4 ms·

>I get so tired of seeing content saying, 'Oh, if you just saved a little more, if you just invested a little more…' Like, no – people are on the edge. People c

by jafo1989 2y ago

>I get so tired of seeing content saying, 'Oh, if you just saved a little more, if you just invested a little more…' Like, no – people are on the edge. People cannot afford to live, to eat, to put gas in their cars," Brama says. >That's partly why Brama now splits her time between the United States and Europe I wish I was broke enough to split time between two continents.

jltsiren 2y ago
Travel is cheap if you don't have to pay for accommodation. Flying a few times a year between Europe and the US is definitely cheaper than renting in the US.
- strictnein 2y ago
  Sure, but if you're not having to pay rent, why fly at all? Why not stay put and save that money?
  - jltsiren 2y ago
    Maybe the quality of life is better elsewhere. Maybe the differences in daily costs of living are enough to offset the flights. The article mentions Albania, where the nominal/PPP GDP figures suggest that prices are almost 3x lower than in the US.
  - fragmede 2y ago
    Because there are no jobs where they're not paying rent, so they can't afford to live there either.
throwaheyy 2y ago
That stuck out glaringly for me too.
nrfulton 2y ago
"There is a leisure class at both ends of the economic spectrum." But even setting that aside, the article goes on to mention Albania (low CoL) and access to healthcare. The latter, in particular, checks out. I have great insurance, but my out-of-pocket max equals somewhere between 5 and 10 round-trips to Europe. It's not hard to imagine there exist people who can setup the circumstances such that working in the USA part of the year and living somewhere else part of the year is massively more economical than staying in the USA. Actually, doesn't that exact situation describe a huge fraction of the US agricultural labor force?
janalsncm 2y ago
For reference, I calculated that for the same per-day cost as I have in the US I could live in a five star hotel in Thailand. And when you factor in the cost of rent, international flights aren’t as expensive as you might think. I see this less as how inexpensive things are elsewhere and more how excessively expensive they are in the US. In the Bay Area for example the housing stock is incredibly expensive but relatively low quality even compared with other US cities.

jltsiren 2y ago

Travel is cheap if you don't have to pay for accommodation. Flying a few times a year between Europe and the US is definitely cheaper than renting in the US.

strictnein 2y ago
Sure, but if you're not having to pay rent, why fly at all? Why not stay put and save that money?
- jltsiren 2y ago
  Maybe the quality of life is better elsewhere. Maybe the differences in daily costs of living are enough to offset the flights. The article mentions Albania, where the nominal/PPP GDP figures suggest that prices are almost 3x lower than in the US.
- fragmede 2y ago
  Because there are no jobs where they're not paying rent, so they can't afford to live there either.

throwaheyy 2y ago

That stuck out glaringly for me too.

nrfulton 2y ago

"There is a leisure class at both ends of the economic spectrum." But even setting that aside, the article goes on to mention Albania (low CoL) and access to healthcare. The latter, in particular, checks out. I have great insurance, but my out-of-pocket max equals somewhere between 5 and 10 round-trips to Europe. It's not hard to imagine there exist people who can setup the circumstances such that working in the USA part of the year and living somewhere else part of the year is massively more economical than staying in the USA. Actually, doesn't that exact situation describe a huge fraction of the US agricultural labor force?

janalsncm 2y ago

For reference, I calculated that for the same per-day cost as I have in the US I could live in a five star hotel in Thailand. And when you factor in the cost of rent, international flights aren’t as expensive as you might think. I see this less as how inexpensive things are elsewhere and more how excessively expensive they are in the US. In the Bay Area for example the housing stock is incredibly expensive but relatively low quality even compared with other US cities.