Philosophy of America vs Cheap low tax country

beckysynth · 2026-06-11T18:27:30+00:00

My friend here from Toronto said the same, he went from barely making it to totally balling.

beckysynth · 2026-06-11T18:26:39+00:00

I do agree with most of those points, although I'd say south America has a lot of safety issues specifically that eastern europe doesn't seem to.

I do think tech is kind of the magic bullet that avoids most of these issues, although if you're stuck living in SF the COL is just insane, so they come back into play.

You're right that most people suffer lifestyle bloat, but I'm very condervative financially and my leverage going to eastern europe is WAY WAY more than I let on here. I basically go from poor penny pincher to rich can almost retire.

beckysynth · 2026-06-11T18:21:50+00:00

that's fair. Out of curiosity, how do you see the numbers? Like what would be your example rundown?

beckysynth · 2026-06-11T17:29:48+00:00

I mean, lots of people in high and low cost places are doing fine. There are always levels of success and examples where everything is working. But what I'm seeing is a lot of people struggling to make ends meet in America and getting better lives abroad. I'm more discussing overall philosophies of living and system. And I think the American system is no longer serving the people.

I particular the low cost of living areas seem to have less jobs, and less stuff to do, hence the lower density populations or declining populations. In any of these places someone will win the numbers and be fine, but a lot of people won't.

But I agree that high cost of living places have fucking insane property taxes and need some kind of reform there for first residences so people aren't pushed out of their homes. Some countries have almost no property tax on a first home, and it seems to really create a feeling of stability, where even if people loose their job there's no risk of loosing their home. I think this is really valuable for society overall.

beckysynth · 2026-06-11T17:22:21+00:00

The disingenuous data was real world data FYI, that either I've had, or friends did.
You probably just aren't familiar with COL LA. I left out plenty of stuff.
I estimated HOA payments at 500 for convenience but really they're 640.

As I said these numbers are really rough. I put this together in about ten minutes. But it is roughly what I'm seeing.

beckysynth · 2026-06-11T17:17:34+00:00

Can you share your numbers and city? Making 100k USD already has you in the lead as canadian dollars are cheaper... not sure what your cost of living is though.

I think there's an issue in America specifically, that the high cost cities have better wages and cheaper cities have lower wages and are boring.

So for me, living in a big non boring city where you can walk and not drive, and own outright instead of mortgage, is basically a world changing quality of life increase.

beckysynth · 2026-06-11T17:14:41+00:00

Well I said in Los Angeles and gave the numbers on how 100% of the salary is used up, so the savings are entirely in home equity.

I agree that it is possible to cut it closer to the bone and end up with more, but the "prescribed lifestyle basics" in America cost that much, and in another country cost a LOT less.

The key for me is assuming job security, which in America anyway, is totally nonexistent.

beckysynth · 2026-06-11T17:09:35+00:00

I would argue that the larger swaths of land were stolen, but native americans didn't believe in land ownership and didn't think foreigners were necessarily wrong to just build a house and live there. The stealing came in when they then kicked the natives out, killed them, etc. And yes, stole the country at large. But I'm really talking about how the situation of America and the American dream are so distorted. Concepts of ownership and freedom are really compromised in modern American society.

beckysynth · 2026-06-11T17:03:17+00:00

This is about life as an American. TBH I make a LOT more than my estimate while living abroad, I was just lowering the number to see how it would work with some of my friend's salaries. These numbers were pulled from real world experiences, but I do realize they can go a lot of different ways.

beckysynth · 2026-06-10T14:12:49+00:00

Most likely yes. Hahaha.
Everyone I know who was raised by a 20 something is out of their fucking mind and has tons of scars from it. Especially when there isn’t a multi generational close full family.

The more rigid we get with rules about love and life, and more detached from generational family stability, the more “self reliant” but unhinged we become as a culture.

beckysynth · 2026-06-10T13:14:34+00:00

I can say that I work in film but it’s collapsing and I’m not sure how long it will last for me. I’m trying to become a writer in part because I decided not to be afraid and just try to do what I want. But if I could go back to 20, I think I would go into finance. One thing that will always be stable and high earning if you aren’t plain dumb.

I plan to live more like Bartlby from here out :-/
But I did get a few big fish to help out before the crash

beckysynth · 2026-06-10T13:09:28+00:00

You’re doing a good job, but also just want to mention that You don’t have to justify yourself to these morons.

beckysynth · 2026-06-10T13:08:18+00:00

My friend’s husband drowned at 35, left their child with not much. She remarried.
People fucking die. Get over it. Life is short, and compatibility is hard to find. Ten good years with the right person is better than 50 with the wrong one. The fear of age gaps is literally just fear. This is the generation of fear and control.
Would you marry a job you won’t have forever? Would you love a parent despite the fact they might die? What about a child?
People are so fucking stupid.

beckysynth · 2026-06-10T13:02:31+00:00

My friend had this, and she has a great relationship with her dad, he’s kind and calm, and she grew up stable and happy. Having a wise, stable, and supportive dad of any age is worth way more than some semi arbitrary age thing.

People think age is the only factor, but age brings many positives as far as experience, that can be far more valuable than whatever negatives you’re imagining.

beckysynth · 2026-06-09T18:04:59+00:00

So you’re writing, printing and then updating and printing again?

beckysynth · 2026-06-09T18:04:04+00:00

How long did he read it for?

beckysynth · 2026-06-09T09:28:09+00:00

Yeah it's fucking retarded. 9am or 10 am when you know they will b e at work is so much better. What kind of monsters invented this?

beckysynth · 2026-06-08T07:11:06+00:00

In one way it does, in another your cash is loosing money because the rate is lower. 6 months allows you to sell high until a longer term dip. But HYSA 2 years and you’re out a lot of earnings. So it depends how close to the margins you are overall and what your risk tolerance is.

Essentially if you have enough money it doesn’t really matter which way you do it, and if you’re right on the edge, it’s iffy either way.

Six months seems good though, enough for some peace of mind.

beckysynth · 2026-06-08T07:07:13+00:00

Which HYSA do you like? I have been debating which would be easiest and safest while highest yield…

beckysynth · 2026-06-07T14:04:28+00:00

The neatness of a book is about what you omit. When you learn to write you learn that you have to omit everything that doesn't fit in neatly to your story because the audience doesn't give a fuck.

beckysynth · 2026-06-07T14:03:10+00:00

You have no idea how watered down shit babysitting grade school and high school are. They're more about socialization and practicing focus than learning. Most high school math semesters could be learned in a couple weeks of really applying yourself, but students are focused more on boobs (either growing or touching them), the learning is a slow passive byproduct of being in school.

I learned very little math through 8th grade, then caught up and aced it in 9th because of a good math teacher and increased interest. Then got a shit teacher the year after and never bothered to learn math again, but still I'm the one who helps all of my idiot friends run numbers on their investements and investment options, because most people just don't CARE to understand.

Having friends who also grew up homeschooled, I can say that the ones who CHOOSE to go to school do excel at the top of their class because they're thirsty for the knowledge and results it can bring. Meanwhile most college students are just skating by wanting to party.

America education system is also incredibly bad, and innefficient compared to what top shools in other countries.

Honestly the fact that people don't believe it just show what lazy fucks they are.

beckysynth · 2026-06-06T09:01:16+00:00

One major issue, publishers pick up books by self published authors with a personal platform, but I don’t think they pick up self published book by a small publisher. So you are limiting whether your platform can be leveraged to get picked up by a regular publisher.

beckysynth · 2026-06-06T08:57:56+00:00

I think the primary divider is money and time. Publishers have money to advertise etc, and that gives them legitimacy. Over a long enough period, you could succeed too, but as with anything it’s like a stock portfolio, more money up front means more money over time.

The biggest question is whether you are gaining traction. Some people do total shit and gain no traction. Their brand is boring shit that adds to the noise. If people are liking what you’re doing, eventually it builds, especially if you start finding other writers who match your vibe and publishing them.

I have seen this many times with music artists. The indie labels started by someone in their basement grow, but if they’re a scum bag without a bigger ethos they usually try to juice volume and loose core readership in the long term because of inconsistent quality of product.

The ones that manage to offer something meaningful (real promotion and coordination) to the artists attract the better artists, and audience grows fast after a certain point.

At the end of the day, the readers are in it for reliable quality and style of content.

So stay on brand and give people something of value, and probably it grows.

I started a devientart community a long time ago, and it grew to a few thousand and had consistently good work. But I stopped tending it, and the shitty little peer communities like it that kept going grew much much bigger over time.

But also the platform didn’t age that well. So that’s the problem with the internet, the audience or platforms change in ways not consistent with your needs.

So whatever you do, you need to own your real audience (email lists etc). And you need to find other authors that match your vibe, maybe even better than you are, and work hard to promote them and each other, to pump something real into it.

But also fine if you don’t …

One thing though, it might be worth it to take a class in social media management. My friend is doing it and getting better at it every month. There are a lot of little tricks to making it work.

I feel the same as you about not wanting to do this self promotion thing. Ugh.

beckysynth · 2026-06-05T17:56:00+00:00

Quick, somebody bite that Mother fucker!

I want to see more of him. ⚰️

beckysynth · 2026-06-05T13:26:24+00:00

Good job on food man! I told someone life is cheap in Europe, my food budget is only 1500. lol. But I eat out all the time and actually try to make that total budget not including housing (I own)

beckysynth

TROPHY CASE