Personal Archives

Paying too much taxes? My Belgian pay slip explained

My full pay slip — This is my most recent full pay slip with of course, sensitive data redacted.

In 2020 (and beyond) Belgium is still the country with the highest average income tax and tax wedge in the world (OECD, 2020a). I’m willing to bet Americans’ blood would boil seeing my payslip at the end of the month. 52.2% of what my employer pays for me ends up in the hands of the government. For comparison, the US tax wedge for a single with no kids is 29.8% (OECD, 2020b). So, where do these taxes come from? and are there any benefits to paying so many taxes, besides the typical usage such as firefighters, roads, public buildings, etc.?

My monthly Savings Rate report: May 2020

As eluded to last month, May was a life-changing month. I even received a little surprise windfall at the end thanks to my grandmother's inheritance. With all of the preparations done in April, May was relatively calm in terms of expenses. This further improved my Savings Rate and pushed it to an all-time high.

Managing a rare windfall: my grandmother’s inheritance

2nd May was a day I will never forget. I married the love of my life. Eventhough this was during the Coronavirus pandemic, and we were in lockdown, resulting in not having any witnesses, we were still able to make it our own and have a day that we will remember fondly. Unfortunately, a week prior, I experienced my grandmother’s passing, something I won’t forget. Without a doubt the darkest moment in my life, but I would never have thought she would take care of me even after death.

Marrying in Corona times: good for your wallet

You read that right, I'm a married man as of the 2nd of May! First things first, saving money was not the key reason we got married in this period ;). The major reason we wanted to get married was that we believe in it and want to share our lives. Cliché, I know.

People wearing surgical face masks in the street

Face masks: the new gold

“Those silly people”, is what I heard people around me say when they saw pictures of people in China or Japan covering their faces with a (surgical) face mask when going out in public. Not anymore, or at least, they won’t say it in public. COVID-19, aka the coronavirus, made it abundantly clear that such hygienic measures are essential. Not only to protect ourselves against others but also -especially with face masks- others against us.