201–210 of 269 posts
Cambridge, UK - A solid tech hub so you should have enough opportunities - Good options for your wife as well to work - You can also work in London (only 50 minutes by train to King's Cross); I do that - High quality education for kids While we don't have kids but from friends who do have, they find Cambridge to be great place to work, live and raise a family. And while you won't get warm winters, they should still b…
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Violence is the US and Canada is highly concentrated in a limited number of economically disadvantaged areas. It's terrible that some people have to live in those environments, and we should absolutely take steps to improve their situations. But fear of violence is not a rational reason to avoid immigration for affluent people who can afford to live in decent areas. My city has zero murders most years.
Lol I grew up in the suburbs of Calgary, itself a midsized and quite affluent city, and there's violence basically anywhere there's public transportation. There were murders in the suburbs. Drug use everywhere. Look at what's happening this year, basically every city is experiencing a major wave of gang shootings, drug activity, etc... Europe is much, much safer. Never seen drug addicts shooting up and harassing peop…
https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-...
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Lol I grew up in the suburbs of Calgary, itself a midsized and quite affluent city, and there's violence basically anywhere there's public transportation. There were murders in the suburbs. Drug use everywhere. Look at what's happening this year, basically every city is experiencing a major wave of gang shootings, drug activity, etc... Europe is much, much safer. Never seen drug addicts shooting up and harassing peop…
What's your point? There are good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods in every larger city. But there are thousands of smaller cities where the risk of violent street crime is virtually zero. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-...
I live in a place with basically no crime too, however work prospects outside of hospitality or being able to work remotely are zero.
You are not going to be able to increase your quality of life above that of Germany by moving closer to the equator, at least not by most general quality of life metrics.
However, it sounds like you are specifically looking for the combination of sun + lower cost. In that regard I’d look at the following. Keep in mind you will likely end up moving back to Germany eventually from most of these, be it because you require health or elder care or certain educational opportunities for your kids if you have any.
Panama, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Malta, Malaysia, Bali, Spain & Baleares, Portugal.
If you’re willing to compromise on the “sun factor”, I would take a closer look at the following:
Austria, Slovenia, Estonia, Czech Republic, South Korea, Taiwan.
It sounds to me that you also want a country where you get by in English and/or German easily. That should narrow down the first list above quite a bit.
But all of this doesn't matter. Remember, you are a man with a wife and a kid; and you are kind of limited because of that. (governments know that too, and that's why you are paying most of the taxes of society).
My opinion: Your problem is hardly moving to a different place. Any place is going to treat you the same because of your situation (exceptions happening). What you need to do, is figure your way out of the system and then branch remotely into a different system. You can then live in a country where you do not generate your stream of income; and not be too worried about their rules.
Say the following: You can land a remote job with $200k/year salary. Your wife is not quite interested in pursuing her career (ie: okay with any reasonable job). The UAE could be a place for you (the weather is hot though). You could afford a villa, vacations, good healthcare, private education for your kid, save money, and trade without consequences.
Of course the UAE could be not the place for you. But there are many other places to pick from, especially with a German passport.
Also: If you are leaving because of taxes, do not settle for any place that has a tax higher than 0%.
You actually want to retire in Germany AND THEN move wherever. You are too invested in a single country and its benefits system to give it away just a few years before they are due
English-speaking, Mediterranean weather, no tax on dividends, and a pretty good expat/international scene.
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One thing that's really hard to compare when looking at taxes is the quality of public services you get. UK has not low taxes by any measure, but certainly lower than eg Germany, at 200k you're looking at effective tax rate of about 35-40% all in. But state schools are a lottery and shut down for 13 weeks a year. Healthcare is good if you can get seen but otherwise it's the private health insurance. Public transport…
In UK, can you please tell me how at 200K pounds, the taxes can come down only to 35-40% especially at 125K or above, the 60% tax trap kicks in. [1] If you can specify any tax saving tips or refer to some consultant, I will be grateful. Really the only way in UK is to put in a large part of your earnings into pension contributions which effectively makes it out of bounds till 55 or 57 from 2028 onwards, which means e…
The article you link is about marginal rates, and these are indeed all over the place, buy that's a different story.
Tax calculator: https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/estimate-paye-take-home-pay/y...