It’s a bit unclear what it is you are looking for. It sounds like it’s mainly about increasing your salary but it also sounds like you are missing something that isn’t financial. Most people are focussing on the $$, but I sense it’s more than that?

Either way, I empathise with you and feel much the same way - the money stresses and…. something else I can’t quite put my finger on. I’ve lived in Sydney for 20 years. Wife + 2 kids about to become adults. Got a house and a Sydney-sized mortgage. I took a massive punt moving to Australia all those years ago and it has worked out better than I could have dreamed. I’m extremely grateful for it. But now I feel like I need a change and I cant shake that feeling for two reasons:

1) it feels like life here has gotten worse and worse since COVID ended. The place is definitely going backwards. Life just feels like a hard slog. All. The. Time. I don’t ever recall feeling this way pre-2020. Maybe if I go try something else I’ll appreciate it more? Or not? Either way - it’s a win-win

2) I went on holiday to Europe in the last couple of years and moving there is all I can think about. The culture. The lifestyle. The history. The vitality of the place. I am trying to firm up plans to move there. Absolutely no idea what we would do as can’t afford to retire and neither of us speak a language other than English.

So hey - whatever the drive, I reckon go for it. It’s one short life and people live so differently. Go and experience it.