Which Country is the Best to Live for Each Social Class

Hello and welcome to Analyzing Finance with Nick. Is America or any country really the best country objectively for somebody to live in? Personally, for me it is. I love living in the United States of America, my home country. I think it provides the best opportunities for entrepreneurial people by far of any place in the world. However, just because it lines up well with my personality and my goals doesn't mean necessarily that it fits for everybody. And I think really what determines whether a country is a great place to live or not is often determined by one's social class background and their ambition to move up to a various social class or lack thereof. And so in this video I'm going to discuss what is the best country for every social class to live in. And I'm going to base this on a number of criteria. First, I'm going to use the American social class hierarchy pyramid that starts dependent class on the bottom as the dual pyramid structure with the establishment encounter elite track. Second, I'm going to assume that the best social class is one where of the expected ceiling that person expects to attain. So if somebody right now is in a lower class but is striving to do better, I'm going to base it on what is the social class they're ultimately targeting to get to more than the one they're at currently. Third, it's not going to be purely based on cost of living versus tax rates if we were going to reduce it to that. This is just the analysis of what countries have the lowest marginal income tax rate and or have the lowest cost of living. And it's not really simple as that. There are other quality of life factors that really need to be accounted for, whether that's in culture, whether that's in climate, that's in a variety of other factors. So we're not going to base it solely on that. And without further ado, let's get started. The first class we're going to talk about is the dependent class. And the best country to live in for the dependent class is ones that generally give the most generous welfare with either the least amount of strings attached or they do have strings attached, but it's not enforced very tightly. There's no country that provides unconditional social aid, especially for those under retirement age. However, different countries in the world provide different levels of enforcement. Some countries are more lax and let people indefinitely live off of socialist. There are others who take the temporary nature of unemployment a lot more seriously and will pull back assistance when they feel like somebody is taking advantage of the system. You want to look at a country that has the highest quality of life for those who are independent and expected to be dependent on the state for the foreseeable future, it is France. France may not have as generous of a welfare state as some of the Nordic countries, but it has a moral enforcement on those who are not willing to participate in the system. And the requirements of quote unquote, looking for a job are a bit more loose. And the political culture there makes it very hard to raise retirement ages. And so as a result, whenever you see leadership in the French government try to do retirement or pension reform, you have movements like the yellow vest or barricades on the streets that pretty much put a stop to that fairly quickly and adversely affecting France's public finances. But that's a topic for another entire video. The other reason why I put France as the paradise for the dependent class is because it's got a very relaxed culture, it's got good food, cost of living is relatively low compared to other developed economies, and it has no real stigma for people living off the government. And it has. That's one of the only countries, I think it might be the only country in the world where retirees have higher incomes than working people. And so I therefore, because of the, and a lot of the cultural factors of it being more of a lax anti hard work type of live and let live type of country culture, as well as the relatively generous welfare benefits, I put France the best country for the dependent class. The next level is the working precariat class. Even though they're technically the same class in my pyramid, it's very different types of people in each one. The precarious class people usually have very high levels of education, but are underemployed for some reason or another and feel like they're stuck in a condition of genteel poverty. Whereas the working class people often didn't go to conventional college and are trained in a trade or a specific skill and just want to be able to work hard and make enough money to support their family. It takes off a physical toll on them and they don't want to be shamed or considered low class or low status for pursuing more of a working class type profession. So let's first start with the latter category, the working class. And the best country for the working class to live in is, is Germany. There are a multitude of reasons why I put Germany as the best country for the working class. First, there really isn't the same kind of social stigma against the working class in Germany like there is in the Anglosphere and other developed economies. Germany is a country, even with its recent energy crisis, very dependent on heavy industry. And there are a lot of jobs in traditional manufacturing type jobs, semi skilled levels of proficienc, which is kind of the perfect sweet spot to have relatively high pay for the working class without necessarily needing a bachelor's degree or above. Germany used to have no minimum wage, but in the last decade it's now become one of the higher minimum wages in all of Europe. Germany has welfare protections, but it's hard work. Efficient culture generally has some stigma against people who are taking advantage of the system. So it won't be treated as kindly as in France, which is why France is better for the dependent class. But in Germany you can have higher incomes net for working class people. For those who strive to do better than the working class though, Germany is not particularly great because it has very high progressive income taxes. The amount of take home pay from like the 20th percentile of income earners to the 75th percentile is not big enough of a gap to make the extra effort education or skills or hard work to move much within that band. The German education system is set up well for the working class. Depending how you score on assessment tests they're on 9th or 10th grade, you either are college track or apprenticeship working class vocational type school track. And once you graduate from high school you're to be in some sort of apprenticeship which develops you a hard skill and puts you on a relatively tracked whatever job you have after that in the trades. And it's a lot more forgiving than the United States when it comes to this. It's very clear what you're to do. And there's just no social stigma as long as you're working hard and putting effort. People don't look down on the working class. And your relative wages compared to white collar professionals are much more narrow the gap than in other countries. The precariat class is a different story. I would make Sweden the best country to be in the precariat class. I think the Nordic countries generally fit because they cover a lot of what you expect for a middle class quality of life through the state such as education, healthcare, housing, supports retirement, et cetera. You could go to school theoretically indefinitely and have it cost paid for by the state as long as you are studying something. But in a lot of these countries people will go to college and get multiple master's degrees and use their education post secondary education instead of taking like three to four years like in many other countries it could be five Six, seven years and beyond. And that appeals maybe to a lot of the Precariat class who value the academic setting more than the quote unquote real professional world. And the taxes are high, but the Precariat, their income level is not really high enough that that should really bother them. And so in Sweden I picked the other Scandinavian countries, the biggest in terms of population. And it also has the lowest cost of living relative to the other Nordic countries. And cost of living is an important factor for the Precariat. So I would put Sweden as the precarious. It's not a coincidence. A lot of the Precariat class politicians like Bernie Sanders and the Elizabeth Warrens of the world who kind of represent their views in the United States tend to be the most enamored by the Nordic countries economic model. It really suits those who are in the Precariat, which is unfortunately a growing part of the American population, particularly for millennials and gen reject. Now that we're done with the lower classes, let's move to the middle class. I think the best country for the middle class, assuming your income is capped at about like the $125,000 a year range in the United States. So if you're making like between say like 70k to 130k us probably the bet and have like a white collar corporate job with like a bachelor's degree or a highly skilled trades person who can get their income up to that level, the best countries probably to live is Australia. I would have considered New Zealand here too, but New Zealand's job market is not deep enough given how small the population is relatively spread out. And so a lot of young people in New Zealand need to actually move to Australia to advance their economic opportunities. And the small town effect kind of would hurt the depth of the job market and just social advancement opportunities too. So that's why I pick Australia. And Australia is big enough, it's got about the size of Texas in terms of population with 30 million people spread across several different major cities, whether that's Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Melbourne. And it has a better tax profile in Europe, but it's a little bit higher than the United States. But at the levels of income I'm talking about, you could still have a pretty good life in Australia. The cost of living here outside of housing is probably lower than the United States and housing is probably similar to slightly higher. It's about as expensive as say like west coast CITIES in the U.S. i would say in terms of housing here in Australia and like A lot of public services are probably more robust and higher quality than the US Social trust is higher too for a variety of reasons. In America you need to spend a lot of money to buy yourself out of a lot of the social problems that weaken the country and make it people feel uncomfortable living there. Whereas in Australia you don't need to do that as much. Example in downtown Brisbane they have like public swimming pools that are nicer than like resort level ones in Southern California or in Florida. Like you can, they don't even get, you can just walk in for free and go for a swim. That kind of infrastructure just because of this level of social trust in the United States is just not viable. That's the problem with Australia is why more entrepreneurial people it's not a good fit because there is inherent ceiling like again, the size of the market limits the depth of the job market. And for entrepreneurs it limits the customers that you might have if you want to focus on a locally driven business and the higher tax structure and the more tight regulatory environment than the United States makes it harder to really go big and start a business. So if you're a more ambitious professional class level person, you're going to feel like Australia is a small pond. But for again the more middle class, white collar or skilled tradespeople, Australia is probably the best country to live. Now we're going to move up to the professional classes and we're going to start with the institutional professional class. These are highly skilled corporate or government professionals are within 2 to 3 degrees of separation from the establishment elites. The best cities country for them to live in is usually their home country. Like most governments and societies in the world want to make sure that their institutional professional class a high enough quality of life that they are satisfied living there. Because if they don't, this group will often be the vanguard of revolution or political problems. And so you need to have them on your side. And so these workers are generally treated well. They often certain examples like European government workers get tax breaks. Other countries they generally just tend to have higher salaries for relative to the amount of hours they actually work. The credentials, their limits are mainly credentials and networking and the ability to office politics. And if you have those skills and you have those local connections, the best place to do it is in your local country. Because you try to move someplace else and you don't have the institutional network, it's going to make your life a lot harder and you're going to have to move down a social class to be forced on the counter elite track. If you want to maintain the same level of standard living that your social circle had as an institution. Institutional, professional class, your home country. The general best answer for the institutional professional class is whatever country you grew up in or have the most personal and social connections among their elites, generally where you were born. The next side, the professional class, is the Ivy League class, which is one level up. And those are people generally within one degree of separation of the establishment elites. And there's not really a country necessarily. It's more just a few intellectual clusters. Like there are certain cities around the world. They're usually like academic or financial centers that the intelligence gather and they can create a deep enough of a job market for their niche and enough social opportunities and advancement opportunities, it makes sense to stay in those echo chambers and those environments. The main cities that really kind of stand out for this are London, New York and Geneva. These are a lot of headquarters of a lot of world international government organizations, a lot of NGOs, a lot of international headquarters for major Fortune 500 companies, both in the US and globally, and also a lot of more elite universities in the world are within a short drive of these cities. There aren't the only three Ivy League class cities in the world. I would also put Boston, San Francisco and Paris within this category as well. Some would argue that Frankfurt, Munich, Milan, Tokyo, and for those outside the liberal international order, Shanghai would also belong in this category. But there's not really a country for the Ivy League class. It's more that unique. Also forgot Washington D.C. also belongs like in this cluster of Ivy League class cities. And it's probably you need to live in intellectual and financial centers if you want to really have a stable career and a robust social circle and high quality of life. Like the cost of living matters for this group, but not as much as others. And it's not worth the disadvantages of the lower cost of living and moving out of these places and not worth the social and economic disadvantages that you would have by leaving these places. So it's generally these hubs for that. And then the establishment elite, like the old money crowd, like the best place for them is Switzerland. And Switzerland, for a number of reasons. One, it's a very safe place to put your money. Switzerland has managed to preserve wealth through both the World wars and for basically since the Napoleonic wars, has been in a safe place to store wealth. It's a very high trust, it's very safe. It's got a high cost of living. Their job opportunities can be limited if you're not a local because of strict immigration policies, as well as the relatively small population of Switzerland. It's about eight and a half billion people. But if you're in the establishment elite, you don't really care. You've already got enough money. You just want to live a comfortable life that you don't have to worry about your personal safety, you don't have to worry about your money being seized. And you want high quality of life with good food, safe streets and just a charming scenic environment. A nice place to enjoy your free time. And Switzerland really fits all of those boxes very well. And it's not geographically isolated, it's in the heart of Europe. So overall, Switzerland is the best place for the establishment elite. Now we're going to do the counter elite track of people. And the first one is the independent professional class. These are people who are entrepreneurs. Their income is not tied to a single client or an employee. And so they kind of have a little bit more independence, but at the same time they're not making enough money that they can no longer work. These are just your typical small business owners. The best really country for the independent professional class is the United States of America. The US the most entrepreneur friendly, both in terms of bankruptcy laws and both in terms of social stigma against entrepreneurship and business failure, like entrepreneurship is generally regarded as a positive thing in the United States and business failure is not taken personally and doesn't have the same social stain as it does in a lot of other developed economies. The US has just a bigger market size, so the ability to scale up with a population of 300 plus million with mostly high incomes gives opportunity for a business to grow a lot more than in smaller markets. And then because English is the lingua franca for the international community, it allows global scaling once the business model is proven locally in the United States, there's a robust venture capital community and relatives for those who are looking to raise money for startups. And in general, the US has just a variety of different climates. There's a variety of different cities, a variety of different living costs. So you can have the flexibility to build your life in really any way you want, especially if you're tied to a single employer that requires you to live in a certain city. I would put the US at the best place for the independent professional class. Also, the barriers to entry to getting into any kind of is generally lower in the US than in other countries as well. Therefore, the cost of becoming an entrepreneur going for it is a lot lower. That's why you see with immigrants to try to move to America from around the world are often very skilled, academically elite people who want to pursue the entrepreneurial path. But their home countries often make it too difficult to do that. So they move to the US to pursue those kind of dreams. And then when we move up to the one scale up, that's successful business owner class, that's somebody who started a business that generates enough cash flow that they can live a very comfortable and a luxurious life while delegating all the operations of businesses to professional managers and employees. The US remains the best place to live for the successful business owner class because the similar reasons why it's good for the independent professional class below them. It's a big market size, ability to scale business, easier access to capital and a variety of different places to live. The tax regime in the United States, especially for business owners, is a lot friendlier than other developed countries. So like that's another perk for business owner classes is the lack of high taxes. You don't get as much social benefits from the state in the United States as other countries in the developed world. But if you're a business owner, particularly in a successful business owner class, that doesn't really matter to you because taxes are more of an expense not and public services are not really going to be a net benefit to you. So I would still put for successful business owner class, the US remains the best place for them and then the last one is the counter elite track. And this is where more important really divide what your goals are beyond money. If your goal is just to maximize the amount of wealth you have and live as comfortable of a life as possible, then obviously free to do what you want as long as you don't interfere with local politics. The best country really for that crowd would be Singapore. It's very low. Taxes may not be as low as say like the Arab Emirates or like random tax havens in the Caribbean, but it's still among the lowest tax burden in the developed economies. Singapore has enough cultural amenities that you can have a good time and pretty high quality of life there. It's very expensive, particularly if you want to buy a conventional house. And even for successful business owner class, people might be concerned about that, especially if they want families. But you don't really have to worry about cost of living. Singapore is very accessible. It's part of Asia. You can fly just about anywhere in the world. You can get anywhere within Asia like three or four hours flying. And elsewhere has a lot of direct connections from Shanghai. It has a lot of comfortable cultural. You're generally left Alone, as long as you don't try to get involved with local politics. And so Singapore is a great place for the counter elite. However, if you're somebody who does want to be involved in their community and try to change things, or use your newfound wealth to be an influence in your local country politics or global politics, or in the grander society and culture, and you want to be able to use your wealth to as an outlet for speech or to push a certain agenda, then Singapore is not the place for you, because they're not really about that. They kind of have a thing they want to do and they don't really want anybody roughing, they don't want anybody rocking the boat. Whereas the United States remains the best place for a counter elite if they want to actually be involved. And you can invest your own community directly through charitable projects in a way that's relatively tax favorable. You can get involved in local politics just by being big enough of a donor in a certain community. And your elected representatives will listen to you if you put your money where your mouth is. Whereas in other countries it requires more social connections or working your way through the system. US Is not that way. If you have made money, no matter what your background is, you can have a say in national politics. Like look at the examples of the donor class in the United States today. I don't even need to name them. They're pretty obvious. And it's still a very high quality place to live. Taxes are still relatively low in the US they're not as low as Singapore or the UAE or the Caribbean. Tax haven, a lot of cultural amenities. And if you have a lot of money and you don't have to worry about the cost of living. Some of the nicest cities to live in the world are in America. Whether that's in California, whether that's in South Florida, New York, all these gateway cities are very high quality places to live. And you have enough wealth that you can insulate yourself from the social problems that the lower classes deal with. The US is still a great place. That's why I did a video calling the U.S. the country club of the rich. So overall, is there an objectively best country to live in? I think it's the United States, but I might be biased by my socioeconomic background and my personal values, which with the American dream. However, the real answer to if there's a best country in the world is it depends. I think for different social classes and different goals and different levels of ambition, it makes a lot difference where you live. If you have something more modest. Ambition. Western Europe is a better place to live. If you're somebody who wants to go for it and it's more entrepreneurial, you should live in the United States. And if your ambition is somewhere in between, Australia is not a bad place to be. Let me know what you think. Am I right about which classes fit in with the best countries? And if I'm wrong, tell me what is a better country for either yourself or somebody of a given social class? I'd love to make this a more extended dialogue. Thank you guys all for watching.