I admire him for the last 2 paragraphs, they really shocked me.
Costs of running a macOS app studio business
171–180 of 220 posts
Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
Building up career is a trap. The system is designed to capture everyone as a wage slave and every year there are more barriers put to keep the "pleb" in their lane. The only way to build wealth (independence, freedom) for one's family is through starting a business that you can scale. If you go to work at a company always think how you can use the knowledge gained there to start something of your own. Use salaried w…
> If you go to work at a company always think how you can use the knowledge gained there to start something of your own. Pro tip: avoid highly specialised knowledge that can only be used in particular firms e.g. highly capitalised or regulated entities. Yes you will be paid well above market rates but it will be very difficult to convert those skills into a business because you won't have access to the market as a so…
Wouldn't having deep specialisation in a particular field help you to gain a competitive advantage when deciding to go it alone and starting a company in that area?
Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
European Economic Area to be precise (i.e. Norway, Switzerland etc abide by the same rules). Yes, if you're not a tiny business (OP isn't tiny) you have to pay VAT to each end customer's country. Though you can declare it in your home country to reduce bureaucracy. VAT law is well developed, what matters is the location of the end customer, not where the seller is, so your technically speaking isn't how it works. Wro…
EEA might demand their citizens to pay the VAT, but how can it demand/enforce this e.g. for some company in Vietnam? What happens when EEAians buy goods in Vietnam with EEA bank's credit cards, e.g. in a not-tiny restaurant? Is the VAT cancelled because they are physically in Vietnam for the time being?
I have been in this situation but selling to the States. Nothing happens if you sell to end users who pay with credit card but as soon as you have a large sale to a company or institution they will ask for all kinds of documents that force you to register properly and pay taxes.
Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
Offense seems to be the only thing you do around here. I know I’m privileged, I work with unprivileged people to help them get better sometimes and that is probably the best way to feel how much inequality there is between us. Having a lot of money relative to the place you live in doesn’t guarantee your happiness. Privilege means nothing in the face of illness of a loved one, having to live with parents at 30 becaus…
I don't want to be negative and it's great to see what you've accomplished, the problems you are mentioning and alluding to are unfortunately not exclusive to your country, I could share some horror stories too and I come from the "developed and rich" western europe. The point is that the net income you get is very high for european standars, let alone Romania. With that level of income it is really weird that you ca…
No offense but you seem very uneducated in the matter. Being self employed makes it more difficult for OP to get a loan while "good" real estate is reaching almost western european level of prices in Central & Eastern Europe.
Your post reeks of jealousy for OP's net salary but you fail to account for your accumulated wealth over time of you and your family. OP's had not been earning this wage for years while you and your family has.
OP probably uses a lot of his net salary to support his spouse and family while you dont have to do that.
Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business
#175I am surprised there is so much money to be made in such simple applications. Kudos well done
Because it is also about marketing and as non-Mac user (Linux) I heard about Lunar many times.
Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem for me is not having to pay that tax. The problem is that we as Romanian citizens never see anything good done with them. And that's why I feel the need to complain. We're out of communism for more than 30 years but the mentality of officials has barely changed. People are dying in dirty hospitals of infections that they didn't have before getting there (see Colectiv 2015). Analphabetism is higher than in…
If the tax rate is so low, it's no surprise there's no money for education and health care - given that Romania isn't Switzerland. Sure there will be corruption but it can't all go to corruption.
I am puzzled how little people know outside of CEE region. Of course it can. CEE is not high trust society it's been decimated by years of communism and the oligarchy got reinforced with the coming of western european investments.
CEE politicians are crooks that believe cattle (the voters) are to be exploited and they cant compete with the developed world anyway.
3m out of 20m of romanians have left the country and there's no way investments in education and health care would make a dent in this.
Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah but people’s budgets are not made fully of restaurants and groceries. The bulk is made of housing, cars, phones, goods, clothes, which cost the same as western europe for the most part. In some cases I find food in the UK cheaper. Petrol is also comparable. While far from London the real estate market in a large city is comparable to say Manchester or similar. I doubt people writing apps live in areas where a ho…
Housing prices are controlled by local supply & demand; there's no way housing is going to be remotely comparable between let's say the UK and Romania; the majority of properties would stay empty forever if they were priced like in the UK. Same thing for most consumer goods - they have a (very low) base price and the rest is pure profit margin which is adjusted according to the local purchasing power. Consumer goods…
The goods are cheaper but not that much.
Most goods like food and furniture are made by large Western European companies( mostly german and austrian) who utilize economy of scale to make those and can ship and deliver them in large quantities to shops that they THEMSELVES control.
It's impossible for a country like Romania to develop its own champions in a traditional industry like this.
Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business
#178It's funny how the author complains that he has to pay 15% taxes in Romania. In Germany you have to pay ~50% for taxes and different duties and all expenses are much higher than in Romania. Also German tax authorities are known for "torturing" self-employed people with different types of requests. So when I worked as freelancer in Germany I voluntarily abstained from possible tax reductions via expenses, because Germ…
Any taxes paid in CEE are used by crooks to enrich themselves and eventually get back to you in Germany when those people buy luxury goods like MB,BMW cars.
You pay high taxes but you get a semi decent education and health care services. That much money pays for millions of people coming from Romania to your country to work there and provide you with services.
Those people are irreplaceable for Romania.
Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
That seems implausible. I looked it up and the first result was: > A one-room apartment in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Brasov, Sibiu or other big cities will cost from €350 to €500 per month Good luck finding that in Manchester!
I just found a newly built 7 bedroom villa with pool in Bucharest for under €500k, not ideal as it's near the airport but if anyone could point to an equivalent in the Manchester metropolitan area I'd be very interested. Also found an entire building on Bucharest's second busiest street Magheru Blvd for €1.4M. Out of my price range unfortunately but it does include 12 separate 3 bedroom apartments, a floor of offices…
Why go that big? Most people are already happy with 2 rooms and 60 square metres. Those apartments are much cheaper than $500k, at least in Budapest, which is a country away, but still :) Ok, I get it, a big family would be very happy in that villa, bit it's a bit weird to see it as a baseline :)
Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business
#180Isn't $5800/month a shit ton of money in Romania? Who even gets paid similar amounts there? He mentions a consulting job, but you don't consult as many hours a month as a salaried person
Yes, it’s a lot of money in Romania. I could live very comfortably if that would continue being the case. If I had my own place. My “not bad” remark is because I still can’t afford housing with all the money I make. I’ve been living in rent since college >10 years ago and I’m sick of it. You get no legal benefits when renting in Romania, everything is done by hiding from the state and local authorities. So you can’t…
House prices per sqm in Romania based on average net earnings per month is lower than ever, lower than 2014 when price per sqm were at the lowest after the 2008 financial crisis.
Why don't you consider buying the house with a bank loan? it's the best decision to do so even if you have all the money... if you talk with a financial consultant you'll see why.
Housing prices are not out of control, we are lagging years behind other European countries in regard with house prices. If you look on the numbers you will see that this is actually a good time to buy a house in Romania.