Recently someone asked me why I would even consider leaving the United States. “We have the highest standard of living, this is the greatest country in the world. You have to be crazy or a Communist to leave,” was the reasoning.
I’m certainly not a communist, and I don’t think I’m crazy. So why would I, or anyone else, want to leave the good ol’ USA to live anywhere else?
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Apparently lots of people do, and the number of Americans moving to other countries is increasing. Millions are retired and collecting Social Security, and millions more are still working or running businesses. For every million Americans living abroad, I’m sure there are at least a million reasons why that’s the best choice for them at this time.
Here are some of my reasons for considering moving overseas, and why the US may no longer be the greatest place for me to live.
- I don’t want to work until I drop dead.
The American Dream used to include the possibility of a comfortable retirement, a time when older, hard-working Americans could relax and have enough financial resources to manage comfortably during their so-called Golden Years. I’ve been working almost non-stop since the day I turned 14 – and that’s over 40 years ago – and got my “work permit.” I’ve taken breaks when I’ve had newborn babies, and for a few years here and there while my family was young, I only worked part-time. But I’ve pretty much always worked. My husband’s story is similar. Unfortunately, we never worked for a company that provided any kind of pension plan, 401(k), or the like, and while raising 5 kids, didn’t have the means to contribute much to an IRA. And after this last year’s economic meltdown, bye-bye to that little bit. So, retirement savings, zip. But, silly me, I’d still like to not have to work until the day I die. There are other countries where I can do that, where my Social Security check (assuming it hasn’t all gone to bail out Bank of America and Merrill Lynch) would allow me to live without having to work for a few years. That option is simply not available to me here, especially when you add - Medical care.
Americans spend the highest amount per capita on medical care, but their care lags behind that received by people in other industrialized nations. In fact, our life extectancy is decreasing, and our infant mortality rate lags behind countries like Wallis and Futuna (yeah, I had to look them up, too. They’re down around Australia), Cuba, Taiwan, all of western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Anguilla, Macau, Iceland, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Japan and Singapore. We barely beat Croatia (6.26 vs. 6.37). This according to the CIA’s World Factbook. And we are the only western industrial country where individuals can go bankrupt and lose everything they own just by getting sick. Contrast that with some so-called Third World countries, where medical insurance that covers pretty much everything is available to residents for just a few hundred dollars a year, if that, and where doctor visits and hospital stays are priced so that regular people can afford them. - Quality of Life.
The US may have the highest standard of living, as measured by the goods we own, but in the “quality of life” category, we trail other countries by a number of objective measurements. Mercer recently published results of its annual Quality of Living survey, and no US city placed in the top 20. International Living magazine conducts an annual survey, and in 2009, the US was in the #3 spot, behind France and Switzerland. The Economist.com created a Quality of Life Index in 2005. The US placed 13th, behind Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, Australia, Iceland, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Singapore and Finland. Quality of life indices typically include mortality rates, unemployment, crime, political stability and freedom among their objective markers. - Stress.
Whether you thrive on it or hate it, the United States today is a high-stress environment. I’d like to be able to ratchet back a few notches.
Does this mean there’s nothing I like about the country I was born in? Not at all – I love America dearly. There’s a lot I will miss when I move overseas, not the least of which will be my kids and their families, and other relatives and friends. I’m sure I’ll miss a lot of the foods I’m used to, familiar streets and landscapes, my native language. And while the USA is in many ways a wonderful place to live, it certainly isn’t the best for everyone, all the time.
So I’m looking forward to being able to live a life that’s a little more relaxed, a little more laid back, where I won’t make myself sick from the stress of worrying about what will happen to me financially if I get sick. I’m looking forward to challenging my not-so-young brain with a new language, learning new customs and meeting new people. I might even learn something from them! At the same time, I’m looking forward to the adventure that any move brings. I might return here to live again, or I might not.
And to my friend who’s afraid I’m crazy, I hope you’ll join some organization or do something that puts you in touch with folks who think differently from you, and that maybe you’ll realize people – all people, from any country – can’t be pigeon-holed quite so easily.
Do you think anyone who moves away from the US is crazy? Click the comment link below to weigh in!
Wow, I couldn’t agree more with the things you have said. I’ve always considered myself to be a patriotic American, but in the last few years, I find it harder and harder to align myself with the life in the U.S.
I’m basically fed up with politics (on both sides of the fence…I think Washington consists of overgrown babies, always whining about their own agendas and never moving forward on behalf of the American people).
Where shall I even begin to share my thoughts? At the top of the list of reasons to leave would be stress. For all the conveniences we have here, Americans should all be laying around in hammocks. Instead, we are one of the most stressed out societies in the world and can select from the following list of activities:
1. Work 10-12 hours a day for a company that may or may not reward your loyalty and leave you on the payroll until retirement.
2. Drive to and from work on an overcrowded freeway because the U.S. has dragged it’s feet on implementing efficient & cost effective mass transportation. (Instead of improving and laying down new train tracks with high speed trains, we tore them up. Let’s see, if we put a quarter amount of the money we pump into the war into an improved mass transit system, we might be slightly ahead by now, improving the environment and giving overworked Americans and alternative ride into work.)
3. Spend your time on hold with any number of customer service call centers, only to find yourself disconnected or speaking to a person you can’t understand or has limited interest in helping you out.
4. Stroll the aisles of the supermarket where you can select from any number of fresh fruits and vegetables that are waxed, colored, and gassed for a longer shelf life. Forget about the fact that they are completely tasteless because they were plucked from the vine a month ago. If semi-natural fruit doesn’t interest you, veer over to the ice cream aisle where it’s becoming increasingly difficult to buy ice cream that isn’t “low cal, low carb, low sodium, low fat, or carb free”. Why can’t people just eat the real thing in moderation?
5. Zoning laws…aah, one of my all time favorites. One can spend a good portion of the day reading and double checking the incredible amount of rules and regulations we have to live by every day. How’s this–what about getting rid of ridiculous Homeowner Association rules which prohibit residents from putting up clothes lines? If we’re ever to really “go green”, we better put our pride aside and start doing what’s right for the environment. Did we ever think how nice it might also be to walk down the street to the end of the block and purchase a quart of milk without having to get in the car and drive 3 miles? There really should be no such thing as a bedroom community. Every community should afford a few conveniences which encourage walking. Forget NIMBY-ism (not in my backyard), that is archaic thinking. And what about getting rid of these stringent curfew laws for our teenagers? America loves “group punishment”…(i.e. all teenagers are bad, therefore, all teenagers must remain locked in their homes after 10pm.) In Europe and other parts of the globe, everyone has the option to go out and mingle with friends and neighbors, young and old. It encourages a sense of community and friendships, and I find it hard to believe that every American teenager who wants to stay out past 10pm or so intends to become intoxicated or be destructive to property. Instead of ruining life for the good kids, why the heck don’t we just go after the perpetrators and thrown the darn book at them…unbelievable. We make our young people live like caged animals and then wonder why they rebel.
6. Call your health insurance company (if you’re fortunate enough to still be on a plan), and spend quality time on the phone trying to straighten out a claim or make sense of an EOB which just arrived in the mail.
7. For those without health insurance, you can play eenie meenie miney moe and decide whether you should use your unemployment check to buy food or refill your prescription.
I lost an Uncle in World War II, he died at the age of 19 near Normandy in France. I visited the American Cemetery there about 10 years ago, and I was overwhelmed with the sense of loss. Many people gave their lives for this country, but the values and lifestyle of yesteryear are gone.
I work for a very prominent healthcare organization and have daily conversations with people about their health insurance. My heart breaks for many of them, and the complicated mess that occurs when certain procedures may be covered and others are not. When did we allow ourselves to play God with other peoples lives? I watched Farrah Fawcett’s documentary film about her journey with cancer. One of the last questions she posed was “why doesn’t the U.S. allow more alternative cancer treatment” (at the very least, let’s do more research on that). I’ll tell you why–the pharmaceutical mafia is strong here. Do you think the drug companies are going to endorse research studies for compounds found in nature? They can’t patent and market parsley as a cure for anything. But there is alot of evidence that alternative medicine holds much promise. Will East ever meet West?
I’m just so sick of the “we’ve always done it that way” mentality. I probably won’t live to be 100, and may not even make it til 80. I want to live out my remaining years with people who appreciate life, good healthy food, who might barter a bit for a doctor visit or an oil change, and who will slow down to smile and say good morning. I have begun looking into options for me and my husband that will allow us to eventually relocate to Europe. He was born there and is still an EU citizen. I pray God allows that to become a reality for us, as this country has let him down (on even more serious matters) as well. Thanks for listening.
Marlene, thanks for your extensive and thoughtful comment. It sounds as though you and I are very much in agreement about some of these issues.
Where in Europe are you thinking of going?