131–140 of 309 posts
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> But, it is way, way, less stressful living here, just in general. Americans have no idea. The taxes are worth the peace of mind along with the stability it gives society. Can you please go on with this point and provide some 1-1 examples you've personally seen? I keep dreaming and have, for the last 5 years, about leaving the US and living in Europe but I feel like I'm throwing away an enormous economic opportunity…
The European Union member states subscribe to multiple fundamental ideas, one of which is the principle of solidarity. This means that there is a strong social safety net, and we take care of the vulnerable. I do not have to worry about the cost of my medical care or other social needs. I pay my taxes, do my part as a citizen, and I know I will be taken care of. Essentially, because of this I do not have to live in f…
I’m eligible to work anywhere in the EU but the pay in continental Europe seems much worse than what I could earn working remotely for a US company.
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The European Union member states subscribe to multiple fundamental ideas, one of which is the principle of solidarity. This means that there is a strong social safety net, and we take care of the vulnerable. I do not have to worry about the cost of my medical care or other social needs. I pay my taxes, do my part as a citizen, and I know I will be taken care of. Essentially, because of this I do not have to live in f…
Thanks for sharing. I spent some time in Europe albeit that was a long time ago and I feel like I was too young to experience the hardships of life I'm facing in the US. I know the safety nets you're referring to, they're there for health care, unemployment and worker rights. Things that don't really exist for most people in the US if they're unemployed or in a regular job. I'm lucky to be in a well paid, high lucrat…
Thanks for pointing this out as it is very important information to have vs. everything we hear about Germany being "the best place in the world" and "you don't need to buy property as everyone here rents".
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> But, it is way, way, less stressful living here, just in general. Americans have no idea. The taxes are worth the peace of mind along with the stability it gives society. I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us how great it is to have 1/3 less PPP and higher taxes, but I sure as hell don’t want my taxes any higher. A grand total of none of my international friends have anywhere near…
> A grand total of none of my international friends have anywhere near the wealth, nor earning potential I do, and they never will. It’s an exceedingly large, compounding edge. That's because most of us are not obsessed with wealth. We tend to be satisfied with some level of comfort and security and focus on other things in life. I guess that's a cultural thing. > Everyone knows our healthcare system is asinine. It d…
You might have more earning potential in the US, but I’d much rather make a bit less money and live in a country with a functioning healthcare system, a welfare system, a (mostly) functioning legislative branch, much less police violence and racial tension and less political polarisation. I just don’t feel anxious living here. No matter what happens I’ll be ok. In Australia you don’t need to be super rich in order to feel safe.
I was born in Russia. That's my red passport. My parent moved with us to USA, when I was 18. That's my dark blue passport. When I was working as Software engineer in California, our company got aquired and they asked us to relocate to Canada. I got PR here and soon will have light blue passport here. Personal thoughts: USA citizenship gives me best opportunities and access to best job market. Canada citizenship gives…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But, it is way, way, less stressful living here, just in general. Americans have no idea. The taxes are worth the peace of mind along with the stability it gives society. Can you please go on with this point and provide some 1-1 examples you've personally seen? I keep dreaming and have, for the last 5 years, about leaving the US and living in Europe but I feel like I'm throwing away an enormous economic opportunity…
The European Union member states subscribe to multiple fundamental ideas, one of which is the principle of solidarity. This means that there is a strong social safety net, and we take care of the vulnerable. I do not have to worry about the cost of my medical care or other social needs. I pay my taxes, do my part as a citizen, and I know I will be taken care of. Essentially, because of this I do not have to live in f…
Are you sure you're in the same Croatia as the rest of us?
I am a dual citizen of the United States and Croatia (European Union citizen). I am culturally American, and I have spent the vast majority of my life in the US. I left the US about a month before the lockdowns started. I have been living in Croatia for the past year. I can technically live/work/retire in any EU/EFTA country (minus Lichtenstein--has an immigration quota), due to having Freedom of Movement rights. In…
> But, it is way, way, less stressful living here, just in general. Americans have no idea. The taxes are worth the peace of mind along with the stability it gives society. Can you please go on with this point and provide some 1-1 examples you've personally seen? I keep dreaming and have, for the last 5 years, about leaving the US and living in Europe but I feel like I'm throwing away an enormous economic opportunity…
"Some people are so poor that all they have is money."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But, it is way, way, less stressful living here, just in general. Americans have no idea. The taxes are worth the peace of mind along with the stability it gives society. I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us how great it is to have 1/3 less PPP and higher taxes, but I sure as hell don’t want my taxes any higher. A grand total of none of my international friends have anywhere near…
>I don’t know what it is about Europeans on American websites telling us how great it is to have 1/3 less PPP and higher taxes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_pe... I don't mean to be rude but please look at that above link and understand how poor you as a citizen of USA are. It's frustrating to come from a country thats ~3X as wealthy as the USA in terms of median wealth (i'm Australian) an…
What am I reading? No wonder the OP is frustrated. Rightfully so.
Just because the median citizen is “only” in the top 25 countries in the world, doesn’t mean that what the OP said is incorrect.
It’s also difficult to do proper comparisons. Notice anything out of the ordinary in that list? Check out the population of the countries. Of course Australians are wealthy, they live on a continent nearly the size of the US with the population of L.A. county. That’s a lot of resources to go around for a small number of people.
I echo the OP in the constant anti-American sentiment I find on the internet being frustrating. “Your healthcare sucks, your taxes suck, look at how poor you are because of this chart”.
A lot of that doesn’t even reflect reality for many people. Let’s talk about healthcare. My experience in healthcare is I schedule an appointment at the university medical center, get extremely high quality care, and that’s that. I pay $0 for co-pays, or for medicine. Other people with health insurance can do that too. Obviously we have a healthcare problem in the U.S., which is why even to my own personal detriment I support UHC, but the experience people have in the U.S. varies widely. The U.S. government is responsible for like 70% of U.S. healthcare expenditures.
Ask yourself, why does the U.S. make citizens file taxes if they live abroad? I wonder if it has anything to do with people becoming massively wealthy and then conveniently living in another nearby country so they don’t have to pay taxes? Or maybe someone works at a company and that company can just relocate them somewhere cheap so they can avoid taxes? I’m not sure, but I hear a lot of “people in America need to pay taxes” but then they also get mad when the government makes people living in other countries pay income taxes. Why should it matter if you live in Japan as an American? You’re still a citizen. If you don’t want to pay taxes then give up your citizenship. How are we supposed to pay for healthcare for example if we allow lots of people to exempt themselves? And the U.S. exempts the first $108,000 of that income. What’s the big deal? That you have to report it? How can we fight corruption if we don’t even make people report their income?
I’m all for dual citizenships, but a downside nobody’s talking about is that you have to spend 5-10 years of your life in your new country to get it, not factoring in multi-year waiting times that may exist for processing citizenship. Essentially, you need to be comfortable migrating.
I incidentally moved to Europe for work several years ago without any particular plans to pursue dual citizenship, but I stuck around long enough I'm almost eligible so now I'm going for it because it'd open a lot of doors.
In my case it wasn't a downside at all, as I love living here (moving from a high-crime city to virtually-no-crime was great, and I love the atmosphere/environment here) and although there are always challenges with migration, for me none of them were too bad. But I had good personal circumstances for migration (few domestic attachments). For others, it could be more of a hurdle.
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I am semi retired (unemployed) living in Romania, but you'd likely want to be in Portugal for the cost of living, weather, and food. Also they have a ten year tax friendly program called Non Habitual Residency. I'm currently aiming for Portugal. Yes, salaries are low all across the EU (Switzerland is not in the EU) and taxes are high, so ideally I recommend working remotely and bouncing between Portugal and Spain or…
That's interesting, I have a Romanian passport but didn't live long enough there to actually get a feel for what life is like day to day. I think being a worker and having to have a job in RO would be soul crushing, from what I hear from friends and family. Portugal seems a great in between if you can swing a remote job, a lot of tech workers prefer it for the low cost of living and climate, like you said. It seems w…
Overall, for most of the population, yes. However, if you're a tech worker, no, as that puts you in the top %10 of earners.
In many ways, Romania is like the US, high inequality, low taxes, and poor quality social services, unless you have a corporate job, then you can live like a King as the huge pay(relative speaking) and job perks give you an edge over everyone else.