It's 0,36 euros per km βΊοΈ I'm getting paid 10,08 euros per day. Bike lease for a 9,7k euros bike and after 3 years I gain 1k euros more in total than I would have had if I went to work with train. (And own the bike)
Bike lease is being paid through your 13th month, but also the personal income tax, employee social contribution and employer social contribution part.
It's great in general.
And I don't have to deal with the nmbs their politics ππ»
Fitter community? My e-bike arrived today, rode 12 km without breaking a sweat on the automatic mode, while there'd be sport and turbo mode as well above it. (Am guessing automatic mode uses turbo when at some times)
If you want a workout, then go with a manual bike aha, you'll need a shower when arriving at work.
The e-bike is just brilliant though. Very safe, smart system that chooses how much power is needed like when going uphill. The bike is 30 kg but it's barely anything. Braking and starting again doesn't put strain on the knees.
(Multicharger2 gt rohloff)
There are more English speakers in Belgium than German speakers. By a gigantic amount.
I'd even say there are more English speakers than french speakers in Belgium.
English clearly has become the language of the European union. It should be an official language in all of the EU.
Organised what coup, zelenksyy won with 73% of the votes in 2019.
We have to work longer because our oldies stopped having children. That's just how it works. if you didn't spend your money on having a child, then use it for your pension.
Our stoxx 600 has been doing well lately.
Median net wealth of my country Belgium is 250k euros per adult.
i'm educated, have job security, it has never been this easy to do investments at low cost.
2023 and 2024 have been good years, stoxx 600 increased about 20 to 25% in value. The economic downturn was 2022.
In Belgium more and more people are getting jobs. Our employment rate keeps increasing.
In 10 years it has increased from 62 to 67%
We didn't invade Ukraine, Russia did.
We have quite a lot of money. We can definitely invest in defense, and we will.
Financial advisor would recommend me to buy a world ETF which is 60% in the USA. They'd recommend to forego home bias.
For example don't invest in the Bel20 as Belgian, low return on investment.
I'm interested in what this part of the internet does for their investments since it's about buying from Europe.
My bad, need to visit the place sometime.
I want English to be an official language in Belgium, but that will take a generation before it's agreeable.
Thoughts apartheid π§
There are people who don't know how tariffs work?
If America is the sole buyer, then the tax would be shared between both countries. (Lower demand will lower the price that the foreign supplier can ask for, making up some of the extra tax cost). But since USA is doing these tariffs on so many countries, other countries will just lay new trading routes.
So yeah, USA will feel it.
Ireland, but it's a small country. As only EU English speaking country, I'm sure they've had to digest a lot of immigrants since Brexit.
The Netherlands and Flanders in Belgium has a lot of people understanding English. I'd suggest countries such as nl, be, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, ...
For a Roman country, I'd suggest Portugal. However the trick there is to work online for a company from your home country. While enjoying the low cost of living there.
Here in flanders I live with my wife who is from Indonesia. She's been learning Dutch when she arrived since 2023 December. Whenever we talk to people, we speak in English. While the person then talks in Dutch to me whenever communication wouldn't be entirely easy for them.
The level of English is fine here. Job opportunities are limited for English speakers though. You'd need to find an international company that has everything in English.
Or a physical labour job.
My wife has a law degree, but until she masters Dutch, she will need to continue her job as a cleaner. (High minimum wage in Belgium, the job she does is 2/3rd subsidised by government. Which makes hiring people easier).
I have an accountancy job and honestly, everything is in Dutch. All the documents. Companies communicating with eachother is all done in Dutch so when that language isnt mastered, then it's impossible to be productive enough at a desk job.
Brussels might have companies that hire English speakers. However, Brussels is a place where you thrive when you speak Dutch, french and English.
Like at the airport last Sunday all the employees there spoke to me in Dutch, to my wife in English and to other people in french.
Personally I would suggest Ghent. Most English speaking city in Belgium.
Ukraine affects me as a fellow European.
I'm not on the right side, I just want my family to live in peace.
Tariffs don't matter. The energy crisis didn't matter. COVID restrictions didn't matter. Those are just economic struggles.
It's safety that matters most.
Israel has been expanding their territory over the past century, it has been well covered by the media every time there's stuff happening. I remember Israeli taking the home of a Palestine family and the Palestinians just had to leave. This was a few years prior to the Hamas shooting at a festival.
If governments weren't handling Ukraine situation, energy crisis, COVID, etc. Then nothing would be happening.
There's people on the street here in Belgium, mostly young people and people from middle Eastern descent.
Wasn't the opinion of my psychologist about me. She told me I'm mildly autistic and that I show little empathy.
For example I saw a dead pigeon on the bike lane and my concern was: my wife behind me might ride over it and be distressed.
And it's not that I care about her being distressed if I'm saying the truth. It's that her distress would be a pain to handle. That the bike would be dirty which would cause further distress to my wife.
Her response to seeing the dead pigeon was that she thought it was sad.
Empathy is tricky π€·π»ββοΈ the only thing I feel about this truly, is guilt. But that's all.