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Comment by mobiledev2014 | Hacker News Reader

mobiledev2014

100% relate to this and I have joked to my wife that I need an assistant. My wife is an essential worker whose job stayed in-person and got busier with COVID. I’m the software engineer sitting at home. Within a month I’ve had car problems, appliance problems, mortgage problems, student loan problems, health insurance problems etc etc etc to the point I can’t even remember them all. Most of them not by my choosing. It feels like calling banks and contractors is my full time job and I check my work Slack as a hobby. It shows that the American way of life is pretty shitty even for the upper middle class. You either earn 7 figures or you struggle to some degree.

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How is this an American problem? Seems like that’s just life to me. And having lived in Germany, I’m certain there are worse bureaucracies out there.

My German AirBnB host was a city employee who was able to take a two week vacation abroad. This was a job that required no experience.

Meanwhile, I went to college to better my life and ended up a slave

Germans with a more cynical outlook might tell you that the German bureaucracy is gobbling up staggering amounts of taxpayer money for doing barely any job at all, and basically leech off value creating jobs to fund their generous benefits. That is, if you want your job to be actually impactful in some way, you'll end up a "slave" funding some civil servant's lengthy yearly vacation as well.

I'm not quite there yet though.

Worker conditions are certainly better, but life is expensive and bureaucracy is annoying here too.

Certainly not exclusively American but inequality here is bad and getting worse. To an extent it’s “just life” but it’s depressing when we make a lot of money and somehow can’t save much of it. Makes one appreciate how hard people who earn absolute shit wages have things. Six figures in student loans if that helps show what’s different.

> it’s depressing when we make a lot of money and somehow can’t save much of it.

I obviously don't know your situation nor how you handle your finances. If you have the time to spare though, The Millionaire Next Door is a interesting read on exactly this topic (how some people with high incomes don't seem to be able to save a lot of money, while some others actually manage the inverse). Not saying that it'll fix your situation, but it might provide an interesting perspective. Best of luck to you in any case, I'm sure you'll get through it.

Appreciate the kind advice! Overall we are very fortunate and have a net income in the black, which is sadly rare for millennials. I’m only focusing on the negative in these posts.

Glad to hear that. Cheers!

Come to Europe, the weather is fine! (don't come for the weather)

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