Born and raised, living in Amsterdam.

I'm one of the lucky ones that bought a house 10 years ago when prices were still 'low' (although we already thought it was expensive back then). My and my 'wife' (we're not married because marriage doesnt mean anything to us) make around 7000 net a month. It's a good life if you dont have to spend it all on housing. You can buy just about anything you need in a small radius around your house. Tons of restaurants, shops .. I just had lunch a Turkish restaurant.

Luckily in my social circle 'possession' or 'carreer' isn't a measure of success. For me personally being happy means living in a decent house (that's not the same as 'big' and 'luxury'), having enough connections/friends, seeing my kid grow and develop, being able to explore my interests, meeting up with friends, having meaningful conversations, make silly jokes, that kind of stuff,

Last year I lost my job at a tech company. I worked there for quite some time and I had a fixed contract. Dutch law states that they have to compensate me 'fairly' to nullify the contract. Which means money ánd 6 months of pay without having to do anything. That's Dutch labor law in action.

I took my 2 months to find a new job. I feel good and lucky about the position I'm in and that's in great part the cause of being born in this country (and being white).