I feel like this is a bit snarky, it simply means plan for your retirement and invest in your own future, take advantage of government / employer backed savings plans. Plenty of these exist over here. Don't waste your money.
Everything is not perfect in the singular country of Europe, I sure as hell don't want to be relying on only what the state decides it can give me in my old age.
All is fine in Switzerland, there is state part (1st pillar) where people give blindly and then during retirement get some payment; and then mandatory private part where employer contributes too, often the same amount (2nd pillar) which is the most important one. Also another optional private 3a pillar which otherwise behaves like 2nd. Obviously all of this is pre-tax, 2nd and 3rd can be used for purchasing primary property or start business etc. State is always a miserable manager of longterm funds. One can pick investment profile for those savings, or is voted by employees' assembly in case of 2nd.
No complaints, I know how much I saved, projections on how my pension will look like if I retire in year X, Y or Z. I don't expect more from a good social security system if one wants more it should be on them.
So far plan is retiring at 60, already I work on 90% and thus sporting 10 weeks of paid vacations yearly. That way, I don't thread the knife edge of burnout, in contrary and have plenty of time to unwind, have adventures (just came back from 2 weeks road trip in Dominican republic) and spend literal months on vacations with my kids and wife. There is no salary achievable in our field that would force me to consider it a better setup and instead working hard... these are best years of my remaining life and waste them just working would be tremendously stupid and shortsighted. To retire in 45, seeing my skills atrophied and being at the mercy of things like inflation... doesn't sound that great.
So there is another perspective to just chasing biggest paycheck at all costs.
At this point I am losing faith in my (european) pension system; state pensions will get emptied out for the boomer generation currently enjoying the returns of the good times, private / employer paid for pensions will likely get raided and tanked by big investors / capitalism. I don't feel like I can trust or rely on them for when I might be able to retire in my 70's.
(that's the other thing, state pension age is being pushed back as life expectancy increases. Not for the main boomer generation of course, they were already retired when the age started to creep up or only had to work a few months longer)
they're pointing out that the US is insanely stupid when it comes to healthcare and retirement. the stuff we do in this country is so much extra work/effort/cost and all of it comes at the worker's cost.
My reading was that nothing of that applies in Europe. No earning 6 figures, no way to invest pre-tax or in any other tax advantaged way, no way to optimize healthcare costs, early retirement unlikely.
I feel like this is a bit snarky, it simply means plan for your retirement and invest in your own future, take advantage of government / employer backed savings plans. Plenty of these exist over here. Don't waste your money.
Everything is not perfect in the singular country of Europe, I sure as hell don't want to be relying on only what the state decides it can give me in my old age.
All is fine in Switzerland, there is state part (1st pillar) where people give blindly and then during retirement get some payment; and then mandatory private part where employer contributes too, often the same amount (2nd pillar) which is the most important one. Also another optional private 3a pillar which otherwise behaves like 2nd. Obviously all of this is pre-tax, 2nd and 3rd can be used for purchasing primary property or start business etc. State is always a miserable manager of longterm funds. One can pick investment profile for those savings, or is voted by employees' assembly in case of 2nd.
No complaints, I know how much I saved, projections on how my pension will look like if I retire in year X, Y or Z. I don't expect more from a good social security system if one wants more it should be on them.
So far plan is retiring at 60, already I work on 90% and thus sporting 10 weeks of paid vacations yearly. That way, I don't thread the knife edge of burnout, in contrary and have plenty of time to unwind, have adventures (just came back from 2 weeks road trip in Dominican republic) and spend literal months on vacations with my kids and wife. There is no salary achievable in our field that would force me to consider it a better setup and instead working hard... these are best years of my remaining life and waste them just working would be tremendously stupid and shortsighted. To retire in 45, seeing my skills atrophied and being at the mercy of things like inflation... doesn't sound that great.
So there is another perspective to just chasing biggest paycheck at all costs.
At this point I am losing faith in my (european) pension system; state pensions will get emptied out for the boomer generation currently enjoying the returns of the good times, private / employer paid for pensions will likely get raided and tanked by big investors / capitalism. I don't feel like I can trust or rely on them for when I might be able to retire in my 70's.
(that's the other thing, state pension age is being pushed back as life expectancy increases. Not for the main boomer generation of course, they were already retired when the age started to creep up or only had to work a few months longer)
Retirement and health savings accounts.
they're pointing out that the US is insanely stupid when it comes to healthcare and retirement. the stuff we do in this country is so much extra work/effort/cost and all of it comes at the worker's cost.
they were being sarcastic.
My reading was that nothing of that applies in Europe. No earning 6 figures, no way to invest pre-tax or in any other tax advantaged way, no way to optimize healthcare costs, early retirement unlikely.
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Or, very smart for the establishment.
> the stuff we do in this country is so much extra work/effort/cost and all of it comes at the worker's cost.
The GP described tax optimizations for the highest earners. The idea that they would be better off in Europe is plainly ridiculous.
Save money for retirement early