I understand that most European countries have excellent social safety nets, and not everyone feels the need to make a fortune.
However, if one sought to go over and beyond that and make a lot of money for themselves (become millionaires), would it be possible in your nation?
If so, what methods are commonly used to do so?
If not, what’s holding things back?
23 comments
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Of course it’s possible, but undoubtedly harder than the United States.
First off, it’s nearly impossible to get rich in Europe working 9-5 jobs like the folks in silicon valley or wall street. Salaries tend to cap at around 100,000 euros and taxes will eat up a huge chunk of that. Even our doctors don’t make much more than that, unless of course they run a clinic. 300k salaries do exist in things like Fintech but are much, much rarer here than in the US.
So to get rich in Europe you really need to start a business. I’m no businessman so I can’t tell you the specifics, but it is generally accepted there’s more red tape, less capital and less money to be made than the US. I know that private medical practice can make you bank, and even more so in Switzerland than Austria obviously.
P.S. A million net worth really isn’t much these days. To be “rich” you’ll need to be a multi millionaire imo, or have a million outside of real estate. My parents house is nearly a million (probably a million in USD) and its a normal house. They have enough to comfortably retire, but not much else. The newer family apartments (yes apartments) around Vienna usually sell for minimum 500k. Property prices are crazy these days, lots of money to be made in real estate.
If you are thinking of starting at zero and progressing to higher middle class it possible with some luck and hard work. If you are from a family that can support you to some degree it is easier ofcorse.
If you want to be Scrooge McDuck rich you have to inherit as everywhere.
Look up “social mobility index”, personally I think that is much more important, than some single examples of people becoming rich.
Kinda screwed to become a millionaire here. The safest ways involve inheriting a fortune, becoming a politician or being friends with a politician.
In Europe you inherit wealth, self-made millionaires like the US is pretty hard and not doable at all but London is probably the place to be if you want to become wealthy.
It is totally doable to become rich in any European country, as in having enough net assets to live a comfortable life and possibly retire early.Different countries have different challenges though, kind of like the difference between living in Montana or New York state. But they all have opportunities as well.
Like in the US you have to put the effort in and make smart decisions as well but I know more than a few people In their late twenties who own their own house debt free and do not need to check their bank account before going shopping.
Having great social security means that our income is being taxed heavily but it also means that you can afford to take a little risk without the risk of getting ruined when it goes wrong.
Becoming blatantly rich though, as in owning a yacht and a supercar (or several of them) is just as hard as anywhere.
Luck. Good education. Frugal lifestyle. Hard work. In that order.
Two more thoughts: Most people in Germany who become millionaires come from allready well settled housholds, they were lucky. And since there is a social system in place in Germany it is not important to become very wealthy, you can get along and live a happy and fulfilling life without being rich. Therefore money isn’t drawing that much respect in Germany, I guess. Much less than education, at least in my experience.
Most wealthy people I know are entrepreneurs who have sold their company. I can’t imagine it’s too different in the States, or in any capitalist country for that matter.
In italys there is only one way.
-float a fake construction company with all your cousins and family members as workers.
-invest a min amount to win a infrastructure contract from the govt.
-don’t do the said project.
-Profit???
_______________
But in a reality its only possible with Inheritance or starting a tech based company and moving the said company abroad coz politics.
We have millionaires and billionaires, so of course it’s possible!
We have traditional millionaires that are owners of big old companies, we have top level CEOs that in some cases do make a lot of money, we have bankers and traders that in some cases also are very wealthy, but then again there are the “get rich quick” like the people that made a site like JustEat (food delivery), popular webshops, tech inventors (Universal robots) etc.
I find it strange that you ask for a “method” to become rich quick… I’m not sure there is a “method” for that anywhere except this: *Get a great idea that you can sell for a lot of money!*
Now tell me a method to get great ideas I can sell please!
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Basically you don’t become wealthy by working for somebody is the best summary of the situation in a lot of Europe imo.
Speaking personally I’m 100% fine with that.
But my father never was.
So you begin your own business.
My parents at 40 were a teacher and a simple nurse. A holiday every year, pool in the backyard, decent house.
Today they’re 55 and have several properties of 500k+.
They began a construction business and worked 24/7 for a few years basically.
For me personally getting wealthy isn’t worth the price. I’ll stay nicely middle class and enjoy my loads of free time. I make an average wage and barely know what to spend my money on. I have a decent amount saved at 30.
Of course it’s a lot easier here to begin from 0(we have more economic mobility) and become middle class. Cheap education does that.
All the methods you have in the USA are readily available to us here. Starting a business, investing well, inheriting etc.
What I would say is, to become say a millionaire via salary alone is much more difficult than in the USA. In my line of work people in the States can get paid $200-400k quite regularly whereas that would be a real top end salary here.
Most ppl who have become ‘millionaires’ here is via rapid growth of property prices.
Certainly doable in the UK if you have a good professional job, the ability to invest £20k a year into an ISA with tax free growth and salary sacrifice into your pension means that building wealth is quite simple if you’re a high earner with the ability to take advantage of it.
Almost impossible. Less than 1% Poles have 1 000 000 USD or more wealth.
Save some notorious exceptions, most big fortunes in Spain are inherited. If we are not talking about “billionaire wealthy” but just wealthy, I’d say it is rather difficult for the big majority of people. Salaries are rather low even for highly qualified positions and investing in anything other than property is not that common.
It’s 1% inspiration and 99% transpiration – but yes, it’s possible.
Next to sports, music or media, the best way would be to open your own business, work incredibly hard, expand it, work even harder and keep on pushing. Don’t buy the fancy car when you make 75 grand a year, re-invest and expand even more.
The latter is the real reason why a lot of people don’t make it. They lose the bite when they can live comfortably. That’s absolutely OK – being a millionaire is only a number, but life is way more than adding up numbers for most of us. Still: if it’s all about becoming a millionaire, this is where the boys are separated from the men. Keep pushing, keep working and continue to drive that 13 year old panel van. It’s in the company’s interest.
Another way is fighting your way through an excellent university diploma (not just “finishing university with a diploma”) and a law degree “summa cum laude”. The 50 or 100 best every year get six-figure incomes right from the start (at age 26 – yes), the 1000 next-best are still on the fast-track and have every chance to end up with a yearly quarter million income by age 45.
It’s possible but harder.
Also depends on what you define as “rich”.
My wife and I bought a house, by now it’s worth about a million dollars, but I wouldn’t call us rich.
If you define rich as having, say, a million euro in easily cashable investments, then that is quite difficult. Possible but difficult.
It’s much easier to go from being poor to being middle class in Europe, to become wealthy you probably need to be a business owner or to be a high ranking executive, be in finance, or be a department head in a hospital. Note that owning a radiology or dentistry practice will make you very wealthy in Europe too.
Overall in the US you get a bigger sum wired to your account every month, BUT you also end up having to use some of that sum for, say, a retirement plan or medical expenses which in Europe are part of that chunk the government takes out of your salary.
It’s certainly possible even with Sweden’s famous welfare net and taxes, we have quite a few billionaires. Per Forbes, Sweden (and Norway) have more billionaires per capita than the US in fact.
The details all depend on what you consider rich. The big difference, compared to the US, is that you don’t get to be a USD millionaire by working a salaried job even if you’re an in-demand specialist. Bay Area software engineers, specialist doctors throughout the US, senior associate or counsel lawyers in NYC, those are all people working for somebody else but realistically making 250k, 300k or even more, which should certainly make them millionaires. We don’t really have that, experienced engineers or doctors are paid very well by local standards but that’s nowhere near US salaries.
I’m an experienced software engineer, switched to consulting work some time ago and I make a very good amount for Sweden, but would still easily earn more if I were willing to work in the US.
Starting a successful business is how you get to be wealthy. That’s obviously not for everyone, but for people who are willing to put up with the uncertainty and do the work, that’s the path to wealth. I don’t want to call it “easy” because it’s not easy anywhere. The US has about 1% of adults with a net worth above one million dollars.
Social mobility is very high, somebody born to a poorer family has every opportunity to do better.
I don’t know about *very* rich, but a person from a modest background can make good money if they learn a skilled manual trade. If they start their own company even more so, but then there’s the overheads and finding the staff.
Another option is to become a dentist, orthodontist or a cosmetic surgeon. It’s probably easier to do this here than in the states because of how student loans work here, but I think there might be less money in it here than stateside. Still it’s a comfortable income.
Then there’s being an investment banker. I have no idea whatsoever about that.
It‘s definitely not as easy as in America as wages are lower for similar work. I only know of a couple self made wealthy people, one started a successful construction company and the other is an accountant who went into real estate and now owns 20+ buildings
You pretty much have to win the lottery or have a one in a million business.
It is said that Finland is a rich country with a poor population.
It is possible though being wealthy here is having half the salary than the same job would get in the US. Like if you have 45-50k nets of taxes per year you are above the average yet you would like get 80k-100k for doing the same thing in the US, especially for IT and medical fields