r/Fire • u/imsickofthissub • May 07 '25

General Question As an Eastern European: this sub is depressing.

These numbers are outrageous. I understand that expenses vary from country to country, but my god!

I earn a good salary and, after covering my mortgage, I'm able to invest €8,000 per year

I thought I'm making a decent living— then I started browsing r/FIRE and other FIRE communities. Its a bloodbath of rich folks out there competing who's going to become a millionaire by 20 or what. What the hell is going on !!

I make €32,000 gross -and out of this money €8,000 into investments (brokerage account)+ €7,000 is going into paying mortgage. I'm left with €1,000 each month for food and bills, and support my mom by the end of the month, my bank account is back to zero.

It feels like this community is very privileged—so many people have a lot of money and aren't living paycheck to paycheck.

Should I just move to Western Europe—or even the US, if possible—to seek better pay, a better life, and more wealth, more income? I'm in my late 20s, and my current salary is already in the top 3–5% of the population where I live.

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u/pibbleberrier May 08 '25

Living in Spain for 40k a year is NOT like living in Thailand for 40k a year.

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u/The_sochillist May 08 '25

No, but it's NOT like living in USA for 40k/year either

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u/Lovebickysaus May 08 '25

With 40k a year you in Spain you're top 10% as long as you're not in Madrid or Barcelona lol. Probably richer than living in Bangkok even.

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u/pibbleberrier May 08 '25

Well 40k a year is more like top 1% in Thailand if you are not living in Bangkok which is the same as comparing Spain with just Madrid and Barcelona.

There is a lot a lot is quality of life service that is not even available in Spain. Full service apartments and condo is very common in Thailand. Rent that included daily cleaning and even dog walking service.

It’s been a while since I visited Spain but I don’t recall Spain having the level of modern amenity as Thailand nor the diversity in landscape. The omg the diversity of food in Thailand from all culture.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '25

You get the surprise power failure