Nomini wrote: ↑Sat Oct 26, 2019 5:48 pm
- 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 countries and loved being an expat)
- It still being an anglosphere country (been there, done that with foreign languages; don't mind it, but it's not my preference)
- Better value real estate (also, oviously depends where)
- The 'get up and go' vibe I feel far more when over in the States than here in Europe
You should consider Switzerland:
- Salaries are similar to big cities in the US.
-- And taxes are generally lower (total taxes are a similar level to US federal taxes, but most big locations in the US, i.e. California/NY/etc. have state tax on top).
- Weather is arguably not much better, but: summers are nice, and in winter you can get above the clouds by heading to the mountains. That said the south of Switzerland has good weather year-round, and you can always hop on the train for the weekend (2 hours these days, 2x trains per hour - you can drive instead but it takes longer and you'd have to be insane to do so).
- Perhaps less adventurous than the US. Also less likely to get shot by police or lunatics though...
- There are so many expats here you don't need to learn the language. And lots of jobs where English is sufficient.
- Yeah real estate isn't going to be cheap, but rents are reasonable with a local salary. As far as I can tell rents are cheaper than in London despite the higher salary.
- Can't really comment on the get up and go vibe. What I can say is that Switzerland is a lot less paternalistic than most European countries. Especially the UK.
- Did I mention: Switzerland is not in the EU, so you aren't subject to those PRIIPS investment restrictions that EU residents are subject to. That's only relevant if you invest in ETF's though.
The big advantage is the immigration system is much more sane, even after Brexit. (Pre-Brexit you can freely move into Switzerland if you find a job, Post-Brexit-if-it-happens your employer needs to prove that they can't find a local employee, but at least there's a separate quota for UK citizens once they demonstrate that you're needed. Either way, permanent residence requires five years residence and doesn't depend on your employer, unlike the US system.) US immigration is a terrible nightmare as others have said.