4 ms·

I am curious. Where on the planet is it currently attractive to work and reasonable cheap to live? London, San Francisco etc. are expensive because of the well

by chvid 9y ago

I am curious. Where on the planet is it currently attractive to work and reasonable cheap to live? London, San Francisco etc. are expensive because of the wellknown opportunities there; are there really any places where you can have it both ways - inexpensive and filled with well-paid jobs?

alkonaut 9y ago
Yes please. Affordable living, universal healthcare, reasonable climate. Where?
- krautsourced 9y ago
  I wanted to say Berlin until you got to the climate part...
  - alkonaut 9y ago
    I'm in Stockholm at the moment so Berlin half-ticks my 3rd box :)
- olie 9y ago
  Less criterias actually makes it harder, because that matches almost any second/third tier city in Europe.
- lukasm 9y ago
  I'm moving to Krakow.
- spiderjerusalem 9y ago
  Vienna is wonderful :)
bognition 9y ago
If you are in tech there are a number of cities: Denver Austin Salt lake Just to name a few
corford 9y ago
Lisbon, Portugal is pretty great if you get NHR status and land a remote job. Local wages are, unfortunately, not so great but hopefully this will get better over the next few years (for tech at least).
- olie 9y ago
  Do you have an example? Because last time I looked into NHR it didn't seem very attractive. If I remember correctly you paid around 30% in social security and 25% income tax, but the income tax is flat. So the overall tax savings didn't seem that great since you had to make quite a lot to reach a similar effective tax and even more to save any significant amount. Could still be decent if the cost of rent and living is low of course. But I might be mistaken, so any comment would be appreciated.
  - corford 9y ago
    NHR has many facets to it (one of which is, as you mentioned, the 20% flat income tax for qualifying professionals). The most interesting bit of NHR (from a tech expat working remotely PoV) is the tax free foreign income. Providing your clients are not in Portugal (so you don't brush up against CFC rules) there's nothing wrong with incorporating your consultancy in the UK or Malta and then paying yourself in dividends.
- mping 9y ago
  Please don't come here. Housing prices are high already, if every techie comes to Lisbon this will become another gentrified city. Jokes aside, I hope this problem finds a solution real soon, there are a whole bunch of hard working people that are farther and farther of living near where they work.
cjlars 9y ago
Here's some relevant data [1], sorting by the 'affordability index' should give you a few ideas. Milwaukee, WI is in the top 10. I have to travel there frequently for work. It's on both a river and a great lake, and the people there are quite possibly the most friendly people on the planet. [1] https://www.numbeo.com/property-investment/rankings.jsp https://www.numbeo.com/property-investment/rankings.jsp

by chvid 9y ago

alkonaut 9y ago

Yes please. Affordable living, universal healthcare, reasonable climate. Where?

krautsourced 9y ago
I wanted to say Berlin until you got to the climate part...
- alkonaut 9y ago
  I'm in Stockholm at the moment so Berlin half-ticks my 3rd box :)
olie 9y ago
Less criterias actually makes it harder, because that matches almost any second/third tier city in Europe.
lukasm 9y ago
I'm moving to Krakow.
spiderjerusalem 9y ago
Vienna is wonderful :)

bognition 9y ago

If you are in tech there are a number of cities: Denver Austin Salt lake Just to name a few

corford 9y ago

Lisbon, Portugal is pretty great if you get NHR status and land a remote job. Local wages are, unfortunately, not so great but hopefully this will get better over the next few years (for tech at least).

olie 9y ago
Do you have an example? Because last time I looked into NHR it didn't seem very attractive. If I remember correctly you paid around 30% in social security and 25% income tax, but the income tax is flat. So the overall tax savings didn't seem that great since you had to make quite a lot to reach a similar effective tax and even more to save any significant amount. Could still be decent if the cost of rent and living is low of course. But I might be mistaken, so any comment would be appreciated.
- corford 9y ago
  NHR has many facets to it (one of which is, as you mentioned, the 20% flat income tax for qualifying professionals). The most interesting bit of NHR (from a tech expat working remotely PoV) is the tax free foreign income. Providing your clients are not in Portugal (so you don't brush up against CFC rules) there's nothing wrong with incorporating your consultancy in the UK or Malta and then paying yourself in dividends.
mping 9y ago
Please don't come here. Housing prices are high already, if every techie comes to Lisbon this will become another gentrified city. Jokes aside, I hope this problem finds a solution real soon, there are a whole bunch of hard working people that are farther and farther of living near where they work.

cjlars 9y ago

Here's some relevant data [1], sorting by the 'affordability index' should give you a few ideas. Milwaukee, WI is in the top 10. I have to travel there frequently for work. It's on both a river and a great lake, and the people there are quite possibly the most friendly people on the planet. [1] https://www.numbeo.com/property-investment/rankings.jsp https://www.numbeo.com/property-investment/rankings.jsp