Post: #1

I know it would be ideal to have your own online business or simply live off investment interest but some of us younger cats need to make money the old fashioned way.

My List:

1.) USA- As much as I gripe about it, no other country has so many high earners with relatively low taxes to boot.

2.) Canada-Oil Sands(Enough Said)

3.) Switzerland-I live in a neighboring country, but the word of mouth around here is Zurich is the city in Europe if you want to make a good living.The starting salary for fresh out of uni finance students is 6 figures.

4.) U.K-If you have good connections in London, you will do well.

5.) Noway-Outrageous cost of living, but there aren't many poor people.

I have heard good things about Aussie too but I have never been so I will leave that commentary for more knowledgeable members.

Post: #2

What's this list for? Are you planning on moving to one of these places

Post: #3

The location is not as important as the skills in making money. If your looking at bringing in cash through a high-earning job you need to focus on highly skilled professions.

Post: #4

Australia hands down. Only thing is tax is a bit much. Sydney's expensive as shit but if you live somewhere in the Northern beaches then you're good.

Melbourne is cheap but doesn't have as good salaries as Sydney/NSW.

Perth is the cleanest city in Australia. Good money to be made there in the mining industry.

Don't know much about Queensland and Northern Territory. They can't have better chicks than Sydney though.

Hope that helped.

Post: #5

There is no universal place to make big bucks.

There are various places around the world that optimise differing skillsets.

If you have no skills, but are willing to bust your ass, then places like Australia, Canada, parts of the U.S offer the best return.

But if your gig is say movie-set make up... no, places like Australia and Norway aren't much good.

For white collar stuff, places like Dubai, with zero income tax are much better than Australia. Labuan is best for say trading, with a company tax cap.

The U.S still offers the best for people who want to start their own blue-collar business to benefit themselves.

London obviously if you're in banking, but try working in retail there.

Australia's happy time is now over by the way.

Post: #6

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IMHO this thread is better titled as:

Cities where you can SAVE a lot of money

Ultimately your goal, after living expenses and taxes, is to increase the amount that you sock away in the bank per month right?

What is "USA"? If you are a Starbucks barista in NYC you are scraping by.

If you are some sort of petroleum engineer in North Dakota you are raking in shit tons of cash.

You might make 100K euros a year in Norway but then get destroyed by taxes and end up taking home less money per year than if you had taught English in Korea:

http://thatbackpacker.com/2013/03/21/how...-in-korea/

There are a lot of factors to take into account.

Post: #7

What profession?

Post: #8

(08-18-2013 08:15 AM)T and A Man Wrote:  There is no universal place to make big bucks.

There are various places around the world that optimise differing skillsets.

If you have no skills, but are willing to bust your ass, then places like Australia, Canada, parts of the U.S offer the best return.

But if your gig is say movie-set make up... no, places like Australia and Norway aren't much good.

For white collar stuff, places like Dubai, with zero income tax are much better than Australia. Labuan is best for say trading, with a company tax cap.

The U.S still offers the best for people who want to start their own blue-collar business to benefit themselves.

London obviously if you're in banking, but try working in retail there.

Australia's happy time is now over by the way.

I reckon manual jobs such as plumbers, contractors, miners, painters, etc still make good money in Australia.

You're right about the white collar stuff.

I know a guy who's a miner in Perth and makes 90k a year. This guy is from India.

A few months ago my toilet got blocked and i payed the Plumber $70 just for the call, excluding the fixing he did.

One of my mates works as a taxi driver in Sydney to pay his student loans and he easily makes 4-500 on a Friday and Saturday night.

Post: #9

What would be more interesting is the amount of money you could make as a percent of the cost of living.


I.e if cost of living is lets say is $500 per month (random number that came to my head). And from the average job you could make $750 dollars. You have $250 to spend.


Lets say in a poorer country/area, the cost of living is $100 a month. The average person makes $175 a month.

In the latter, you are making more money in comparison to the cost of living - therefore you will be 'better off' in that area and live more comfortably.

It would be more interesting to discover the areas where you could make a lot more than what you are living off quite easily!

Post: #10

(08-18-2013 05:26 AM)Irishman Wrote:  What's this list for? Are you planning on moving to one of these places

This list is for the people living in economic black holes. It sounds nice to say you can make money anywhere, but that's honestly pretty naive. Tell that to the youth in Spain and Greece. In these times, geographic mobility is important. Irishman, you probably know this better than most.

YMG: You are right. ESL teaching is underrated from a financial perspective. Your monthly savings could very well be greater than a cushy ibanking job in London. I have friends who have gone down the latter road with very little wealth to show for it.

Post: #11

Here's the showdown in the Anglophone West

Australia vs UK salaries

I would conclude:

Australia better on average
UK better for bankers and lawyers

Also:
USA better for CEOs / corporate management

Beyond Anglophone countries best countries for making dollars (and keeping them):
UAE
Kuwait
Qatar
Hong Kong

Post: #12

I would say the Midwest United States is fantastic for making money and keeping it, if you work in Corporate Finance.

I'm doing ok in Boston salary wise, but my COL is high. Just as an experiment, I searched for jobs (on indeed.com) in three places: Pittsburgh, PA, Wichita KS, and Omaha, NE. The salaries were about the same or $5K lower but the COL is dirt cheap due to lower real estate costs. Guy like me would kill it both in terms of investments and girls. You could seriously make bank and keep most of it. Yes, there are downsides like: Bible belt culture, Guns, and People of Walmart. But if you keep your eye on the prize (saving tons of capital) you can do it.

Post: #13

It definitely depends where you live in the US. I'm not an expert, I only lived there for about 6 months while on a work visa.

However Montana was dirt cheap. It was unbelievable after living in Canada all my life.

Pennsylvania was much more expensive, though not as expensive as Canada.

Post: #14

What about emerging places that are off the beaten path ? Is stability a super important aspect? I see that trend in all the places listed but would like to know how paramount that is; and @YMG makes a good point about lining up the notion of where is it going to be more "bang for your buck".

My German homies from hostel life were saying Angola is a gold mine right now, this board has been preaching opportunities in Mexico also. Key spots that are from the stable parys mentioned. I'm keen in learning about three sleeping giants on the come up.

Alberta has sold its soul to the tarsands. It's a great spot to hustle but 2008 exposed the area of how dependent they are to oil. All the side/support stuff is what I've always had my eyes on. I could only imagine they plays on commercial developments that would of been had in Calgary the past 15 years.

Post: #15

(08-18-2013 10:28 PM)Damedius Wrote:  It definitely depends where you live in the US. I'm not an expert, I only lived there for about 6 months while on a work visa.

However Montana was dirt cheap. It was unbelievable after living in Canada all my life.

Pennsylvania was much more expensive, though not as expensive as Canada.

I agree that in making these kinds of considerations about where to live and/or work internationally, we have to consider bang for the buck, and if we are not able to save any money, then it may not be a good place if you are planning for further travels - or to use the income from that place for further travels.

In this regard, I have been using the cost of living comparisons from expatistan.com in order to assist with figuring out how far my dollar will go... Of course it is different when you are earning another currency.

http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living

I like this website b/c you can get a general overview of one city as compared with another city, and also you can get various particulars by drilling in. So far, I haven't found any other website quite as helpful in quickly making a comparison as this one.