Camille Van Vyve
21 Mar 2025
How Bruno achieved an 18% return on his company's cash flow
Easyvest dives into its clients' portfolios to tell real investment stories. Second episode: Bruno, 46, who started investing his company's cash in 2022 and now reaches a 18% return.
Investor Profile
Bruno*, 46 years old, married, three children, partner and CEO of a data analytics company
Initial investment: €15.000 in February 2022
Portfolio: 10
Current balance: €241.903
Total invested over time: €200.000
Profit: €41.903
Can you tell us a bit about your professional and financial situation?
I run what is commonly known as a “management company,” through which I invoice my services to the company I work for—and where I am also a partner. I pay myself the lowest possible salary as a business owner and accumulate the rest in my company as what is called a liquidation reserve.
This mechanism allows you to defer dividend payments while benefiting from a tax reduction.
Exactly. It’s an incentive for financially sound small businesses to remain well-capitalized, at least for those created before 2013. In practice, by paying a direct 10% tax, you can allocate funds to a liquidation reserve each year. After five years, these funds can be withdrawn as dividends with a reduced withholding tax of 5% instead of 30%. However, this means maintaining the equivalent of five years of cash flow within the company at all times...
How did you come across Easyvest as an option for investing this excess cash?
I had already made some investments through active management with a traditional private bank, but I was frankly not satisfied: entry fees, high management costs, and unimpressive performance. So I was already convinced by passive investing and wanted to invest in ETFs. Since I know someone who works at Easyvest, I naturally turned to this solution.
What’s your feedback after three years of experience?
I was really impressed by the quality of the onboarding and the mobile app. Everything is simple, clear, and smooth. And whenever I had questions or concerns, my account manager was always very responsive.
You moved from a Portfolio 8 to a Portfolio 10, for instance.
Yes. I figured that index investing, which is already highly diversified, allows for taking maximum risk. I prefer to manage risk outside my Easyvest portfolio—mainly through real estate and term deposits.
Since 2022, you've made several deposits ranging from €25.000 to €75.000. Do these transactions follow a particular strategy?
I usually top up my portfolio when I see the market dropping because these moments often present good investment opportunities. In August 2024, when the market plummeted due to an unexpected move by the Bank of Japan, I immediately deposited €25.000. The drop was wiped out within days, so it turned out to be a great decision!
You have two years left before you can withdraw your first dividends at the reduced rate. Do you plan to reinvest them?
Yes, I think I’ll reinvest as an individual with Easyvest. Even if the much-talked-about capital gains tax is introduced, it will still be more advantageous than keeping my investments within the company. I might also try a bit of more active or targeted investing on my own, but just for fun...!
*For confidentiality reasons, an assumed first name was used when transcribing this interview.