6 ms·

being rich is pretty great almost anywhere in the world including the nordic countries. it's only "better" in america if you value having a huge gap between you

being rich is pretty great almost anywhere in the world including the nordic countries. it's only "better" in america if you value having a huge gap between you and the poorest people in the country.

WarmWash 8mo ago
Being rich in the US has the benefit of giving access to the widest array of utilities meant for rich people.
- kakacik 8mo ago
  You should travel a bit my friend. Ever been to Monaco? Switzerland? And few others. Tons of americans there/here, but they are mostly not coming back and have strong political opinions to base such decisions on. Once you are not poor, whatever it means, folks get very different priorities. There are no trends of rich people thinking about moving to US from here in Switzerland for example, unless they want really to start some startup and already aim very high (but then Asia offers much more for less money, there is no US moat I could see). US as a country these days is mostly despised, thanks to your current government and its behavior. Of course some US folks see it differently but but thats emotional view of home-is-always-best. Or literally prefer heavily class-based society based on wealth - we don't do that in Europe anymore.
  - WarmWash 8mo ago
    You're confusing rich destinations with rich home bases. The NYC metro area alone has 3x more billionaires than Switzerland and Monaco combined (although Monaco has only two.) This isn't about politics or anything like that. The US simply offers the broadest range of services (vertically and horizontally) for ultra wealthy individuals, and extremely friendly capital environments.
cocoto 8mo ago
Completely false, the money to help the poorest people comes from the rich ones, so you are poorer if the gap is smaller. But at some point too many poor people can make a country hard to live for the richest (crimes for example)
- mullingitover 8mo ago
  This statement is equally true if you swap poor and rich.
- michaelmrose 8mo ago
  The richest or the merely rich can trivially insulate themselves from meaningful risk even in crime ridden hell holes. As far as the rest of us in the US crime has been on a steep decline for decades regardless of the blip in 2020. There are only ever too many poors in America by virtue of inequality.
- mmooss 8mo ago
  > money to help the poorest people comes from the rich ones It comes largely from the middle and working classes, who pay a higher tax rate than wealthy people. > many poor people can make a country hard to live for the richest (crimes for example) I'm not convinced that poverty causes crime. It might be lack of public services, such as health care, shelter, food, education (creating social mobility), safety net, etc.
the_fall 8mo ago
I think the US is markedly better for people in certain professions who want to become rich. This is obviously not true for the general population, but the amount of cash that's chasing profits in tech means that a non-trivial percentage of SF Bay Area techies have a shot at financial independence (let's say, $10M in the bank). This is certainly not true for IT workers in most of the EU. But if you already have enough to never need to work again, you should be fine in almost any liberal and politically stable country, and there's something to be said about moving to a lower CoL place where you can afford a nicer home, etc.
- trimethylpurine 8mo ago
  CoL is very low in the US and QoL is very good. Just obviously not near the coast. For some reason many Americans forget that most of America is not in San Francisco.
  - showerst 8mo ago
    I'd argue that QoL in middle America is not great compared to similarly priced places in the EU. Americans have worse health outcomes (including lifespan), travel far less and have less time off, and retire later. That said, you do get much more space, nicer housing stock, (arguably) better access to education, and generally more 'stuff', so it's a tradeoff.
    - michaelmrose 8mo ago
      The education is available to those who don't live here. The more "stuff" is not a fair trade for anything else mentioned.
      - trimethylpurine 8mo ago
        Yeah. Education is absolutely broken.
    - trimethylpurine 8mo ago
      I live a few months out of each year in Europe. Usually max out my 90 day stay with ABnB. It's a hard life in Europe. My friend owns 11 bars that are packed 24/7 on a Mediterranean shoreline. He is what anyone would call successful. But he lives in a little apartment and drives a beat up old Mercedes, not because he's modest but because that's what "rich" looks like in Europe. If you ask him, he'll tell you that taxes ensure that you can never be rich in Europe. My friend in middle America owns one bar, multiple houses, multiple cars, kids in private school. And what's mind blowing is that no one in America would consider him "rich." That's just middle class America. I'd love to visit wherever you're going to point to as a counter example. Let me know where I'm headed this summer. Btw I checked about health outcomes. It's actually only true if you look at America as an average. Middle America has much better health outcomes. Look at Utah for example. Again, point was that middle America isn't like the coasts.
HPsquared 8mo ago
A random person living in America has a higher chance of becoming rich than in most other countries.
- jghn 8mo ago
  However, despite the fact that we live in a country full of temporarily embarrassed millionaires, it is still a low %age chance of actually happening
  - twoodfin 8mo ago
    Apparently, 25% of Americans over age 50 are millionaires by wealth, and so if you don’t expect those figures to go down, your odds of living to be a millionaire are pretty good! https://www.fool.com/retirement/2024/05/27/heres-how-many-millionaires-there-are-in-america/ https://www.fool.com/retirement/2024/05/27/heres-how-many-mi... Yeah yeah, illiquid household wealth … but millionaires nonetheless.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- michaelmrose 8mo ago
  This is untrue. Here is a measure of upward mobility. We are 27 out of 82 right below Lithuania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Social_Mobility_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Social_Mobility_Index
  - HPsquared 8mo ago
    That index measures a lot of things, most of which aren't related to the probability of a random person becoming rich.
glitchc 8mo ago
It's better to be rich in the US because you can cut ahead of the line in virtually every segment if you have the money.
- Analemma_ 8mo ago
  Why would you think this exclusive to the US? This is true everywhere (arguably it’s true tautologically, it’s practically what “being rich” means).
  - glitchc 8mo ago
    As an example: Healthcare. In a public, single-payer model, no amount of money can jump the queue.
    - throw-the-towel 8mo ago
      Go abroad for treatment, problem solved.
      - glitchc 8mo ago
        Sure, to a country like the US right? Then why not stay there?
    - deleted 8mo ago
      [deleted]
    - UncleSlacky 8mo ago
      Private healthcare exists alongside the public system in many places.
CGMthrowaway 8mo ago
Looking at migration trends for billionaires (so not billionaire creators but rather billionaire magnets) over the last 30 or so years - synthesis of various sources: Top attractors are London (non-dom era), Singapore, Dubai, Miami, Austin, SF, NYC, Hong Kong (pre-[1]) Top repellers/outmigration are London (post-abolition of non-dom), Moscow, Hong Kong (post-[1]), China, high-tax zones in Europe, India, developing nations For places that are in both lists but at different times, you can see the massive impact of public policy (non-dom tax haven, Chinese hand) [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Hong_Kong_national_security_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Hong_Kong_national_securi...
- ifwinterco 8mo ago
  SF and NYC are the surprising ones there, because the rest are low tax (0-25% income tax, give or take). Goes to show it is possible to tax people quite a lot and still be an attractive place to live, but you do need to bring something special (which in 2026 means "be the centre of the world for either tech or finance"). If you're good at that stuff but still very much second tier (London), the tax rate seems to matter a lot

being rich is pretty great almost anywhere in the world including the nordic countries. it's only "better" in america if you value having a huge gap between you and the poorest people in the country.

WarmWash 8mo ago

Being rich in the US has the benefit of giving access to the widest array of utilities meant for rich people.

kakacik 8mo ago
You should travel a bit my friend. Ever been to Monaco? Switzerland? And few others. Tons of americans there/here, but they are mostly not coming back and have strong political opinions to base such decisions on. Once you are not poor, whatever it means, folks get very different priorities. There are no trends of rich people thinking about moving to US from here in Switzerland for example, unless they want really to start some startup and already aim very high (but then Asia offers much more for less money, there is no US moat I could see). US as a country these days is mostly despised, thanks to your current government and its behavior. Of course some US folks see it differently but but thats emotional view of home-is-always-best. Or literally prefer heavily class-based society based on wealth - we don't do that in Europe anymore.
- WarmWash 8mo ago
  You're confusing rich destinations with rich home bases. The NYC metro area alone has 3x more billionaires than Switzerland and Monaco combined (although Monaco has only two.) This isn't about politics or anything like that. The US simply offers the broadest range of services (vertically and horizontally) for ultra wealthy individuals, and extremely friendly capital environments.

cocoto 8mo ago

Completely false, the money to help the poorest people comes from the rich ones, so you are poorer if the gap is smaller. But at some point too many poor people can make a country hard to live for the richest (crimes for example)

mullingitover 8mo ago
This statement is equally true if you swap poor and rich.
michaelmrose 8mo ago
The richest or the merely rich can trivially insulate themselves from meaningful risk even in crime ridden hell holes. As far as the rest of us in the US crime has been on a steep decline for decades regardless of the blip in 2020. There are only ever too many poors in America by virtue of inequality.
mmooss 8mo ago
> money to help the poorest people comes from the rich ones It comes largely from the middle and working classes, who pay a higher tax rate than wealthy people. > many poor people can make a country hard to live for the richest (crimes for example) I'm not convinced that poverty causes crime. It might be lack of public services, such as health care, shelter, food, education (creating social mobility), safety net, etc.

the_fall 8mo ago

I think the US is markedly better for people in certain professions who want to become rich. This is obviously not true for the general population, but the amount of cash that's chasing profits in tech means that a non-trivial percentage of SF Bay Area techies have a shot at financial independence (let's say, $10M in the bank). This is certainly not true for IT workers in most of the EU. But if you already have enough to never need to work again, you should be fine in almost any liberal and politically stable country, and there's something to be said about moving to a lower CoL place where you can afford a nicer home, etc.

trimethylpurine 8mo ago
CoL is very low in the US and QoL is very good. Just obviously not near the coast. For some reason many Americans forget that most of America is not in San Francisco.
- showerst 8mo ago
  I'd argue that QoL in middle America is not great compared to similarly priced places in the EU. Americans have worse health outcomes (including lifespan), travel far less and have less time off, and retire later. That said, you do get much more space, nicer housing stock, (arguably) better access to education, and generally more 'stuff', so it's a tradeoff.
  - michaelmrose 8mo ago
    The education is available to those who don't live here. The more "stuff" is not a fair trade for anything else mentioned.
    - trimethylpurine 8mo ago
      Yeah. Education is absolutely broken.
  - trimethylpurine 8mo ago
    I live a few months out of each year in Europe. Usually max out my 90 day stay with ABnB. It's a hard life in Europe. My friend owns 11 bars that are packed 24/7 on a Mediterranean shoreline. He is what anyone would call successful. But he lives in a little apartment and drives a beat up old Mercedes, not because he's modest but because that's what "rich" looks like in Europe. If you ask him, he'll tell you that taxes ensure that you can never be rich in Europe. My friend in middle America owns one bar, multiple houses, multiple cars, kids in private school. And what's mind blowing is that no one in America would consider him "rich." That's just middle class America. I'd love to visit wherever you're going to point to as a counter example. Let me know where I'm headed this summer. Btw I checked about health outcomes. It's actually only true if you look at America as an average. Middle America has much better health outcomes. Look at Utah for example. Again, point was that middle America isn't like the coasts.

HPsquared 8mo ago

A random person living in America has a higher chance of becoming rich than in most other countries.

jghn 8mo ago
However, despite the fact that we live in a country full of temporarily embarrassed millionaires, it is still a low %age chance of actually happening
- twoodfin 8mo ago
  Apparently, 25% of Americans over age 50 are millionaires by wealth, and so if you don’t expect those figures to go down, your odds of living to be a millionaire are pretty good! https://www.fool.com/retirement/2024/05/27/heres-how-many-millionaires-there-are-in-america/ https://www.fool.com/retirement/2024/05/27/heres-how-many-mi... Yeah yeah, illiquid household wealth … but millionaires nonetheless.
deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
michaelmrose 8mo ago
This is untrue. Here is a measure of upward mobility. We are 27 out of 82 right below Lithuania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Social_Mobility_Index https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Social_Mobility_Index
- HPsquared 8mo ago
  That index measures a lot of things, most of which aren't related to the probability of a random person becoming rich.

glitchc 8mo ago

It's better to be rich in the US because you can cut ahead of the line in virtually every segment if you have the money.

Analemma_ 8mo ago
Why would you think this exclusive to the US? This is true everywhere (arguably it’s true tautologically, it’s practically what “being rich” means).
- glitchc 8mo ago
  As an example: Healthcare. In a public, single-payer model, no amount of money can jump the queue.
  - throw-the-towel 8mo ago
    Go abroad for treatment, problem solved.
    - glitchc 8mo ago
      Sure, to a country like the US right? Then why not stay there?
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
  - UncleSlacky 8mo ago
    Private healthcare exists alongside the public system in many places.

CGMthrowaway 8mo ago

Looking at migration trends for billionaires (so not billionaire creators but rather billionaire magnets) over the last 30 or so years - synthesis of various sources: Top attractors are London (non-dom era), Singapore, Dubai, Miami, Austin, SF, NYC, Hong Kong (pre-[1]) Top repellers/outmigration are London (post-abolition of non-dom), Moscow, Hong Kong (post-[1]), China, high-tax zones in Europe, India, developing nations For places that are in both lists but at different times, you can see the massive impact of public policy (non-dom tax haven, Chinese hand) [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Hong_Kong_national_security_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Hong_Kong_national_securi...

ifwinterco 8mo ago
SF and NYC are the surprising ones there, because the rest are low tax (0-25% income tax, give or take). Goes to show it is possible to tax people quite a lot and still be an attractive place to live, but you do need to bring something special (which in 2026 means "be the centre of the world for either tech or finance"). If you're good at that stuff but still very much second tier (London), the tax rate seems to matter a lot