If you're European, it seems like your best bet, if you can pull it off, is to: * get your nice free college in Europe * go make a mountain of cash in Califor

If you're European, it seems like your best bet, if you can pull it off, is to: * get your nice free college in Europe * go make a mountain of cash in California * come back and retire in your 30's and start a family. but that depends on a lot of things going right. I'd rather raise a family in most of Europe, and retire in Europe. But I can't deny that if I'd stayed in California I'd probably have $1-2 million more. And the tax structures here make FIRE _very_ difficult, depending on where you are. Portugal is appealing if your income is foreign (check out the NHR program), and Germany allows about 12k per year in capital gains tax-free if I recall.