I'm from Sweden and here the living standard is work yourself all sressed and exhausted until you afford a vacation to Greece for a week. Then back to hell and repeat.

Ha, I'm actually interviewing with a Swedish company. I thought y'all were all progressive and had great companies. Lol

I think I finally reached it. I don't make a whole lot of money and I don't own all the best stuff but I'm happy in my life and my work is my play.

It can be done.

(Granted, I'm 57.)

Ditto. Trying to work hard towards getting a life that doesn't make me want to constantly run away from.

That's what I'm trying to do so I'm going back to college but I don't know if I will make it through 4 or 5 more years to achieve my job goal.

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They probably are great, because people work their ass off, there's a high work moral here. But it's not healthy long term imo. To literally have to escape your life twice a year to be able continuing the same stressful miserable life. But that's Swede's.

Surely it does not matter how amazing day to day life is you will still want a change sometimes.

The company is Swedish but the position is in the US so hopefully if I get the job they don't work me into the dirt. Lol

Worked for 3 years in IT after finishing school and now taking a month off just to relax and do nothing.

I'm good at my job, like it and always manages being friendly. But man working 40 hours a week really takes a toll on my mental health after a long time.

I have feeling mental health is neglected a lot in our society.

Well, Rob Hill is a millionaire, so I guess mission accomplished.

That has become a low bar. $1 million will generate $50,000 a year in income. (You can't eat into the principal too much our you'll run out of money.) That's certainly a livable income (you can move to somewhere that has affordable housing), but it's not the lap of luxury.

I assume you meant multimillionaire. If you have $10 million you can live anywhere, and if you have $50 million your only worries are losing your millions and whatever demons live in your head. And that the asteroid that wipes us out comes before we have the planetary defense system set up. And ....

That's my goal as well

Not me I like vacations

This is really weird to read. Here in America there is a huge interest in Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand...As major retirement/tourist/vacation destinations. Myself included, I've always wanted to "vacation" there and perhaps live there indefinitely.

But it seems no matter where you go, life can still suck.

Just becuse you don't NEED to take a vacation doesn't mean you cannot still have one.

I think the general idea ppl refer to when they say millionaire is $1m/year, which is certainly not a low bar - rather than just a total savings of $1m. This can either be $250k/yr for 4 yrs, or $100k/yr for 10 yrs, or $50k/yr for 20 years. These are all very decent amounts until the 50k/yr. That wage for 20 years is indeed abysmal, at least in most first world countries.

Oh don't read me wrong. It is extremely beautiful here during summers! Most Swedes take off to hot summer vacation countries during winter to get away from darkness and cold. But then there's also this "Wanna get away" feeling no matter where you are if you aren't that happy. Kinda the grass is greener on the other side mentality.

Yeah hopefully you actually enjoy it.

I think I would it's a small company only about 85 employees with 5-6 based in the US.

Live your life so that your future self can’t criticise you when they look back.

Those three countries have some pretty critical distinctions.

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This has been my goal since I was 11, but I don't think it's possible. Capitalism robs everyone of happiness. I've been trying to find work in something I love doing, but it's hard. It feels like you have to go through years of misery before life can actually just be a blank slate to build on.

Can I ask what your work is?

porn star

Well, assuming his big ticket items are all paid off, it’s really not a bad amount of money.

Also the German way of life.

Bobby Hill?

I get this philosophy, but it also misunderstands what a vacation is. Vacations are great. You should take a break from things periodically regardless of what your normal life looks like. It's healthy.

Rob has incredible legs.

Uncomfortable situations and feelings promote and foster growth as long as it's healthy stress. Like anything, stress is a spectrum and can range from good to bad, it's also not a one size fits all type spectrum either - it's dynamic.

I like this saying because it is, on it's face, its promoting the spirit of a healthy lifestyle whatever that may mean to you. But it falls flat when viewed through the lens of real life.

After all, what parent doesn't think about a vacation from their kids during those really tough days?

Yeah, as near as makes no difference, nobody achieves that..

Maybe it's an European thing?

Sounds good. I'm rooting for you!

It’s definitely a European thing… that they have paid vacations. Americans and Asians just largely don’t have labor rights as robust as Europeans and paid vacations are usually fewer.

I wonder if this definition has slowly changed as a million dollars has gotten to be worth less and less? For "billionaire" folks are definitely referring to net worth, at least.

Or at least Northern/Protestant Europe thing.

True.

I have to work 2 jobs, 60hrs a week, just to get by paycheck to paycheck. 40hrs a week is like part time work to me now. I hate it. I hate slaving away just to work. Wake up, work, sleep, repeat. People ask what I do for fun -- I survive. I don't have TIME to do things for myself otherwise rent doesn't get paid. This isn't life. It's no wonder we're all depressed

I would be 100% okay doing something I hate for work if it meant I could work part time and still have a liveable wage. I could "find my passion" in a job and still be miserable because I'm slaving away for shit wages that barely keep the roof over my head. It's misery.

My wife just started working for a company based in Sweden that has about 5-10 employees based in the US… they’ve just started forming the US sales team recently... too many coincidences. You’re obviously about to become coworkers with her.

Agree. I like my work, but it's good to take a relaxing break from it. I run marathons on purpose, but I still enjoy chilling for a few weeks after until I start training again. Same with work. It's fulfilling, but no matter what you need some off-time

Rest of the world is the same

Even then.... that would be a surplus 20k for much of the US.

Haha, does she work for a small bioanalytical laboratory?

Appreciate it 😊

Rip this world. 😵

$1m gets $50kpa? Show me which banks are paying 5%, I need to move.

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I wonder if the big brain move here to just work for a few years and retire and shoot myself when I run out of money somewhere in my 40s. The idea of working til 50 or 65 and then retiring with a decrepit body just doesn't sound fun even if you live til 95.

Sounds awesome. Not sure if my fiance would approve of me taking on a less stable job with lower pay though, she wants to have kids and some cats when we get our own place.

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Indeed. If you have no other income then passion jobs are only worthwhile if you can see some degree of financial success in the future. Otherwise you might just be spending the best years of your life chasing a dream... no guarantee at the end.

That doesn't stop people from doing it but I would like to hear more stories from people who've tried and failed... but nobody likes to talk about that. It can be bleak and heartbreaking.

Unrealistic goal imo

I work in healthcare and literally ALL my coworkers and myself, at every job I've worked at -- from hospital to outpatient -- we've all said we don't want to live past 75. Me, I can't forsee myself last 67-70. It's misery. Government assistance is a joke, Medicare is laughable, and in this day and age there's no retiring for us millennials (unless you're born into wealth/got lucky) so we'll still be working at that age. I've had coworkers who are 72/73/74. They look one step away from death. I had one coworker, 64, who stepped down from full time to PRN because she physically couldn't handle it anymore but she began stressing SO much about how she'll buy groceries going forward. Yep, no thanks. If my life ends up like that, I'll be checking out. I'm almost 31 and I'm now on the hunt for a spouse even though I love being single. This isn't a world where I can thrive and survive by myself, unfortunately. I wasn't granted that card.

Now that is a notion I can get behind!

Came here to say that. I don't work and live in a popular vacation spot, but I didn't realize how much was stuck in my daily routine until I went elsewhere for a "vacation".

Ah vacation, right.. yea I honestly don't care. I work 8-5, mon-fri, usually on the computer, and I'm fine. If I'm gonna be super honest, having something to do is good for my mental health. When I have time off all things in my life just slip and I get depressed.

Finnish here, I get about 7-10 weeks of paid vacation a year.

Vad jobbar du med? Är du snabbmatskock eller något?

American here. I get 3 weeks PTO (for either vacation or being sick) and I'm considered very lucky. 2 seems to be the standard

This is the hard truth! There must be away to overcome this madness and answer lies in that 1% who are enslaving entire world!

This reads like capitalist propaganda to me, not motivational 😅

I wish people would just be honest and admit life fucking sucks.

Jesus, I had no idea, but that makes sense. Nowhere is perfect and the "nicest" places on earth stay that way because people work so hard to maintain them. I'm thinking of Japan and the Netherlands.

I have a hypothesis where if a person does 8 hours of physical labour per day that breaks their body and if a person does 8 hours of cognitive labour per day that breaks their brain.

I believe that on average a cognitive worker might have 3 hours worth, in the best case, of "output" per day.

So, if you spend 8 hours today writing code, and an other 8 hours the day after because you are in a flow state that's cool but it will in turn lead to experiencing a few 0 hours days but the thing is we've been conditioned to feel anxious or are stressed by external factors to do "something" tangible on those 0 hour days were what we need is good and proper recovery time which we never get or allow ourselves to take because it is not acceptable.

So I should...have a good life with a restful work pace and enjoy my time as much as possible? Wow, why didnt I fucking think of that? r/wowthanksimcured

> Ha, I’m actually interviewing with a Swedish company.

It’s ikea isn’t it?

Ahhh nope. In education. So far she’s not experienced any issues about being overworked. What’s she’s found is, due to the time difference, she will wake up to a lot of emails but by noon EST, things are really quiet coming from Sweden.

I think you’re thinking of their prison system.

Can you tell us more about your current life?

Corollary: Invent a vacation that actually leaves me recharged and feeling rested.

I think I am at this point or I am very close with my job. It’s remote, the culture is awesome, work days could be anywhere from 1-4 hours max and a lot of time that’s if I am forcing myself to upskill and earn certifications. Everyone is respectful and kind, and you can go as far as you want in the field. It’s also very niche and a great jumping point for better money in the future.

I like real people. I don’t like people who bury life’s shityness under positive quotes.

The one thing is people who spew stuff like this are usually good ones to stay away from. They're usually the most venomous.

Northern European...

in Greece, italy, Portugal and spain, there's a lot more play time... and 2-4 hour lunch/siesta break during the day... very different attitude toward work and leisure time

Isn't it worse in the U.S though? In sweden we work 40 hours a week, have almost free childcare, free education, free healthcare, atleast 4 weeks vacation etc? ...

That'd be cool. At this point I would also accept a life that I can take a vacation from.

Average return index tracker

Step 1: be rich

Sounds like a sinecure

Generally one can't interview for it, is only employed thru nepotism

lol that’s a life of severe privilege

I wish, it's a small bioanalytical laboratory that supports clinical trials and drug development.

That wouldn't be too bad. This company is building out a US branch so we'll still work with Sweden on some things but have our own shit here.

The US president of operations actually lives like 30 min away from me oddly enough.

This is insanely stupid, having a break from even a perfect life is still a nice break

Hope you get to enjoy some of the flatter hierarchy. If the boss or lead is wrong, then you let them know, it's expected. Unless you end up with a shitty one who can't take criticism, but those exist everywhere.

Yeah, in the US, they try to work you to death without any guaranteed time off for vacations (some full-time positions that give benefits might give you 2 weeks if you're lucky). They depend on the fact that the US doesn't have dependable social safety nets, so even if you burn out, you're motivated by not wanting to be homeless/not starving.

My main goal, is to blow up. And then act like i don't know nobody. Hehehehehehehe

Stock returns average about 5% above inflation. Invested conservatively (there are rules about that, how to spread your risk, but nowadays you can just buy Index Funds), that means you can take 5% per year out for living expenses.

Of course, if the market goes down, your income goes down. If it goes up more than inflation, you can give yourself a raise. There's no way to eliminate all risk, but this is relatively safe.

Banks don't make stuff. They lend money to people and companies. A loan to make stuff has to pay less than the company is making. That means that the loans the bank makes with your money have to earn less than the companies are making. You keep your money in the bank because it pays better than keeping it in a sock, but other than that it's for convenience, not return.

Some real interesting guesses but, actually, I'm an author.

I'm a multi-genre author, both fiction and non. I don't make a whole lot, as stated, but I'm okay with that because I get to do what I love.

And I appreciate that. For many years, I worked in marketing. I didn't really start my career as an author full-time until I was in my 40s, though I wrote my whole life. It's all about finding the path that's right for you and learning to be happy on it.

I mean what do you mean by generates that amount: Is it in a savings account and you're talking dividends? Are you doing 50k for 20 years? Let's say the average person has 30k student debt, and let's go ahead and say a full car note for 30k. I'm going a little on the high end of course. You could pay that all in full and buy another good car when this one is trashed. So 90k off. Let's buy a house. In my area the average is 250-300k. With 300k now you're -390k and have 610k left over. If you spent it only on utilities, gas, and groceries you'd be fine for decades. Get a part time job and work like 15 hours a week or something and you are completely set. It's not generational money by any means but you can make a million last a lot longer than you think and live comfortably.

It's anti capitalist if anything. Good life and work balance, no stress in the workplace (and your life in general), no alienation (literally Marx). But again this is not about politics

1. Don't believe the romanticization of certain countries on reddit, they never mention any cons.

2. You're unlikely to learn Swedish or one of the Swiss dialects.

3. You're very unlikely to get long-term residency in any of these countries, much less citizenship.

This is a fantasy. No matter how great your job and everything is you won’t ever live in Pleasantville.

More saw it as, my job is my life

Ugh I'm sorry to hear that. My wife and I were dreaming of getting away from where we live and saw the quality of life was so high in Sweden that we started wondering what it would be like to actually go. Sounds like those charts don't tell you everything....

US is definitely not better. But I was specifically talking about the Swedish standard relating to this quote since that's what I experience here.

It's better but that wasn't the point relating to this quote. I still relate it to the Swedish career lifestyle.

Wow! And yet you aren't top best country? As in, most healthy citizens.

Rob Hill Sr has cute socks.

I usually just keep my head down and do what I'm told. Lol

What field are you in?

As a software engineer, I started at my current gig with 3 weeks of PTO + 9 paid holidays - and we’re on the lower side of what I’ve seen in the industry.

Don’t get me wrong, burnout is still an issue (though more complex than the “employer is demanding” straw man). But “2 weeks if your lucky” is definitely not an accurate representation of the software industry from what I’ve seen.

That sounds sooo boring. I bet you wish you sold disassembled bookshelves instead

/s lol

I assumed Japan is crazy stressful career wise but The Netherlands? Maybe it's because I'm imagining high people chilling with their legal weed and everything is just Snoop Dog vibes 😂

My wife loves that place tho. I don't understand the appeal honestly.

“My goal is to blow up and act like I don’t know nobody” ~ really smart man

A life from which I don’t need a vacation.

I mean it's tons better than US still so if you're from there, it will be a big upgrade if you move to Sweden. We have a lot of benefits that US don't.

Haha good to hear! I'm Canadian and even we see things getting pretty rough south of us O.o

My province is in rough shape, but I'm really hoping for a rally with the next election. Still nothing compared to the US for now though, but my wife threatens to want to leave if the election doesn't go the right way lol

You invest it in the stock market. Then "on average", between dividends and capital gains, you should make 5% above inflation. (I don't remember if this is since 1900 or since 1790. US figures.) So you take your 5% and leave the rest.

With $50k you can live in the US. Pretty well in some areas, not at all in others. But because you don't have to live near your job, you don't have to live in an area where $50k won't actually support you.

Really? I went there, as a Canadian, and found they take way too many breaks and didn't let us focus on work.

We worked 9-7pm because all they would want to do is fika fika fika. The Swedes left at 4pm and we could finally do work when they left.

I've never seen a more relaxed working culture in my life.

Veoneer is the company I speak of. I was an engineer working amongst engineers.

With a million you could invest in most things I'm sure. I don't know how much Walmart or Raytheon stock is but still a lot of those things are still gambles if you're counting on them for the rest of your life. Walmart is a power house but anything could happen in the coming decades to crash even them. The military industrial complex is less likely for sure but even then you never know. Of course that 5% is all profit and if you need to sell you can get everything back say in 30 years and have more money than if you took my advice most likely. But you also won't own a house or any assets. I just think there are other ways to turn the million into more money per year. Or just buy a house and live comfortably for the rest of your life. Really either option isn't a bad decision. Blowing all of it is a bad decision.

Lol same, like want if I just want to fly to a new place and try different food, walk around, meet people, see the sights? I don’t want a life where I’m not doing that.

found they take way too many breaks

>We worked 9-7pm because all they would want to do is fika fika fika.

Oh yes the car industry in the worker class are a lot about fika. Some can be very relaxed and take their time. But the worker class isn't the once who afford vacations to sunny countries. That's the first class who have high status careers, and always working.

I hope the right leader wins and change things around for the better for you. If not. Welcome to Sweden. Prepare for cold 😂 and fika.

Wtf is this bullshiy lol. Vacations are a part of my life. I dont run away when i go on vacations. No i am enjoying the fruits of my labour. I out effort in at certain times so i can enjoy more at other times.

I'm with you. I enjoy my job, it's fulfilling though I can imagine better.

But it's hard, and sometimes you just need a break to come back fresh and ready to go.

Germans get min. 20 days (by law), but the average is 30 days.

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Lol it's been -30°C (daytime high) here for the last few days so I think I have the cold covered 😂

Fika on the other hand sounds delightful

Majority of Americans don't make as much or have the same benefits as software engineers in the US.

Alrighty then your nose is ready 😂👃

>Fika on the other hand sounds delightful

While yes 😊😊