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Maybe this should be worded: Why are American adults so busy. I've been living in the US for a couple of years, and have thoroughly enjoyed it, but it occurs t

by sqren 10y ago

Maybe this should be worded: Why are American adults so busy. I've been living in the US for a couple of years, and have thoroughly enjoyed it, but it occurs to me that life is more "rushed" than I'm used to from Denmark. RE: 1) Have Money The standard work week is 37 hours. I love my job, but this leaves me plenty of time to do other stuff I enjoy. RE: 6) Bills, Bills, Bills Living in the US for a couple of years taught me this: cheques are a real thing and most payment processes are manual. Denmark: I no longer receive bills. The banking infrastructure allow consumers to "subscribe" to businesses, who can then withdraw the correct amount. If the amount increases the consumer won't have to change a thing. And it is easy to unsubscribe again :) RE: 8) Transport + 9) Staying Healthy Get a bike and combine commuting with exercise ;) RE: 11) Taxes Paying taxes in the US is A PAIN. Ordinary people need to hire an accountant (and still do most of the grunt work themselves) to make sure they pay the right amount. Denmark: fully automated system. Yes, the government has access to my bank account and investments (!privacy!), but my only tax-related action is to click "Accept" once a year.

lagadu 10y ago
It's the impression I got as well: it seems to be an exclusively american list. All bills are set up to be paid automatically and the whole "financial planning" thing that there's effectively no need to do here.
maxsilver 10y ago
>RE6: The banking infrastructure allow consumers to "subscribe" to businesses We have this in the US (almost all businesses have an 'Automatic Bill Pay' or similar) But businesses are very routinely "slightly-corrupt" here, so many don't trust it. Businesses will purposefully withdraw more than they should, and make you fight to get it back. Or will raise prices without telling you. Or will continue to bill you after you unsubscribe (if they let you unsubscribe at all). Often you have to yell or make threats to people on telephones, or publicly harass a company on Twitter / Facebook, or manually withhold payment, to get any kind of appropriate response. This creates an atmosphere where people don't trust businesses with "subscriptions" or automation of any kind of bills. Which further perpetuates the antique cheque-based bill payment process. It's not a technology problem (we have the technology). It's more of a "poisoned trust" issue. > RE: 11) my only tax-related action is to click "Accept" once a year. We have this in the US -- the IRS is already capable of offering this. It's just illegal for them to do so, because of Intuit's political influence. (Again with the businesses being corrupt...) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/technology/personaltech/turbotax-or-irs-as-tax-preparer-intuit-has-a-favorite.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/technology/personaltech/tu...
- johnward 10y ago
  Yep. I have the ability to have most of my bills automatically deducted but I don't trust those institutes enough to allow them to do it. If one of them bills me for an incorrect amount, which happens more often than it should, it could cause me to overdraft or not be able to pay my other bills. It still takes me about 30 minutes at most to electronically pay every bill that will take it and balance my account.

by sqren 10y ago

lagadu 10y ago

It's the impression I got as well: it seems to be an exclusively american list. All bills are set up to be paid automatically and the whole "financial planning" thing that there's effectively no need to do here.

maxsilver 10y ago

>RE6: The banking infrastructure allow consumers to "subscribe" to businesses We have this in the US (almost all businesses have an 'Automatic Bill Pay' or similar) But businesses are very routinely "slightly-corrupt" here, so many don't trust it. Businesses will purposefully withdraw more than they should, and make you fight to get it back. Or will raise prices without telling you. Or will continue to bill you after you unsubscribe (if they let you unsubscribe at all). Often you have to yell or make threats to people on telephones, or publicly harass a company on Twitter / Facebook, or manually withhold payment, to get any kind of appropriate response. This creates an atmosphere where people don't trust businesses with "subscriptions" or automation of any kind of bills. Which further perpetuates the antique cheque-based bill payment process. It's not a technology problem (we have the technology). It's more of a "poisoned trust" issue. > RE: 11) my only tax-related action is to click "Accept" once a year. We have this in the US -- the IRS is already capable of offering this. It's just illegal for them to do so, because of Intuit's political influence. (Again with the businesses being corrupt...) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/technology/personaltech/turbotax-or-irs-as-tax-preparer-intuit-has-a-favorite.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/technology/personaltech/tu...

johnward 10y ago
Yep. I have the ability to have most of my bills automatically deducted but I don't trust those institutes enough to allow them to do it. If one of them bills me for an incorrect amount, which happens more often than it should, it could cause me to overdraft or not be able to pay my other bills. It still takes me about 30 minutes at most to electronically pay every bill that will take it and balance my account.