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If it continues on the current trajectory, literally all the OECD countries will offer a better life than the US. In every meaningful measure they already do

Thank you, good information.

I've traveled a bit to some of the other OECD countries and haven't felt any disparities in comfort and such while traveling, but traveling and building a life and career are two very different things.

> literally all the OECD countries will offer a better life than the US

Many already do, at least in terms of the World Happiness Report [1].

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report

If you want to relocate to another country focus on the "pull factors" of that place, rather than the "push factors."

I moved to Sweden because my wife and I felt that was the best place to start a family. I'm on parental leave and cherish every moment I get to spend with my kid.

We would have made the move no matter what was happening in the US. Well, unless there was a major cultural shift and a generous grant of child care benefits equivalent to SWE.

Thank you for this. Very fair point, and something I've preached to folks when changing jobs in the past: don't leave your job for another company because your current job is awful... make sure you're joining a new company you actually feel good about, otherwise you'll end up in another potentially bad situation. Thank you for the reminder.

How has Sweden treated you and your family, and how do you feel about the general economic outlook for yourself and your children?

Are expats accepted there? What kind of challenges could I expect if Sweden were a consideration?

edit: small tweak

If I may: I would sit this out for a little while.

Moving with another partner to another country is a huge undertaking.

Now, if this was in the back of your mind before, that’s another story.

Heard. The thought of moving to another country is, honestly, scary, like starting over, figuring out how to live and build from from 0 again.

It's not just my partner, but also my kids I'm concerned about. The idea of moving my whole family to another country feels overwhelming, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it means my children can have a chance at a good life, versus what I'm starting to fear they'll experience here.

I appreciate the reminder of patience.

Not saying it is easy, but when I was a teenager I moved across the world because my father needed the job. It sucked in the moment, but looking back it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I'm not American so this is a newb question, would moving to a saner state help ?

I don't live in a terribly "insane" state, but moving back to a state like California (where I was born and raised) doesn't alleviate my biggest concerns around the economy and the country's leadership and what it's doing to things like healthcare, education, and economic opportunity, and certainly not my concerns about my children being able to ever get onto a solid economic ladder.

California is so prohibitively expensive that they'll be forever renters, unable to save, unless they get an extremely high-paying job that allows that serious privilege and opportunity. That's not guaranteed, at all.

The state I'm in now is comparatively far less inexpensive than my home state, but it's getting more and more expensive and, even here, I worry about my kids being able to truly get on their feet and being able to make a life of their own. It's scary to see what the generations currently coming up are facing, no matter the location in the country - and to see the economy being hit hard with a sledgehammer right now makes it even scarier.

Yeah, go gentrify the locals in some lower-cost-of-living country. You sure 'deserve' it because for some reason you have a 'right' to just immigrate there and buy their housing and sh*t from under their feet.

I appreciate your frustration, dumbledoren. Your comment speaks to perspectives I could expect to face in another country - thank you.

I can only say my personal intent isn't that. I live a simple life. My family has a small, old home. We garden, grow our own food, and are respectful to our environment.

I prioritize supporting small, local businesses.

I wouldn't want to parachute into another country acting as though I Know Better™ and bringing my "American sensibilities" to another country.

If I were to leave the US, I see myself entering another country, hat in hand, knowing fully I'm not better or special, and it's my job to adapt and to respect the culture and country.

> I can only say my personal intent isn't that. I live a simple life.

And yet you will end up doing that when you move to such a country. Regardless of your intentions.

> it's my job to adapt and to respect the culture and country

Unfortunately respect and cultural adaptation do not alleviate the effects of gentrification via housing costs and cost of living.

It would be less of a problem only if you went to a country and location that has a similar cost of living as where you live now, but then again, that's not really on the table, is it...

> It would be less of a problem only if you went to a country and location that has a similar cost of living as where you live now, but then again, that's not really on the table, is it...

This seems to be an assumption you made, but the poster did not imply or state.

As someone in a similar mindset to the poster, I'm not looking for lower CoL places, I'm looking for comparable QoL places which ultimately points to Europe or Oceania. We'd be paid dramatically less, which we're okay with, but the QoL would be comparable (perhaps even better when counting social services).

I understand where they're coming from, though.

If I pulled the trigger, it would be to a similar CoL location, but that still gets to their point: if many people do the same, prices go up. Housing availability goes down. And all the knock-on effects that could result in "gentrification."

How do I balance that (and all sorts of other things) with my desire to keep my family safe and give my children a chance at a solid future, though? I'm not sure, which is why I feel so much consternation and a need to gather more information to inform how I'll decide to act in the future.

> If I pulled the trigger, it would be to a similar CoL location, but that still gets to their point: if many people do the same, prices go up. Housing availability goes down. And all the knock-on effects that could result in "gentrification."

Precisely. You don't need to put gentrification in quotes. It invariably happens. And it gentrifies both the locals and the recent immigrants.

> How do I balance that (and all sorts of other things) with my desire to keep my family safe and give my children a chance at a solid future, though?

From the dynamics that seem to go around such white-collar immigration for these reasons, there doesn't seem to be a way to prevent gentrification and CoL rise. The only exception may be going to places that sorely lack people, like the American North Midwest - places that not only risk depopulation, but also places that can carry immense amounts of people and are open to development.

The majority of the world is not like that. The majority of European population centers are squeezed between river valleys between mountains or short strips of land between the mountains/hills and the sea. And they are already built to hell. The depopulated mountain regions of such places could use some people, but they can in no way handle the amount of emigration that the richer countries seem to be generating. That is one reason why Europe gets higher CoL and gentrification so fast from such immigration.

South America fares a little better because it has at least some more space, but it suffers from the same in the end: The desirable locations are limited and the immigrants go to those locations, causing skyrocketing costs.

Looking at Asia and Africa, it may be a little better because in certain locations there are vast spaces and major cities that could handle immense amounts of people and could use development, but those don't seem to be popular destinations for such white-collar immigrants.

So it again comes back to the US: The 'flyover country' between the coasts in the US is an immense space that is open to a level of development that no other place on the planet can provide. Most of that space seems to be occupied by either unused public land, or by the cattle industry. There was recent research that detailed how the cattle industry sits on top of a gigantic amount of land almost for free despite propping itself up with government subsidies and how it could solve the housing woes of the US and provide unparalleled development. But until citizens, investors and planners start putting pressure on politicians to offset the influence of the cattle industry lobby, that land will keep propping up the cattle industry instead of being used for urban development.

> This seems to be an assumption you made, but the poster did not imply or state

He doesn't need to. The dynamics of such emigration are always like that.

> I'm not looking for lower CoL places, I'm looking for comparable QoL places

That still causes gentrification. You will go to increase the housing demand in the place you go to and that will cause all of you to gentrify, including you. That even happens to those who go to lower CoL places - in just a few years, prices skyrocket and the richer emigrants themselves are stupefied - today CoL in major European cities that became popular locations for such emigration are catching up to the places where these people escaped from.

I was a big proponent of such international white-collar mobility before. The statistics and real-life experiences changed that.

I get where you're coming from, I really do, but I also think that perspective effectively means that you should never migrate -- ever. To anywhere, at all. I take the stance that gentrification is inevitable, unfortunately, but it can be guided and managed (and I say this as someone who's been gentrified out of an area I'd really love to live in for the rest of my life). Just like you can't control the weather, you also can't control migration patterns but you can manage them.

What motivates such a rude answer? The parent is genuinely exposing a personal question. Nothing in his post suggests that he would go gentrify a low COL place.

> What motivates such a rude answer?

Gentrification.

> Nothing in his post suggests that he would go gentrify a low COL place

Nobody who moves out of the richer countries goes to a richer country. This includes the ultra-rich: Even they move to a place where their money will go much further, even if that is a district in London that they can comfortably afford. So it always ends up in gentrification.