...I am still thinking whether it's better to live in America compared to west Europe, or not. In Europe you pay so much taxes, you can't really collect any wealth. The more you work, the more you earn, the more taxes you pay.
you are 100% correct, I agree with you on this fully, I was living and working in few west European countries and all are the same "...The more you work, the more you earn, the more taxes you pay..." and all what one is paid for overtime they collect back in much higher taxes,
better to not do any over hours if one work on a contract somewhere in hourly wage because there is no sense, when you do it tax is so high that you will get per hour even less as for regular 8 hours, despite you see on income check that it was paid with 200% bonus for Sunday for example
so yes i agree "In Europe you pay so much taxes, you can't really collect any wealth" - situation is worse with each year, 20 years back it was different, especially for low-middle class with regular 8 hours job
Overtime work in Germany is a joke, you are still getting the same salary, not 50% more like in the USA and to be honest, it's still a questionable whether you get paid for your overtime or not.
Btw there is a thing that I have been thinking about lately: Work in delivery, for example in DHL on fixed contract, like, you get paid for 37.5 hours a week, doesn't matter whether you work more or less, you are getting paid for 37.5 hours a week. If you master car driving and streets where you have to deliver to, then you will finish your job in 5 hours but you are still getting paid for 7.5 hours of work. This way, you are have free 2.5 hour. If you work in tech at the same time, live near the post office and will be quickly at home, then you can work remotely as a freelancer. This way, you get all the benefits, like sick leave, 30 days paid vacation, etc. You can avoid to pay taxes as a freelancer, that's entirely possible but definitely I won't write it down. This combo sounds cool for me but it will be difficult at the same time.