Major catchup on things: what has happened so far

Hey everyone! It’s been a while. 🙂

Ever since my last major update on my portfolio, I haven’t been able to find the time to publish anything new. I never thought when I started this blog that I’d be one of those blogs with a long hiatus, but here we are. I have been struggling with time to even post for many reasons that I won’t be able to cover in this one post without making it boringly long.

For now, I’ll give a small summary of everything that has happened and what the plans are for this blog’s future.

The last time I posted on my blog, my wife and I had just welcomed our little bundle of joy into our family. Fast forward three years, and while we’ve created many fond memories throughout the day, she still sleeps like she’s training for a sleep-deprivation marathon. We thought we’d be pros by now, but our daughter believes proper sleep is optional. Thanks to that, we must plan our evenings around it, limiting our time. It’s either spending time together, doing our stuff, or sleeping properly.

Freelancing

In my professional life, I finally took the plunge into the wild world of freelancing!

Since August 2022, I’ve been a freelance IT DevOps engineer. After years of toiling away as an employee, doing everything from front-end and back-end development (JavaScript and C#), I realized I needed a change. For a solid two to three years, I felt like a hamster on a wheel, running but not getting anywhere. So, after a decade at my first employer, I finally cut the cord.

At first, I was a bundle of nerves, wondering if I’d made a colossal mistake. But two years later, I’m thrilled I leaped. Not only did my bank account get a serious upgrade, but it also feels fantastic to call the shots on how I invest in myself and my business. Freedom never tasted so sweet!

I don’t think I’ll ever look back and go back to being an employee, but I don’t want to jinx it… Oh wait, maybe I just did?

Home owner (again)

The following news falls into both categories, but I’ll put it under personal as it’s our home. As the title suggests, my wife and I bought my grandmother’s house! We officially have our second property, which we are renovating at the moment. The renovation is partly done by my dad and me and partially by contractors.

It’s also with these contractors that I now have a legal dispute that is still ongoing. The disputed amount is roughly € 8,500, that we didn’t not pay because of incorrect measurements used by the contractor. He, of course, thinks I’m lying.

As alluded to it earlier, thanks to the switch to freelancing, I made a big jump forward for my finances. Now, this doesn’t show in my salary because the entire point of going freelance is to use your company as a vehicle for financial growth.

Because Belgium’s labor taxes are the highest in the world, it’s better (if you can) to pay yourself as little as possible while keeping most of your income in your company and paying it out as dividends later. This is precisely what I’m doing now. My official salary is rather low, but the money in my company is growing at a stable pace. There are ways to take it out sooner (through a loan from my company to myself) to pay for things… like our home renovation.

Let us talk numbers!

We bought my grandmother’s house through my father for €282,000 excl. taxes. Our current home renovation budget is around €150,000. 

The final invested amount in the Brussels apartment is €441,646.62. This includes all types of taxes, furniture, painting, syndic costs, and the underground parking spot.

As a freelancer, I reduced my income to the bare minimum (around 17,000/y), but my revenue is, on average, around 15,000/m.

My apartment in Brussels is getting rented out for roughly €1400/m after commission from the agency and incl. the monthly charges.

My personal investment portfolio (excl. the properties, debt and savings accounts) is sitting at €207,241.19:

And there you have it, my first new post after two years (and more, I think 😮 ). I’ll share more about the lessons I’ve learned and the adventures I’ve embarked on over these past two years, although I’m not exactly sure if I’ll be able to be consistent just yet. I do hope that as the renovation is nearing its end and our daughter gets older, more time will get freed up.

I am incredibly grateful for your patience and continued support during my absence. Whether you’ve been a long-time follower or a new reader, I look forward to continuing my fight towards FIRE. Your feedback, comments, and interactions have always been the heartbeat of this blog, and I can’t wait to reconnect with each of you.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts, and thank you for welcoming me back into your lives. Let’s make this new chapter something extraordinary.