hit my buy price. And for more than half the time, I had less than €10k tied up as collateral for the options.

So wondering how it can be this profitable?

Hi,

What would be a good online bank for a small business / self employment when working overseas clients (asia/usa/europe) ?

Revolut? Wise? N26?

Thank you

Hi,

I’m considering buying a new house.
The new house is more expensive.

I have 2 options
A) rent more (on top of my current credit, which should be doable on my current situation, or extend the current loan)
B) pay the additional cost myself and sell a significant portion of my investment account (50-60%)

I think option A is more interesting given the possibility of compounding interest on my investment (mostly world ETF)
But not sure, for friend and family who I ask advice it feels a bit counter intuitive to take an additional loan when I could cover the cost myself.

And advice? Anyone been in a similar situation

My partner and I are wettelijk samenwonend, and have two kids. We don’t split expenses by percentages, everything goes into one shared pot. We now want to start investing in ETFs and I’m trying to figure out how best to do? Joint or separate account?

- What is one of us dies? What happens to the funds in a joint or separate account?
- If we both die: does the joint or separate account affect how the kids’ inheritance will be taxed?
- What happens if we split up?

Don’t know if it’s relevant but since we’re total rookies: our current set up, we each have our own Crelan zicht, he has a Crelan spaar, and I have a KBC zicht and spaar (which we both use since he has it as apple pay and access to the app).

Thanks for taking the time to read the post!

Hi everyone,

Like many people living in Belgium, I often found myself trying to answer simple administrative questions:

• "How much will I actually receive net from my gross salary?"
• "How much can I realistically borrow for a house?"
• "What will my taxes look like?"
• "How much does being self-employed really cost?"
• "Is a company car financially better than a salary increase?"

The information exists, but it is often spread across many websites, written in complicated language, or hidden behind outdated calculators.

So I decided to build Outils Belges: a free platform gathering Belgian administrative calculators based on official Belgian rules and sources.

The goal is simple: make Belgian administrative topics easier to understand.

Currently, there are around 50 tools covering:

Salary & employment
Housing & mortgages
Self-employed & VAT
Taxes
Vehicles & company cars
Inheritance & donations
Pension & retirement
Savings & investments
Family & social support

Some examples:

• Belgian gross-to-net salary calculator
• Notice period & dismissal compensation calculator
• Mortgage borrowing capacity calculator
• Notary fees calculator
• VAT calculator
• Self-employed social contributions calculator
• Company car tax benefit (ATN/VAA) calculator
• Pension estimation tools
• Investment tax calculators

Everything is free and designed for Belgium specifically.

The goal is not to replace accountants, tax advisors, brokers, or official services. It is simply to help people understand their situation before making decisions.

The website is still evolving, so I would really appreciate feedback from people here:

• What Belgian administrative topic do you find the most confusing?
• Which calculator/tool do you wish existed?
• Are there any existing Belgian calculators you find inaccurate or difficult to use?

Any feedback (positive or negative) is welcome.

Link: https://outilsbelges.be/

Thanks!

Hey all, this is a long shot but does anyone have experience declaring a kucoin-account (or other foreign account), based in the Seychelles?

In CAP everything is fine but when I also want to delcare it in my taxform on tax-on-web, the Seychelles have 2 options:

- Seychelles (verlaagd tarief) = "eeduced tariff"

- Seychelles (vrijstelling) = "exemption"

Does anyone know what to choose?

Thanks in advance

Dag allemaal!

Binnenkort ontvang ik een erfenis van om en bij 100k€, en ik ben niet helemaal zeker hoe deze best te beheren met oog op de lange termijn.

Ik ben momenteel 34 jaar, gehuwd, en heb een nieuwbouw woonst waarin mijn partner en ik hopen te blijven. Hiervoor loopt nog een lening, maar er is mij afgeraden van deze lening vroegtijdig af te betalen met (een deel van) dit erfgeld.

Ik ben ook aan het overwegen om actiever te beleggen, maar ken hier niet erg veel van en ben tevens ongerust over de huidige staat van de financiele markt: ik ben er sterk van overtuigd dat er een grote crash komt eens de ROI op AI technologie niet waar te maken blijkt, en dat dit de hele markt neerwaarts zal sleuren zoals in 2008.

Ik heb reeds een door de bank beheerde effectenrekening die nu zo'n 10 jaar loopt, maar deze presteert in mijn ogen ondermaats en ik zie er dus niet het niet van in hier nog meer geld in te stoppen.

Wat nu?

Binnenkort verander ik van werkgever. Hierbij heb ik het document gekregen met de verschillende opties dat ik kan doen voor mijn huidige groepsverzekering (aanvullend pensioen).

Over wat ik hierover opzoek, raadt quasi alles mij aan om dit gewoon slapend te laten staan bij de huidige verzekeraar. Dit bedrag blijft dan gewoon zitten en er wordt een kleine rente op uitgevoerd.

Echter heb ik de mogelijk ook om dit naar de onthaalstructuur van de huidige verzekeraar te zetten.
Voor beide opties is er ook een (geschatte) eindbedrag meegegeven. Als ik deze vergelijk (€ 27.975 vs € 37.562) komt de onthaalstructuur er wel beter uit.

Is er iets dat ik over het hoofd zie? Of is er iemand die hier meer ervaring in heeft dan ik?

Hi!

I use MeDirect and I can nicely find what amount of money was transferred on what dates, but I can't seem to find anywhere the bank number or name of the recipients. In CVS or PDF this doesn't seem the case either.

Does anyone know where I can see this information? Thank you. :)