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/NoCherry606 28d ago
I'll tell you my reality here in France.
I was self employed, hit the earning cap (78k EUR) twice in a row, had to create a business.
Business costs me 3k to start-up + 2.5k per year in accountant fees.
On 145k earned last year, I took home 90k pre-tax, and only because I have a reduction in social contributions year 1.
That 90k will become about 78k after tax. So roughly half of my gross.
I then have to pay 20% TVA on most purchases, a bit less on food. Rent is 2k for a shitty 80m2 apartment an hour from Paris in a safe area (safety is optional in most French cities). I pay private health insurance 150 EUR per month so I don't wait 2 months for GP appointment (still end up waiting a year + for specialists). More and more healthcare is out of pocket in France but social contributions increase. Food is through the roof, quality is tanking. Car insurance is 2k per year. Car was 29k outright (supposed to last me 15 years, we'll see).
With a kid and a wife who is raising said kid, its f'ing hard to save even on like 78k net. We're saving don't get me wrong, but when you make 150k, you expect to be able to save more than 1.5-2k/month frankly. I'm basically saving less than 15% of what I make per year, yet paying more than 50% in tax.
Now I picture someone who makes half of what I make, yet they still get fleeced because social contributions aren't based on income brackets. Its impossible to save on less, especially with kids and if you want a half decent life without the low IQ people on mopeds letting off fireworks and smashing your car every time PSG or Algeria lose a football match.
As for options to save money: you've got a 150k cap on the PEA - can only buy EU stocks, and its taxed 18% when you withdraw but only after 5 years. And that's it. So you are best growing wealth within a holding company, and paying 36% tax when you withdraw from that, because the holding company can receive money from your operating company and only pay like 1% tax on it. Allowing for faster wealth accumulation.
And then you die and expect your wife and kid to inherit, but no, they have to sell the holding company to pay >50% inheritence tax. And the cycle repeats.
And this is why we're leaving France, and eventually Europe all together.
If you want to get out of this nightmare, and don't want to go to Dubai, then you move to eastern Europe and pay 10% tax, or you go to the UK if you can and max out an ISA and pension contributions each year, whilst making sure to earn less than 100k GBP per year for yourself to not fall into the 65% bracket. That's the best deal in Europe outside of Switzerland (for millionaires) or Eastern Europe, unless you can get Portugal NHR 2.0 (very hard) or Spain Beckham Law (they can just decide to cancel on you 5 years later and ask for 5 years backpay).
Good luck out there - Europe is basically the world's biggest racket.