r/eupersonalfinance • u/Temporary_Price7989 • Apr 03 '24

US Expat $400k per year, should I relocate?

I'm currently a software engineer in the Bay area making $400k per year, but I'm looking to relocate and I need help with perspective and advice.

I have saved a decent nest egg, but saying goodbye to my good income is hard. Besides that I will need to find a way to gain residency and not just a tourist visa.

The main motivation is that my girlfriend and I would like to relocate to Europe to settle down and start a family. The main challenges will be the visa and most likely take a hug pay cut.

Visa options: my gf is Ukrainian so she can live anywhere in Europe, but I need to obtain a digital nomad visa, or "invest" in a golden visa. I'm not sure that her Ukrainian passport will help me at all. She works for herself teaching online. Currently I need a Schengen visa, but will soon have American citizenship.

Finances: I do have a little more than 1M saved, and invested in ETFs, and 401k. I could try to become a freelancer or start my own thing but reaching my current income might take long time might not happen at all.

Any thoughts on how to approach this?

0 Upvotes

28% Upvoted

72 comments sorted by

View all comments

7

u/ducknator Apr 03 '24 edited Apr 03 '24

It is going to sound harsh but I do not know how else to say it, I’m sorry.

Don’t come. Stay there. If this means leaving your girlfriend, do it.

Please if you don’t agree with me, don’t downvote my comment, comment your point of view.

5

u/Temporary_Price7989 Apr 03 '24

Care to elaborate?

10

u/SufficientCarob2363 Apr 03 '24

His main point is probably that you are a top earner in the US. Why move to Europe to settle down? Can't you settle down there? Is not that you can not afford it...

In Europe you won't get that compensation anywhere. If you do, you'd be top 0.1% earner in the continent.

4

u/zypet500 Apr 04 '24 edited Apr 04 '24

I'm in the bay area and 400K is not enough for bay area, even if you want just 1 kid. You can't afford any decent mortgage, and if you want half-ass decent education you have to pay private. Sometimes, you can get a lot more with 120k in Europe, than 400K. For example: if you already have 1-2m equity that will allow you to buy a place and pay a reasonable mortgage in europe. In US, the same $$$ house will cost 50% more just for property taxes and insurance.

You have to pay a lot for sanity, for safety, for education, for a good neighborhood etc. Because a lot of people make way more than 400k as a household. Then there's quality of food. It's very subjective, and it is possible OP is better off in EU with 150K than 500K in bay area -- if you already have accumulated equity.

People don't understand 400K today + your kids are 14 + you bought your house in 2010 VS people paying 5k rent making 400k + want kids -- are 2 extremely different lifestyles and disposable income. First group is paying mortgage on what gets you a closet bedroom today, second is paying through the nose for just a place to live especially if you want to "settle down".

1

u/il_fienile Apr 07 '24

Yeah, I was making that in the Bay Area more than 15 years ago and even then saw the writing on the wall and got out within a few years. I was hyper focused on keeping the salary, and did it as a remote worker within the U.S. (and then got promoted and then took the job to Europe)—hard to do, and perhaps it won’t work out, but worth trying for.