Hello from Northern-European perspective

[Nougat]

Hi, I have been lurker in this forum for some years already. I have much enjoyed reading many threads that discuss issues both before and after retirement.

I am some years over 60. Working part-time 2 days a week. DW is several years younger and works full-time. My current planned time to retire is November 2021.

I live in Northern-Europe. The retirement saving, medical and social care systems are somewhat different in Europe that in US and Canada. However, I find many of the issues, such as the psychology of retirement, are quite the same.

 

[braumeister]

Welcome!
You're certainly not the only member here from northern Europe, so please feel free to contribute.

 

[audreyh1]

Welcome to the forum! I have family in NL. I really enjoy visiting that area as well as southern Europe. There always seems to be way more to do without having to travel very far at all, compared to where I live in the US. If only our urban walking parks had nice cafes to rest in.

 

[samm]

I live in Northern-Europe. The retirement saving, medical and social care systems are somewhat different in Europe that in US and Canada. However, I find many of the issues, such as the psychology of retirement, are quite the same.

Welcome. What country are you in?

Do you think that retirement is less stressful in your country, versus the US, because of your health care system? For me, the high cost of retirement health care is a major stress factor than I had not fully anticipated.

 

[pacergal]

Welcome to the forum, I look forward to hearing your perspectives.

 

[Nougat]

I live in Scandinavian area consisting of Denmark-Norway-Sweden-Finland. I have also worked in Switzerland.

In general I think European system is more patronising ”nanny state” where state provides obligatory retirement saving and health insurance system, which you have to pay deducted from your salary or pay explicitly if you are entrepreneur. Therefore it is not easy to retire younger than about 65 unless you are successful entrepreneur or very lucky with your personal investments.

I have been somewhat successful with my personal investments and was able to invest in a tax-shelter retirement insurance portfolio which allowed me to to go part-time work at age of 61y6m.

Public healthcare is almost free but slow. So you have to wait for months up to year for major operations such as surgery. If you don’t want to wait you can use private hospitals which can schedule you in days or weeks but You have to pay list price. Some people go to Baltic countries such as Estonia where private hospital operations are 30-50% cheaper but still decent quality.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Welcome aboard!