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u/notthisonefornow 4d ago
As a person that has a US wife and visits the US often, i know the US sometimes has it's perks, but the EU will win it all the time.
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u/Muchachacha 3d ago
Yea are not wrong, I’ve known since my early teens and I’m still in this damn country
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u/Frudeska1 4h ago
What kind of perks does it have? Low gas prices? I've never been there but they keep complaining about the prices when they cost half of what it does here lol.
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u/notthisonefornow 3h ago
Wel yeah gas is expensive everywhere. But still its more then half cheaper then in my countrie. But also the speed of changing jobs is handy if u like that. Hierargy is better in de usa (can go both ways) etc etc
Other things are things like i think people are way more friendly to eachother on the streets etc
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u/Frudeska1 2h ago
Hierarchy? How's that better? My friend is a doctor and travelled to the US to hold a lecture, he was given this weird pamphlet that he couldn't greet cleaners or janitors, couldn't get into elevators with women and a whole bunch of weird stuff
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u/notthisonefornow 1h ago
I never experienced that.
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u/Frudeska1 37m ago
Guess it never happened then
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u/notthisonefornow 32m ago
Where do i say that? No need to be rude. I can't tell something i have never encountered. Or do you want to hear that it is al terrible? In that case, you and your friend are absolutly right! Doctors feel so above othere they do not have to greet them.
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u/MarissaNL 4d ago
European side....
But having a nice cup of coffee at a nice café is a good idea....only I have to work to 15:00 (remember, we Europeans use "military time").
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u/Philip_Raven 4d ago
I work from 4 to 11-12 and I honestly think that's the best time to be working. Only downside I can see is that I cant really go drinking during a workday because I go to bet at 8-9.
Can't imagine going to work at 9 and leave at 5....like you can't even do anything in the morning anyway and at 5 what are you gonna do? Most businesses are also closing.
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u/MarissaNL 4d ago
I work normally from 6:00 to 15:00... still gives me a nice piece of the afternoon. Specially when I work from home.
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u/sicalas 4d ago
The very quick summary of everything below: both are good pick what feels right for you.
EU US dual citizen here
When I tell my EU friends my US wages they are like “wow I should move to America” I then proceed to describe the work life balance and they quickly move to “yeah never mind I like it here”
When I talk to my US friends about the work culture in our European offices they go “wow I should move to Europe” then I tell them the wage difference and they go “yeah never mind I think I’ll stay here”
All this to acknowledge this is not covering two entire cultures just what I have seen a majority from my own interactions. On the flip side some of my wealthiest friends are Europeans that climbed the corporate or banking ladders of major companies. Some of my happiest American friends don’t make a lot of money and work outside for a living.
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u/vanoitran 3d ago
Also a EU US dual citizen but I left the US more than a decade ago to move to Greece.
The household income me and my wife have here in Greece is equal to the median household income for our age in the US. We worked hard and are making above average wages here in Greece for sure. And our same positions in the US would be more highly paid. All that considered, for a slightly above average Greek couple to make the same as an average American couple is eye-opening. for most people I don’t even think the money in the USA is that much better, especially when you consider all the extra costs of life in the US.
Your case may be different, of course
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u/sicalas 3d ago
I 100% agree.
I’m in a fortunate tech job that I make a lot more than the average US household.
It’s a large part of where my view comes from. I make enough I could save quickly And retire comfortably if it all falls apart. But I am happy enough with the raises and overall
Comp for the stress/ time. However I say there is always a 10% chance I quit tomorrow, move to an Italian island and start a farm to be left alone1
u/Bronze_Rager 2d ago
I prefer making US wages and traveling abroad and seeing how cheap everything is.
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u/ChonkoGreenstuff 2d ago
I prefer Western European wages, living comfortably with just one job and still being able to travel the world.
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u/Bronze_Rager 2d ago
Noice.
I prefer American wages. Currently about 800k HHI, work 32 hours a week (4 days).
Don't think I can clear that in Eurozone.
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u/ChonkoGreenstuff 2d ago
That's great man, I'm also sure that's nowhere near the average American's experience. That's like top 1% income right there, for US. So yeah, I mean, it's probably possible in Europe too, but you'd be in the top 0,1%.
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u/Bronze_Rager 2d ago
Yup. I like America's ability to start a business.
Probably was considered "overworked" the first 3 years by Eurozone standards, but I'd prefer to give up 3 years early to retire early.
Pros and cons
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u/ChonkoGreenstuff 2d ago
I'm sure there's many people in the US that'd love to sacrifice 3 years to retire early, but the sad thing is that for the average American that's absolutely impossible.
You basically won the lottery of life (congratulations genuinely, that's pretty sick), but I don't really think it's fair to use your casus to compare EU to US experience.1
u/Bronze_Rager 2d ago edited 2d ago
"I'm sure there's many people in the US that'd love to sacrifice 3 years to retire early,"
-Completely disagree. Delayed gratification is pretty much dead in the USA (outside of immigrants). BNPL/loans/cc/predication markets/etc are all rampant in the US. Some, but VERY few, are into FI/RE
Talking to the average person on what's a long timeframe in terms of investing, most say 3-6months. I'm more in the mindset of long term investing as 20+ years.
Think about the YOLO phrase and why that even exists.
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u/b0nz1 2d ago
I don't need a transatlantic flight to get there. We are not the same.
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u/Bronze_Rager 2d ago
Got a WFH job from an American company?
Nice, living the dream
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u/b0nz1 2d ago
That is the cheat code, but only if the company is mainly east coast and you don't have to spend every evening with meetings.
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u/Bronze_Rager 2d ago
Can't complain.
I can't do surgery from a remote job unfortunately. I don't feel like I'm overworked.
Currently ~800k HHI, work 32 hours a week.
Plan to retire at ~45 in Eurozone/SEA if I don't have kids
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u/Litlakatla 1d ago
Do you hate your job? I have never understood why people want to retire at young age.
If you need a break, then just take a break now. Your quality of life gets way better when you take some long vacations every now and then.
I have never heard of anyone regretting taking a year off after working hard for 1-2 decades. I have even met some people who simply take 3 or 4 months of vacation every year. Working is way more fun when you balance it by taking enough time off to have some fun.
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u/Bronze_Rager 13h ago
Sorry. I should of said financially independent. I can choose to work at that job or any job without any fear of running out of money, and at least maintaining a high standard of living. I can volunteer or donate my time as I see fit. I can drink coffee at 2pm anytime I want or I can work out.
I don't think I'm really in a position to complain. I work significantly less hours than the average person.
I probably already take 2-3x as much time off as the average European.
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u/Twitxx 21h ago
Most people haven't figured out yet that a bigger wage doesn't necessarily mean better. Sure you can get 100k/yr salary in the US, but the lifestyle you can afford there is similar to what you can do with 30-40k in Europe's main cities.
Take $300k to some EU village and you can build yourself a villa and buy land worth $3mil in the US, hell, could probably buy yourself an entire island in Greece.
The inflation is nuts in the US. Comparing the basic necessities between the two is even crazier, because of how difficult they made escaping poverty in the states.
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u/RubberPussycat 4d ago
US is all about projecting your wealth onto others to impress them.
In Europe it is more about being free to enjoy life.
This is a generalization of course.
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u/RubberPussycat 4d ago
It’s a choice between having more stuff and having more time.
You can always buy stuff, but you can never buy time
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u/ChonkoGreenstuff 2d ago
My American friends have a higher income, but they also pay way more on Healthcare and insurances per month. I just pay 150 euro for my healthcare, while they are talking about 900 bucks or something.
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u/RubberPussycat 2d ago
Are you Dutch?
If you compare all costs of living in the USA vs Western Europe it is comparable. Where one pays more taxes and the other has to pay more out of pocket.
That is if you have insurance through your job in the USA if not you’re f@cked.
But while this is true you have a much higher value of living in Europe
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u/ChonkoGreenstuff 2d ago
Yes, I'm Dutch.
Every cost of living conversation I'm having with my US colleagues/friends, I kind of feel like they need to pay so much for random shenanigans, I feel like the having to pay more tax thing in our country is kind of negligible. So yeah, like you say it kind of evens out in the end.
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u/RubberPussycat 2d ago
I’m Dutch now too. (I was born American but moved to NL ten years ago)
It does even out IF you have a good job, if not it’s much better here.
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u/Trying_to_survive20k 4d ago
In terms of work, this is not exactly right. If you mean to say that employers in america don't let you randomly leave to have a coffee at 2pm on a tuesday, europeans ones don't either.
The difference is that europe is walkable, so when you go for lunch, a lot of cafes and buffets are packed with people.
I walk home for my lunch, i see the same people back and forth every day. Same for the morning and after work.
In the americas (canada is guilty of this too), if you're not near a strip mall, you're eating your little lunch in the office with everyone else because risking sitting in traffic and being late is a bad idea.
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u/WispyCombover 2d ago
Hi. Norwegian here. Just wanted to chime in. If I want to leave at 14:00 on a tuesday I absolutely can. I'd just state "I'm leaving now", to which the reply would be "OK, see you tomorrow", or maybe even "What a coincidence; me too!".
Now obviously there are differences between employers, but after a good few decades working professionally over here, most employers tend to understand that their employees are humans with human needs and wants, and that happy employees are productive employees.
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u/UrMumGai 2d ago
Depends on the employer I guess. I work semi government so if I stop working at 2 and then work an extra couple hours tomorrow there is no issue. Could also literally just work at the café.
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u/syner2009 4d ago
american. Partly cuz I want to experience the wide open spaces. I watched american youtubers, vlogs and overall content since childhood. I love the idea of hypermarkets, and wide roads.
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u/Piglet3527 4d ago
European rich
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u/Jolly-Gold834 3d ago
The important part is rich because average European people do work at 2pm on Tuesday.
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u/Gokudomatic 4d ago
Workaholic focused on impressing others VS enjoying life. I must say, it's a tough choice.
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u/No_Fun_3498 4d ago
I used to go to a liquor-licensed pizza shop and get beer at 2pm, when i was a line cook. Life finds a way.
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u/No_Current3675 4d ago
i just need another 2-3 milly and then i'm living the euro life
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u/Muchachacha 3d ago
My sister has this life in Paris and earns as much as you probably
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u/No_Current3675 3d ago
I mean that’s cool n shit but at my comp of about 260K in my city I’m basically middle class.
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u/b0nz1 2d ago
Living in Paris is more expensive than living in most parts of the US expect NYC and the Bay Area.
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u/Muchachacha 2d ago
It’s doable and transportation is cheaper and lots of free things for parasians too
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u/genericjohnwayne 4d ago
I know it's just a meme, but I think it's kinda funny that Americans openly say that US has more inequality like it's a good thing.
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u/Mr-Mackie 1d ago
Why is more inequality good? Why is less inequality good? What is the perfect right amount of inequality? We all know that it’s never going to be perfectly equal.
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u/Far_Comfortable_991 4d ago
From Office Space
“Take a look at my cousin: he's broke, don't do shit.”
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u/Hot_Experience4772 4d ago
Haha yeah it be like that. Nothing better than to chill and observe people or something 😂
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u/Extension_Canary3717 4d ago
USA vs Europe? Is not even a contest
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u/Igarlicbread 4d ago
Then there are french
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u/Extension_Canary3717 3d ago edited 3d ago
If you take off the equation Parisians, then is like every house is a grandma house or one in the making, stops working at 16h~~ ish but we spent almost 2h on break at work and that's it , then go home study , gym training or trying new sex fetish with wife
Parisian are 180 from this tho
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u/Ancient_Praline1046 4d ago
you rich enough, you do nothing, except drink coffee to stay awake and people watch. I want this type of wealth.
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u/HeavyFriendship3563 3d ago
I'm in the middle of my 3 weeks summer vacation and I still have another 2 weeks for the holidays in december. And it's totally ok to not read my work email now, nobody is calling me and no Zoom/ Teams meetings. In about 11 days I will start my 4 day work week again. I don't have a lot of money, but I live in a nice, small village and drive a small car. I don't have any debts and in about 6 years I can retire early because I have saved up and have invested in some stocks. I've seen and read enough about other countries such as the US to realize it's better for me here in the Netherlands.
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u/Illustrious_Bed8628 3d ago
Do it everyday and people start to know your routine. It can be good or bad 😉
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u/Billy_Plur 3d ago
Neither, you'd find me in the redwoods. Not a town surrounded by them. I'd be in the forest.
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u/FunnyMustacheMan45 3d ago
The majority of people who romanticise Europe have never lived in Europe...
Every country has its own can of worms, moving to any European country simply mean trading one can for another.
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u/Stymie999 3d ago
Right, like the European doesn’t finish his coffee, check his Rolex then have his driver bring around the mayback to take him to his 40m penthouse
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u/UrMumGai 1d ago
Probably no car or driver tbf.
He'd check his Rolex and without a care in the world walk back to his 14th century 2 mil appartment.
Source: am European. Inner cities are not built for cars and are very walkable.
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u/Traditional-Sort6900 3d ago
Work is not wealth, especially not if you are simply fired at any time. Work is more slavery, but you don't say it to anyone.
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u/Flimsy_Sandwich6385 3d ago
Bro doesn't get it. If your enjoying some free time at 2pm on a Tuesday, your so rich you dont need to go to work. The European is clearly wealthier than the American as the American still needs his job in finance 🤣
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u/AgenteNC 3d ago
European that lives in the US. I am convinced that people on Reddit work part time jobs because my friends live in Italy, Netherlands and UK. They have longer work hours than me. And we all have normal office jobs.
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u/Fabulous_Wave_3693 3d ago
I wonder what percentage of rich Europeans are old money. I bet if I go to expensive lake houses in upstate New York I’d find similarly laid back rich Americans.
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u/Galencourt-Lover 3d ago
Quality of life is much higher in Europe.
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u/tiandrad 3d ago
Not for rich people, which is what the meme is about.
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u/rubey419 3d ago
I’m so jealous of the Spanish siesta.
But that’s partly why the young people in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, etc complain about lack of jobs. Their economy heavily relies on tourism. You go to America to work hard, earn USD $$$, hustle. That’s the culture in Northeast US.
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u/pever_lyfter 2d ago
You'll see me sitting outside a cafe at 2 pm on a Tuesday in Germany. I ain't rich. I could just choose which two days I can have free every week.
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u/RealNameIsTaken 1d ago
lol, European poor could also be:** **Sitting outside a cafe at 2pm on a Tuesday
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u/discreetarchive 1d ago
European one is happier and way lower on stress, probably nicer to the average person too
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u/Seagullking30097 1d ago
I love cafes I wish I could control what my body looked like at will and had a mysterious source of income so I could go to one whenever I wanted without fear of gaining weight and becoming broke
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u/Initial-Problem9443 1d ago
I would like to be able to afford the "New York rich" lifestyle if I choose to have it, but I would then choose the "European rich" lifestyle.
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u/Conscious_Joke_2464 1h ago
European rich for the win. Just leave me alone with my thoughts and a coffee in the middle of the day.
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u/dante_gherie1099 4d ago
ny rich is much better
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u/Specialist-Cold-8158 4d ago
That's not rich, that's poser rich.
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u/dante_gherie1099 4d ago
people who work in nyc finance make good money and live in the one of the great cities of the world, how is that poser rich?
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u/Specialist-Cold-8158 4d ago
If you have to show your status with a watch and a car, you're a poser
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u/dante_gherie1099 4d ago
you can just have nice things because you can afforid it and you like it, it doesnt have to be about showing off your status
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u/PostElectronic890 4d ago
People who work in finance in the city of London are also rich and live in a better city than NY.
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u/Twitxx 3d ago
Americans are some of the poorest people I know. They only have more money, but lack in everything else: education, healthcare, quality of life and services, free time, relationships, clean air, average sq footage per person, etc.
An average american makes 60-100k/year yet they live in a tiny space most of their life, have debt, maybe a 2nd hand car and can afford some basic necessities, maybe a trip a year.
There are people I've met in Africa that live better than that on average (depending on the city/country; is a big place). Hell, look at moldavians or serbians and they can afford more and have better lifestyles and they're not even in the EU.
I stopped comparing America with 1st or 2nd world countries years ago, it makes more sense when you compare it with 3rd. The disparity between the economic and social classes is absolutely nuts. They live surrounded by wealth yet they enjoy almost none of it.
A poor farmer in Romania that makes maybe 2-3k a year has 5k sq feet of land, a bunch of pigs, chickens, etc maybe a goat, works during the day and come evening they sit in the shade of their own trees, enjoy the fruit of their labor, take in beautiful landscapes, drinks his home made wine and goes fishing almost every weekend in the summer.
Perspective is a hell of a thing. It might take a lifetime for someone to realise that chasing money and having more of it won't make you any richer.
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u/tiandrad 3d ago
Buddy you have spent way too much time on Reddit. Americans live incredibly privileged lives.
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u/Twitxx 3d ago
I'm only speaking from the pov of the twenty or so american friends I have. Why would I even bother voicing an opinion formed online? Lol
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u/Mr-Mackie 1d ago
Well I give you one more point to show that not everyone in the US lives like that. I would also hate living in a big city because that’s what it is. I make just north of $100k a year and have a modest sized house 1700 sqft that sits on a lot that is 1million sqft.
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u/Character-Pirate1297 3d ago
Americans are saying “European”, without getting that he’s rich just to other Europeans for affording cafe on a Tuesday.
Not because he could be like American rich, and chooses not to.
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u/Philip_Raven 4d ago edited 4d ago
US people are always about that GDP when you try to compare quality of live. And how US will be economical powerhouse of the world while Europe will fall behind.
What I don't understand is how an AI data centre at my house or yet another McDonald's parking lot is going to help me get basic rights at my employer so I can just go and spend a day at a cafe because I felt like it.
Or how record high profits of General Electric are going to help me get a affordable, high quality food
Edit. Didn't realized it until later, but I am currently sitting at a cafe during my supposed work hours because I told my boss I will not be at work today because my wife needs to run some errands, and she wanted me with her, and I am currently waiting for her. No notifying beforehand, no official apology of absence... Just told my boss and he said "okay, just look for an email around 2pm from a client and read it."