How Much To Live Good In Netherlands? Switzerland?
 

Just asking what a good monthly salary for a guy to chill out in the old countries? I'm talking single guy to eat good, movies, maybe even drive or motorcycle regularly?

After taxes I mean. What do taxes there get you? I heard and read you do get your money's worth.

Switzerland is amazingly beautiful, but it's possibly the most expensive country in the world.

If you are able to keep 4k (euros = about $5500) after tax you can have a decent living in the netherlands. Average income is about 1500 euros monthly.

I've been to Lucerne and it was gorgeous. I seriously think I could live there, if the cold didn't kill me.

that is not true.

I said it is possibly the most expensive country. I don't really know. Scandinavian countries could be slightly more expensive because anytime I'm there I pay crazy prices for some things.

yep.. I know you said possibly.. which is why I told you how it really is.
If you ever lived in monaco for a few months you really know what expensive is lol
believe me... its insane

swiss prices are pretty normal compared to the rest of western europe (germany, austria, netherlands, ...)

Why would you live there?

Summer time is amazing. Gets too cold in the winter.

meaning youll earn over $10k before taxes :(

I've only visited Monaco, I haven't lived there.

I have lived in London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong though

Switzerland has two cities in the top 10 most expensive cities in the world

a friend of mine told me crazy things about monaco, like paying 5 bucks for an egg lol
london city has sick prices are well... and I mean SICK

as far as the two cities in the top 10 goes...
yep thats easily possible hehe but not throughout the whole country.
depends where you wanna live

Haiti is twice as expensive as New York City.

Food for thought.


PS: Haiti's the poorest country in N. America.

Where did you hear that?

:1orglaugh


Funny thing is, so many N. American's take our great prices for granted.
Move to EU for a year :winkwink:

its worse, just a croissant at a local bakery will set you back $15, try Venice $25 for a coffee nice too :)

Naaah!!!! No fucking way someone would charge $15 for a damned croissant!

If somebody even attempted to charge me that much I would whup their ass right on the spot.

I would be known as the "Croissant Ass Whuppin' Tourist"

$25 for coffee? Are you mad???? Did El Exijente or Juan Valdez pick them coffee beans themselves? I would run for president of the U.S., win and then blow up Colombia if someone charged me $25 for a cup of coffee...

I just need a place to chill out and get my health together and get better at my arts. Netherlands, Switzerland, seem like nice quiet places with cute chicks and no bs.

I'm only guess but I suppose it is like any country and city in the world. Somethings you are going to find are very cheap and others are costly.

In Paris I can get 2 litre bottles of pop for 0.23 euro from the Championette
But to purchase a loaf of standard North American style sliced bread I could be paying as much as 2.50 euro.

Same thing with Cell phones. I purchased a pay-as-you-go cell phone. I will pay a small fortune to call other people. But it is free for anyone to phone me. So I don't phone anyone and I don't charge up any credits on it and as such I have a free cell phone to use.

If you only speak english, then living in the Netherlands would be the easier choice. You would have a little more challenge in Switzerland where not as many people are fluent in english.

But you might enjoy living in a country that doesn't speak as much english?

haha don't you hate it ;)))

you won't have a problem as an english speaking person in most european countries even though I have to agree that living in the netherlands or GB will be the easiest places.
unless you are talking to a 74yo bakery women you will not have any language problems in switzerland, germany or austria either.
If Phil Collins and co survive in switzerland you can, too. :winkwink:

I'm sorry but I think you might have missed the fact that very few people in German speaking countries actually speak English. Just like in France, English won't get you very far.

If you're planning to move to Switzerland, speaking German IS a must.

i just got home from Gstaad, its fucking expensive as fuck..

my homie has two chalet's in town there, worth 20-25 million per property. its insane.

not to mention that their government is really liberal yet responsible in handling the welfare of their citizens or so i heard

Got pics?

don't think so... I know quite a few americans who have almost zero problems in switzerland

It depends ofcourse, if you are in any major city you should be able to get around without knowing any german at all. It woudl be more of a problem in the smaller cities.

Living in Europe can be expensive.

Have you ever been there? Your American friends will probably be able to order a burger at McDonalds, or go to a bank and withdraw money. But that's about it. The Swiss are very stubborn people and they don't even speak what is called "Hoch Deutsch" (High German - common German).

http://www.cipriani.com/cipriani/Locs/ven.htm

1 coffe should be around 25 Euros now.

Thanks Captain Obvious!!!

Absolutely true ... everyone under the age of 60 speaks english in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

From my own experience I would say London and Switzerland are really expensive. You will need at least 4000 Euro after taxes to make a good living there.

Monaco is even more expensive :) But there are many places on the French and Italian Riveria that are not that expensive and it is really fucking beautiful here!!!

I am in switzerland right now till the end of the week :)

Have fun in the snow. :)

In Zurich Now
 

I am sitting on Neudorf Str in Zurich right now at a middle of the road cafe drinking a 6$ bottle of water with a 6$ coffee eating a 22$ pasta, accross from my 200$ hotel. Least i found free wifi

Na think i like Prague better

MaxC

http://www.maxcandy.com/Portfolio/

Funny thread with a HUGE amount of BS floating around :)

For what it's worth unless you're rich or have close relatives there probably best to forget Switzerland anyway. Unless they changed recently the entry requirements to live there aren't exactly low.

As for the debate on prices most of it only applies to property. Actual cost of living is similar across most of Europe if you ignore the property prices. Of course you'll pay an arm and leg for an apartment or house living in the bigger cities. You'll also find an overpriced coffee being sold somewhere in most cities if you're daft enough to want to pay it. Most people have the sense to pop into a normal coffee house and get one for a couple of bucks.

In my experience, property (renting or buying) accounts for a large % of people's cost of living, so you can't really discount that issue so easily.

Well, ok ...
Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries world-wide. But one with the lowest tax rates, too. So if you earn $5k - $6k a month before taxes, you can live here without any problem.

Sure there are places in Zurich where you pay like $8 for a cup of coffee. But hey, noone told you to go there ... right? You can easily get a coffee for $4 (still expensive compared to other countries, i know.)

Living quality is really good in Switzerland. Thats why so many foreign star come here. And since the first of Jan. getting a living and work permission here is easier than it used to be. The gov just wants to make sure that you can live from your own income.

Regarding language: Almost everyone in Switzerland speaks English. So you wont have any problems with that.

(only one thing ... the burger prices are as high as nowhere in the world. $5.4 for a big mac is quite huge :) )

yup, go to Venice the big square sit down order an espresso and cough up $25... well thats including the $5 you pay on the St Marco square for the music you won't like lol

For a US citizens it's easy to get a permit in The Netherlands when he/she is self-employed. I guess you need at least 2000 euro after taxes to have a ok life. It depends a bit on where you stay. Amsterdam is more expensive than smaller villages to rent an apartment for example.

I have never once encountered a single country where dealing with immigration is something I would describe as "easy"

Exactly :(

Taxes are really high....

Well I've got enough friends and especially relatives living in those countries to back me up if need be, but how do they treat artists in those countries?

Every time I would have a book published I would inevitably get letters from both countries inviting me to visit or establish a business there. I couldn't figure it out. Somehow they just had to ask me. They would ignore the other guys at the companies but sure enough they'd find me.

It was like they were competing with one another.

well this weekend i was in our nice capital amsterdam and holy shit i never realised prices could be so much different there then the east of holland where i live... 2 bacardi cokes for 14 euro!!?? in some normal lame ass fucking bar! Thats 35 old fahioned guilders... its fucking insane!

... especially if one has a site with golden traffic :winkwink:

come in cyprus, we'll go jogging in the morning 50ft from the sea side, we'll hit the gyms, pools and night clubs.





my daily schedule now :pimp

I agree I was simply making a point about the stupid and far from representative prices people were posting. Also with property people are talking about the BIG cities. Of course property is far too expensive there as it is in even the US bigger cities/desirable areas.

Expensive. You'll also have a hard time getting a visa to stay in Switzerland. There are a ton of people that want to live there and the Swiss don't want any of them there.

jesus... come to Bangkok and you could conceivably live off of $500 a month.... If you could swing 1000-1500 you'd be sittin pretty.... but like most third world places, if you want to ball and pay 3-9k for rent per month, not a problem either...