Anyway, this leaves us here with a much to big house, more time to think and a sudden increase in savings.
I must admit that for the past 25 years we hadn't saved one eurocent... We did buy a house when we were just married, and invested a huge amount of money to renovate it (as almost any Belgian does) with a big mortgage as a result. We did make the mistake (well, I did...) to go for a job with a long commuting (75 km is a long distance in our country, not doable with public transport), and we did own 2 cars (3 new ones with car loans in a period of 20 years; several others 2nd hand). Add two children, annual holidays, and the 'keeping up appearances' thing, and you understand what happened to our wallets...
Four years ago we moved to the coast (where I work), sold the other house (still mortgaged) and bought a more modest one here (but still a mortgage, smaller but... ). My wife does the commuting now (yes, still with the car) but we eliminated the 2nd car already. I started doing everything by foot and bike which goes just fine.
As I said, a year ago we started looking at our spending in detail. Over a couple of months we were able to really eliminate a lot of superfluous lines in our budget, going from a monthly 3000 euro to 2000 euro spending. This left us with an immediate 2500 euro/month saving budget. Our income is slightly higher than 4500/month, but I don't count the extra earnings (holiday and end-of-year allowances, tax returns), because we set those aside for ... yes: holidays and extra's
The 2500/month went to a simple savings account, where it -as you all know- does nothing to make us happy
.This is where Jacob's book came in the picture. His philosophy, combined with what we've learned recently from the Mister Money Moustache community, has opened our eyes for investing. I hope to learn a lot here -especially from fellow countrymen or Europeans on the European stock markets and investing opportunities. We have set our goal now on an FI-target of 6-7 years from now (will share the numbers in another post), not with the purpose of actually retiring (although I will be 60-61 by then) but primarily to get more freedom in our lives, as most people here on this forum evidently want as well.
So, any other Belgians here? Let me know!
(sorry for non-Belgians: I'm adressing my fellow countrymen below in our own two languages)
Zitten hier nog Belgen op dit forum? Contacteer me gerust, dan kunnen we ervaringen en ideeën uitwisselen!
S'il y aurait encore des belges participant à ce forum, contactez-moi! Toujours heureux d'échanger des idées et expériences!
Hope to learn and talk a lot here!
Jan