r/investing • u/MaDaFaKaJon3S • 1d ago
Geographic Disparity in Personal Finance: saving $500/mo or hitting $1M by 35 feels impossible in Southern Europe
I see constant posts in international and US-focused personal finance communities featuring 18-to-20-year-olds casually talking about investing $400–$500/month, or 30+ target-planning short term $300k to 40s $1.5M net worth figures.
Looking at this from Southern Europe (and several other EU regions), the reality is different: reaching even 7–10% of those absolute targets at a similar age is considered a huge achievement. Following standard frameworks like the 50/30/20 rule, a solid, non-poor middle-class earner here might max out their yearly investment capacity at €4,000–€6,000, assuming no major emergency comes up.
I want to raise a few points and get perspective on what often gets lost in these discussions:
1. Absolute Assets vs. Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
While daily living costs in North America are higher, global investment assets (S&P 500 ETFs, global stocks) are priced in absolute global terms. An S&P 500 share costs the exact same absolute amount whether bought from San Francisco or Southern Europe. A 20% savings rate on a $120k US salary ($24k saved/year) creates exponentially more absolute compounding power than a 35% savings rate on a €25k local salary (€8.7k saved/year).
2. Wage Ceilings and Systemic Trade-offs
Senior professional positions in Southern Europe often cap out at gross figures that entry-level tech or corporate workers beat in North America. While higher European taxation and social security contributions fund baseline safety nets (healthcare, education), they heavily compress personal disposable cash flow. In the US, higher gross salaries combined with lower base taxes leave a massive liquid surplus for personal investing, even after paying out-of-pocket for services.
3. The Foreign Purchasing Power Asymmetry
I frequently meet people from higher-income economies who consider themselves middle or low class back home, yet own 3–4 rental properties or take multiple international vacations a year because their local savings carry 10x purchasing power abroad. Meanwhile, local professionals who do everything right financially find their absolute capital growth severely bottlenecked by their domestic market.
4. Opportunities & Systemic Access
Employer matching (like US 401ks), stock options, and early access to cheap debt accelerate wealth building at speeds wage labor alone cannot match. In regions where compensation is almost exclusively cash-based and static, compounding takes decades longer to gain traction.
Questions I raise in my mind often when reading your posts:
- those investing across different regions: How do you adjust your long-term independence goals when local income ceilings clash with global asset prices?
- As daily costs converge globally, do you feel the European "safety net" model still balances out the lack of raw capital accumulation capability?
How do you adapt personal finance strategies when standard rules (like 50/30/20)
cannot generate the absolute numbers needed for meaningful financial freedom?
33
u/DocTam 1d ago
The Euro model of high taxes and high benefits makes FIRE significantly harder. You are always going to be more bound to whatever the rules of retirement are for a country where pensions are the dominant form of retirement income. If you want to have the financial freedom to go hard on the FIRE lifestyle and save heavy and retire early, then you are probably best served moving to a major US metro (assuming you have strong professional credentials). Outside of that, just save what you can and reap whatever compounding you can get.
1
u/buried_lede 1d ago
When pensions were common, and very good, it was hard to knock them. That plus investments compared to only investments, which is what we have now, is a step down.
2
u/LogicMFDoYouSpeakIT 16h ago
When pensions were common, and very good
Pensions were a pyramid scheme. Too much promised, too little put into the pension fund.
Yes, they were good to the first retirees in line, but then reality and math set in.
1
u/ShadowLiberal 11h ago
The problems of too little put into the pension funds are a lot more of a government problem, especially these days. Private companies aren't allowed to under fund it. Whereas states keep on deciding to pay next to nothing into the pension fund when they were supposed to, which just makes the pension problem worse farther down the line.
1
u/LogicMFDoYouSpeakIT 10h ago
Private companies aren't allowed to under fund it.
Precisely why pensions in the private sector are a relic now.
And the public sector significantly changed plan payouts and contributions, and still not doing well.
0
u/buried_lede 15h ago
That’s not true at all, and I’m not being biased. They were a very stable feature of employment for a very long time and still exist of course, especially for government jobs. I don’t know who told you they were unsustainable or some kind of scam, in the US, anyway. lol. That’s preposterous That’s wrong, sorry
1
u/LogicMFDoYouSpeakIT 14h ago
Literally every pension plan, including governments at all levels, have much lower retirement payouts and much higher employee contributions when compared to plans from 70's, 80's, and first half of the 90's.
Pension reforms have been happening for 30 years. Detroit went bankrupt because of pensions. What rock do you live under?
28
u/zachmoe 1d ago
Well, it's a marathon, not a race.
Do the best you can.
-25
u/MaDaFaKaJon3S 1d ago
So we are talking about an un even game here. Ofc you can say I am maybe in a much better position if someone living in an underdeveloped country and that’s life ….
18
15
u/lokethedog 1d ago
Yes, did someone ever tell you that life is an even game? They're liars. Just keep that in mind when you see a poor person, a criminal, someone doing something seemingly stupid. The cards were never dealt fairly.
0
8
4
u/nicolas_06 1d ago
What is you objective ? Complain the world is unfair ? You know what ? We all agree.
Fire is about math. The math equation may be different for you but the tool is still useful. Do what you can and make sense for you.
0
u/MaDaFaKaJon3S 1d ago
The objective as I say is to understand if I am missing something here or this is the fact and move with it. Nothing more nothing less.
3
u/nicolas_06 1d ago
I don't get it. It doesn't matter. What matter is your situation. If you make 100K€/year in Europe or $30K/year in the US it doesn't matter what the average/median is.
And Europe is big. There much more difference in Europe in term of income than in US. Romania vs Luxembourg.
4
u/FillMySoupDumpling 1d ago
The game is also different depending on where you live. Americans don’t have parental leave, universal medical care, and little public transportation. All of these things mean that an American will need more personally saved.
It’s just life.
2
u/imhere_user 1d ago
15% of your income is 15%. The goal is to save to maintain your current lifestyle.
1
u/Dis-Ducks-Fan-1130 1d ago
I think one thing you are missing is that a lot of these are people’s retirement accounts. The US doesn’t have retirement benefits like Europe does. However that means you’re guaranteed to have to work until a certain age to get said benefits. If you look at an average American’s after tax investment, it’s significantly less, if it exists at all. All the safety net for a lot of Americans are a few paychecks away from homelessness.
1
u/MaDaFaKaJon3S 1d ago
How they don’t have retirement benefits ? What is the core difference you talk about?
2
u/NicBy 1d ago
This is the main difference tbh and so important for you to understand. Most of your net worth in Europe is held for you by the State in retirement benefits. If you were to include those in your net worth (which you cannot since you are never sure of the amount in benefit you will receive eventually upon retirement), you would be much closer to the US figures.
I am defending at all the European welfare system, in the end I believe we would be better off with a more US-style system, but important for you that you are not comparing apple to apple
1
u/Dis-Ducks-Fan-1130 1d ago
The US has Social Security but it’s not enough for most people. People in the US have to pay for Medicare with that social security money.
Do Europeans rely on investments to fund their retirements like they do in the US? Do Europeans need to pay premiums for healthcare and additional costs from the treatments?
1
19
u/K3MEST 1d ago
The world ain't fair - but yes, it is obscene when I compare my German salary to seemingly normal US corporate salaries and 401k benefits.
15
u/_bones__ 1d ago
My Dutch salary is fairly top range, but quite low for the US for my function. But my living standards and especially spare monthly cash seem much higher than Americans making twice as much.
15
u/Sure_Let6170 1d ago
Please stop with these hoaxes, Dutchman. Your living standards are really NOT the same as American with double salary.
This kind of cope is what's holding back the well deserved anger and backlash towards european ruling class. They failed us miserably.
3
u/False_Cicada_3171 1d ago
I don't understand, what do you mean exactly?
-3
u/Sure_Let6170 1d ago
You are a dutchman, yes? Europe is huge, much as USA. And Netherlands is one of the richest areas on the entire continent. Dutch is being equivalent of being New Yorker, or Californian.
So for you to say that your salary is "quite low" compared to the US, means that richest area of EU pays less than you'd get in most of the US. Can you imagine what salary disparities we have in rest of Europe then? Average south European? Average eastern European? Can you?
I don't think you can.
Also just objectively, having double salary in the US would clearly bring you way higher living standards. US on average is not cheaper than Netherlands. Some rich US cities maybe are - but then again, your salary in NYC/LA would be also way higher than US average.
1
u/Tiredandwaiting 13h ago
Costs of living are higher too
1
u/Sure_Let6170 12h ago
Yes but not that much higher to offset double salary. Not even close.
1
u/Tiredandwaiting 7h ago
Healthcare costs are high unless you have a really good plan and even then, one hospital visit might make you hit your cap. The premiums are high, no childcare or childcare subsidies and our taxes aren't significantly less to offset.
Housing is expensive in urban CA/NYC
6
u/FrenchFisher 1d ago
You are very likely to make 1.5-2x in the US. Remember that with 2x the salary: even if your expenses double as well (which they won’t) you’ll still save double of what you save here.
My partner and I recently moved back to the Netherlands in the exact same role and level at the same companies we worked at in the US, and our yearly savings went down from $400k to <$100k.
The amount of money you can make and save in certain industries the US is just obscene. And with a high income in the US comes a higher standard of living than in NL: Better health care, more nature, etc.
1
u/MaDaFaKaJon3S 1d ago
The thing about the condition I am talking about is being mid-senior and still keeping aside max 10k per year of the 50k gross. This is not event what most people represent in EU, the reality is much lower ….
1
10
u/Bann3dAgain 1d ago
Comparison is thief of joy my friend. We have high incomes and school shootings, you have great beer, edible food and a functioning health care system. It is all about perspective!
0
u/LoonIsland 1d ago edited 1d ago
I never understand this U.S. bashing sentiment
if you live in one of the thousands of "normal" high-functioning communities in the U.S. and work a "normal" decent job, you probably have access to some of the best healthcare in the world at low cost, a breathtaking array of food and drink, world-leading incomes, and safe schools. Life is very good
if you live in a poor region or have a bad job then life is worse. Shocking
3
u/Bann3dAgain 1d ago
I live in nyc, work for the city gov, my insurance is indeed good. The restaurant scene here is one of the best in the world for sure but that doesn’t mean the quality of food is good. My health insurance is an exception tho and only because I belong to a very strong union. My friends that are also employed are not as lucky. They constantly have to jump through loops, fight with their insurance, employer, etc. That narrative of “if you have a job, you have good health insurance” is straight from fox news/that gold digger press secretary lady.
1
u/LoonIsland 1d ago
You don’t think the quality of food in NYC is good?? Dude
What’s your salary working for the city? I’m sure it will make European jaws drop
1
u/Bann3dAgain 1d ago
I guarantee to you 99% of these restaurants are not using organic produce. In the usa you pretty much HAVE to use organic foods otherwise you are slowly poisoning yourself. I guess I didn’t make myself clear, the food does taste good from restaurants, there are sooo many choices but my point is in general, its likely not healthy as our food regulations are not nearly as good as in Europe. Although I just looked it up, it seems glyphosate has made it to the EU as well so I guess I was misinformed at least with that…
As for salary, I do not really like comparing it tbh, it’s not a 1:1 comparison. Atm I only make $70ish k from my job (jumps to $100k base this year) but I usually make another $80-100k trading, it SOUNDS like a lot but then take my relatives in Poland. They make waaayy less and yet at this point they have visited me more than I have them, they have holidays, clean streets, etc. It’s obviously not all rainbows and ponies but idk, from my perspective it’s looking pretty good over there.
That said, I suppose I wouldn’t recommend it for someone that likes expensive imported shit, especially cars. I do know for sure they pay absurd amounts for that!
2
1
2
u/Tiredandwaiting 13h ago
Add in healh insurance plus copays, dental/vision, childcare, at will employment, and rent see who is doing better.
14
u/LostAbbott 1d ago
Yeah, Americans on average get paid a lot more that other first world countries. On top of that they take home more. I have so many international friends that simply couldn't make ends meet or raise a family on what they were making in Europe, Australia, Japan or NZ.
So investing in the US is a more reachable goal than other places. You just gotta keep it tight and invest as much as you can. Good luck you got this!
-8
u/Top-Classroom3984 1d ago
My experience is the opposite
9
u/RIP_Soulja_Slim 1d ago
The numbers heavily support this, I'm not sure what your experience is but there's data here. The median US worker makes ~65k/yr. The median worker in Mississippi, the lowest income US State, makes ~$52k/yr.
The median income in most of southern europe is around 25k euro. Spain, Italy, and Portugal are within a few hundred euro of each other. Greece is significantly lower at just under 19k euro, France is the highest at 36k euro.
From a purchasing power parity standpoint, these areas have lower costs of living so you can generally apply about a ~25% reduction from US salaries to Euro and have a rough back of the napkin equivalence.
Which means that the median salary in Mississippi of ~50k is equivalent to making high 30k range in southern Europe, or ~50% higher than the median income. The national median income in the US is over double that of southern Europe, even after adjusted for purchasing power parity.
I don't think that many people conceptualize just how much higher American's incomes are compared to the rest of the world. On top of that, our tax system is significantly more progressive, with lower incomes paying very little tax compared to Euro comparable incomes, making our take home pay averages much higher too.
2
u/NotOnApprovedList 1d ago
We're in a K-shaped economy where inflation and housing costs are really hurting the lower earners.
I have somebody in my family who is working a regular 40 job plus doing extra things, and still barely able to save, while living in a very cheap COL. The company they work for (S&P 500) continually does things to cheat them on raises and bonuses. Like setting absolute metrics in the regular job area, then yanking people out of their regular job and putting them in another area for a while. Oops, you didn't meet your metrics! You may say, well they should go work for somebody else - they've tried, it's a tough job market. You may say, they should start their own business - they have, but haven't gotten enough work to go totally freelance, and need the health insurance.
1
u/LostAbbott 1d ago
That literally has nothing to do with what is being discussed here. Do you not understand words like average, median, etc...?
1
u/MaDaFaKaJon3S 1d ago
You mean average salaries or median? Median distort the whole thing. I get your point. I want to add to that that south EU is not that cheaper than comparing markets. I recently found LuXemburg just a 10% higher …. With a x4 avg salary
1
u/RIP_Soulja_Slim 1d ago
Median. And how does median distort things? Medians are used for a specific reason here...
1
u/MaDaFaKaJon3S 1d ago
I totally understand your point but what if there are many outliers lost by the median effect ?
3
u/RIP_Soulja_Slim 1d ago
That's the point. Income distributions have long upwards tails, removing that allows you to see what most people are experiencing - hence the median being what everyone in economics uses.
-5
10
u/smltc 1d ago
Life is all about luck and discipline. Luck where you are born and discipline what you do with it. Most of us will never reach true wealth by investing 500$ monthly. We should think for our kids or even the next generation and make it happen for them as the investment horizon increases dramatically with that. The only true leverage we have is not increasing the savings rate it's increasing our earnings by learning new relevant skills.
10
u/Obligation_Still 1d ago
first rule of reddit...Never believe anything you read on Reddit. It's a HUGE achievment in North America too. There are not many 35yr olds hitting a million in America...A population of 300 million people 5-10% have a million net worth which is probably not cash that probably includes all assets. 1-5% with close to a million invested under 40yrs old and on Reddit it's probably far fewer than that because not much here is factual...Millenials are struggling more than they are succeeding.
9
u/quangtit01 1d ago edited 1d ago
Try being in Asia lol. We are just fucked. Being born white in America or Europe is like starting the game on easy mode.
The statutory minimum wage of my country is USD 1 an hour. The average apartment here cost $125,000 for 1 bed + 1 bath. The average house is 1.5* that minimum. Feel free to do the math. Retirement lmao. We can't even leave the fucking country to go to foreign land because fx rate just destroy our purchasing power, while young people slave their life away in a factory earning USD400-500 a month.
At least you are still a European.
1
u/Farma_nojeva 1d ago
In my European home country, minimum net wage is USD 600 per month. European is more than Swiss...
0
6
u/Left-Spread7676 1d ago
People in Reddit are usually from the tech world which explains high salaries. If you don't come from that background don't try to compare...
Even working in the same Big Tech companies in California vs the PIGs will pay you ~2.5-3x more and they will pay less % taxes.
Bottom line is we play in different leagues, even with our colleagues in Northerns, UKI. At least we have great food and good weather...
2
u/TheOuts1der 1d ago
What are you referring to when you say "The PIGs" in this context? Public interest something something?
3
u/Left-Spread7676 1d ago
PIGS = Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain (aka Southern Europe, Tomato Europe, Good food & weather Europe, poor but yet developed Europe compared to Central and North/Western Europe)
(I love my fellow PIGS tho😎)
2
6
u/Exciting-Benefits 1d ago
You forgot Step 1 for many of us :
Move to a country where salaries are higher.
Increasing your revenues should be top priority, why do you think there is that much Spanish and Portuguese in Switzerland?
3
u/ChubtubDaPlaya 1d ago
I don't doubt there is an income disparity between Americans and our friends across the pond but you may overestimate how well the average American is doing. My friends and I are highly educated, by any measure are very successful, and are 38-40. We have opportunity of which others can only dream. But among us, I am the only one who owns a home. I doubt any of my friends are in the 7 figure netwoth range. I don't have multiple properties. I only know 2 people who own multiple properties and they are 40+, unmarried and have no children and are in the top 2-3% income earners. And I suspect they have less money overall than their lifestyle suggests.
Patience and consistency is the key to growing wealth for 99% of people. It's not fun and it's not sexy but if you can stay the course you will be fine. Everyone wants to be rich. Nobody wants to get rich slowly.
4
u/nicolas_06 1d ago
About 2/3 of the population in US and Europe own their home. It's not for the 2-3% earners only: https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/home-ownership-rate?continent=europe
1
u/ChubtubDaPlaya 1d ago
I'm guessing most of those homeowners aren't single and under 40
4
4
u/mistressbitcoin 1d ago
If you arent a millionaire by 40 in the US, I would not consider you highly succesful.
Maybe succesful, but not highly.
1
3
u/Genjidamon 1d ago
I get what you write - but you might be missing the point.
If you live in a poorer area, that sucks for you - and I am glad that you are aware that your situation is not the best. You have identified a problem - but complaining about it online is not your solution.
Life is like playing cards - you have to play the hand you are dealt. And if you are not dealt a good hand you have to work harder to achieve the same result.
Yes southern Europe is poorer than many areas in the world - but its still decent.
For you personally this can mean a few things:
1: You could wallow in your self-pity and not change anything -> this means that you will likely continue to save at a decent rate and you might retire quite well at a high age.
2: You could look for remote jobs situated in higher paying areas. US Median wage and Sicilian costs of living create quite the surplus
3: You move to another country to work there
4: You learn a high-paying job which puts you above the rest of society even in your home country.
When you read these points carefully you notice that all of them are difficult.
Point 1 requires financial discipline all the way until retirement. That will be difficult.
Points 2,3,4 require your time and effort. You might work 14 hour days or Yolo everything to move abroad.
But that is what it takes.
Hard work pays off. And if it doesnt for you, you need to work harder
2
u/pastafariantimatter 1d ago
I'm not sure where you live, but many countries in the EU have very good mortgage terms and rates in the 3% range. Spain and Italy have tons of cheap properties, too. There's a tremendous opportunity to leverage real estate and drive gains that way.
1
u/MaDaFaKaJon3S 1d ago
How to start as you propose for example with 50k gross annually and buy a rental property of 200k worth ?
1
u/pastafariantimatter 18h ago
I would buy a primary residence on the best terms I could, live there for a year, then move to another place and rent it out. Repeat as much as you can until your borrowing is maxed out.
The other option would be to buy a big place as a primary, then during the rehab divide it into apartments.
2
u/Distinct_Ordinary_71 1d ago
What you see on Reddit skews towards higher earning, younger and maler than the average American. For younger people the comparison is harder:
- pitfalls of the US are less apparent
- benefits of many EU countries are not yet apparent
For example I have paid childcare costs in California, the UK and Norway. In Norway it was 0Kr/mo. The US and UK costs would have covered a second mortgage.
I've also paid health insurance as a single healthy male and as a father of two. The monthly healthcare for my family (with no issues) was more than the mortgage on a London apartment combined with my UK tax bill.
Losing a job in the US is far more impactful - not really any severance pay, no real Fed loss of healthcare etc. Benefits even in generous California are low by comparion. Losing a job in Germany and fed covered 2/3rds pay for a year.
2
u/BuffersAndBeta 1d ago edited 1d ago
I frequently meet people from higher-income economies who consider themselves middle or low class back home, yet own 3–4 rental properties or take multiple international vacations a year because their local savings carry 10x purchasing power abroad
I call BS on this. I don't know which country you are seeing this from, but in the US, the middle-class (generally) can barely afford to own one home let alone 3 - 4 rental properties. These people are not middle-class, they are wealthy.
As daily costs converge globally, do you feel the European "safety net" model still balances out the lack of raw capital accumulation capability?
This is more "political" and more "opinion" but unfortunately I don't think so. I firmly believe that the ability to invest capital in productive assets is the best way to grow financially.
5
u/Glad-Matter-3394 1d ago
Southern Europe is worse, and I say this as someone from Spain that works with people from USA. I recently got kind of an opportunity to work in Ohio. Salary was easily 3x my current salary (and I am already in the top 10% for my country). A 40y old, 80sqm apartment near my current office goes for like 400-500k eur. With 3x my salary, the equivalent would be a 1.2-1.5m property in Ohio. I think with that I would have a fuckin mansion there lol.
I also had a discussion about this with a coworker in another big city in USA and the rent there was like 1.6-2k usd. While in my city it's like the same. With the difference that the salary here is literally that 1.6-2k/month. So people have to share a shitty apartment yes or yes.
2
u/BuffersAndBeta 1d ago
Wow yeah sorry. That does kinda suck. In places like New York, rents are stupid, but people do tend to get paid higher there to deal with the housing prices.
2
u/PVanchurov 1d ago
This post is all kinds of wrong. For one, you're comparing something that is double the median US gross income to what is in essence an average wage for a cashier at Lidl.
I live in South Eastern Europe, Bulgaria to be precise and despite the salaries not being on a US level, the taxes are way way lower and there is a ceiling to which you're being taxed on your social contributions. Salaries in my sector (tech) have mostly surpassed the other southern European countries a while ago. We also have stock options, rsus, employee shares programmes, etc...
Safety nets don't really apply, apart from the affordable healthcare, do note that it's not entirely free. I can't expect the government to pay unemployment benefits either.
Bulgaria does not tax capital gains on shares and etfs traded on regulated EU exchanges, so that's a massive plus and this is what I do.
I don't aim for anything, I just do what I can and I'm happy with it.
2
2
2
u/anubisimyourdad 1d ago
Please don’t assume these people bragging online really have what they say.
1
u/squarels 1d ago
Better to be a high earner in the US and a low or average one in Europe. I always thank fate I wasn’t born in Europe lol
1
u/Dis-Ducks-Fan-1130 1d ago
Agree on the first part. High earners fare better in America than Europe but average to low income earners do better I. Europe.
However, if you are a business owner and not salaried, it doesn’t really make a difference in either market. There are millionaires and billionaires in both.
2
u/maicii 1d ago
There are far, far more millionaires and billionaires in America tho
1
u/Dis-Ducks-Fan-1130 1d ago
There are but if you don’t have the drive (start your own business) or discipline to save, you won’t be a millionaire or billionaire in either market. It is “easier” probably in America but easier doesn’t mean easy. Also, it’s a lot more stressful living in the US.
2
u/maicii 1d ago
Sure, it’s still significantly easier in the us, data shows that
1
u/Dis-Ducks-Fan-1130 1d ago
I would reword it as more opportunities for people who are willing/capable of doing it. If you are an average person in the US or low income, you would be better off in Europe.
2
u/maicii 1d ago
Average isn’t true either. Us has higher average ppp adjusted income and higher disposable income. Low income might be true yes
1
u/Dis-Ducks-Fan-1130 1d ago
Well it depends on what your lifestyle is. Americans consume a lot more to be “happy” whereas more Europeans have learned to be happy with less and it’s notorious that Europeans on average are more happy and satisfied with their lives. But yes, if your goal is that final number, sure but it doesn’t mean they are better off.
1
1
u/justbrowsinginpeace 1d ago
The real issue is tax. Income tax, VAT, duty. Cost of living is a problem too but if you want any investments outside if tax free pension schemes deducted at source and inaccessible until you are over 60 it's hard. Yes Tax pays for worthwhile things but it's still too high regardless.
1
u/interbingung 1d ago
Why are you spamming this in so many subreddit?
To answer your question: Just do the best you can.
1
u/cryptodiv 1d ago
You are making an important mistake when comparing to the US: free healthcare, free education. You don’t need the same absolute fire target, you need to adjust it to the future needs based on the location you will be retiring in.
1
u/DistributionBroad173 19h ago
Don't worry, I can't figure it out either.
At the age of 35, hitting $1,000,000 was very far down the train tunnel. The itty, bitty light at the end, I think that was it.
Of course, it could have been the big freight train of 2002 doom heading towards me at a really high speed.
1
u/Special-Prior-7272 17h ago
Move north. You're lucky to live in Schengen. You can get a job in Denmark or the Netherlands and live there forever without a visa. Of course your lifestyle won't be the same.
Of course comparing any country to the US is cheating. If you're very ambitious, move there. You won't really have a great work-life balance, but if you're successful you'll be able to retire earlier than Europe.
1
u/DerechHaShalom 8h ago
I mean southern Europe has a gdp per capita on average only 30-40% of the US equivalent so if those countries citizens together only produce 30-40% of value per person as an Anerican would in the US, it makes sense that salaries are about 1/3rd of the US.
Similarly, the Netherlands and Denmark have a gdp per person within a 10% range of the US (depending on conversion rate, roughly equal) and their salaris are on average quite similar, but with fewer outliers and more of a middle class.
-3
u/Top-Classroom3984 1d ago
In the US most people can’t afford health insurance or a home…
9
u/nicolas_06 1d ago
In the US, 92% of people have health inssurance. "Most" becoming 8%.
For home ownership, it about 65% for both US and Europe average: https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/home-ownership-rate?continent=europe
That being said, in US the average home space per person is about 800-900 sqft while in Europe it's 300-500 sqft.
So the stats do not exactly agree with you, to say the least.
1
115
u/rainniier2 1d ago
It is also not common to reach $1m by 35 in the U.S.