Belgium, how much does one need to make to be middle class?

[shah269]

I'm thinking of maybe applying for a job in Belgium.
And in the form it asks how much I wish to be paid.
I can't leave it blank. And I don't wish to put in Zero.
Its a gig on the EU energy exchagne. I get about $100k here in the US, if I wish to have the same life in Belgium how much should I ask for?

[Dunewar]

As a belgian, I think I got this one  

Depending on your life standards, this are some ballpark figures :

-engineer/consultant  with 10+ years of experience : count on 3500-4500 euro's monthly gross. Don't forget that we have a lot of taxes here, so it will leave you with about 2000-2500 euro's in your hands each month. Also, ask for a company car (company motorcycles are difficult, only BMW does leasing and it is very expensive), phone, laptop, since these things are very interesting for companies as they don't get taxed on them that much.

Gas is very expensive here, regular 98 octane goes 1.5 euro's for one litre, diesel goes for about 1euro (most cars here are diesels), so a company car with a tank card is worth trading in some of your paycheck for.

P.S. forgot to mention : we also get a holiday bonus each year around may and a thirteenth month of pay at the end of the year, so yearly you should be counting between 40 and 50 k euro's. If you get more, nice, don't settle for less. That's middle class here.

If you are in management, you can go higher in paycheck, but more then 5000 is a lot. Don't go under 3000.

If you don't mind me asking, what company is it? I got the weird feeling it might be where I work...
Any other questions on this country, feel free to PM me.

[Ant]

You have spent time over here in Europe haven't you? You should have in your mind how much simple things like beer and petrol costs (the essentials ).
If you got your $100k, over here that is still around €70k, unless your lifestyle includes faberge eggs and other unnecessary extravagances then that is still enough to cover a comfortable life. It depends what you expect as a part of your "lifestyle" really.

[Dunewar]

70K...dollars?   70K euro's is ambitious....

[Ant]

70K...dollars?   70K euro's is ambitious....

I was just comparing the income he said he gets in the US to what the equivalent in Euros is and how you can expect to live on that kind of money.
Not that he would necessarily be able to get that kind of money

[shah269]

I'm a six sigma black belt with 7 years of experience in design, development, arbitration, liberation, libation, industrial.....ahhh call it snooping, constructing efficient highly ambitious ambiguous contracts between federal labs and large defense contractors for the express purpose of developing wiz bang woo hoo systems that would give a blind man wood!
I'm a bullshit artist....i think that qualifies me to work as an energy broker?

Yeah I've been to Belgium, god what a gorgeous country! Nice looking girls as well. I love how they fight for and defend the middle class. And the beer....oh the beer! Problem is that all my friends who live there have family there and  were able to leverage generations of capital to buy a home or a car. I would be coming with two cats and an angry fish and one very happy wife!

I think I'll put down the equivalent of $100k and if by some chance...and i'm talking 1/10^10 they call me back I'll just tell the guy or gal the same thing I tell my contractors, "Let's talk it over during lunch, seldom is common ground and civility found over a phone call."

You would be surprised what kind of deals I can work  during lunch.

[Dunewar]

Never hurts to try...but 100k$ buys you a lot more here in belgium then it does in the states. remember that. I didn't come with generations of wealth, and i'm doing ok, we got two houses, two cars, one motorcycle (i'm going to have to remedy that one of these days) and i'm 32 and my wife 28! All earned ourselves.

Oh and about belgian girls : you are absolutely right, they are gorgeous. That's why I married one last month.  

[Blunder]

Please take him. Perhaps his bathing practices will rub off.

[shah269]

I'll work on my resume tonight and shoot it in.....can you tell I work with weapons?
It's a gorgeous country, the people are very nice and......you have this thing called a middle class!

[Dunewar]

Don't forget the beer....oh my god the beer      Did I mention the beer?
there's one bar where I live that has over 100 types of beer on stock, fantastic!!!!!

[shah269]

The beer is good. But what I really like about the country is how strong and stable the middle class is.
Here in the US....man in 10 years...what middle class?

[Dunewar]

You got a good point. Middle class actually exists here, we take it for granted. You'd have to be a big fool to end up lower class. We pay almost the highest taxes in the world (only scandinavia does worse), but we sure get a lot back. If you have to go to the hospital, it doesn't have to cost you anything, even if you don't have private insurance. It does make comparing with USA wages a lot more difficult.

Might I give you one more advice : be carefull where you will be located. Housing prices are very different throughout the country. In the Brussels region, it is double of where i'm located, in the west. Downside is that my commute is minimum 45 minutes, max 90 minutes (I work in two different locations). Also, traffic is a killer in the centre of the country, in the square Gent-Brussels-Antwerp-Leuven.

[shah269]

Also, traffic is a killer in the centre of the country, in the square Gent-Brussels-Antwerp-Leuven.

I'm from NJ..what you call traffic I call a Sunday.  

[Mr Sunshine]

I'm from NJ..what you call traffic I call a Sunday.  

You sure about that?  Really...positive?

[shah269]

You sure about that?  Really...positive?

Yeah I was just in Belgium two years ago! I even rode around a bit!
OK your all nuts but traffic? Pleas mate! In NJ rush hour is from 5am till 8pm!

[Papa Lazarou]

If Shah comes to Yurp can I have his house?

[shah269]

If Shah comes to Yurp can I have his house?

It's a condo. And I'm still working on it. Needs some new carpeting, a slight modification to the HVAC and some lights installed.


OK!
Just shot off my resume to Electrabel Europe.
I'll call my friend this week end and giggle about the thought of me selling my condo at a $50k loss and working in Europe!  

[Dunewar]

Electrabel? That would make me a future customer of yours...

I actually work in a little company that is part of the same group, the Suez group. Electrabel isn't a bad employer actually, AFAIK.

Good luck with it, and let us know how it goes.