Early Retirement Extreme Forums

A downside of job perks is that they can result in you not learning the skills they cover for. See all the 20 somethings at big tech companies who still don't know how to cook because they had three square meals from the company since they started working (and from the school before that and from t...

That kind of SHTF scenario seems rather unlikely where I live, given that most men are either actively in the army, or have served, and therefore it's fairly easy to maintain order (plus or minus some smaller amounts of unpleasantness) - unless everyone decides to rebel at once, which is not all tha...

(No need to discuss whether or not Gold is worth it or stupid, or whether it's going to go up, down, or disappear - there are enough threads for that ;) . Let's stick to the question of how to store Gold) Those of you who hold Gold: how do you hold it? - ETF/Fund (physical or virtual)? - Accounts or...

The Swiss have a wealth tax, so do the French. My guess is the Swiss one is a little better at getting funds from people because people actually want their money there. The Swiss do have a wealth tax, but it's close to irrelevant (also only affects local taxation, not done on a federal level). It d...

@stahlmann I Can answer for ch, but it's similar for d and a. There are virtually no union in switzerland, but plumber and similar job require actual skill. Most people start working in their craft at age 15 and have at least 10 years of expérience when they start working independently in their mid...

I've found that most of the important shit that needs to get done is best done by simply doing it. Analyzing the optimal monitor height or formulating the ultimate anti-distraction habits are usually nothing more than distractions from doing. I'm not necessarily against looking for productivity boo...

As an introvert, I would like to clarify that my problem isn't working from home, it's the fact that there are other people at home while i work from home. so if these other people were elsewhere all day that would be perfect. The part that's not as nice about working from home is that if they need...

Not going to happen, for a number of reasons. Maybe the proportion of remote employees will go up a bit, but not significantly. First, control: companies love control. Second, and related to the first: security. Most companies don't have the expertise to set up safe work from home systems... Third: ...

100% cash too. I have been comparing using portfoliocharts.com for an unhealthy amount of time over the last few years. Golden Butterfly and Permanent Portfolio are definitely my favorites, with a slight preference for Golden Butterfly. However, they keep between 25-40% in bonds. I can't wrap my he...

It may seem that way to a foreigner, but Switzerland must be the most paternalistic country in Europe. It's a very strange place, a gilded cage of picturesque weirdness. Although perhaps you could live in France or Italy and commute in ? I've lived in many countries including Switzerland, and it wa...

- Salaries (I'm currently near enough as high as I can go in my career at ~60k USD per annum) - Similar or better weather than the UK (more sun, less rain - obviously depends where in the States) - The adventure of moving to the other side of the world (have previously lived in other European count...

. Agree, and Linux has brought life to a lot of cheap and outdated laptops of mine over the years, but far to often (regardless of the OS) these laptops makes a lot of fan-noise compared to the Macbook pro that is (almost) silent. H. Botev's wife may appreciate that.... Interestingly my Thinkpads a...

I have tried the thinkpad models and they are tanks, but the battery life is far inferior to some other options. Battery life seems like it should be one of the main considerations when buying a portable machine. Otherwise, you are better off building a desktop from parts and saving money in the lo...

Cheese rolling. You take a sturdy round cheese and roll it down a steep hill. Then you race to catch it. It's fun and cheap until someone breaks an ankle. I was going to counter this with the price of a cheese (and its perishable nature), but the famous cheese rolling competition apparently started...

One should care in proportion to the degree on desires to live alongside other humans in a free society. Ultimately, a people don't get the kind of government they want but the kind of government they deserve. Imposing some Rawlsian justice(*), there's more to freedom than minimizing one's tax bill...

Enough to know how to vote on referendums (a few pro/con articles per topic from newspapers are enough for this), and a little more to know who to vote at election time (just check voting records and legislative proposals of candidates or their parties shortly prior to election time), but no more si...

Can't speak to the US, but for a while I was in a town in the UK which gets somewhat cold (freezing point/0C for a few weeks is typical) - we never had to turn on the heating in relatively modern apartment, purely thanks to the combination of good insulation and having the hot-water boiler and tank ...

If someone wants to go with a global tracker fund including US companies, I have a very simple option in response. Any takers for a global low-cost index fund? VT seems to be the global index of choice for many people. (That said, it's actually cheaper to get the exact same exposure by comining VTI...

- ok introduction - typical "expert" voices: You need high income, probably often bad math ( :lol: ), being cheapskate, losing social contacts, being a burden on society because of having to use social nets later on, what about increasing life-expectancy?, what about inflation?, what abou...

I'm honestly not seeing any difference in reactions vs. what you see in Anglophone countries. I wouldn't say Switzerland is all that similar to Germany though. In some ways there are parallels, and work has traditionally been strong for identity within the german-language portions (culture is quite ...