Any post about personal experiences or things I like to share from my personal life, not about Financial Independence and Retiring Early.
Having gone through the process of buying my own home I wanted to share all the costs that came with this crazy adventure. There are a lot of costs associated with getting your first home, whether it's a house or apartment. I was quite honestly a little surprised by all the paperwork and meetings that come with it. This overview should cover the majority of costs, both recurring and one-time for both the notary and the bank.
After a live-changing May, June was a lot less crazy. That is not to say that nothing happened in June. I actually invested quite a bit in the site. These investments made my SR drop but thanks to my holiday pay, I was able to keep the damage to a minimum.
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.?
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.
