FIRE Belgium - Personal Finance and Investing

31/03/2026

Crypto investing, Bitcoin strategy, passive investing - can you invest in crypto without stress?

In this episode, we talk about how passive investors can approach Bitcoin and crypto without turning it into a full-time job.

I’m joined by Brecht Van Craen, founder of Digital Currency Academy, and we break down a simpler, long-term approach to crypto investing.

Crypto is often associated with hype, trading, and constant noise. But is there a more rational way to think about it?

We discuss how crypto might fit into a passive portfolio, what most investors get wrong, and how to approach it without overcomplicating things.

Whether you ultimately decide to invest in crypto or not, this conversation will help you think about the topic more clearly and avoid common mistakes.

You can find the episode on YouTube:
➡️

Crypto investing, Bitcoin strategy, passive investing — can you invest in crypto without stress?In this episode, we talk about how passive investors can appr...

16/02/2026

To build wealth, there is no choice. You have to start by finding a way to earn.

On average, people earn money proportional to the market value they deliver to society.

And to earn more, you have to deliver value at scale. You have to use leverage.

Examples of leverage are:

- People: become a manager, hire people, build a company, etc. you can get things done through others
- Money: use other people’s money (carefully) to expand: mortgage, business loans, etc
- Equity: build or buy equity. If you want wealth the grows at scale you must own equity (in your own business or by investing in stocks)
- Media: instead of delivering value 1-on-1 only, scale via media (traditional and social media, etc.)
- Code: get something done over and over for a low marginal cost

If you’re interested in wealth building in Belgium, then this episode with Thomas Guenter is a must for you:

➡️ https://youtu.be/TEl3pRNj2rU
➡️ firebelgium.com/show

12/02/2026

The 3-Parts Engine to Build Financial Freedom:

I like to think about pursuing finance independence (FI) as an engine, with 3 parts:

Efficient Investing is the FI engine itself. It ensures your capital is working hard with minimal costs. To me, this is evidence-based passive index investing. Simple, practical and effective.

Savings is the fuel: how much you set aside every month to put into the FI engine.

Income is the accelerator: the more you earn (and save), the faster you can fuel the engine.

All three matter.

But you must find the right balance.

Increasing your income dramatically can accelerate your path, but only if you resist the temptation to inflate your lifestyle and spend it all.

Likewise, low expenses are powerful, but not if they come at the cost of enjoying your life or developing essential skills.

And none of that saving and accelerating is really useful unless you have an efficient engine like a simple tax-optimized portfolio of index ETFs to build wealth on autopilot.

How is your FI engine going? What part are you looking to improve?

09/02/2026

“If you’re starting out, open a brokerage account and keep it simple: invest in a broadly diversified low cost ETF. For me, that’s the concrete advice for somebody that’s starting out."
Thomas Guenter

Yes, investing is simple.

And I 100% agree with Thomas here.

Just buy a share of an ETF like Invesco FTSE All-World UCITS ETF.

See how it goes, look at the fees and taxes.

Then add more.

Later you can add a bond ETF, in the right proportion (your asset allocation)

It’s a lot simpler than what most people think, but you need the right knowledge to execute it properly.

If you’re not sure where to start, check the free investing workshop here:

➡️ https://firebelgium.com/investingworkshop/

And check out our podcast episode with Thomas Guenter on how to build wealth in Belgium here:

➡️ https://youtu.be/TEl3pRNj2rU
➡️ firebelgium.com/show

05/02/2026

To reach financial independence at 33, here it the main thing I spent my money on:

Freedom.

One of the most powerful shifts in my personal finance journey was realizing that money isn’t just for buying things, which often quickly lose in value and meaning.

Money is for buying freedom.

Every euro not spent on unnecessary upgrades, status items, or fleeting comfort is a euro that can be put to work building your sense of control, options, and peace of mind.

What do you actually value?

For me, it turned out to be time, freedom, relationships, and adventure—none of which require luxury spending.

Having clear values allowed me to continuously optimize my spending, directing resources purposefully toward long-term goals and skipping expenses that didn’t serve those priorities.

The biggest thing I spend my money on was Freedom.

I invested in the stock market, with a simple, tax-optimized portfolio of index ETFs (all you need is 2 well-selected ETFs).

I bought shares of the economy. And in doing so I bought long-term passive income, time and freedom. 🔥 💪

It's almost like a cheat-code to life.

02/02/2026

Many beginner investors are stuck because of fear of the stock market, because of a scarcity mindset. “What if I invest and then markets go down (even temporarily)”

In our conversation, Thomas Guenter advises confronting the real risk: your money is losing value to inflation by default.

The shift to an abundance mindset comes with action: get started and invest in a low-cost broadly diversified stock ETF.

Every moment spent waiting is a missed opportunity for your money to grow.

In episode 30 of the FIRE Belgium show we dive deep into how to invest and how to build wealth in Belgium.

You can find it here:

➡️ https://youtu.be/TEl3pRNj2rU
➡️ firebelgium.com/show

29/01/2026

This is the number one habit that catapulted me to financial independence at 33:

Tracking my finances.

Both my expenses and income.

Tracking expenses is one of the best levers for building wealth.

Here is what I recommend:

1. Reviewing the last year of all your accounts and cards.
This gives you general overview and your average monthly expenses.

2. Doing at least one month of detailed tracking (jotting down every expense using an app or spreadsheet).
This gives you a breakdown of where each euro goes.

3. Questioning each expense: does it match my actual values? If not, optimize or eliminate it.

Focus on recurring expenses and big expenses.

Everyone wants "passive income", but most people don't realize they have “passive expenses”: subscriptions, memberships, or habits that don’t serve them but are essentially money leaks.

Plug these leaks. Remove unnecessary passive recurring expenses.

Big expenses usually are more structural: housing and transport. Don't just assume they're impossible to change. Take the time to explore your options.

The simple act of tracking (not even budgeting) brings a unique level of awareness of your personal finances and drives savings rates higher.

Include your income and your investing in your tracking and you hve the full picture.

This practice completely changed my life.
To the point where work became optional when I was 33.

Are you tracking your finances?
Or do you still think it's not worth it?

26/01/2026

“Index ETF investing is passive, low cost and provides higher returns than real estate.

But real estate is self-disciplining: you invest and you’re forced to pay back the mortgage. This can be both a drawback and an advantage. It can certainly help save and invest higher amounts.

So I’m a fan of both.”

Thomas Guenter, Founder and managing partner of Finhouse.

In our conversation, Thomas explains that he values both approaches and he tells us how to combine them so you can benefit from both index investing and real estate.

This takes place around minute 30 of the latest episode of the FIRE Belgium show, which you can find on Youtube and the main podcast platforms.

➡️ https://youtu.be/TEl3pRNj2rU
➡️ firebelgium.com/show

19/01/2026

How Do You Actually Build Wealth in Belgium?
Without Overcomplicating It or Leaving Money on the Table?

This is the main question we discussed with Thomas Guenter, Founder and managing partner of Finhouse.

We discussed the top principles of wealth creation and what it really takes to get to it.

What does it actually take to build serious wealth in Belgium today?
Is entrepreneurship the only path to wealth? Or can employees and freelancers get there too?
Which matters more for becoming wealthy: earning more or investing smarter? And how to do it?
Should you prioritise real estate or ETFs? How should you combine them for the highest long-term payoff?
When does diversification really add value? How much should you put in bonds, gold, crypto or private equity (if at all)?

This conversation was fascinating, and Thomas does not shy away from giving real super-practical advice.

We also discussed questions such as:

What does “having enough” actually mean? How do you combine wealth and happiness?
How to optimize the transfer of wealth between generations.
What are the first steps beginners should take today to build significant wealth over the next decade?
How does Private Equity and Venture Capital work? What are the pros and cons compared to a simple portfolio of ETFs?

As you can see, we covered a lot of ground, which is why this episode is longer than usual. You will probably have to listen to it over multiple commute trips or workouts. But I promise, it’s well worth it. And just in case you didn’t know you can listen to it as an audio podcast as well.

Thomas is a great guest for this topic because he is one of the young entrepreneurs in Belgium with the most experience in this field, both from his super-impressive personal journey and from the work he does with his community and clients.

In 2024, Thomas was nominated for the Forbes Belgium 30 Under 30 list because of the positive impact that he has on the finances of thousands of people in Flanders. In 2025, he was nominated for the Forbes Europe 30 Under 30 list in the Finance category because of his efforts to democratize the access to private equity and venture capital through his own low-cost fund of funds, the Finhouse Global Fund.

Thomas is the author of the best-selling book Personal Finance – with more than 20,000 copies sold in under a year – and reaches thousands of Belgians each month through his free educational videos about investing, real estate and wealth planning.

Now, before we get started, I want to share an important disclaimer:

As you will see in this conversation, I am not in favor of Private Equity or Venture Capital as an asset for individual investors. I explain why in the conversation and I stand by it. I think however that it is interesting to hear Thomas’ arguments on topic. What I am hoping for is that through his work, Thomas can help challenge the industry and make it better for us individual investors at some point. For now I keep my position of warning individual investors against it.

So while we have some disagreements, you will see that it is in fact a very small part of the conversation. And it does not change the respect I have for the work Thomas does to support financial literacy in Belgium. The knowledge he shares in this episode is a testament to that. It’s real gold. And I want to thank Thomas for this once more.

You can find the episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/TEl3pRNj2rU

But also as a podcast episode on most podcasting platforms:
➡️ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0Pn2Gu1kSM5xtOgH3osjU7
➡️ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fire-belgium-show/id1632972120
➡️ YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjq4nLwZXKEAcJOwy3B4BCSsMozx_6RIr

If you think this episode could be useful to someone that you appreciate, please share the links with them!

How Do You Actually Build Wealth in Belgium? Without Overcomplicating It or Leaving Money on the Table?This is the main question we discussed with Thomas Gue...

11/12/2025

Tuesday night was so cool 🤩 I did a live demo of how to buy an index ETF through my broker account (see details below).

In total, 425 ppl registered for the workshops.

We covered a lot of essential knowledge to help busy people start index investing the right way in 2026:

- How much Cynthia, Killian and Sofie made from index investing in 5 years

- What's their secret?

- Do you need to be rich to invest?

- How the average Belgian saver can make an extra 240,000 €

- Why bank fund investors only get a small fraction of the market returns (and how to change that)

- The overwhelming evidence supporting index investing

- Why I say that we should simply "Buy the Casino"

- How Belgian banks compare to index funds

- Index investing for your pension

- What are index ETFs, and how to invest in them?

- LIVE demo of how I invest on my brokerage account:

1. example broker
2. example ETFs (probably the best ones for investors in Belgium)
3. example transaction with breakdown and explanation all the steps
4. investing costs breakdown and overview
5. transaction process, step by step.

- How long it takes to invest in index funds?

- Why investment costs matter

- How to optimize for Belgian taxes (including upcoming 10% CGT)

- Your personal roadmap to start index investing the right way in 2026.

If you're interested in getting the replay:

1. Follow this account
2. Comment "REPLAY" under this post.

The replay is only available until Friday 12/12.

08/12/2025

For how long have you been postponing?

Learning to invest is not complicated. It's a lot less complicated than what the banking industry wants you to believe.

And as you can see in this graph, what matters is that you start early.

1000 € invested in 2020 has grown to 1890 € today

1000 € invested in 2015 has grown to 2980 € today

1000 € invested in 2010 has grown to 5370 € today

I started in 2013. I wish I had learned about all this earlier.

If you haven't already, then today is a great day to start.

Tonight and tomorrow I'll show you live how to buy a globally diversified low-cost index ETF on my broker account.

It's like buying sunglasses on amazon.

Join us on the zoom call and see for yourself:
https://firebelgium.com/investingworkshoplive/