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Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

helsinkibusinesshub.fi

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Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#161

Post by reader_mode »

geofft wrote: post #124
reader_mode wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Even making good money in Silicon Valley I'm perpetually afraid of medical bankruptcy if something were to happen. Let me get this straight - you are covered by medical insurance (assuming on "making good money"), and you're "perpetually afraid" that you will be forced in to bankruptcy after being treated for life threatening condition ? Not the fact that you'll first need to have a life threatening condition that r…

This is an entirely reasonable concern and I agree with it. If you're not in the US (or you're young / otherwise don't know people with horror stories) it may not make sense to you, and yes, it's awful that it's realistic, but it's still realistic. 1. Coverage by medical insurance, in the US, does not generally translate to 100% coverage. For a variety of reasons, including coinsurance, copays, out-of-network coverag…

Coverage issues happen in EU with public insurance as well - years back one of my coworkers son had an eye tumour, the experts in country didn't want to treat him because they knew their equipment wasn't precise enough to treat it without blinding him, the medical insurance would not cover out-of-country treatment because the procedure could be performed in-country. He ended up asking for charity to pay for it out of pocket (can't cash out retirement fund). Another coworker needed to get a private surgeon for his father because he was old and the waiting list on cardiac surgery was months, he was not a priority because age/condition.

I don't understand how those amounts can be larger than you can pool from a support network if you have insurance. Even if you lose your job/insurance your spouse can cover you ?

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#162

Post by eru »

ta988 wrote: post #65
throwaway13337 wrote: post #58

>We’re not after your money Paying very high income taxes and having a salary under half what you get in the states is at least buying the Finnish government one tesla a year. That said, it's almost worth it because Finland is a great place to live. It's just too bad you trade your own wealth stock pile for the possibility of getting in on that social welfare that may not pan out in the long run (most is not applicab…

In U.S. as a foreigner you pay the same taxes as everybody and you also don't get all of the services. I don't believe taxes should be a-la-carte. They should just be more fair.

The US doing silly things doesn't mean we need to measure other countries by that yard stick.

'Fair' by itself is a pretty meaningless term.

A simple example:

Assume for the sake of argument, that we agree that all else being equal that people without kids should pay higher taxes than people with kids.

Now, progressive income tax systems are fairly common and often seen as fair. So it might make sense and be fair, to make rich childless people without kids pay a bigger penalty for that choice than poorer people.

So far so boring.

But let's flip our perspective now:

Take the childless case as the baseline and instead talk in terms of getting tax allowance for having kids.

Now we can argue that rich people shouldn't get a bigger tax allowance for having kids. That wouldn't be fair! At most they should get the same tax allowance as poor people, or perhaps even a smaller one.

If you step back a bit, you see that talking about a tax allowance or a tax penalty are just two faces of the same coin depending on what you see as the baseline.

Just talking about some nebulous fairness let's you argue for either approach.

So you need to supply some extra information to actually make a decision.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#163

Post by fourstar »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #106
siavosh wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish humanity didn't need a military but saying the world's largest military doesn't give anything back is a bit misleading. Some would argue the world's largest military enable the post WW2 order and with it the free trade that most of the world depends on. So in a very concrete way, the American tax payer subsidizes much of the world's economy. Now in a post cold war with the growing isolationist tendencies of Am…

I think the point is that you can choose to go live somewhere that is not the USA and you continue reap the benefits you describe, all the while paying a different countries taxes and personally benefitting much much more. If I was an American, I wouldn't want to be footing the bill for Global Security either.

>If I was an American, I wouldn't want to be footing the bill for Global Security either.

I think if you transact in dollars or any economy on Earth, you probably do.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#164

Post by eru »

iamcreasy wrote: post #53
jmspring wrote: post #44

I was lucky enough to have a company funded stint in Helsinki some years ago. The tech culture is vibrant and interesting. Most everyone speaks English better than most in the US. It can also be a place where it's hard to make friends -- I still have a handful (former colleagues, etc) -- just cultural. I'll consider applying again as it would give me a fun way to expose my girlfriend and her kid (she already chats wi…

Can you please elaborate more on why it is hard to make friends? Thanks!

I would suspect Finns are less outgoing and more reserved?

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#166

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

hervature wrote: post #129
Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Helsinki itself is only 600,000 people, but Helsinki has fused into a single big city with the neighboring municipalities of Espoo and Vantaa (and a bunch of smaller ones), and the total population exceeds one million people.

The OKC metro is also 1.5 million people. The two are very comparable by population/size. It doesn't detract from the point that Helsinki isn't a large city. I'm giving regional context to Americans that if you don't consider OKC large, you shouldn't consider Helsinki large.

It's fair to bring this up, but it's also worth noting that a medium fish in a small pond has a different experience than a medium fish in a big pond. A third of all the people who live in Finland live in Helsinki.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#167

Post by ZeteticElench »

Devils-Avocado wrote: post #27
brryant wrote: post #2

This is honestly a great way for tech entrepreneurs to experience Nordic living. The fact is Finland has one of the most startup friendly environments around: — top schools (Aalto U. produces incredibly talented engineers) — startup friendly ecosystem (cheap rents, cheap internet) — Finnish work culture (direct, no nonsense, hard working but balanced) — fantastic food and beverage scene in downtown Helsinki My wife i…

Also: 24% VAT (sales tax) 18% employer payroll taxes 10% employee payroll taxes 20-30% typical income tax Take your American disposable income and cut it in half. Still worth it for 'free' education and 'free' healthcare? Also a lot of cold and darkness.

You sound like you voted for Trump.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#168

Post by cool_dude85 »

dkdk8283 wrote: post #101
ta988 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But many things are less expensive, health, education...

Which most people don’t need in their earning prime

That's right, people don't need health care for themselves, or their kids, or their parents, in their earning prime. Neither do they need to pay educational expenses like private school or college.

Wait a sec, actually, people famously need to pay for all those things in their earning prime! What was I thinking?

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#169

Post by selfinvariant »

Jommi wrote: post #132
hervature wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Helsinki is 600,000 people and 400/km^2. That's essentially the same as Oklahoma City. I know OKC has a basketball team and city is in the name, but most people wouldn't call OKC a big city and wouldn't be surprised by better air quality compared to places with millions of people.

Ure being diseingenius. Helsinki is 650k, but actually it's a tri-city with Espoo and Vantaa, going over 1M population. That's more than SF in a similar area.

SF Bay Area is about 7.7 million, which is higher than the whole Finnish population.

I've been to Helsinki, it's a lovely place, but calling it a big city is misleading at best.

Re: Helsinki Relocation Package: City as a Service

#170

Post by bulutsuzku »

One girl told me: "Finland? What a trap!! They have a big country with everything set up, but cannot manage to reproduce humans...".

I think she is somewhat right. In these "perfect" countries people is cold as ice, so you can expect to get bored to hell.

There's a reason why Italians are fun, and nordics.... well, they aren't.

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