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0 pointsLunaSea6y ago0 comments

So let me get this right.

It is possible to spend the same amount in medical, car and daycare expenses if you keep a job while being ill, ride a beat-up car and leave your kid to a shady cash-only operating in someone's home.

So explain to me how earning $100K more is so interesting again?

cf: Average American car insurance prices: https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/average-cos...

cf: Average European car insurance prices: https://www.insuranceeurope.eu/sites/default/files/attachmen...

cf: Average American prices for Toyota Corolla: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/region_prices_by_city?...

cf: Average European prices for Toyota Corolla: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/region_prices_by_city?...

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2 comments · 1 top-level

kortilla6y ago· 1 in thread

You can get a new Toyota/Honda car for 2 months pay after taxes in the US scenario. And it’s trivial to go to Nevada from the Bay Area to make the purchase and pocket the cost difference if you have a spare weekend.

You spend more on medical out of pocket, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the pittance folks make in Europe. Set aside $200k over 16 years of school/daycare and you’ve still cleared in excess of a million dollars more than your European counterparts.

There is a reason the top SWEs in the world flock to the tech companies in the US. The income is drastically better and if you don’t succumb to lifestyle inflation, you can live like a typical European middle class citizen (one car, tiny apartment, little eating out) and retire after a 15 year career.

LunaSeaOP6y ago

> There is a reason the top SWEs in the world flock to the tech companies in the US.

I can tell you from experience that no developer I have ever met in my career want to move to the US. Sorry to burst your bubble. And it's not even a question of money for most of them.

> The income is drastically better and if you don’t succumb to lifestyle inflation, you can live like a typical European middle class citizen (one car, tiny apartment, little eating out)

That's not a typical European middle class citizen. Typical European middle class citizen already bought a house within that timeframe.

> retire after a 15 year career

Not sure where you're retiring but it's not going to be Europe because you would be way, way off money wise since you don't own anything.

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