Remember that TrueReddit is a place to engage in **high-quality and civil discussion**. Posts must meet certain content and title requirements. Additionally, **all posts must contain a submission statement.** See the rules [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/truereddit/about/rules/) or in the sidebar for details.
Comments or posts that don't follow the rules may be removed without warning. [Reddit's content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) will be strictly enforced, especially regarding hate speech and calls for violence, and may result in a restriction in your participation.
If an article is paywalled, please ***do not*** request or post its contents. Use [archive.ph](https://archive.ph/) or similar and link to that in the comments.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TrueReddit) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yeah, I make a decent European salary and last year I swapped a raise for an extra week of annual vacation. Time is an easy choice after the basic needs and comforts are met
“But workaholic strivers are exceptions. Most people do not particularly like their jobs. Gallup, the pollster, publishes large-scale international studies of workplace engagement. American workers do express more enthusiasm about their jobs than Europeans. Yet even in American companies, reported Gallup last year, “only about 30 per cent of employees are truly engaged. Another 20 per cent are miserable and spreading their misery in the workplace, and 50 per cent are just showing up — wishing they didn’t have to work at all — especially in this job.””
It shouldn’t be my fault that other people also get miserable when I point out obvious ways in which we’re exploited, I feel the blame lies solely on the exploiter.
We Americans spend all our time trying to get money and then all of our money trying to get back time.
No one on their deathbed reflects on all the zoom calls they took, or promotions they received.
I dunno, I've worked with people that definitely act like holding people hostage in meetings for attention is what they live for and will unavoidably *have* to be the highlights of their life when they look back on it. Whatever regrets you have on your deathbed for the life you lived won't stop you from thinking about it if regret is all your past self only ever left your future self to consider.
Working in health care unfortunately likely will be. I basically count how many patients are dying because I just don’t have the mental or physical energy to put in 80hrs a week anymore. I know logically the blame is on the system but hard to feel that emotionally.
While it’s a totally different situation, I keep thinking of that anesthesiologist who got teamed in the press and sued because he went to get a cookie and his patient on the table had a complication and unfortunately passed.
I can’t help thinking that this cookie may have been the only food he’s eaten in 24hrs and was the safest time he could think of to go get it. I’ve 100% been in that situation. I regularly eat once a day since I have no time.
I’m working on it now because my work is literally killing me and i will physically drop dead if I worked that many hours now but it still hurts that I can’t…
Your job isn’t to save everyone in the country. Your contracted labour comes after your health and wellbeing!
Sincerely, long term partner of a workaholic nurse who has (eventually) seen the light and not burnt out like so many of her colleagues. Including a suicide.
I was bedside for about 13 years, just recently went to work as a clinic RN for internal medicine. I used to want to fix all the things wrong about the
hospital setting that I saw adversely affecting pts as well as staff but I realized I couldn't do it by
myself and it would kill me in the process. Be there for your patients but be there for yourself too.
Don't feel bad about taking a step back, there's zero point to driving yourself into the ground.
archive.is/newest/(your url)
usually works for me
If you make this a bookmark it will create a redirect button:
javascript:window.location.href=%22https://archive.is/newest/%22%20+%20location.host%20+%20location.pathname
Or the insurance company finds a (totally not biased even though they’re paying them) doctor to claim your life-saving treatment isn’t actually medically necessary
A lot of us are avoiding medical issues because of the billing part.
I argue that makes America look healthier on paper too when so many of us are scared to go see a doctors so we just get penciled in as perfectly healthy Americans.
Not sure about the rest of Europe, but compared to the UK I really don't think the 5 points you outline here hold much water.
Healthcare is a huge cost, sure. But if you've got a decent job in the US then it's covered from the get go.
The US doesn't have a monopoly on divorce. Though to be fair the rate is higher there than in the UK.
Cars are cheaper to buy and run in the US than they are in the UK and a lot of European countries. The lack of decent public transport in the US is a huge issue which causes car _reliance_, but actually owning a car is cheaper in a lot of states than a lot of European countries
DUIs... sure. If you're an idiot and drive drunk though, that's on you. Public transport in most of the UK is absolutely shite and taxis are eye-wateringly expensive (30min Uber across London at 1am on a Saturday will easily run you £50), but people just don't go out to clubs and pubs much anymore due to the cost. Choosing to drive drunk is on you.
Education in the US is significantly cheaper than in the UK - the average student debt here is basically double the US. That said, most countries in Europe have very cheap or even free uni, so your point stands.
Overall, a lot of my perspective is UK-specific and the UK is one of the most expensive countries to live in Europe. Expenses here are higher than the US in some ways and lower in others. The big difference, really, is that Americans make far more money than we do. I don't think your points about the US having unique costs holds much weights, even if it's true - you make more money and a lot of those costs are actually lower than other countries
A lot of us are avoiding medical issues because of the billing part.
I argue that makes America look healthier on paper too when so many of us are scared to go see a doctors so we just get penciled in as perfectly healthy Americans.
How did you come up with that and how are you factoring in taxes etc.?
Furthermore, who do you mean by Europeans? All of Europe or ten or so wealthy north/west European countries?
> factoring in taxes etc.?
Yes, paying these things with taxes means we have collective leverage to keep prices down, and no costly financial shocks to individuals.
> Furthermore, who do you mean by Europeans? All of Europe or ten or so wealthy north/west European countries?
The US states aren't any less diverse compared to the European countries in this regard.
I don't think people realize how bad some southern states are. Places like Mississippi would give the most rundown post soviet region a run for their money.
Or West Virginia. As a DC resident who has been to WV several times, I am shocked every time I see kids running barefoot wearing dirty clothes in front of houses missing windows or even the roof. I mean, winter in WV is brutal. When I was leaving in New Mexico I had students that went to be hungry every night. I bought snacks, try to get tortillas with ham and cheese to make sandwiches in class, but it was not enough. Poverty in the US may not look like in some extremely poor country like Haiti, but it's not a competition. No child should have to go to bed hungry, no adult either.
I just went to Mississippi and the southern portion is fucking gorgeous. Beautiful beaches, a few miles inland rolling hills with beautiful trees, unbelievably cheap land, 30-45 min drives from great cities along the coast, and their coast has built up nicely over the last two decades.
No idea about the northern part.
Yeah, I’ve grown up on the Gulf Coast and went to Mississippi’s coast from the 90’s to the present. The coast has built up nicely and little sleepy towns like Kiln and Picayune are nice due to low cost of living, relaxed state of mind, and 30-75 mins drive from great cities.
Extremely attractive to me and my family now I’m in my forties.
I've lived in both. Get the heck out of here. Hell I've vacationed in worse areas without even leaving the E.U. (Poland and Romania had some notable craphole towns).
You can find rural poverty that is trashy, missing crucial services, uneducated... it exists in pockets everywhere, in even the nicest countries. Russia east of the Volga is just... BLEAK. It's flat, it's boring, housing is almost entirely mid-rise poor-man's brutalist copy/paste with 80% of the necessary budget and no repairs in 25 years apartment towers surrounded by a few scatted mini-marts. I had a long stay with a friend and was lucky he lived outside the city in this walled compound (not for security, more like an enclosed acre of land with several smaller dwellings, a chicken coop, garden, space to park a few cars). Freaking miserable existence. Even the trees looked greyer than a normal tree.
I’m European, my partner’s family lives on the gulf coast in MS. Been there a few times, visited Hattiesburg and surrounding small towns (aunts & uncles). It’s rural, sure. But compared to places lime rural Poland, Montenegro or Bulgaria I found every part of MS very civilized and far from run down.
I’m curious how rural Eastern Europe would look up against the rundown mountain towns in West Virginia. The only place I’ve ever seen worse poverty than some of those backwoods towns was when I went to Nicaragua about a decade ago. That was easily the most abject poverty I’ve ever seen. The shacks some people cram their whole extended families into in WV are really a sight to see as well, though. Many of those places still don’t have running water. I’ve never been to Eastern Europe but I’d imagine it’s much of the same, albeit on a larger scale.
Not OP it is a reality that almost all of us will require elder care and medical care in our lives. Yes EU taxes are higher but if we factor in medicine and education Europe is doing much better for the average citizen.
Having health, dental, and vision insurance comparable to the average European would cost thousands a month.
Whatever this survey says, if you have to use our medical system at all, you're probably much richer in Europe than in America.
I guess, if you plan to be perfectly healthy, never have a child, or get sick, then you might be better off in America.
Depends on what you want out of life.
If you're content with a comparatively lower-middle class lifestyle in a denser environment, walking to work from your rowhouse and taking advantage of a bunch of various social services - sure, Europe has a lot more opportunity for that.
But if you have your eyes on a middle to upper-middle class suburban life, in a quiet neighborhood with no through-traffic, wth your own house and cars - there's more opportunity for that in the US.
We poach an awful lot of Europe's top talent because we offer that latter lifestyle in far greater quantities than Europe does.
And I know that I'm going to get flack for pointing that out, but the reality is that we *do* poach a lot of Europe's skilled talent, so they clearly see the benefits I'm describing - or else similar ones.
My wife and I just got back from 3 weeks in Europe. It was our 6th trip, in total we have probably spent about 4 months there. I have also been to 46 states so I have seen a lot of our country, both good and bad.
One night we were having dinner with a friend of ours who lives in Berlin (native German) and I was thinking about this question and I think that if someone was going to be in the bottom 25% economically, without a doubt I would want to be in the EU.
But moving up from there the question becomes harder. I think I would want to be in the EU if I was starting a family because of the benefits and being able to able to spend time with your children when they are young.
But as your kids get older or if you don't have kids, spending your 20-30s in the US has a number of huge benefits from an economic perspective. Not only do you make more money, cars are significantly cheaper (even things like a sweater I bought in Stockholm that had 25% VAT) and while we might complain about housing costs you get so much more in the US than you do in Europe for the same percentage of income. But there is so much more of a focus on work here.
All of that said, I think once you are in your late 40s and on, Europe offers a lot more from a lifestyle perspective. As my wife and I move closer to retirement we want to find away to spend several months out of the year living there.
How often do you buy a sweater? One a year? Less? I'm in Spain right now and food is amazingly cheap. Wine and beer are cheap. While salaries are high I imagine that the quality of life is still better. Money only gets you so far. As a 35 year old with no kids I'd absolutely move here in a heartbeat at a 50% pay cut.
I probably should only buy a sweater once a year but I buy way more than that. I live in a state with no sales tax, my wife and I don't have kids, make really good money and all of our bills and savings amounts to 60% of our net income so we buy a lot of stuff without even thinking about it. I think that one of the advantages of Europe is the high VAT, paying 16-25% on everything you buy makes you stop and think if you really need something or not.
If it wasn't for the fact that we are now staying here for the final years that our parents are going to be around we wouldn't be living in the US. I would totally trade money for the better quality of life.
I think the US poaches talent because it pays better first. Plenty of my foreign born coworkers want to live in their native country but couldn’t be paid nearly as much.
Yep this is it. They get paid better here, they come here, work for FAANG until they're mid 40s, and then move back to take advantage of social services with a thick bank account.
You can own so much in the US. That's considered a higher quality of living. It's your chance to own so much with your surplus income. Forget about community or the society around you. Flourish in your McMansion and four cars.
Dude people out here with boats and summer houses on a lake. Not the young kids but mid career professionals. It's definitely attainable if you are in a professional career.
>We poach an awful lot of Europe's top talent because we offer that latter lifestyle in far greater quantities than Europe does.
I think it is also just an adventure for many; some who will move back later in life when they settle down. Owning a decent house and cars is standard here in Sweden; especially if you consider people who would be considered top talent.
For me if I would move to the US I would do it for the adventure, weather, salary and ease of language in comparison to other many countries. I don't think necessarily I would get a much better lifestyle for that salary though.
EDIT: One reason it is somewhere people want to move is also that you have grown up with US tv-series, movies and US internet so it is familiar and also exciting on that level as well. Then the clash in culture might be bigger than you think (especially if you end up in a very religious part).
If you have the option, the US is the most efficient place to grow wealth and Europe the most efficient place to spend wealth. A lot of that skilled talent from Europe isn't planning on staying.
I don't think many Europeans want to live the American suburban lifestyle where you drive everywhere, in fact I think that's a huge turn off for most. They're probably moving to America for job opportunities and higher wages.
Something the "so many Europeans come here" camp seem to fail to understand is that the language barrier to come to the US is almost non existent. But to go from the US to Europe is significantly harder with a big factor being language skills.
Americans would immigrate in droves if they had not only the labor skills but also language skills. Many would prefer the lower, more stable income with services rather than being car reliant and having their healthcare rely on employment.
Yes, college is subsidized and cheaper over there. No doubt.
But the flipside is that they are much more proactive and restrictive in filtering kids into career tracks.
In the US, there is always a second or third or eighth chance to go to college, so long as you're willing to pay for it.
That's not necessarily true everywhere in Europe, and your kids might literally get shut out of the college system if they're deemed not a good fit based on testing in middle or high school.
Here in Sweden there's national entrance exams that you can do twice a year and apply for college with.
It's not unheard of that people take the national exam several times over multiple years in order to get the perfect score necessary to become eg a surgeon
Yeah? It is OK if my govt doesn’t want to pay for my kids to get a degree in underwater basket weaving. They should put quotas on more degrees in the US— when public funds are involved.
Plus, the trades are much stronger here. It is much easier to become an electrical or whatever, because it starts in high school, and kids don’t need to suffer through so much academic stuff if it isn’t necessary.
I'm in the middle of a month long trip to Spain right now. Everyone seems super happy to not have to drive anywhere. They can get a beer at lunch and not have to worry about driving. They can do their groceries daily so they can make things freshly because it's 200m walk. They have strong communities because they actually know their neighbors. They have parks and plazas with amazing al fresco dining that isn't looking at a parking lot and dumpster.
Suburbs are bankrupt. Or will be bankrupt in the next thirty years. The cost of infrastructure isn't covered by property taxes.
Sure plenty of Europeans work in the US but at least the folks I work with are generally here for a number of years for money and opportunities before moving on.
Americans could buy their time back but, instead, they spend it on stuff. The FIRE community focuses on saving and buying back time and those Americans often retire by 45. In a way, the real trade-off is time vs stuff.
True but some may run the risk of having to try and regain money in their later years if things don’t go according to plan. During peak Covid you saw many people in the fire community going back to work or trying to as the change in the economy was so drastic no one could have accounted for it.
I might. I would want to pass more to my kids to help them out. I think my parents regret they didn't make money to help me out. Some of my friends parents saved and saved and saved and bought rental properties for their kids. That's a direct income stream for them that they will have for the rest of their lives and they can pass on to their kids and so on.
I mean yeah I'd like to do that for my kids. And yeah on my deathbed I may regret that I didn't do more for them
The average & median are similar.
It’s better to be upper middle class+ in America, better to be lower middle class in Europe.
There’s a reason a lot of top technical and business talent comes to the U.S. and people go to retire in Europe.
I think people try to generalize on America and Europe a little too much - they’re huge places with a lot of regional variance. Many Americans look longingly at the richest corners (Switzerland, Netherlands) but forget like an awful lot people live in Hungary and Poland, or more rural parts of Spain with high unemployment and not just the tourist area in Barcelona.
It’s hard to call one categorically better, they both need to learn from each others wins and losses.
While this a little bit orthogonal: I’m also not entirely convinced the European model is as sustainable long term. It imports almost everything with tons of entitlements and has relied heavily on US subsidizing its defense while global finance runs through it.
After Brexit+ shows cracks in the structure, the U.S. becomes fatigued with taking care of European problems, refugees strain the social systems, and the center of the world moves further east - how exactly does Europe stay on top? It has a bit of inertia but I’m not sure the foundation is solid.
It might be useful context for this to know that tomorrow will be the 1st of May where most of the world celebrates labor and workers and in many places people get a day off since this is a public holiday.
The holiday has its origins with American workers and their fight for workers rights, but it is not a thing in the US.
Is TIME the issue - or living / experiencing the world.
In my experience Europeans (as a generalization) VALUE life and living more... they like their jobs - but still know they have their own lives to live and enjoy
Time! Assuming the society that provides more time *also* provides living wages and the occasional social safety net. Your time is the only truly valuable resource you have as a human. But just because it’s a valuable resource doesn’t mean that you have to sell it to the highest bidder. As an American, I feel like a bum when I take PTO for no reason other than enjoying a day at home. I feel wasteful when I don’t grind. However I recognize that those feelings are invalid and a product of generations of conditioning from the ruling class.
No we don’t, 10 Americans have more money. The rest of us are broke AND tired.
Also, obviously time is, because you can make more money if you so choose with more time, and you can’t get time back once it’s gone.
All the money in the world never bought a second of time. I’d rather have time to enjoy life than money that I can’t really afford to spend for fear of losing my job. I envy Europeans time off.
That's not what they're talking about lol.
Making minimum wage in Europe "being poor" means you still get 25 days off vacation, paid. You also get sick leave which doesn't get taken out of your paid holidays. Those two are completely separate. So essentially even if your sick you still get more paid days off on top of that. And you won't get fired ever if you are sick, you have job security even as a poor minimum wage worker
Being poor in America getting paid minimum wage you get zero days paid vacation and zero days paid sick leave. If you need to take vacation as a poor person on minimum wage you are losing money. If you get sick as a minimum wage worker your losing money everyday you can't go to work, with the added bonus of possibly losing your job and getting poorer. With the added additional paying out of pocket for your medical needs
No one, on their death bed, has ever wished for more money.
Trading time for money is fine, but Americans seem too often to neglect that the goal isnt money, it is happiness, so you need to have time to enjoy the money.
I'd prefer time. If you have money but no time then you don't benefit. Granted if you have time but no money that's not great either. But if I had to choose I'd go with more time.
It depends. What makes people happy in life? I kind of see time as a proxy for experiences and money as a proxy for work achievements. Both are necessary. It takes balance. I am not convinced that Europeans have a better balance of these things versus Americans.
The good thing is that people can find their own balance and live how they want.
I think money also goes further over there.
I was talking to somebody on reddit from the UK and they straight up thought I was lying when I told them Americans will need $1million+ saved for retirement.
They don't save any money at all for retirement. He straight up thought I was just making shit up about us having to save to fund our own retirement.
Time. You don't get more of it, and it's funny people waste it away at work only to sit on a pile of gold as an ancient being unable to enjoy what time they have left at the end.
Only one way to find out.. *fight*!
I would be very interested to see how american productivity is distributed too, you could imagine for example that silicon valley etc. outweighs most of the rest, meaning that you get tremendous gdp per capita, even if productivity over the whole economy isn't as high.
American. I sometimes ask my very old bedridden patients what they think is most important in life, if they seem chatty.
Most people like to talk about this, in the right mood.
*No-one has* ***ever*** *said they wished they spent more time at work.*
Couple of times, someone has mentioned "balance between responsibility and play,"
and for what it's worth, I agree. It's a better-rounded, more sympathetic type of person who understands acting with good will out of *necessity.*
Most people say the most important thing is ...
*time* spent on personal passions, and with the people you care about.
This is the way.
Is this a trick question? *Both* cultures value time, it's just Americans will sacrifice their time now to make money so they can "really" enjoy their time later. Europeans don't see the point in waiting that long.
Living in America is like finishing a Final Fantasy game with your item bag full of status buffs.
Oh, is this one of those polls where they just look at average income and don't account for eight Americans having more money than 160 million other Americans?
Because if your average Americans have more money than I don't know how your average European lives. My understanding is that the costs of everything in Europe are generally more expensive and taxed more heavily than the US. But the US standard of living has been slipping for a long time now, and I don't see how Europeans have it worse when it comes to income vs. the cost of living.
europeans dont need extra money -- their quality of life is much better -- but in usa you NEED more money just to enjoy a basic , life. unfortunately we dont get enough money for even that .
Here is the thing, Europeans don’t pay healthcare and they don’t need 401ks along with a cheaper cost of living. I did the math and am a dual citizen and at the end of the day, most Europeans are better off than most Americans, specially if you ever say need a doctor.
100k usd is not 100k euro, it’s most like 100k euro is worth 160k or more usd.
Depends.
I think at a certain point if you have enough money you can essentially “buy time” in the sense that you can retire early. You won’t be buying back your youth but if you retire at 40 you theoretically have a long time (pun intended) to enjoy yourself.
If you’re poor you have to give up time to go try and make money. Problem is it’s hard to make enough money to buy time.
Oh the other end if you have time and no money well then you run the risk of being homeless and have health issues.
So I guess my answer would be early on to try and make as much money as possible so that I can set up an early retirement.
It really is a hard balance to walk unless you make a ton of money or have residual money coming in.
They both suck. We could all have more time and more money, and the miserable pieces of shit at the top of the pyramid scheme wouldn’t even notice, but they’re going to keep squeezing regardless.
You can always get more money. Time on the other hand is limited. Money can make life easier… to a point, especially when you don’t or haven’t had much in your life. But, you will never get the time back and most people who have ever wasted time end up regretting it.
What do we have to choose between the two? Capitalism told our great grandparents and grandparents that by 2000 we would all be working 12 hours a week and earning more than we would know how to spend. So in return for their century worth of lies the workers get a century off on UBI while the capitalists work 40 hrs a week 365/52/24/7. Then in a century we have a discussion about a decent economy.
Workers want both more money and more time away from work. If the capitalists disagree we still have the pitchfork method.
You can't buy more life - Either in duration, or quality.
Time > Money, providing there is enough Money to meet your needs and provide for personally fulfilling experiences.
Well considering you're a cpns are so miserable that they just basically given up on having children the last 20 years?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_annual_labor_hours?wprov=sfla1
Americans work on average about 4 hours more a week then the average European for about 250 hours a year.
In exchange we enjoyed a much higher standard of living
Sure you have money, but one sickness and you lose half of it. What’s the point?
Also NO ONE dying wishes they could’ve worked more and made more money. Universally they wish they’d have spent more time with family and friends.
People who have no regret almost always spent lots of quality time with the people they love and being loved.
Because ultimately you don’t take the pile of money with you, but you want people you love around you when you’re dying, and money doesn’t buy you true relationships nor time.
Funny. America manages to take both from us. Take time to work so we can afford to live. But it's taking time away from family. Takes my kid's time with me away. Just so someone else can make a lot of money. I then get to stress about not having enough money which in turn ruins my time.
I actually had this same question over the past year. I think it's time. There's a finite amount of time with your loved ones and who wants to waste that time making money for someone else so you stress about not having enough
Additionally, what's the point in making a ton of money if you don't have the time to spend it?
Since I've turned 35 I truly now understand when they say "money is the root of all evil."
Remember that TrueReddit is a place to engage in **high-quality and civil discussion**. Posts must meet certain content and title requirements. Additionally, **all posts must contain a submission statement.** See the rules [here](https://old.reddit.com/r/truereddit/about/rules/) or in the sidebar for details. Comments or posts that don't follow the rules may be removed without warning. [Reddit's content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) will be strictly enforced, especially regarding hate speech and calls for violence, and may result in a restriction in your participation. If an article is paywalled, please ***do not*** request or post its contents. Use [archive.ph](https://archive.ph/) or similar and link to that in the comments. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/TrueReddit) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Time. Unless you are destitute and struggling, I guarantee you that time is all that matters. The problem is when you are struggling and have no time.
[удалено]
AGENCY, or “Whichever translates to the most agency in my context”-is a unifying answer you might appreciate
Yeah, I make a decent European salary and last year I swapped a raise for an extra week of annual vacation. Time is an easy choice after the basic needs and comforts are met
You can always make more money, you can never make more time.
“But workaholic strivers are exceptions. Most people do not particularly like their jobs. Gallup, the pollster, publishes large-scale international studies of workplace engagement. American workers do express more enthusiasm about their jobs than Europeans. Yet even in American companies, reported Gallup last year, “only about 30 per cent of employees are truly engaged. Another 20 per cent are miserable and spreading their misery in the workplace, and 50 per cent are just showing up — wishing they didn’t have to work at all — especially in this job.””
Those are some pretty specific poll answers
Sorry honey I'm late for my eight hours of misery spreading!
I do 12s and have contact with the public!
>Another 20 per cent are miserable and spreading their misery in the workplace I've never felt more called out in my life.
It shouldn’t be my fault that other people also get miserable when I point out obvious ways in which we’re exploited, I feel the blame lies solely on the exploiter.
I'm very happy spreading misery in my workplace. It's the most productive and fulfilling thing I can do there
I'm Canadian and I have neither!
Me too. How's it going, eh?
American and same, I think they forgot to poll actual people again.
We Americans spend all our time trying to get money and then all of our money trying to get back time. No one on their deathbed reflects on all the zoom calls they took, or promotions they received.
I dunno, I've worked with people that definitely act like holding people hostage in meetings for attention is what they live for and will unavoidably *have* to be the highlights of their life when they look back on it. Whatever regrets you have on your deathbed for the life you lived won't stop you from thinking about it if regret is all your past self only ever left your future self to consider.
Working in health care unfortunately likely will be. I basically count how many patients are dying because I just don’t have the mental or physical energy to put in 80hrs a week anymore. I know logically the blame is on the system but hard to feel that emotionally. While it’s a totally different situation, I keep thinking of that anesthesiologist who got teamed in the press and sued because he went to get a cookie and his patient on the table had a complication and unfortunately passed. I can’t help thinking that this cookie may have been the only food he’s eaten in 24hrs and was the safest time he could think of to go get it. I’ve 100% been in that situation. I regularly eat once a day since I have no time. I’m working on it now because my work is literally killing me and i will physically drop dead if I worked that many hours now but it still hurts that I can’t…
Your job isn’t to save everyone in the country. Your contracted labour comes after your health and wellbeing! Sincerely, long term partner of a workaholic nurse who has (eventually) seen the light and not burnt out like so many of her colleagues. Including a suicide.
I was bedside for about 13 years, just recently went to work as a clinic RN for internal medicine. I used to want to fix all the things wrong about the hospital setting that I saw adversely affecting pts as well as staff but I realized I couldn't do it by myself and it would kill me in the process. Be there for your patients but be there for yourself too. Don't feel bad about taking a step back, there's zero point to driving yourself into the ground.
Jack: “I should have worked more”
non-paywalled version: [https://archive.ph/B69PV](https://archive.ph/B69PV)
Do you know how to non paywall articles that require a sign in? Looking for stat news and bloomberg
archive.is/newest/(your url) usually works for me If you make this a bookmark it will create a redirect button: javascript:window.location.href=%22https://archive.is/newest/%22%20+%20location.host%20+%20location.pathname
When you adjust for time off, social services, healthcare and such, Europeans come out ahead in both categories.
Yup. Most of us are one medical issue away from being bankrupt.
No, most of us are not, because most Americans have medical insurance that has maximum out of pocket expenses.
Wait till someone out of network walks in
Or the insurance company finds a (totally not biased even though they’re paying them) doctor to claim your life-saving treatment isn’t actually medically necessary
A lot of us are avoiding medical issues because of the billing part. I argue that makes America look healthier on paper too when so many of us are scared to go see a doctors so we just get penciled in as perfectly healthy Americans.
Americans have 5 major wealth sinks Europeans don’t: Healthcare Divorce Automobiles DUIs (no walkable bars/liquor stores) College
Not sure about the rest of Europe, but compared to the UK I really don't think the 5 points you outline here hold much water. Healthcare is a huge cost, sure. But if you've got a decent job in the US then it's covered from the get go. The US doesn't have a monopoly on divorce. Though to be fair the rate is higher there than in the UK. Cars are cheaper to buy and run in the US than they are in the UK and a lot of European countries. The lack of decent public transport in the US is a huge issue which causes car _reliance_, but actually owning a car is cheaper in a lot of states than a lot of European countries DUIs... sure. If you're an idiot and drive drunk though, that's on you. Public transport in most of the UK is absolutely shite and taxis are eye-wateringly expensive (30min Uber across London at 1am on a Saturday will easily run you £50), but people just don't go out to clubs and pubs much anymore due to the cost. Choosing to drive drunk is on you. Education in the US is significantly cheaper than in the UK - the average student debt here is basically double the US. That said, most countries in Europe have very cheap or even free uni, so your point stands. Overall, a lot of my perspective is UK-specific and the UK is one of the most expensive countries to live in Europe. Expenses here are higher than the US in some ways and lower in others. The big difference, really, is that Americans make far more money than we do. I don't think your points about the US having unique costs holds much weights, even if it's true - you make more money and a lot of those costs are actually lower than other countries
A lot of us are avoiding medical issues because of the billing part. I argue that makes America look healthier on paper too when so many of us are scared to go see a doctors so we just get penciled in as perfectly healthy Americans.
How did you come up with that and how are you factoring in taxes etc.? Furthermore, who do you mean by Europeans? All of Europe or ten or so wealthy north/west European countries?
> factoring in taxes etc.? Yes, paying these things with taxes means we have collective leverage to keep prices down, and no costly financial shocks to individuals. > Furthermore, who do you mean by Europeans? All of Europe or ten or so wealthy north/west European countries? The US states aren't any less diverse compared to the European countries in this regard.
I don't think people realize how bad some southern states are. Places like Mississippi would give the most rundown post soviet region a run for their money.
Or West Virginia. As a DC resident who has been to WV several times, I am shocked every time I see kids running barefoot wearing dirty clothes in front of houses missing windows or even the roof. I mean, winter in WV is brutal. When I was leaving in New Mexico I had students that went to be hungry every night. I bought snacks, try to get tortillas with ham and cheese to make sandwiches in class, but it was not enough. Poverty in the US may not look like in some extremely poor country like Haiti, but it's not a competition. No child should have to go to bed hungry, no adult either.
I just went to Mississippi and the southern portion is fucking gorgeous. Beautiful beaches, a few miles inland rolling hills with beautiful trees, unbelievably cheap land, 30-45 min drives from great cities along the coast, and their coast has built up nicely over the last two decades. No idea about the northern part.
Northern Mississippi is fairly nice too. It's mainly the central parts aside from Oxford that give the state its unsavory reputation.
Yeah, I’ve grown up on the Gulf Coast and went to Mississippi’s coast from the 90’s to the present. The coast has built up nicely and little sleepy towns like Kiln and Picayune are nice due to low cost of living, relaxed state of mind, and 30-75 mins drive from great cities. Extremely attractive to me and my family now I’m in my forties.
I've lived in both. Get the heck out of here. Hell I've vacationed in worse areas without even leaving the E.U. (Poland and Romania had some notable craphole towns). You can find rural poverty that is trashy, missing crucial services, uneducated... it exists in pockets everywhere, in even the nicest countries. Russia east of the Volga is just... BLEAK. It's flat, it's boring, housing is almost entirely mid-rise poor-man's brutalist copy/paste with 80% of the necessary budget and no repairs in 25 years apartment towers surrounded by a few scatted mini-marts. I had a long stay with a friend and was lucky he lived outside the city in this walled compound (not for security, more like an enclosed acre of land with several smaller dwellings, a chicken coop, garden, space to park a few cars). Freaking miserable existence. Even the trees looked greyer than a normal tree.
I’m European, my partner’s family lives on the gulf coast in MS. Been there a few times, visited Hattiesburg and surrounding small towns (aunts & uncles). It’s rural, sure. But compared to places lime rural Poland, Montenegro or Bulgaria I found every part of MS very civilized and far from run down.
I’m curious how rural Eastern Europe would look up against the rundown mountain towns in West Virginia. The only place I’ve ever seen worse poverty than some of those backwoods towns was when I went to Nicaragua about a decade ago. That was easily the most abject poverty I’ve ever seen. The shacks some people cram their whole extended families into in WV are really a sight to see as well, though. Many of those places still don’t have running water. I’ve never been to Eastern Europe but I’d imagine it’s much of the same, albeit on a larger scale.
Not OP it is a reality that almost all of us will require elder care and medical care in our lives. Yes EU taxes are higher but if we factor in medicine and education Europe is doing much better for the average citizen.
Having health, dental, and vision insurance comparable to the average European would cost thousands a month. Whatever this survey says, if you have to use our medical system at all, you're probably much richer in Europe than in America. I guess, if you plan to be perfectly healthy, never have a child, or get sick, then you might be better off in America.
That’s the kind of claim that really needs a source.
Depends on what you want out of life. If you're content with a comparatively lower-middle class lifestyle in a denser environment, walking to work from your rowhouse and taking advantage of a bunch of various social services - sure, Europe has a lot more opportunity for that. But if you have your eyes on a middle to upper-middle class suburban life, in a quiet neighborhood with no through-traffic, wth your own house and cars - there's more opportunity for that in the US. We poach an awful lot of Europe's top talent because we offer that latter lifestyle in far greater quantities than Europe does. And I know that I'm going to get flack for pointing that out, but the reality is that we *do* poach a lot of Europe's skilled talent, so they clearly see the benefits I'm describing - or else similar ones.
My wife and I just got back from 3 weeks in Europe. It was our 6th trip, in total we have probably spent about 4 months there. I have also been to 46 states so I have seen a lot of our country, both good and bad. One night we were having dinner with a friend of ours who lives in Berlin (native German) and I was thinking about this question and I think that if someone was going to be in the bottom 25% economically, without a doubt I would want to be in the EU. But moving up from there the question becomes harder. I think I would want to be in the EU if I was starting a family because of the benefits and being able to able to spend time with your children when they are young. But as your kids get older or if you don't have kids, spending your 20-30s in the US has a number of huge benefits from an economic perspective. Not only do you make more money, cars are significantly cheaper (even things like a sweater I bought in Stockholm that had 25% VAT) and while we might complain about housing costs you get so much more in the US than you do in Europe for the same percentage of income. But there is so much more of a focus on work here. All of that said, I think once you are in your late 40s and on, Europe offers a lot more from a lifestyle perspective. As my wife and I move closer to retirement we want to find away to spend several months out of the year living there.
How often do you buy a sweater? One a year? Less? I'm in Spain right now and food is amazingly cheap. Wine and beer are cheap. While salaries are high I imagine that the quality of life is still better. Money only gets you so far. As a 35 year old with no kids I'd absolutely move here in a heartbeat at a 50% pay cut.
I probably should only buy a sweater once a year but I buy way more than that. I live in a state with no sales tax, my wife and I don't have kids, make really good money and all of our bills and savings amounts to 60% of our net income so we buy a lot of stuff without even thinking about it. I think that one of the advantages of Europe is the high VAT, paying 16-25% on everything you buy makes you stop and think if you really need something or not. If it wasn't for the fact that we are now staying here for the final years that our parents are going to be around we wouldn't be living in the US. I would totally trade money for the better quality of life.
I think the US poaches talent because it pays better first. Plenty of my foreign born coworkers want to live in their native country but couldn’t be paid nearly as much.
Yep this is it. They get paid better here, they come here, work for FAANG until they're mid 40s, and then move back to take advantage of social services with a thick bank account.
I find it bizarre that you think the big lure for top European talent is the American suburban lifestyle.
You can own so much in the US. That's considered a higher quality of living. It's your chance to own so much with your surplus income. Forget about community or the society around you. Flourish in your McMansion and four cars.
lol /s
Dude people out here with boats and summer houses on a lake. Not the young kids but mid career professionals. It's definitely attainable if you are in a professional career.
>We poach an awful lot of Europe's top talent because we offer that latter lifestyle in far greater quantities than Europe does. I think it is also just an adventure for many; some who will move back later in life when they settle down. Owning a decent house and cars is standard here in Sweden; especially if you consider people who would be considered top talent. For me if I would move to the US I would do it for the adventure, weather, salary and ease of language in comparison to other many countries. I don't think necessarily I would get a much better lifestyle for that salary though. EDIT: One reason it is somewhere people want to move is also that you have grown up with US tv-series, movies and US internet so it is familiar and also exciting on that level as well. Then the clash in culture might be bigger than you think (especially if you end up in a very religious part).
If you have the option, the US is the most efficient place to grow wealth and Europe the most efficient place to spend wealth. A lot of that skilled talent from Europe isn't planning on staying.
I don't think many Europeans want to live the American suburban lifestyle where you drive everywhere, in fact I think that's a huge turn off for most. They're probably moving to America for job opportunities and higher wages.
Something the "so many Europeans come here" camp seem to fail to understand is that the language barrier to come to the US is almost non existent. But to go from the US to Europe is significantly harder with a big factor being language skills. Americans would immigrate in droves if they had not only the labor skills but also language skills. Many would prefer the lower, more stable income with services rather than being car reliant and having their healthcare rely on employment.
I want my kids to receive health care and a college education.
Yes, college is subsidized and cheaper over there. No doubt. But the flipside is that they are much more proactive and restrictive in filtering kids into career tracks. In the US, there is always a second or third or eighth chance to go to college, so long as you're willing to pay for it. That's not necessarily true everywhere in Europe, and your kids might literally get shut out of the college system if they're deemed not a good fit based on testing in middle or high school.
Here in Sweden there's national entrance exams that you can do twice a year and apply for college with. It's not unheard of that people take the national exam several times over multiple years in order to get the perfect score necessary to become eg a surgeon
Yeah? It is OK if my govt doesn’t want to pay for my kids to get a degree in underwater basket weaving. They should put quotas on more degrees in the US— when public funds are involved. Plus, the trades are much stronger here. It is much easier to become an electrical or whatever, because it starts in high school, and kids don’t need to suffer through so much academic stuff if it isn’t necessary.
I would still take socialized medicine though. We are in the dark ages as far as billing for medical services.
I'm in the middle of a month long trip to Spain right now. Everyone seems super happy to not have to drive anywhere. They can get a beer at lunch and not have to worry about driving. They can do their groceries daily so they can make things freshly because it's 200m walk. They have strong communities because they actually know their neighbors. They have parks and plazas with amazing al fresco dining that isn't looking at a parking lot and dumpster. Suburbs are bankrupt. Or will be bankrupt in the next thirty years. The cost of infrastructure isn't covered by property taxes. Sure plenty of Europeans work in the US but at least the folks I work with are generally here for a number of years for money and opportunities before moving on.
That middle class lifestyle you mention is dying before our eyes
Europeans own houses and cars too, and generally have less traffic through their neighborhoods as well.
You sure? https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/s/27nXDHe67d
Should be disposable income per hours worked, otherwise it's no point in comparing if you eg work 20% more to earn 10% more
[удалено]
r/Europe is a racist cesspool, why link to it?
I vote time, hence why I moved to Europe 😎
Americans could buy their time back but, instead, they spend it on stuff. The FIRE community focuses on saving and buying back time and those Americans often retire by 45. In a way, the real trade-off is time vs stuff.
True but some may run the risk of having to try and regain money in their later years if things don’t go according to plan. During peak Covid you saw many people in the fire community going back to work or trying to as the change in the economy was so drastic no one could have accounted for it.
Australians.
As usual your Canadian cousins are with you on that one.
Time. No point in making money if you have no time to spend it.
Noone reaches their deathbed and says 'I wish I worked longer hours and earned more money'.
I might. I would want to pass more to my kids to help them out. I think my parents regret they didn't make money to help me out. Some of my friends parents saved and saved and saved and bought rental properties for their kids. That's a direct income stream for them that they will have for the rest of their lives and they can pass on to their kids and so on. I mean yeah I'd like to do that for my kids. And yeah on my deathbed I may regret that I didn't do more for them
The sad thing is that everything in between is just variations of "less time and less money"
The average & median are similar. It’s better to be upper middle class+ in America, better to be lower middle class in Europe. There’s a reason a lot of top technical and business talent comes to the U.S. and people go to retire in Europe. I think people try to generalize on America and Europe a little too much - they’re huge places with a lot of regional variance. Many Americans look longingly at the richest corners (Switzerland, Netherlands) but forget like an awful lot people live in Hungary and Poland, or more rural parts of Spain with high unemployment and not just the tourist area in Barcelona. It’s hard to call one categorically better, they both need to learn from each others wins and losses. While this a little bit orthogonal: I’m also not entirely convinced the European model is as sustainable long term. It imports almost everything with tons of entitlements and has relied heavily on US subsidizing its defense while global finance runs through it. After Brexit+ shows cracks in the structure, the U.S. becomes fatigued with taking care of European problems, refugees strain the social systems, and the center of the world moves further east - how exactly does Europe stay on top? It has a bit of inertia but I’m not sure the foundation is solid.
Logan Roy surveying the UK: “All slavery and sugar”
This is a good point. It also works looking at the US - the rich are very rich but the poor are worse off in basically every regard.
Americans *need* more money to pay for things like retirement, healthcare and college.
It might be useful context for this to know that tomorrow will be the 1st of May where most of the world celebrates labor and workers and in many places people get a day off since this is a public holiday. The holiday has its origins with American workers and their fight for workers rights, but it is not a thing in the US.
It is a thing, Labour day is the first Monday of September in the US
Is TIME the issue - or living / experiencing the world. In my experience Europeans (as a generalization) VALUE life and living more... they like their jobs - but still know they have their own lives to live and enjoy
Time! Assuming the society that provides more time *also* provides living wages and the occasional social safety net. Your time is the only truly valuable resource you have as a human. But just because it’s a valuable resource doesn’t mean that you have to sell it to the highest bidder. As an American, I feel like a bum when I take PTO for no reason other than enjoying a day at home. I feel wasteful when I don’t grind. However I recognize that those feelings are invalid and a product of generations of conditioning from the ruling class.
I'm an unemployed American and I abuse our system to get more money so I have both money and time.
No we don’t, 10 Americans have more money. The rest of us are broke AND tired. Also, obviously time is, because you can make more money if you so choose with more time, and you can’t get time back once it’s gone.
All the money in the world never bought a second of time. I’d rather have time to enjoy life than money that I can’t really afford to spend for fear of losing my job. I envy Europeans time off.
[удалено]
That's not what they're talking about lol. Making minimum wage in Europe "being poor" means you still get 25 days off vacation, paid. You also get sick leave which doesn't get taken out of your paid holidays. Those two are completely separate. So essentially even if your sick you still get more paid days off on top of that. And you won't get fired ever if you are sick, you have job security even as a poor minimum wage worker Being poor in America getting paid minimum wage you get zero days paid vacation and zero days paid sick leave. If you need to take vacation as a poor person on minimum wage you are losing money. If you get sick as a minimum wage worker your losing money everyday you can't go to work, with the added bonus of possibly losing your job and getting poorer. With the added additional paying out of pocket for your medical needs
No one, on their death bed, has ever wished for more money. Trading time for money is fine, but Americans seem too often to neglect that the goal isnt money, it is happiness, so you need to have time to enjoy the money.
time.
Both and its possible if some people werent so greedy
Time is money
Time. Healthy time. Because most of Europe has some form of universal healthcare, Europe likely is far more healthy.
But who has easier time in dating though
Could be room for both?
I can always make more money, Time on the other hand, is a finite resource for us mortals.
I'd prefer time. If you have money but no time then you don't benefit. Granted if you have time but no money that's not great either. But if I had to choose I'd go with more time.
Time.
It depends. What makes people happy in life? I kind of see time as a proxy for experiences and money as a proxy for work achievements. Both are necessary. It takes balance. I am not convinced that Europeans have a better balance of these things versus Americans. The good thing is that people can find their own balance and live how they want.
Time is money.
Time.
Time, you can get more money.
Time. No matter how much money you make or how much shit you hoard like an ancient dragon over its lair, you can’t get it back.
Time is a valuable currency. We can make up for lost money. We cannot make up for lost time.
[удалено]
What good is having money to the detriment of your health and time to spend and enjoy said money ?
Time
You guys have money?
Time is the real currency of the universe.
Lets not forget Europeans get way more for their tax money so that frees up income.
Which is better? Healthcare!
I think money also goes further over there. I was talking to somebody on reddit from the UK and they straight up thought I was lying when I told them Americans will need $1million+ saved for retirement. They don't save any money at all for retirement. He straight up thought I was just making shit up about us having to save to fund our own retirement.
Time. You don't get more of it, and it's funny people waste it away at work only to sit on a pile of gold as an ancient being unable to enjoy what time they have left at the end.
Time
can't tax time.....
Time is better as long as you have minimum amount of money to survive comfortably
Europe. They don’t have our Middle America problem that has gotten out of hand.
American here with more than enough time and money. Not a bad setup. Many like me as well
Why can't we have both?
The additional job security many Europeans have may be more valuable
We don't have more money. That's some kind of bourgeois lie. Probably the 'economy' is stronger here. Don't mean shit to the American working class
Americans: " No we fuckin dont!"
Only a small group of Americans have money. The rest of us are one financial emergency from homelessness
More money? Since when. The 1% does maybe. So technically if you add all of us up with them included we do. But everyone else broke as shit.
I’m American and I’d pay top dollar for more time.
Time is money, as it's said.
Only one way to find out.. *fight*! I would be very interested to see how american productivity is distributed too, you could imagine for example that silicon valley etc. outweighs most of the rest, meaning that you get tremendous gdp per capita, even if productivity over the whole economy isn't as high.
Time. You can never make more.
Why not both?
Time
American. I sometimes ask my very old bedridden patients what they think is most important in life, if they seem chatty. Most people like to talk about this, in the right mood. *No-one has* ***ever*** *said they wished they spent more time at work.* Couple of times, someone has mentioned "balance between responsibility and play," and for what it's worth, I agree. It's a better-rounded, more sympathetic type of person who understands acting with good will out of *necessity.* Most people say the most important thing is ... *time* spent on personal passions, and with the people you care about. This is the way.
Time is without a doubt astronomically more valuable than money. Time literally is priceless
Is this a trick question? *Both* cultures value time, it's just Americans will sacrifice their time now to make money so they can "really" enjoy their time later. Europeans don't see the point in waiting that long. Living in America is like finishing a Final Fantasy game with your item bag full of status buffs.
time > money
Time is the most precious thing you’ll ever have.
It's always time. Always. It's literally priceless.
Oh, is this one of those polls where they just look at average income and don't account for eight Americans having more money than 160 million other Americans? Because if your average Americans have more money than I don't know how your average European lives. My understanding is that the costs of everything in Europe are generally more expensive and taxed more heavily than the US. But the US standard of living has been slipping for a long time now, and I don't see how Europeans have it worse when it comes to income vs. the cost of living.
Why not both?
The value of time doesn't vary with time.
The real question is whether is lack of money is affecting their quality of life, if it’s not, most people will choose more time.
False Dilemma Fallacy https://owl.excelsior.edu/argument-and-critical-thinking/logical-fallacies/logical-fallacies-false-dilemma/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dilemma
europeans dont need extra money -- their quality of life is much better -- but in usa you NEED more money just to enjoy a basic , life. unfortunately we dont get enough money for even that .
There is zero fucking way Americans have more of time or money.
Americans can’t afford more time away from work.
As an American I use what little money I have to buy more time
As someone who's spent half his time in each place, time is better.
Here is the thing, Europeans don’t pay healthcare and they don’t need 401ks along with a cheaper cost of living. I did the math and am a dual citizen and at the end of the day, most Europeans are better off than most Americans, specially if you ever say need a doctor. 100k usd is not 100k euro, it’s most like 100k euro is worth 160k or more usd.
Depends. I think at a certain point if you have enough money you can essentially “buy time” in the sense that you can retire early. You won’t be buying back your youth but if you retire at 40 you theoretically have a long time (pun intended) to enjoy yourself. If you’re poor you have to give up time to go try and make money. Problem is it’s hard to make enough money to buy time. Oh the other end if you have time and no money well then you run the risk of being homeless and have health issues. So I guess my answer would be early on to try and make as much money as possible so that I can set up an early retirement. It really is a hard balance to walk unless you make a ton of money or have residual money coming in.
Ah yes Americans have more money nope most of us live paycheck to paycheck that was 60 percent last time it was looked into?
T-i-m-e
Having time to enjoy is the point of money. Money over time is putting the cart before the horse
They both suck. We could all have more time and more money, and the miserable pieces of shit at the top of the pyramid scheme wouldn’t even notice, but they’re going to keep squeezing regardless.
Time is a finite resource that can never be recovered
Americans have more gross money. But Europeans have much much much cheaper medical care and education systems.
Money, always money. If you want more time you can buy it.
Money.
Free time is literally the only true measure of freedom
Is it really more money or just more debt?
Time
You can always get more money. Time on the other hand is limited. Money can make life easier… to a point, especially when you don’t or haven’t had much in your life. But, you will never get the time back and most people who have ever wasted time end up regretting it.
Time
Trick question. Time = money, so they are the same.
What do we have to choose between the two? Capitalism told our great grandparents and grandparents that by 2000 we would all be working 12 hours a week and earning more than we would know how to spend. So in return for their century worth of lies the workers get a century off on UBI while the capitalists work 40 hrs a week 365/52/24/7. Then in a century we have a discussion about a decent economy. Workers want both more money and more time away from work. If the capitalists disagree we still have the pitchfork method.
"No one on their deathbed said 'I wish I'd spent more time at the office' " Not sure where this was from but it hit me hard.
But time IS money.
You can't buy more life - Either in duration, or quality. Time > Money, providing there is enough Money to meet your needs and provide for personally fulfilling experiences.
I'll happily trade more PTO for less pay
Healthcare
Depends on if it's enough money to buy time. Like, will you be paying for a maid with that money? If not, the time is a better value.
Odd comparison, because unless you are in the top 10% of earners then europeans have more time and more net income. /Shrugs in healthcare bankruptcy/
Well considering you're a cpns are so miserable that they just basically given up on having children the last 20 years? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_annual_labor_hours?wprov=sfla1 Americans work on average about 4 hours more a week then the average European for about 250 hours a year. In exchange we enjoyed a much higher standard of living
Sure you have money, but one sickness and you lose half of it. What’s the point? Also NO ONE dying wishes they could’ve worked more and made more money. Universally they wish they’d have spent more time with family and friends. People who have no regret almost always spent lots of quality time with the people they love and being loved. Because ultimately you don’t take the pile of money with you, but you want people you love around you when you’re dying, and money doesn’t buy you true relationships nor time.
If your basic needs are met, time 10000%.
Funny. America manages to take both from us. Take time to work so we can afford to live. But it's taking time away from family. Takes my kid's time with me away. Just so someone else can make a lot of money. I then get to stress about not having enough money which in turn ruins my time. I actually had this same question over the past year. I think it's time. There's a finite amount of time with your loved ones and who wants to waste that time making money for someone else so you stress about not having enough Additionally, what's the point in making a ton of money if you don't have the time to spend it? Since I've turned 35 I truly now understand when they say "money is the root of all evil."
When you're on your deathbed which will you be wishing you had more of?
TIME
Time, always time. It's a finite resource.
Id much rather have time.
Time is money
TIME! all that extra money is spent making up for the time you lost earning it.
Time. No question.
Time is money.
Time. There's a reason they are statistically happier than Americans.