Mr. FightToFIRE

Ethical investing: Does socially responsible investing pay off?

ESG and SRI are two acronyms used for ethical investing. Thanks to the recent surge in ethical investing the Belgian bank NewB found enough investors to get all the funds to receive a banking license. This makes them the first bank focusing mainly on ethical investing and banking. What started as an idea in the aftermath of the financial crisis to change banking forever, much as the crisis did, is now a bank with a license. Ethical investing is taking off!

My monthly Savings Rate report: February 2020

This page can contain affiliate partner links to products that I purchased this month.

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February Savings Rate

This February update is finally a lighter one. The start is the end of my trip to my fiancee’s home country. After this, things have remained relatively calm beside the occasional date night. We saw “Little Women” for example. Unfortunately, my Savings Rate still isn’t above 50%.

Why I love (Belgian) REITs and you should too

2020 is almost over with the coronavirus still floating across the globe infecting thousands of people daily, but multiple vaccines are about to fight back. The market originally went into panic mode and sold off all of the gains it made this year, and then some, but quickly recovered.

The majority of stocks had gone quite a bit lower. However, thanks to their defensive nature, REITs were able to remain relatively steady for a while.

Apartment progress: 5%

It has started! The first patches of dirt have been moved. Coinciding with the start of the construction I also signed the notary documents. A while ago I found a great mortgage deal that now got officialized at the notary.

How travel insurance saved me 1500 EUR

Update

I received confirmation today (16/03/2020) that my claim was approved and I receive all the made expenses (1,464.13 EUR) back (minus a contractual cost of 50 EUR). The total comes down to 1,414.13 EUR.

Last two weeks I was on a life-changing holiday. I visited my family-in-law and proposed to my girlfriend; who said yes! Visiting her home country, meeting her closest friends and family, and proposing, was a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, this amazing time got disrupted by something that can happen to most tourists: bacterial intestinal infection.