Fleming satisfied with their wages

About 85 percent of the Flemish families are satisfied with their income, yet one on three families with young children has difficulties to reach the end of a month. Traders lead the field with 92 per cent. The result drops to 66 percent at the in actives and one single person on five isn’t satisfied at all. Almost four Flemings on ten describes his financial state as comfortable.

Wages rise more than benefits
To keep in step with the prosperity introduced the Belgium government a “health index”, an index without cigarettes and fuel. The wages are rising -in contrast with benefits- with more than just that index. Owing to the generation pact the benefits will rise each 2 years. That’s the reason why at New Year 2008 the unemployment benefit rises with 2 per cent.

Employees happier than workmen
46 per cent of the employees says he has it comfortable, for workmen is it just 30 per cent. You have to divide the employees in two groups. On the one hand the managers and executives who earn a lot of money and on the other a group of employees with modest wages.
I find 85 per cent a high result because there are a lot of people who grumble about the proportion wages and work or they have to pay to much taxes… Also the fact to rise the unemployment benefit isn’t a good idea because there are people who resign form their jobs because they earn about the same wages in benefits. The active people are the victims of the system because they have to pay for the unemployed

Jan

source:
http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=G5P1HF6AL&kanaalid=3

why short-term savings?

In this article we will talk about short-term savings. By "short-term savings," we mean the money you will need for emergencies and for big expenses such as a wedding, vacations, a new car, or when you lose your job.

What could happen if you don't have short-term savings?

- Emergencies or even expenses will spring a credit card trap on you that can take years to escape from.

- To cover a sudden expense, you may have to sell assets, such as stocks, that were intended to cover long-term goals. Unfortunately, this happens during a time when the market is down, and you have to sell your stocks at a loss. Plus, that money is no longer invested, so you will miss out on future growth.

You have got several options on where to keep your short-term stash. But first you need to determine how much short-term savings you need.

How much you set aside depends on the following factors:

- your willingness to take risk

- your needs

- your upcoming expense

I don’t think you need to have to much short-term savings, because your profit will be bigger when you have long-term savings. But, it is very important to have some money you can use in case of an emergency.

Kathleen

source: http://www.fool.com/savings/shortterm/01.htm?ref=smp

How much you can afford?

When you buy a house, it’s very important to know how much you spend. In this article we find different factors that can help us, deciding this. The first one is “the mortgage”. Often the worst part for the future-owners. They have to fill in a lot of questions about their incomes and savings, all to determine their mortgage. Another important issue for the bank is to know if you earn enough and if you don’t have too many debts. A third factor is your credit rating. There are different agencies where your lender can control your credits. A house is often collateral for your loan. For this one it’s very important that you can use your house for this loan, otherwise you can have a lot of problems afterwards. These aspects that are mentioned are all from the bank’s point of view, but there are also factors that are important from the loaner’s point of view. Even if you have the mortgage you wanted, you also have to consider which lifestyle you want to have. Because there are more debts you have to repay, than the loan. And the last question the loaners have to consider is if they must buy or rent a house. For some people is renting easier than buying a house.

When I was reading this article I was thinking how easy it is when you have a short list of items you certainly must not forget when you want to buy a house. Of course there are a lot of other things you may not forget, but the financial aspect is, I think, the most important one. The tips are also well explained, so there can’t be any misunderstandings. I must say it’s a nice hand guide for beginning-buyers.

Els

source: http://www.fool.com/homecenter/finance/finance01.htm

Many people won’t be able to posses a own house

Even a simple house will become difficult to purchase for the majority of the singles and half of the double-income couples. This was showed by a study for “Het Nieuwsblad”.

The price of an average house has increased in the last 4 years with half of it and costs almost 160000 € but the salaries didn't grow in the same amount. People get help from their parents, but is this really the right direction for the future? The question of the researcher is: “why doesn’t the new government establish a new system through which people can deduct the tax-advantage from the advance levy?”.

A house is a necessity, so in my opinion everyone should be able to afford something as precious as that. I just can’t understand that you can’t posses something that’s so important in life. The government should take measures to provide more reasonable prices. Nowadays everything increases in price, even food, but I find it hard to believe that the administration can’t do anything about it. This has consequences for our own economy and also for the world economy (like the stock index in the USA that quickly declined the last month). I really hope for a solution to this significant problem, because this can lead to even more serious things…

Laura

Source: http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=S71HKQ7N&kanaalid=3