How much does it cost to live where you live?

whs said:

Since I live 6 months per year in Germany and the other 6 months in Florida, I am always pretty up-to-date on the prices in those countries.

In Germany the prices for food are the cheapest because there is the most competition. Even Walmart was unable to compete and had to fold tent in Germany after 7 years and a loss of 700 million Euros. Rental is also relatively cheap in Germany.

Electronics, cars, gas, clothes and houses are cheap in Florida. In contrast, rental is relatively expensive. But that is not the whole story. On the cheap houses you have permanent maintenance costs because of the way they are being built. You also have to pay a substantial amount of yearly housing taxes ($2000 to $20.000 depending on value and county). In addition an American family is faced with enormous cost for the education of their children. A year in college can easily cost $40.000 or more - and that is only for the tuition fees. In most European countries education is free.

Bottom line - a comparison of individual product prices is not very telling. One has to factor in all the other expenses, taxes, income, etc.

Speaking of education, a friend and I were talking a few days ago... He told me tuition to the University of Southern California (USC) is about $40,000 a year. I'm sure there are other school that maybe much more than that.

whs said:

Since I live 6 months per year in Germany and the other 6 months in Florida, I am always pretty up-to-date on the prices in those countries.

In Germany the prices for food are the cheapest because there is the most competition. Even Walmart was unable to compete and had to fold tent in Germany after 7 years and a loss of 700 million Euros. Rental is also relatively cheap in Germany.

Electronics, cars, gas, clothes and houses are cheap in Florida. In contrast, rental is relatively expensive. But that is not the whole story. On the cheap houses you have permanent maintenance costs because of the way they are being built. You also have to pay a substantial amount of yearly housing taxes ($2000 to $20.000 depending on value and county). In addition an American family is faced with enormous cost for the education of their children. A year in college can easily cost $40.000 or more - and that is only for the tuition fees. In most European countries education is free.

Bottom line - a comparison of individual product prices is not very telling. One has to factor in all the other expenses, taxes, income, etc.

When you say College do you mean University?

I admit in France (and other EU counties, I haven't checked recently) University is free but here in England University is most certainly not free.

It's actually quite a big problem over here at the moment; students coming out of University with a massive debt and no job to go to.

I'm not entirely sure how much it costs to be a student at the moment but I'm sure it's a lot!

Oli

Fuel (petrol) = US$ 0.5 - 0.7
Fuel (diesel) = US$ 0.6 - 0.7

Dunno about the rest, food costs - you can cover that with ~$45 (extremely cheap meals), ~$100 for a month (very cheap meals), up to ~$300 (somewhat normal meals - nutrition wise)...

Computer industry hasn't really started yet over here, we are currently fighting with each other on piracy issues, Software developers aren't really a "common job", no idea of the salary average...

zzz2496

Germany has two health insurance systems, public and private.

Public Health insurance

If you are employed in Germany and you are earning less than the threshold ( Versicherungspflichtgrenze) of EUR 48,600.- gross per year (EUR 4,050 gross per month), you are automatically and compulsorily insured in a public health insurance scheme. This is also true for students at a state or state-approved university in Germany and certainly for interns too. This also means that your employer does not have the option of accepting an expat insurance scheme (see below). You are only exempt from mandatory public health insurance as an employee working in Germany if you are seconded ( German: "entsendet") by a company which has its HQ in a member state of the EEA (= European Economic Area; including all of the EU plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) or in certain contracting states (among them being Canada and Quebec, PR China, Israel, Japan and the USA

Private Health Insurance

Now if you are earning more than the threshold of EUR 4,050 gross salary per month, you can elect to leave the public health insurance and get a private health insurance while employed in Germany. Here the comparison between different offers is a bit more complicated and you may want to get the advice of a professional advisor or broker. I have seen some attempts to compare different quotations from different private health insurances, but you cannot just take one quote with the price XYZ and another one with ABC to be paid per month and say that the cheaper one is the better choice - it may vary strongly regarding the insured coverage. The best way to start a comparison is to ask private insurers to send you a quotation "Analog GKV", meaning with the same coverage as the public health insurance. Then you can compare the insurance quotations on an even footing. You can also lower your premium by using "excess options (Selbstbeteiligung)". This means that you are willing to pay for instance the first 300.- EUR every year out of your own pocket and you will receive reimbursement only for the costs in excess of that 300.- EUR.

Source: Health insurance

I have a private insurance, costing me about €650 a month, which means I don't have to pay any healthcare costs or hospital fees by myself. However, I feel very strongly that the German system is not good; it categorizes people. I've seen it so often when visiting the doctor. I show my insurance card, and I'm suddenly first in the waiting list, even if I arrived without appointment and the waiting room was full. Same thing when you need specialist or laboratory tests etc, you sit there and hear the doctor make a phone call, mentioning "Er ist privatversichert", and suddenly you can meet the specialist very next day, if not the same afternoon.

This IMO indicates that the private insurance companies pay better and faster to doctors, clicnics and hospitals, thus making some people more important than others. It's wrong, but is the only system we have.

gas: 1.14 euros per liter
university: 4 000 -10 000 euros (4 years)

Trying not to get political but the issue I have with the UK Private health provision is training cost.

The vast majority of health professionals are trained within the NHS with the not inconsiderable cost being borne by the NHS. These people are then employed by the private sector which can offer higher salaries. I think that the Private sector should repay the training costs of any one they employ that is not trained by themselves.

back on topic ....

some interesting comparisons here ....

Worldwide Cost of Living survey 2009

For me the question must be answered in the context of do I have sufficient funds that I am willing to spend in order to live the lifestyle that I choose to live. Nonetheless mindful that one person's food is another's poison, I have a great deal of difficulty understanding why some folks live either the way they do or where they do, and at a very great, often disabling expense. And yet, even in face of their doleful, sometimes bitter lament, they do whatever they can in order to "enjoy" the status quo.

The European model, which Pres. Obama is rushing to emulate, is on the verge of collapse as Europeans have ignored the lessons of history: socialized anything does not work and cannot be afforded over the long haul. Regardless of where you are in Europe, your labors are going to bail out Greece, then Portugal, then Spain then . . . . The social bent is eventually ALWAYS confronted by reality: the number of people with their hands out becomes greater than the number of people who are generating income to fill those hands. The solution is two-fold: governments will, at once, renege on their social promises while raising taxes.

Ireland saw the writing on the wall and began a rigorous program of cutting spending. Fools! By doing so, they not only denied themselves bailout monies for themselves, they have to ante up to rescue the Mediterranean unions as well to the tune of 800 million which they will have to borrow. Interesting isn't it: the Telegraph reports that Ireland's workers enjoyed 5-20% pay cuts in the process.

What's the cost of living where you are? Probably much more than it should be - for which you get to keep less of your hard-earned money while suffering a decrease in the quantity and quality of services.

And then you die.

Monk

Thanks Nigel. A bit more extensive study than this thread of mine...

Kari said:

Thanks Nigel. A bit more extensive study than this thread of mine...

Yours is a lot more fun to read through though, my friend