VEO

@tdotcade Really?

@vrexec Did it for 5 years roughly on the independent circuit in Texas. Fun times

Professional wrestling is the most technically complicated, physically challenging, and athletic sport in the world by far and nothing comes even remotely close to it

Excerpt from the essay I wrote yesterday in the Junteau.. Physically I dropped from around 195 pounds to under 170. I wasn’t eating. Mentally I thought I had made a mistake, that I had overreached, that this was some kind of Icarus moment. The ego that pushed me to take the opportunity started to collapse under the weight of it. The days themselves were relentless. I was waking up hours earlier than I ever had before, in the cold, dark mornings, rushing to catch the ferry so I could be at my desk by 7am. It felt like the entire day started in a sprint. And then the evenings were no different. Late finishes, mentally drained, making that same commute back, only to do it all again the next morning. There was no real break in the cycle. I spoke to colleagues, to HR, even to my wife’s therapist at one point, who thought I might be dealing with some form of acute stress response given how abrupt the shift had been. I wanted to quit multiple times. Walk into my boss’s office, thank him for the opportunity, and walk away. But I didn’t. I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it was the conversations. Maybe the therapist. Maybe it was just brute force, showing up again the next day and the next. It was probably all of these things. There’s one moment I’ll never forget. My wife broke down one night seeing me like that, completely worn down, no confidence, no clear path forward. That did something. And then another moment. Standing in the shower one morning, exhausted, and out of nowhere ideas started to come together. Ways I could add value. Angles I could take. It was like my brain had been bent so far that something flipped. The pressure didn’t go away, but it stopped being purely destructive. From there things began to change. Slowly. Small wins. A bit more structure. At one point I forced my boss to sit down and walk me through something technical, and he did. I started to build confidence. I started to get my footing back, and then everything accelerated. 2016 was a completely different story.

@ToniRocci @elacha16 Nothing is perfect

@vrexec @elacha16 “Would”.. you mean “could”. And it won’t cover everything, exceptions do include investments. This is far from a blanket fix.

Lots on our mind about if and when we'd move back to the US from Europe. I find most people with an opinion re EU v US income/tax/COL are very uninformed. Here's a simple breakdown of the reality... Say you earn $250K in Amsterdam vs Philly suburbs. In the Netherlands, between the ~50% marginal income tax rate and the wealth tax, you're paying a bit over 50% in blended effective tax. In the US, after adding up fed, state, FICA, local prop tax... you're a bit over 30%. 20pp difference... that's massive and what most people point to as the headline delta. But... family health insurance premiums are a huge consideration, whether you're self-employed or working a W2. Yes it's higher for self-employed, but W2 premiums have also skyrocketed. If we moved back to the US, our health insurance premiums would increase 650%.. with no material improvement in quality. This instantly erases more than half the tax savings between US and EU. Now add the fact we'd need probably 2 cars versus not owning any cars (we walk, bike, train, bus, zipcar). That's another $10K annual delta (at least). Now add education. Our kids are in an educational program today that costs us $0, but would cost $40-50K all-in back home in the US. This is what blows our COL out of the water if we were to move to the US... despite a massive tax savings. In the NL, these extra costs typical of American life are baked into the tax rate. Even if we sent our kids to a good public school, this would mean higher housing and property tax costs. But imagine you could find a great school without such additional costs... you're still ending up around the same net savings rate as if you stayed in Europe. Then you say, well, just make more money. Go for $500K or $1MM/year income to gain the tax leverage.. but even then it's not much. And sure... the US is where you want to be if you're pushing that level of income partially due to the culture. But putting aside how easily said that is than done, the real question becomes... why? What are you sacrificing for that level of productivity? Being "successful?" Being "elite?" Being "the man?" Who cares? Do your kids care? Your wife?

@ToniRocci @elacha16 That's not accurate. US tax payers abroad would claim the foreign tax credit.

@vrexec @elacha16 “Not unusual” is subjective and rules vary vastly. EU average household income before taxes of 250k is at 1%. Let’s assume a 50% taxation (Baltic and Slavic are lower) at 250k, that’s right about the tax credit level exemption. Anything above, you’d pay US taxes on.

@elacha16 @ToniRocci They're more likely to send to Dutch public schools than privates... there really aren't many private schools in the NL. Not in their culture relatively speaking.

@vrexec @ToniRocci Those are still very rare cases, but possible sure. It’s also not likely that upper-income bracket expats would send their kids to a Dutch public school though, so education costs would still be very high for most of them.

@ToniRocci @elacha16 Not unusual for many Americans to have dual US and EU passports. Also, there are tax treaties so you are mostly not being double-taxed on income.

@elacha16 @vrexec You can’t work longterm for a US company in EU unless through some specific process. There a EU tax code you need to comply too. Local subsidiaries, local partners, self-employed as consultant working for etc.. sure. Tricky to be direct hire.

There is a large... albeit minority... yet still large population of 30 to 50 year old young family-type US-citizens earnings multiple six figures in the Netherlands and frankly all throughout Europe. Many own their own businesses -- media agencies, software companies, consulting firms, even restaurant businesses -- and many work for global companies where, even in The Netherlands, compensation of 200K is not unusual at all. Now add the fact that there are often two working adults in these families... and total incomes of $250K and even much higher in some cases is not unheard of.

@elacha16 @vrexec Also.. you need an EU visa if you plan to do longterm stay here.. which means justifying income etc. Also.. they would ALSO pay US taxes on ANY income made ANYWHERE (rare exceptions..)

@travisunlocked How old are the kids?

@vrexec And maybe most important.. What version of me exists in both places. The novelty of being the expat wears off, as would the novelty of being that family that lived abroad, but you'll likely never feel fully Amer again or never be fully dutch. Which makes more sense now

@ToniRocci @grok I'm not giving advice.

@vrexec Even @grok doesn’t believe that X users are the highest earners. Anyone wealthy should not be taking advice from an X account. Also, NL has quite strict laws on financial advice. You may want to check up on those.

What does this have anything to do with my post? Is it my obligation to only share examples of the average or median situation? I'm not speaking to those people. X user base skews highest income across all social media platforms globally... and my readership skews high income global folk.

@vrexec Delulu much? 18 million people in NL Less than 100,000 households make above 100k after tax. About ONE percent of households.. That is the literal definition of privileged few. “Say you earn.. “ like it’s anything close to achievable by most dutch. cbs.nl/en-gb/visualis…

@smbguyai I think other spending areas are cut... health and educational subsidies will be the last to go.

@vrexec What do social services look like in a weaker economy that now has to spend double to triple on security? The questionable assumption people make when analyzing Europe post Pax Americana (if that happens) is continued cohesion and not a reversion to what it's always been

Energy costs are the biggest possible near-term concern as it relates to geopolitics. I think the positive trade-offs are cultural.. they date back to long before NATO or any conception of the US providing a "security blanket." Still, if there will be changes, they will take place over a long slow period.

@vrexec Do you feel the geopolitical winds of change breathing down the back of your neck insofar as how much longer Europe can continue to provide those positive trade-offs?

@blueprintsmb22 Less resilient versus your Wall Street days? I’d have thought it was the opposite.

Removing the costs dynamics, I go back and forth on the benefits of raising kids in more stressful, competitive America vs somewhere else. I overshare the bad things of business ownership, but I can feel myself getting softer/less resilient 3 years removed from leaving Wall Street while the balance sheet recently allowed me to reduce my cost of capital which is huge in a year that will be very uncertain for most small businesses - basically I’m really really glad I ate shit sandwiches so long as I’m much better prepared for whatever happens this year with raw materials and likely demand deterioration as a result

@OneManLBO @blueprintsmb22 "it's not insurance" scares me quite a bit

@vrexec @blueprintsmb22 It’s not insurance. So a handful of blue states slap a penalty on you for not paying the medical industrial complex

@blueprintsmb22 @OneManLBO Well that changes things for sure. So those states don't consider it to be "real" insurance?

@vrexec @OneManLBO It doesn’t satisfy the insurance mandate in New Jersey and Vermont and a few other states I believe - otherwise I wld have done it

@OneManLBO I'm surprised this exists and not 100% of everyone (without pre-existing) in the country are instantly switching.

@vrexec No upfront testing. If you do have an issue that looks like it may be tied to preexisting, they do a medical records inquiry

@OneManLBO how do they test for those conditions? full body scans? who pays for those?

@vrexec Preexisting / chronic conditions covered only after two years and with dollar limit. Not an issue for us. Everything else has been vastly superior experience than any junk ACA plans

@shavil0mi Fair, but we're not moving again within Europe. Little cultural/lifestyle upside.

@vrexec The thing is you could just live in Switzerland, even a somewhat higher tax part, and your health premiums would be at/under ~1000/mo for the best you can get for family of 4 and you'd save huge tax bill and lots of stuff costs the same as NL otherwisez and everything is better

@OneManLBO What is the catch with CrowdHealth?

@vrexec CrowdHealth fixes your US insurance cost ($600/mo for family of 4) Alpha School homeschooling fixes your education spend ($10K/yr per kid, some states give you tax incentives if you don’t use public school) Your CoL now much more comparable