Germany is not so bad as you make it look like: good infrastructure, good healthcare (although you need to wait longer for an appointment), centrally located in Europe. A good developer has 100k+ nowadays in Berlin. The housing costs are high now but they will remain stable if you get an unlimited rental contract or a mortgage while the salaries will rise. I’ve bought a house with a mortgage with less than 1% interest and my salary increased by 30% since then (while the monthly payment remained the same).
Public healthcare in Germany is worse than private healthcare anywhere in Europe. And as a skilled dev you can afford private healthcare in most of Europe.
Infrastructure: ok. But it's not like everywhere else is shit. Also, if we include bureaucracy in infrastructure, then I wouldn't say Germany is that good.
Centrally located: most of Europe is centrally located.
100k in Berlin is really not much. Almost half of it goes away in taxes. You're left with 55k which in a city with cost of living of Berlin is middle class at best.
If you're a "good developer", you can make as much as a remote developer, and live in places with <15% taxes and half the cost of living as Berlin. Or, make twice as much in Switzerland and the US.
Public healthcare: my experience is different, I received excellent public services when my kids needed it (and they had health issues when they were small). Some friends from Spain, with private insurance, are flying to... Germany to resolve some problems. Don't get me started on the private healthcare system in my native Romania, which is just a money making machine and you end up in public hospital or abroad (paying absurd sums of money - think of tens of thousands EUR) for anything more complex that an appendicitis.
Your calculation looks nice on paper for a young healthy single person, but once you get family into the mix, things are not so rosy anymore and you cannot move anywhere to "work remote with 15% taxes". Btw, for a person with family the taxes in DE are around 32% + other deductions. Let's just say that I know friends in other countries that use one of the salaries in the household to pay for private healthcare insurance (it get expensive when you have kids) and for private daycare, where in DE you don't have to pay, only if you want to.
Bad weather - debatable, I think anything north of Milan has no so great weather, I don't think Zurich has 300 days of sun, or?
I'm not convinced public healthcare in Germany is better than private healthcare in other more affordable places and I know of several countries with great living condition with 15% tax or less, such as Poland.
Canary islands is a great place to work.
You have between 20 and 22 degrees all year.
I wrote some time agot about the feasibility of working from Asturias, smal region in the north of Spain too https://optimistengineer.substack.com/p/digital-nomads-in-spain-is-it-feasible?utm_source=publication-search
Agree it's really nice! Also wi-fi in my Airbnb at least is very good. Will check out your article :) Thanks for sharing.
Germany is not so bad as you make it look like: good infrastructure, good healthcare (although you need to wait longer for an appointment), centrally located in Europe. A good developer has 100k+ nowadays in Berlin. The housing costs are high now but they will remain stable if you get an unlimited rental contract or a mortgage while the salaries will rise. I’ve bought a house with a mortgage with less than 1% interest and my salary increased by 30% since then (while the monthly payment remained the same).
Public healthcare in Germany is worse than private healthcare anywhere in Europe. And as a skilled dev you can afford private healthcare in most of Europe.
Infrastructure: ok. But it's not like everywhere else is shit. Also, if we include bureaucracy in infrastructure, then I wouldn't say Germany is that good.
Centrally located: most of Europe is centrally located.
100k in Berlin is really not much. Almost half of it goes away in taxes. You're left with 55k which in a city with cost of living of Berlin is middle class at best.
If you're a "good developer", you can make as much as a remote developer, and live in places with <15% taxes and half the cost of living as Berlin. Or, make twice as much in Switzerland and the US.
+ bad weather/food(/lifestyle&culture but it depends a bit on personal preferences)
Public healthcare: my experience is different, I received excellent public services when my kids needed it (and they had health issues when they were small). Some friends from Spain, with private insurance, are flying to... Germany to resolve some problems. Don't get me started on the private healthcare system in my native Romania, which is just a money making machine and you end up in public hospital or abroad (paying absurd sums of money - think of tens of thousands EUR) for anything more complex that an appendicitis.
Your calculation looks nice on paper for a young healthy single person, but once you get family into the mix, things are not so rosy anymore and you cannot move anywhere to "work remote with 15% taxes". Btw, for a person with family the taxes in DE are around 32% + other deductions. Let's just say that I know friends in other countries that use one of the salaries in the household to pay for private healthcare insurance (it get expensive when you have kids) and for private daycare, where in DE you don't have to pay, only if you want to.
Bad weather - debatable, I think anything north of Milan has no so great weather, I don't think Zurich has 300 days of sun, or?
I'm not convinced public healthcare in Germany is better than private healthcare in other more affordable places and I know of several countries with great living condition with 15% tax or less, such as Poland.