Differences between USA and Nordic Europe - from an economic view

I this post, I want to write about the differences between USA and Nordic Europe from an economical point of view. I have visited in USA and Canada a couple of times. I have also visited in every Nordic country + I live in one of those ;.

This is an interesting topic for me, because I read many blogs that are based in USA. There are some differences when it comes to investing and saving. There is a stereotype that Americans are little bit unconscious about every other country than USA. Well, now I will tell you how are things in Nordic Europe from an economical point of view.

School system

In USA, there are lots of different schools to choose. In Nordic countries, we don't have private schools that much. Schools are generally pretty same, they don't differ that much compared to each other. There are small gaps between top schools and the lowest-performing schools. That is not the case in USA.  Here are some reasons why Finnish education system has done very well compared to many other country. Teachers are also more educated in Finland than in the US.

Because of high taxes, universities are mostly free or very cheap for students in Nordic countries. Students also get pretty good economical support from the government. American students have to take much bigger student loans than us, which is why they usually graduate with great debt. However, Americans usually have bigger wages and not as high tax-rate, so bigger student loans are not necessarily a problem.

High taxes and small differences in income

Public sector is bigger than in USA, thus we pay high taxes and have a good social security.
We have this idea that everyone should be in the same level, and there should be no differences in incomes. Nordic countries are the most equal countries in gender issues. But we also have very small income differences compared to the rest of the world. We have high taxes and a good social security. Public healthcare is almost free, and you have pretty (too) good economical security if you can't find a job.

Top-3 are all Nordic Countries. Canada is close.

Investing and saving

It is much easier to save and invest money in America, because in many states, tax-rates are very low compared to Nordic Countries. Nordic Countries have quite good salaries, but the cost of living and high taxes mean that it is not the easiest thing to save money, especially If you live in some big city  with not-so-big salary.

In Nordic countries, if you make, let's say a 100Keuro a year (111885 USD), you pay more than 50% of you salary to taxes. In addition to high income taxes, there are also high tax-rate for capital gains and dividents (25-35 %). 

FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) - Why there are haters and doubters

Whenever you open up to someone about investing, financial independence and the possibility to retire early, they get almost offended. Thus, it is not always easy to tell your friends about your plans and actions. FIRE is usually out of their reality. They just don't simply believe it's possible. Haters stem from the insecurities that people have. If someone is doing great, and you are not, it indicates that you are a looser (extreme example).  That creates negative feelings which usually come out as feelings of hate. It is easy to start blaming others, rather than grab the bull by the horns. 

Too many people are living from paycheck to paycheck because they can't handle their money. They are victims of too much consumerism. Most of the people are not used to think outside of the box. They are sheep who follow each other and do as they are expected to do, by society, by parents, by friends, by anybody else. Society has set up certain expectations for you: study, work, pay your taxes, shut up, and die. Most of the people follow these rules and are slaves of rat race almost their whole life. They have become accustomed for it, yet they still secretly want to win the lottery every saturday. 

People are not usually very satisfied with their jobs. Modern work is pretty demanding and consuming because the world is changing so fast. There is more and more uncertainty in the air. 
Back in the days, our grandparents and even parents had very promising career prospects with enough certainty, at least if they had a university degree. Nowadays, even a degree does not guarantee you a safe job for the next 40 years. That makes things very complex and creates lots of uncertainty.

Yet, most of the people are not aware of the power of compound interest and its possibilities, especially if investing is started in your 20s. 30s, 40s or even 50s is not too late, because people live longer and longer nowadays. When my parents were at my age, there were no Internet, so information did not flow as smoothly as it does nowadays across the world. Luckily, because of Internet, more and more people are getting interested in investing and financial markets nowadays. 

I feel that my mission is to inform and educate as many people as possible about the power interesting and compound interest.