Presentation of William

[William]

Hello everyone,

So my name is William, I am 40 years old and live in Belgium.

First of all, congratulations for this site which has taught me a lot about a subject that I have neglected for far too long.

I have been involved in the stock market since 1999 and have therefore been hit hard by the crash of the year 2000. It took me a few years to recover psychologically even if in total I don't think I lost any money thanks to the gains before the year 2000 and the resale of most of the technologies before going into the red. I returned to more traditional stocks around 2006-2007, like banks. In 2008 happened what you know (I was of course invested in the 2 Belgian banks most affected with stocks whose value was divided by 100 and 1000 and which have stagnated since then at about the same level). After a few more years to recover I moved to small caps but again without success, mainly because my choices were not lucid (often based on rumors). I have dabbled a little in CFDs but this tool is not for me because it is much too volatile and risky.

Now I am patiently preparing my future investments for the post-next crash which, I hope, will arrive soon 😉 I have no hope of becoming a rentier because I am starting too late and probably do not have enough starting capital for my age. I also think that I live in a bad country to do so because the Belgian withholding tax is 27% for dividends. If I invest in a US share, that makes a total of 42% lost. So it seems quite illusory to me to hope to live off dividends with such a starting handicap?

See you soon!

[Jerome]

Hi William
It's always a pleasure to read Belgian friends.
Well I see that we started investing at almost the same time and that we are about the same age.
I don't know the Belgian tax system regarding US dividends. In Switzerland it's 30%, half of which is recoverable via annual taxation.
If you actually lose all 42% that seems like a lot to me. To be checked.
I will soon be proposing a new investment strategy that will allow you to free yourself somewhat from this problem.
More info soon.
And know that it's never too late to start... you just have to be a little more patient.

Good scholarship.

[William]

Belgium is unfortunately one of the countries with the highest taxes. I can't get anything back from taxes. Since the beginning of January, we have even been entitled to a tax on stock market speculation on shares: any capital gain is taxed at 33% if the share is held for less than 6 months. Of course, speculators have abandoned shares since the tax was introduced and have fallen back on CFDs, among other things. So not only will the new tax not bring in as much as expected, but the revenue from the existing stock market tax on transactions is also in full decline. It is whispered that the State will rake in less money with the cumulative revenue from the 2 taxes than with the stock market tax alone before the change. They asked for it. 😉 Anyway, I'll stop digressing ^^'

Looking forward to the new strategy then. 🙂

That said, even if 42%s hamper the effectiveness of dividend-based strategies, I still appreciate their principles for selecting the most profitable stocks over the long term and intend to take them into account when choosing the stocks in which I will invest after the next crash.

[Jerome]

it's nonsense... happy to live in Switzerland
I think I pay too much tax because of the income from my gainful activity, but fortunately for the rest it is reasonable
Sorry but the new strategy will not solve your problem since, reading your last message, you are also heavily taxed on capital gains...

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