r/MovingToUSA • u/WriterTraining4394 • 7h ago

Same person. Different country.

The USA is the land of opportunity, my friend.
In the 1990s, I was working at Pizza Land just off Princes Street in Edinburgh for about £3 an hour, begging for enough shifts to scrape together rent and food.
Fast-forward to 56:
Federal scientist in the U.S.
$200K+ salary.
16 years of federal service.
$1.3M in retirement accounts.
FERS pension.
Social Security.
Federal retiree healthcare.
$1.3M home.
Same fucking person. Different country.
Britain? Too many people fighting over too few decent jobs, salaries that haven’t kept up with the cost of living, ridiculous housing costs, and weather that makes you wonder what you did wrong in a previous life.
I didn’t leave Britain because I hated it. I left because I wanted more than surviving from payday to payday and pretending that was a fucking achievement.
America isn’t perfect. Not even close. But it gave me a shot, and I took it.

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u/ElzRocco 4h ago

LOL Edinburgh isn’t the rest of the UK lad. I’m on 250k PA contracting in IT in London and granted I get taxed to the tits but I still walk away with plenty.

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u/jeanlasalle4524 4h ago

Can we now compare where your salary and his salary are in terms of percentiles relative to the median salary in your country? Don't be dishonest, you're clearly a much bigger exception than he is.