[trcollinson]

I make pretty good money as a consultant. Last year I had 180 hours of saved vacation time (4.5 weeks). I gave up 115.5 hours of that on January 1 because I didn't use it. I expect I will lose a similar amount on next January 1st. I did get 6 federal holidays off. I used a bit of vacation to also take the day after Thanksgiving, the day before Christmas, and New Year's Eve off.

I paid $8400 in insurance premiums for my insurance. I also added $5200 in pretax to my HSA account which I used.

I paid about 30% to taxes.

I'm not complaining. I'd just like to point out that my high salary (which is not > $200,000) comes with some costs.

[iso1631]

$200k is £146k

I've seen mid-level tech jobs in London banks for £146k which come with 34 days off including state holidays like new years day, christmas, etc

£146k for a full time contractor on 226 days a year isn't that much at all - £650 a day, which is in the "Senior developer" range [0]

With 30% tax in the US and the cost of health insurance, that would be $68,400

For a staff employee on £146k (which is quite achievable in finance), taxes would be 39.5%, or $79k in tax [1] (there's also local property tax, but that's in the ballpark £1k-3k a year depending on the size of your house). Tax could be potentially lower as a contractor if you're clever about distributing your income, but I know they've been clamping down on some avoidance schemes.

No idea what a HSA account is, I guess some form of pension plan? That tends to come off pre-tax.

[0] https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/contracts/uk/senior%20ui%20dev...

[1] https://listentotaxman.com/146000

[slap]

The whole IT contractor bonanza at £650/day is being killed off by the government in April 2021.

Also perm developer jobs in London are at around £100k at the 90th percentile, nowhere near £160k

See https://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/london/developer.do

[blunte]

London is hugely expensive, so tech salaries should be higher there to attract workers.

Also, finance generally pays better than other industries (although banking in Netherlands pays typically low-average); but trading and investment companies pay above average.

[mciancia]

Yes, you can earn $200k in EU. But usually on very senior role/as contractor while in US you can get that kind of offer from FANG just out of university. I would assume that people who can get $200k in EU could get a ton more in US

[kingaillas]

>No idea what a HSA account is, I guess some form of pension plan?

I think the OP meant Health Savings Account, which lets you put money in pre-tax for certain medical expenditures. There is a limit and IIRC you lose what you don't spend. It's good if you have predictable costs, or you're saving to do an expensive procedure (friends have done this for lasik), etc. You pay the bill then submit a receipt to get reimbursed out of the account.

In the US these are now termed Flexible Spending Accounts, with subcategories of Health, Dependent Care, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_spending_account

It helps, but certainly a different attitude towards social safety nets, defense spending, etc would make a larger difference.

[foogazi]

I don’t get this. As a consultant do you get time off? If so why didn’t you use your vacation time? Why not take December off?

Did working those extra weeks mean more value to you?

[trcollinson]

I am a W2 employee for a consulting firm. They pay me a salary with some benefits and some vacation time and bill be out to clients.

I'd say it's a cultural thing why we don't use it. Working hard and making big money is the dream. I'm not saying my company forces me to not take the vacation time. Heck they try to tell us all to use it more! (PTO is a liability on the books, FYI). But culturally, it's just not a priority (as in our countries culture, not the company itself). I realize it makes no sense. I need to make it more of a priority. My original point is my friends who are ex-pats on the EU seem to have a culture of using that time being more important than working.

Edit: I'm not sure why I'm being down voted. I'm mostly sharing what I see and feel. Your milage definitely may vary and I hope it does!