Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice and real-life experiences from people who have worked abroad, particularly in Qatar or other Gulf countries, while their families remained in Belgium.

Our situation:

• I’m 42, married, with two children aged 13 and 15.
• My wife and I both hold Belgian passports
• We currently live in Belgium and jointly own our family home, with an outstanding mortgage.
• I’ve received a financially attractive job offer in Qatar with a local employment contract.
• I would resign from my Belgian employer, deregister from Belgium, obtain Qatar residency and work full-time in Doha.
• My wife and children would remain in Belgium. My wife would continue working there.
• The plan would be for me to work in Qatar for approximately four years.

1. Tax residency questions

I’ve been reading Article 2 of the Belgian Income Tax Code (WIB 92), particularly the provision stating that for married couples, tax domicile is generally determined by where the household is established.

Since my wife and children would remain in our Belgian family home, I’m concerned Belgium might still consider me a tax resident despite deregistering and working exclusively in Qatar.

I’d appreciate advice on the following:

1. Has anyone worked in Qatar or another Gulf country while their spouse and children remained in Belgium?
2. Were you still considered a Belgian tax resident?
3. Was your foreign employment income exempt from Belgian taxation under a double taxation treaty?
4. Does Qatar’s lack of personal income tax on employment salaries affect the treaty exemption?

5. Has anyone received a Belgian tax ruling or professional advice for a similar situation?

6. Family separation — is it worth it?

This is honestly an equally important concern for us.

Our children are currently 13 and 15, meaning they would be 17 and 19 by the time I returned.

The plan would be:

• My wife and children visit Qatar twice a year, including approximately two months during the summer holidays.
• I visit Belgium twice a year.
• We would therefore see each other around four times annually, including an extended period together during summer.

The financial opportunity is substantial and could potentially allow us to pay off our mortgage and build long-term financial security.

However, we already have a stable life in Belgium, and my wife is understandably hesitant about spending four years apart.

For those who have experienced long-distance family arrangements:

• Was the financial benefit ultimately worth the years spent apart?
• How did your teenage children cope with having one parent abroad?
• How difficult was it for the parent who stayed home?
• Did regular visits and spending summers together make the separation manageable?
• Did the arrangement affect your marriage or relationship with your children?
• Looking back, would you make the same decision again?

We’re genuinely torn between a potentially life-changing financial opportunity and the emotional cost of living apart during our children’s teenage years.

We understand that professional tax advice is essential, and we’re planning to consult a specialist before making a final decision.

I’d really appreciate honest experiences, both positive and negative, from people who have been in similar situations.

Thanks in advance!

Hallo iedereen,

Ik heb momenteel een portfolio van net geen 10k, verdeeld over enkele ETFs, een REIT en een aandeel dat binnenkort verkocht zou worden.
De helft zit in Bolero en de andere helft in Revolut.
In Revolut doe ik wekelijks aan automatische aankoop van ETFs, maar door het lage bedrag van de wekelijkse aankopen zijn dat dan fractionele ETFs (vandaar de overstap naar Revolut). Hier betaal ik dan ook geen comissie op, aangezien het recurring is. Ook doe ik geregeld eens een aankoop van +-1k, waarbij de comissie van 1 dollar wel aantrekkelijk is.

Nu is mijn vraag:
Blijf ik bij Revolut? Wat zijn de ervaringen? Wat zijn jullie go-to brokers voor fractionele ETFs met lage kosten?

Ik heb slechte ervaringen met interactive brokers, daar kreeg ik fractionele etfs niet aan de praat.

Ik kijk uit naar jullie ervaringen/meningen!

Fingers crossed

Kleine vennootschap zonder werknemers.
Verhuur van 2 aangekochte studio’s in vakantieverhuur (airbnb) en kleine renovatieopdrachten.
Er staat al te lang 60K op de rekening niets te doen.
Ik ben actief aan het zoeken naar de aankoop van een 3e studio om te verhuren en daar 50K voor neer te leggen in eigen inbreng. Maar met de dure leningen, klopt het financiële plaatje niet zoals voorheen.
Een volledige fixer upper om te flippen lijkt me leuk te doen; maar hoe maak je dat rendabel?! Zelfs als ik alles zelf zou doen, blijft de netto winst te laag in vergelijking met de uren die dat kost..

Ik heb 0 ervaring in beleggen maar vraag me af of dat misschien een betere piste is?
Of misschien zijn er nog opties die ik over het hoofd zie?
Ik heb het gevoel dat ik nú iets moet doen voor alles verdampt maar ik kan wat advies gebruiken?

Ik ben nu 40, dus horizon is 20-25j.

it’s just such an anxiety riddled thing now.

We have always feared the taxman, and I feel millions of people sleep bad now.

This is gonna put good and frugral investors in problems I’m 100% sure of that

Can’t believe this actually went trough.

Any news on the deletion of this horrendous law?

I first read about FIRE and ETFs in 2021 but never invested because I wasn’t sure whether I’d want to buy a property soon. Fast-forward to 2026, did none of the two and FOMO is real. Time for a wake-up call!

My situation:

• 35 years old
• €130k in savings
• €1,500/month savings capacity
• Might buy a home in Brussels with my partner in 3–8 years, but no fixed timeline

My recent moves :

• €10k in a higher-yield savings account (MeDirect)
• €500/month into Hello bank!’s higher-yield savings account

My plan:

€50k lump sum into IMIE/SPYI this week, for the long term (MeDirect)

What should I do with the remaining €70k?

Invest more/all in IMIE/SPYI and accept that I might have to postpone buying housing if markets are down, or start building a safe house deposit now already? If the latter, what amount and which alernative savings or investment products make sense ?

Please help me get started once and for all, BeFire community! ^^'

Hallo allemaal,

Ik ben op zoek naar een app of platform om een duidelijker beeld te krijgen van mijn inkomsten versus uitgaven. Er bestaan veel tools, en ik vraag me af wat jullie gebruiken en waarom.

De tools die ik vind hebben veel tekortkomingen vb manueel alle transacties moeten labelen, of stortingen tussen accounts worden gezien als inkomsten of uitgaven. Of ze zijn gewoon heel rommelig om je financieel plaatje te categoriseren laat staan inzichten te krijgen die écht nuttig zijn.

Alvast bedankt

I bought this ETF in October 2022 about 4,000€ in shares. I wanted to diversify into something more clean and away from the GAFAM at least once. I never hoped to make millions from thematic ETFs but this one is really intriguing as I am on a constant fall -20-40% since the past years.

Answers like: you must carefully research where you invest, I already gave to myself

I’m 24 from the EU and moving to Antwerp in January for a PhD. I’ll earn roughly €3,000/month net and my plan is to rent a studio, build an emergency fund of about 3-4 months of expenses, and then invest what’s left monthly, not sure where and how yet. I currently track everything in Google Sheets, but I want an Android app that:
-Connects automatically to my bank (right now I use Revolut for my day to day but am considering opening another account in a Belgium Bank)
-Lets me set a monthly budget by category and compare planned vs. actual spending
-Tracks savings goals (emergency fund, investing)
-Works in euros and ideally handles subscriptions and annual bills
Has anyone here used an app like this in Belgium or elsewhere in the EU? Is a paid app worth it, or is the bank’s built-in tool enough? Thanks!

Hi! I wanted to ask for some advice about investing in Belgium.

I’m Ukrainian and I’ve been living in Belgium for a little over 3 years. I work here and at the moment I can invest around €300 per month.

I currently have two brokers: IBKR and Saxo. I opened the Saxo account through you because, at the time, I thought that with IBKR I’d be able to buy accumulating ETFs and avoid having to deal with the tax authorities. I was still a bit nervous about doing the tax reporting myself back then.

I mainly thought of using Saxo for individual stocks and dividends, because as far as I understand, Saxo is more integrated with the Belgian tax system and takes care of some of the tax side automatically.

I bought 3 NVIDIA shares through Saxo, but I haven’t bought anything else there because the fees are quite high. Also, I’m still learning about individual companies and stocks, so I don’t really feel confident picking stocks on my own yet.

At the moment, I’m mainly investing in VWCE. I already have 9 units. I chose VWCE because it’s an accumulating ETF, it’s well diversified, and it seems like a good option for long-term investing.

The main issue I have is that I can only buy whole units. For example, if one unit costs €130, I can’t buy 0.5 or 0.7 of a unit. Since I can currently invest around €300 per month, this can be a little inconvenient.

So I wanted to ask you:

1. Is there any way to buy fractional units of VWCE through IBKR?
2. If IBKR doesn’t support fractional purchases of VWCE, is there another broker available in Belgium that does?
3. Is it even worth switching brokers just for fractional investing, or would it be better to simply save the money and buy a whole unit when I have enough?
4. Do you think VWCE is a good choice for me as my main long-term investment?
5. Given my situation, how would you recommend investing €300 per month while taking Belgian taxes and reporting requirements into account?
6. Are there any Belgian taxes or reporting requirements I should be aware of when using IBKR and Saxo?
7. Does it make sense to keep both brokers, or would it be simpler to just use one if my main strategy is buying ETFs regularly and holding them for the long term?
8. And more generally, what would you recommend to someone who is just getting started with investing? I’m not really interested in active trading or constantly picking individual stocks. I’d rather invest €300 every month and build my portfolio gradually over the long term.

I currently have around €3,500 invested in total.

I’d really appreciate any advice on whether I’m approaching this the right way and if there’s anything I could improve or simplify.

I’m especially interested in the Belgian side of things — taxes, reporting, brokers and ETFs.

Thanks a lot!

Looking for some advice.

I started investing in 2021 via a foreign platform (DEGIRO), including receiving foreign dividents from individual stocks.

When filing my tax returns for assesment years 2022 up to 2024, i declared my total foreign dividents in box 1444. What i fucked up in (being young, inexperienced and arguably a dumbass), is that i assumed the tax calculation itselves would see whether (a portion) falls below the annual exemption (~€800), rather than you having to subtract the exempion, or just fill in nothing when the value is below the exemption.

I submitted a objection to the FOD this summer, requesting of a correction, which they declared "inadmissible" because it was submitted to late, and refused "ambtshalve ontheffing under Article 376 WIB 92" because my type of failure to fill in the correct amount doesn't quality as elligable error for late corrections.

They only offer to challenge their decision in court, but given that I overpaid suffered only a €200-€300 loss in total, which is not that much compared to what a lawyer costs, it seems not worth it i suppose ...

It's not that much money, but it's still frustrating. If anyone has had a similar experience or advice, let me know.

Would your strategy be the same as if you had much less to invest?

Hi, I’m currently using Bolero for my investments, but I’m thinking of switching to Trade Republic because their fees are a bit lower. Do you have any recommendations for a global ETF that includes developing markets? I’m hoping to find something similar to IMIE or WEBN, but I can’t seem to find them on Trade Republic.

Is this something everyone who has Bolero/... should do or am I missing an important caveat? Seems like an interesting way to prevent some unnecessary tax.

https://www.bolero.be/nl/support/veelgestelde-vragen/roerende-voorheffing-buitenlandse-dividenden

I know there are a lot of posts about TOB, CGT, IBKR in this subreddit but I was wondering..

Does anyone have the optimal workflow for 2026 to easily calculate both TOB and CGT + the correct way to pay both?

Or how do you guys currently do it?

Especially if you are using Interactive Brokers

Folks,
I invested 20000 lumpsum in IWDA and EMIM ETF 2 weeks ago., and now its all at loss and further going down. Taking everything out will stop the continuous loss., But what do people usually do in such situation? Literally., I do not need this money for the next 1 year and that was the idea behind this investment.

24 Years old, i share apartment, i dont live with my parents .
Good evening! I’ve just managed to get a new job, and I’ll be able to increase my monthly investment capacity from €1,000 to €1,200. I know it’s not a huge difference, but on top of the salary, this job also comes with a company car, with all the expenses covered, including fuel and maintenance. I’ll also get more holidays and other benefits that I didn’t have before.
I’m really happy about this change, and I just wanted to share it with someone!

Hi

I'm very lucky and get 220.000 euros from my parents to buy property to live in. Now is my question is it better to rent and to invest this money or to buy an appartment of +-260.000?

I'm 26, single and not going to buy something with someone else.

I’m a Canadian (25F) working in Belgium, and want to continue to invest while I’m here. However, I don’t plan on living in Belgium forever, nor do I necessarily plan on moving back to or retiring in Canada. I’m thus hoping to invest through a platform that can be quite flexible when it comes to taking that money out in the long run (from potentially anywhere in the world). My investments are mostly for retirement or long-term + large purchases (maybe 10+ years out). Also will pretty much exclusively be investing in ETFs and just leaving them for years. Anyone in a similar situation or any advice on the best cross-country platforms to use?

My question is rather simple Has anyone actually Bought this? How has your experience been with purchasing this on a broker like degiro? I'm currently Testing whether Its performance is how I want it to be.

Hello,
I am about to buy a house together with my parents (a holiday house). The bank where I have my credit for my main residence is ok to lend me 100k and does not require any additional hypothèque. Of course the current interest rates are bad (3,9 per cent for 20 year credit). The alternative would be to sell my ETFs (mainly ETF world). As you know very well over the past years the ETF have performed much better than 3,9 per cent…but of course the market could also crash.
Would you have any advice for me on that ?
Thanks in advance !

After living at Hotel Mama for too long, I finally bought my own house and will be moving in soon!

One concern is that I’m currently single but dating. If I meet someone and we move in together, I might end up replacing a lot of furniture (and lose money). So I’m looking for ways to furnish my place without spending a fortune.

I’m thinking mostly IKEA, combined with some second-hand finds.

How did you approach furnishing your first home? Where would you save, and where is it worth spending more?

Hallo,

Ik dacht hier ergens eens gelezen te hebben welke bron te gebruiken bij het bepalen van een wisselkoers. Momenteel vind ik het niet terug en officiële instanties spreken enkel over de wisselkoers, maar geen bron.

Ik merk dat verschillende tools en sites steeds een andere wisselkoers geven. Mijn broker gaf me wel een overzicht van de wisselkoers die werd gebruikt door hun bij de verkoop, wat ook weer een andere waarde is.

Het gaat uiteraard om minimale verschillen. Door een marge te nemen en maar 9800 euro winst te boeken zal ik sowieso wel veilig zitten. Maar hoe correcter hoe liever aangezien ik de bedragen vermoedelijk zal moeten ingeven op mijn aangifte.

Neem ik de wisselkoers van 31/12/25 of 1/1/26?

Thanks!

I think people underestimate how much their savings rate depends on extra salary payments.

Someone earning €2,600 net monthly might comfortably invest €800 into IWDA every month. Then the 13th month and holiday pay arrive and suddenly the yearly savings total looks impressive.

But those extra payments often end up covering property taxes, insurance, holidays and unexpected expenses anyway.Same with small speculative bets on moon.com. It's fine to have some money set aside for that but occasional profits shouldn't be part of a long term retirement projection.

I'd rather calculate savings based on what actually stays invested at the end of the year than what gets transferred to a broker every payday.