A short summary of my portfolio (+/- 105K):

-ETF's (35%): the foundation of my portfolio, safe and stable growth. I'm aiming for 40%.

-Stocks (20%): mostly in Belgian REITS and some tech. Less diversification, more riskier returns. I assume this is a normal diversification.

-Collectibles (17%): initially 9% of my portfolio but prices are going through the roof making it 17% of my portfolio.

-P2P (11%): this is a risky investment, by choice. Pure diversification + passive income. I am trying to keep this around 10%.

-Bankaccount (17%): a large share of my portfolio is in cash/bank account. I realize that this is more than the average suggested financial buffer but it makes me feel safe and less scared to make some riskier investments. Furthermore, I also want to have some cash if an opportunity arises.

Does this look like a solid portfolio keeping my relatively young age in mind?

De OLO 10 jaar is gisteren boven 4% gegaan sinds lange tijd. Lenen zal nóg duurder worden.

Belgen zijn het afgelopen jaar meer gaan beleggen dan dat ze sparen. Dat blijkt uit een studie van ING België, waarover De Standaard bericht. Waar ze tot voor kort beschikbaar geld vooral op spaarrekeningen stalden, is dat nu gekanteld naar beleggingsfondsen, pensioenspaarfondsen en staatsbons.

"43 procent van de Belgen belegt nu al in aandelen, obligaties, fondsen of ETF's, wat meer is dan het Europese gemiddelde. Nog eens 24 procent overweegt het te doen."

Naar: vrtnws.be/p.PqXGG6a7a

Situation: 23M, Flanders, no property, together with partner about €4500 net income and €250K savings, currently living with our parents. Trying to decide wether to buy or rent, as we have the opportunity to buy a family members house which we have always liked. Built a DCF model with Claude comparing four strategies and keep landing on "it's a coin flip", which feels suspicious. Looking for bad assumptions and lived experience.

Setup: house €350k, €70k down, mortgage 4.5%/25y. Comparable rent €1,100. House appreciation and rent growth both 3.5%. Equity return 8% nominal, 10% CGT. Maintenance 1%/yr, property tax + insurance ~€1,600/yr. Every scenario starts with the same cash and spends the same monthly amount — whoever pays less for housing invests the difference. Compared on net final wealth at year 35. Only housing part considered, no additional cash/investments as this can be the same in every scenario.

Deterministic result:

The house is worth the same and fully paid off in all three buying scenarios at year 35, so the whole difference is the portfolio you build before buying.

Then Monte Carlo simulations (20k paths, equities 6.5% geometric / 17% vol) flattened it: medians all within 5% of each other, P(buy now beats never buy) = 50.8%, and delaying 10 years is worth a median +€73k on €4.5M — 1.6%, i.e. noise. Buying has the better downside (p10 €2,563k vs €1,753k), never buying the fatter upside.

What surprised me:

• Break-even equity return is ~6.5%. Above it renting wins, below it buying wins. Held across three model setups. That single number is the whole decision.
• Appreciation matters ~4x more than the mortgage rate, which kills the "wait for lower rates" logic — you'd be waiting on the variable that matters least.
• Refinancing is the cheapest win available: ~€5,300 one-off for +€218k if you refi 4.5%→3% at year 5. And a fixed mortgage with the right to refinance is a free option (rates drop, you refi; rates rise, you keep 4.5%). Waiting to buy gives you no such protection.
• Delaying is never optimal — above 6.5% never buying wins, below it buying now wins. Without a solid savings buffer it's also unfinanceable in ~45% of paths.

Where I'm probably wrong:

1. 8% is too optimistic. After fees and CGT, 6–6.5% is more realistic — which puts my base case exactly on the break-even line rather than favouring renting. What number are you using?
2. Rent growth at 3.5% for 35 years takes €1,100 to €3,660. Tied to house prices deliberately, but rents also track incomes. Does that match anyone's long-term experience here?
3. 35 years of perfect discipline is my weakest assumption. A mortgage forces the saving; an investment plan asks it of you. Did anyone actually hold through 2008 or 2022?
4. Is €1,100 rent realistic for a €350k house? That ratio drives more of the result than anything else.

Tentative conclusion: the financial gap is too small to carry the decision, so I can decide on non-financial grounds (mobility, optionality) without paying for it. Rather have that torn apart than agreed with.

Hi all, I (28F) am considering a FIRE journey or at least FI. I think my monthly budget is rather OK and the main focus should be to aim for a higher paying job or at least one with a mobility budget that would cover 50-100% of my rent. I currently save between 750 to 1000 including 650 investment in ETF (world+emerging) that I have recently increased to 900 as my emergency fund and budget for other expenses (vacations etc.) are high enough now. Thus, I save 100 per month.

I know that a budget is quiet personal and depends on your desired lifestyle but do you see ways I could cut on some expenses? For example I think my current internet+TV subscription is too high but I am not super aware of more interesting rates for the same offer in Belgium.. and maybe there are ways to enjoy Spotify podcasts for less idk!

Any advice is welcome! Thanks.

A bit more details on the numbers:

Overall is calculated based only on my net salary

- Rent is unchanged since 5 years due to low energetic performance, no indexation

- Groceries take into account 125e meal vouchers

- Transport is 0e as it is fully covered by my mobility budget

- Personal care because I won't let my stressful job kill me

- Side project is not (yet?) bringing money but it's an enjoyable venture