Earlier quoted context omitted.
On the upside, in the USA, if you can find that 'sweet spot' company that is paying well, good healthcare, and good time off, you can make bank without overworking. I'm sure these exist all around the world, but perhaps they could be more common in the USA when compared to the EU, given the generally lower EU net wages we're talking about.
Its seems the obvious thing do is build a career in the US and half retire in a foreign country with good free healthcare and affordable rent. Rent out the american real estate bought over the course of the career and have that income pay for the European rent(which in my experience seems much lower).
Dual citizen here, that's precisely my plan. Just found out a couple weeks ago (from HN) how in the Netherlands and Germany you can request to work 4 days a week instead of 5, for 20% less gross pay, I guess its a smaller cut after taxes because you might drop down a tax bracket. As long as the company has 15+ employees. I partied a ton in my early twenties so I'm early in my career despite my age, but the plan is to live very frugally and buy several 2 family houses in low CoL areas to rent out. Then after 5 ish years depending on if I have a family or what, semi retire to Europe.