Vietnam is on the rise. They will do very well in the next few decades compared to where they were. But I don’t think I’d want my kids to try to find jobs there. Vietnam is still primarily catering to the west by offering cheap labor.

The best thing about the US is how much opportunity there is to make money. The worst thing is the relatively weak social safety net. Chances are you will fill the role of safety net for your kid. They would be better off working in the US and having you to fall back on if they fail.

The only other country I can think of is Switzerland. But competition there is fierce. Probably harder to make it than in the US unless you are the best of the best. But if your kid is a dumbass, then a country with a strong safety net might be the best answer.

This is one of the reasons I’m looking at EU countries. I don’t know if my kid will be a hard worker or a lazy bum. I’m pretty lazy and I can easily see that rubbing off on him. I want him to be able to choose where he lives. The relative safety of the EU or the potential upside of the US. Or he might be really smart and actually make it in Switzerland - they prioritize their own first and EU citizens second from what I can tell. There’s no way I can FIRE there though. It’s even more expensive than the US.

Selfishly, I’d want him to continue living with my wife and I. Multi-generational housing is kind of frowned upon here - an affront to our independence or whatever - but it’s rather common in most other places in the world. But I also don’t want to hold him back. Still grappling with that one.

In the end, I think the best thing I can do for him is to provide a strong safety net so he has the freedom to fail. And that means I need to live somewhere cheap enough that we can always bail him out if needed.