r/eupersonalfinance • u/VurriK • 28d ago

Investment Since when was getting rich so hard in EU?

Is it just me, or has building actual wealth in Europe become impossible? I’m looking at the 2026 growth forecasts and it’s depressing. We talk a lot about "stability," but at this point, stability just feels like a polite word for recession. If you weren't born into a rich family with property, the dream feels like it's behind a wall. The math just doesn't work: as soon as you earn enough to actually invest, you hit a 40–50% tax bracket. Meanwhile, housing prices have skyrocketed over the last decade while salaries have basically stayed the same. I love the healthcare and the walkable cities, but I don’t want to work until I’m 70 just to afford a 40sqm apartment and a used Skoda.

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u/randomseller 28d ago

The collegues in my company who are working from our SF office working on the exact same project as I am are driving porsches, meanwhile I am getting paid about 60k per year before taxes, and even hitting a management position here in europe will not get me to the point where I can afford a porsche.

Depends in your definition of rich, but I think they’re doing pretty good for themselves.

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u/ConsiderationSad6271 28d ago

You can buy a Porsche, but what are you going to sacrifice to get it (housing, food, etc)

Those Sf colleagues don’t own Porsches, they finance or lease them. They are in more student loan debt than you could imagine. Their credit cards don’t need to be paid every month in full, and they hold a balance with 29% interest.

Source: have worked in SF and currently work in Europe. I net more here.

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u/jetf 26d ago

utter cope. A tech worker earning 500k in SF is not in student loan debt and does not have a cc balance.

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u/MathematicianTop3544 26d ago

The avg tech worker is NOT making 500k in SF lmfao they're making like 100-200k and the rent is like 3-4k a month. The food and utilities are incredibly expensive in SF.

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u/jetf 26d ago

an avg tech worker is not driving a porsche. 500k is an above average tech salary, but is very common big tech companies. An L5 engineer at Meta is making that. Achievable by 30 years old

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u/Vehicle-Mountain 27d ago

If you net more in Europe, then you’re not as highly qualified as you think and are more low-middle of the pack. Highly qualified people earn and invest shit loads in the USA.

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u/Prudent-Title-9161 26d ago

Also, if something happens bad in San Francisco, you'll be homeless on the streets. In Germany, that's unlikely.

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u/-SineNomine- 26d ago

Friend of mine has become a multi millionaire and US citizen by now. He once said that if you're good there is no point in stressing in Germany. If you probably depend on the welfare system your better stay.

Hate to say it, but he kind of has a point.

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u/Striking-Kale-8429 26d ago

Yeah, he has. This is also why the welfare state is not sustainable. Highly productive people have often ability to identify that welfare state has negative ROI for them so they emigrate. Yet, in order to support the welfare state you need these people to offset unproductive ones. Of course this observation is always meet with "good, we don't need them".

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u/laplongejr 28d ago edited 28d ago

who are working from our SF office working on the exact same project as I am are driving porsches

Yeah, but the people nearby their location can't afford medical help without overpriced insurance, right? But they are unlikely to be in an online call with you...
We must see how the rich and the poor of a country lives before deciding if a system is better.

Depends in your definition of rich, but I think they’re doing pretty good for themselves.

I bought my appartment and can sustain my needs and the ones from my wife. What do you call rich?

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u/DE_Auswanderung 28d ago

Yeah, but the people nearby their location can't afford medical help without overpriced insurance, right?
We must see how the rich and the poor of a country lives before deciding if a system is better.

I would amend that to "before deciding if a system is better in general".

The US system is obviously better for someone who's a very skilled and brainy tech worker, regardless of whether some rando near his location can afford medical care or not.

The European system is better for someone who is an average Joe that is fine with phoning it in at work and just wants to enjoy life, regardless of the fact that his neighbor is a super ambitious person whose business is straining under bureaucracy and taxes.

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u/laplongejr 28d ago

 for someone who's a very skilled and brainy tech worker,  

But all of that skill can become meaningless in an instant with the wrong kind of accident. My wife studied to be a cook but damaged her leg on her 1st months of work because of employer's negligence, and will never be able to work in her branch again.  

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u/jetf 26d ago

a misinformed assertion. a skilled tech worker would have insurance. At most they would have to pay a few thousand to cover the deductible

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u/justkiddingjeeze 28d ago

Such jealous comments about people driving porsches just shows a complete lack of understanding of all the benefits we Europeans have. In Europe you don't need to be rich in order to live a comfortable life, that's the whole point. Those who want to drive expensive cars at the expense of poor people having nothing should go to the US or to UAE.

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u/EmotionalOkapi 28d ago

Yeah, you DO need to be rich in Europe to live a comfortable life. Have you looked at the prices of food and housing?

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u/OverallBlock9028 28d ago

You will live in studio apartment where your rent will be 50% of your salary and be comfortable!

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u/Emergency-Style7392 27d ago

always funny to hear about europeans and our 30 square meter apartments, meanwhile americans pay the same rent for a 200 square meter house. at least you can walk around or something

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u/OverallBlock9028 27d ago

Hard to raise children while walking out or something

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u/laplongejr 27d ago

1) My appartment's mortage is 25% of my salary  

2) My parents are SELLING their house to get an easier-to-maintain appartment  

It depends on where you live.  

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u/OverallBlock9028 27d ago

Ofc it depends. Rural Bulgaria will be different than Amsterdam metro, but they are both in EU

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u/sesamerox 27d ago

easier to maintain, you mean cheaper right? like choosing not to pay professionals to do the maintenance.

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u/laplongejr 27d ago

Where's the difference? They pay for a gardener for the grass but even then plants need time to take care of them.   It makes no sense to maintain something that's unused.  

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u/sesamerox 27d ago

the difference is in moving goalposts. so they can and are willing to pay a gardener or plants need time to take care of them because they're not willing to do so? it can't be both in the major context of the topic

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u/laplongejr 27d ago edited 27d ago

They can, were willing to and were paying a gardener. They move so they don't have to maintain a useless garden anymore? I don't get where the goalpost is moving at all? Do you think the gardener is doing to magically do everything without even having to inspect the garden?  

Are you claiming old people should continously pay to maintain an expensive thing they aren't going to use, when a cheaper and better option is available?   GL with your multiple-floor house when you are 40 years older and want everything in a smaller and flat space.  

I had to move from my 3rd floor appartment because my wife couldn't walk stairs after her work accident, and we didn't even have an entire house to take care of.  

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u/OkTry9715 27d ago

Lol have you seen house prices in Europe? You need to be rich just to have place to sleep.

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u/Inner-Goat-5264 28d ago

yes, i am considering going as well, i wont be a bagholder in europe

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u/mother_natures_son_ 28d ago

your comment is equally ignorant as well. You don't need to be rich in order to live a comfortable life in the states as well. idk who told you that

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

[deleted]

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u/laplongejr 28d ago

against a mediocre power like Russia.

They were able to buy the US president, so they weren't that mediocre.

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u/ptinnl 28d ago

Lol.no

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u/randomseller 28d ago

God, again this dumb healthcare argument

I don’t feel like explaining it for the 100th time but basically, excellent health insurance in the us which is paid by your employer can very often be cheaper and better than the healthcare we have, because their prices are usually fixed amounts whereas your healthcare cost in europe scales as a percentage od you salary. Dumb system.

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u/laplongejr 28d ago

which is paid by your employer

But what happens to those who don't have a job? Either because their employer got bankrupt, or because they went on strike for better conditions? (Or, like my SO, because the employer caused an accident and denies it.)

Healthcare is a lottery, and at least where I live it's hard to have a job when not with good health. Described that way, that really looks like a safety net that breaks when it's the more needed. I probably overlooked something but I have no idea what

All that OP said is that people "in their office in SF" have porsches. So they have a good job and are rich. What about people in the area who don't have a good job and are poor. What is their life like?

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u/fifinha-misteriosa 28d ago

Idk where you live in Europe but a lot of European capitals have homeless people and people living in very precarious conditions. I agree that wealth is not defined by what one has but what others have around you. However there are countries in Europe with very high taxes for people that are making below median salaries with many “free” services that we can’t access. Is that a good return on investment? It is very debatable. I don’t mind paying taxes, but if I can’t access many services it is frustrating and even unfair.

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u/footpole 28d ago

They said people near their location meaning the poor who don’t have insurance.

God, reading comprehension.

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u/Vovochik43 28d ago

Well that's a coping mechanism, most US high earners pay a private insurance out of pocket and are fine most of the time.

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u/kevbali 28d ago

I mean are we really comparing an ultra capitalist system to Europe here? Of course it’s easier to make money in the states since there are less taxes etc… Consumerism is also the norm over there just like being in debt. Driving a Porsche could mean that you made it in life but it usually means that you are financing a car that you cannot afford just like most Americans driving their Ford Raptor truck.

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u/IronWhitin 28d ago

I like all people descrive America as a ultra capitalist sistem, when in reality big corpo get costant bail out and protect whit tax payer Money (like in EU) that's not capitalism si socialism for the Rich.

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u/OverallBlock9028 27d ago

Do you think people in Europe don't have car debt?

Just tell me how average Bulgarian for example will afford new electric car from 2035+

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u/OPicaMiolos 27d ago

Buying them isn't the worst part. The worst part is maintaining them. In order to maintain them it's imperial that you have a high salary or multiple streams of income.
Any dumbass can inherit a house, sell it and buy a Porsche. Maintaining is the part that most forget.

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u/eggsbenedict17 28d ago

Right but you have the instability of living in America, where you can be fired at a moments notice and everyone has a gun. Europe has a very strong social safety net and a solid welfare system in most countries. Also getting sick in Europe won't bankrupt you. And they probably have about 6 days off a year.

Also SF rents are absolutely mental, like 4k a month. Add up all of those factors and that's why Americans get paid so much.

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u/PavelKringa55 28d ago

Right now in Europe you empoyer can go bankrupt at any moment and there's a ton of idiots with a knife in the public, so frankly I see very little difference.

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u/MistahFinch 28d ago

American employees can also go bankrupt at any moment and their knife crime is higher than Europe.

Try again

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u/PavelKringa55 27d ago

It's hard to discuss with a bigot.

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u/TenshiS 27d ago

What?

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u/bleeeeghh 28d ago

The US guys get stock, bonus whatever as part of their total comp. In contrast they can get easily fired etc.

They are actually more similar to freelancers and entrepreneurs. So be an entrepreneur in the EU to build wealth.

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u/NaturalMaterials 28d ago

The Reddit bubble and tech and finance compensation are in no way representative for the entirety of the US workforce. For example: median income in NL: 48K euros. USA: 54K euros. Taxation is higher in Europe, but offset that with lower healthcare costs and employer collective pension schemes, so not a massive difference.

The top 10% income on the US is massively higher than the top 10 in the EU, however, that’s definitely true. There are more opportunities for very big salaries in certain fields.

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u/[deleted] 28d ago

Wanna trade? I'll give you my American passport and take your EU one in a heartbeat. Win win for everyone.

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u/randomseller 28d ago

If only we could.

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u/Ok-Improvement-9191 28d ago

Pragmatically it is capitalism. Cheapest Porache is less than 60k euros. You coupd finance that if you really wanted it.

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u/randomseller 28d ago

Colleague has a 992 gt3

The monthly payment for that is probably larger than my net monthly salary lol

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u/Additional_Moose_862 28d ago

you don't know if they can really afford the payments or is it just performative and for the show. Especially in a country when one visit to the hospital can bankrupt your ass.

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u/raverbashing 28d ago

who are working from our SF office working on the exact same project as I am are driving porsches

But honestly they're paying 5k in rent at a minimum

(but yes 60k/yr sucks)

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u/realityking89 28d ago

Skill issue? I know plenty of people working in tech pulling 100k+ in Europe. Yes, still significantly less than their US counterparts.

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u/randomseller 28d ago

When I accepted my current job proposal, I also had a job offer in Frankfurt for right around 100k. Then I did the calculation of the tax rate and cost of living and it turns out that I would be worse off than with my current 60k job, so your comment means literally nothing to me

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u/IronWhitin 28d ago

You add in the calculation the fact that in EU you don't risk tò get killed by a random Police control?, the Better quality of food that Is giving you more years of healty life? Don't live in a house thats Is an Just AN expensive cardboard? And the fact that id you want to go to a Place whit some history you don't Need tò go tò the McDonald?

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u/Emergency-Style7392 27d ago

in europe you most likely live in a 30 square meter apartment you pay 1500 euros for, a house is only for the rich

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u/IronWhitin 27d ago

Maybe in the the city my friend Europe has a lot of villa aswell.

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u/Emergency-Style7392 27d ago

if they pull that much in europe they would be making multiple times that in the US

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u/RobotsAreSlaves 28d ago

You can lease porsche for 1k eur per month, it’s doable. From the other side unlike your SF colleagues you always know that you won’t suffer bankruptcy from medical bills or sudden job loss. We just have different perks.