Author Topic: ETF investing in Belgium  (Read 1826 times)

schoenbauer

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ETF investing in Belgium
« on: February 03, 2019, 06:27:43 AM »
Dear MMM community,

I have recently moved to Belgium and I'm now familiarizing myself with the investment opportunities. Can some kind soul who knows the system better than me give me a pointer on those two questions:

1. What is a low-cost broker in Belgium to invest ca. 1.5k/month in ETFs? I saw that other Mustachians are using Binck, but paying 8 Euro per 2500 Euro investment doesn't seem overly cheap to me (coming from Germany where you pay 0-3 Euro for a similar amount). I prefer a Belgian broker to a foreign broker because I hope it is more hassle free in terms of taxes.

2. On the Bogleheads wiki ("Investing in Belgium") I read that dividends are taxed 30%, but accumulating funds don't tax the re-invested dividends and capital gains are also not taxable (when the fund is held for more than 6 month). Is that still true? It seems incredible to me that capital gains are not taxed, when labour is taxed so heavily here (am I missing something?). Therefore an Irish, accumulating ETF seems to be the best choice for Belgian investors...?

Thankful for any feedback :)

MrSal

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Re: ETF investing in Belgium
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2019, 03:26:45 PM »
Dear MMM community,

I have recently moved to Belgium and I'm now familiarizing myself with the investment opportunities. Can some kind soul who knows the system better than me give me a pointer on those two questions:

1. What is a low-cost broker in Belgium to invest ca. 1.5k/month in ETFs? I saw that other Mustachians are using Binck, but paying 8 Euro per 2500 Euro investment doesn't seem overly cheap to me (coming from Germany where you pay 0-3 Euro for a similar amount). I prefer a Belgian broker to a foreign broker because I hope it is more hassle free in terms of taxes.

2. On the Bogleheads wiki ("Investing in Belgium") I read that dividends are taxed 30%, but accumulating funds don't tax the re-invested dividends and capital gains are also not taxable (when the fund is held for more than 6 month). Is that still true? It seems incredible to me that capital gains are not taxed, when labour is taxed so heavily here (am I missing something?). Therefore an Irish, accumulating ETF seems to be the best choice for Belgian investors...?

Thankful for any feedback :)

Check DeGiro broker. They have a big free list of ETFs and even if not free they have cheap fees like 1 dollar per trade. They are based off of NL so they should have presence in Belgium as well.

Polaria

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Re: ETF investing in Belgium
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2019, 09:40:53 AM »

schoenbauer

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Re: ETF investing in Belgium
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2019, 03:43:10 AM »
Will do :)

Thanks for the recommendations!