Is Switzerland underrated for remote workers?
BIG deep-dive on how to find a good country to live in - don't miss!
This article is quite long and in-depth, so I recommend consuming it from your browser, at this link (also because it will be cut at the end of the email).
What’s up gangsters
Two weeks ago, I published a ‘Spain for Remote Workers’ deep-dive.
Because, as someone who recently became location-independent with my career…
I’m exploring alternatives to living in Zurich.
(where I’m currently based)
Last week, I built an AI SaaS to help me in this research.
Today, I’ll share some results
I’ll highlight a few findings I stumbled across, guide you through some considerations that I’ve done, and present some conclusions I’ve ended up with.
Then, I’ll be curious to hear your opinion on both the process and the conclusions!
Let’s get started 😎
Last week, I shared how I used my new SaaS Remote Compass to get an idea of some good places to move to
The list that the SaaS came up with was:
Prague
Warsaw
Zug
Tallinn
Dubai
Which is a good list. These are all solid places for my case.
BTW, I’m not the only one finding good results from using the app.
Someone I met on X ended up using it and finding it helpful too:
(note: it’s a guy who’s been a digital nomad for over a decade)
If you want to try it out, you have a 15% discount until Monday. Just put the code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout.
Go here if you’re interested.
Back to us!
How is the above 5 city list?
Good.
I don’t remember exactly what input I gave it. But something balancing out good infra, good lifestyle & culture, OK costs, OK taxes, etc.
Actually you can see in details what input I gave it in this video.
This week I carried out the research a bit differently
I increased a bit my demands on things like geo-stability, infra, taxes.
In last week’s research, I started with the assumption of “I can’t have it all”, and tried to tune the preferences in Remote Compass as low as I could accept. This makes it easier to find a place.
But this week I approached with a bit of a freer mind: “just put exactly what you want/feel, and see what comes out”.
So, I increased expectations on the following parameters:
(moving from scoring them at 6 or 7/10 levels of importance, to 8/10, in the app - other parameters were already at the level I wanted, so I didn’t have to update those)
1. Geopolitical stability
Having to stay up-to-date with the news genuinely annoys me. And the situation in Eastern Europe requires you to check news often, if you live nearby.
This was the week of the “proposed peace plan” between Russia and the US, and the fact that it’s Russia and the US negotiating about wars in Eastern Europe (rather than Europe itself) makes you wonder how vulnerable Europe is, especially on its Eastern flank.
I think all in all you’re safe living there, but having to keep track of what’s going on all the time is not great.
Especially if you’re looking at a place to build roots and stay long-term.
(which was the idea of this week’s research: find a place for the mid/long-term)
2. Low-tax and low-bureaucracy is great
And EU is generally high-tax and high-red-tape.
I’m not anti-EU and not even anti “European welfare states”.
I think these are great societies at the end of the day, especially when comparing them with some other alternatives around the world.
But, for me, specifically:
I’m quite individualistic: in the “American sense - I like people with original ideas, I’m for truth over cohesion, I like to build my life as I like it, etc.
I’m relatively hard-working: if I need to work on something I don’t want to work on, I can be lazy, but otherwise I have no problem working hard (I think in the past 500 days or so, I’ve probably taken less than 5 full days off).
I’m busy: I do many things, launch different projects, experiment with things, travel, etc. I LOVE things that make my life easier/more simple (and bureaucracy doesn’t help with that).
These are some of the reasons why I’m not sure I’d be a good fit for settling in a EU country: they usually have a collectivist perspective, high taxes, lot of red tape, etc.
3. Infra and standard of living
I’m a fancy bitch 😂
One of the reasons why I don’t always like Switzerland, in fact, is that I cannot afford as much “luxury” or service levels as I’d like, sometimes.
In fact, we could argue that I live a more fancy lifestyle in Warsaw than in Zurich.
That said, if we’re talking about country infra, choices like Southern Europe or Central/Eastern Europe can have a bit lower standards than Switzerland. On a few dimensions: transports, roads, house built quality, corruption, etc.
Basically: last week in my research I was OK compromising a bit on these variables, this week less so (somehow).
4. Setup simplicity
If I were to move to the EU, I’d have to restructure things a bit.
It’s possible, and not THAT expensive/complicated, but also not straightforward.
One option would be to leave the company in Switzerland, move myself, and pay myself a salary or bill the company as a freelancer: ok at small scales, becomes complicated if you scale (the country where you move to on a personal level might claim your corporate taxes / ask you to move your company there).
Another option (the more legit one) would be to open a subsidiary in the new country, and then do a transfer pricing analysis to assess how much taxes to pay and in which country (done by lawyer that I’d have to pay).
Last one would be to migrate the business completely (not too great: especially if I then end up moving again after a few years).
(this is of course not tax advice. Always better to consult a specialist to learn more about these things in your particular case)
Naturally, staying in Switzerland makes things much easier (both me and my biz are already here).
5. Healthcare
Personal preference, but I care about this a lot.
I grew up in a small town in Italy where doctors were “just OK”, and it’s always annoyed me to have a symptom, go to a doctor who isn’t able to fix it, and have to carry the issue along for years without solving it.
I experienced this often as I was doing competitive sailing basically everyday as a kid, and injuries, even small ones, could damage performance in races etc.
It’s also something that I expect to become more important as I get older (obviously).
One example on bad vs good healthcare:
My dentist in my hometown 15 years ago put braces on me, with rubber bands to apply for a few hours a day, and a few other tips and tricks.
This ended up creating a few issues on my TMJ (temporomandibular joint) that I’ve struggled with (at mild levels) basically until now.
I had that checked out in Warsaw this year: doc recommended a good but a bit invasive/complicated/outdated approach.
Got it addressed by my dentist in Lugano and his physio: in 2/3 months, already much better, and without anything too complicated:
Now, I’m not saying that Swiss healthcare is perfect (not at all), but, comparatively, I think it’s quite good.
Moreover… It’s more sustainable (at a country balance-sheet level) than in most of EU.
6. Sustainability and economic growth
Sometimes people think I’m trying to become an economist, because of all the research I do on social security, or on public debt, economic growth, forecasts.
But people don’t realise who much these topics impact their life!
You want to know if your country is going broke or not, and where your social security contributions are ending up.
The more you stay in a country, the more you invest in it: relationships, language, systems, etc.
It’s not easy to leave a country later on in life, after you’ve settled there.
Also, having a country where your social security contributions are going to pay for your pension and one where they’ll just disappear, it’s going to make a big difference on your financial planning.
If the social security system works: no need to chase FIRE or worry about retirement, just coastFIRE and reach pension age working passion projects that pay the bill.
OK, so: let’s see the results of this week analysis
The following summary from RemoteCompass sums up what my input and priorities were:
(the part about my gf/ukraine/russia is just a knob I added to the search - note: you can delete and add knobs from Remote Compass UI based on your needs -, to specify a preference for places with more Ukrainians than Russians, such that my Ukrainian gf can feel more comfortable. I scored this var 7/10 for importance)
Resulting rank
The top 1 option it gave me is basically my current setup:
Base in Zurich: summer and autumn mostly here, a bit of winter, a bit of spring. It’s where I have my routine: work, nature, cook, dinner out on the weekend, SPA, weekend mountain getaway, nearby Euro-trips etc.
Visits in Warsaw for big city lifestyle: well-connected to Zurich, best big city in Europe IMO at the moment (great restaurants, nightlife, convenience, safety etc); also great in spring which is the season I like in Zurich the least. Lots of small builders/freelancers/entrepreneurs like me live there, so it’s also great for networking.
The rest, travel a bit here and there: Italy to visit family and friends, Spain/Cyprus/Greece for beaches and sun, Paris for anniversary trips etc.
Me and my gf having fully-remote jobs makes this “international” setup feasible and fun.
Here are the trade-offs among these 5 cities
Like this it might be a bit hard to see, but in the app you can also toggle in/out specific cities from the graph, to make it more clear.
For instance, here I’m selecting just Warsaw, Zurich and Dubai:
Highlight one of them over the others and see the pros/cons (like Warsaw in this case), simply by hovering over the city name with your mouse:
I’ve also added an option to compare cities.
Basically, after a search result like the above, you can pop up this menu:
And put a few cities.
Then, it will run a new research, based on the context shared by you in the first/main search, and benchmark the newly selected cities, based on what you care about (that you shared in the first question/context).
Before I tell you which cities I put then in this targeted compare-cities search, let me first share…
What I think about the above results (the 5 cities)
For the mid/long-term.
1. Zurich
I think Zurich in your 20s is too boring if you need to always be there.
If you’re single, dating there is also not that good (both for guys and girls).
I heard many people complain. Me myself I dated a lot there, but had worse matches compared to almost all other cities I lived in (except maybe for raw/analytical type of intelligence: this you may find more in Zurich than in other cities).
But in general, it’s just too small, there’s not much to do, other than play boardgames or go hiking. Nightlife is not that fun, etc.
People are not that good-looking also, in case you care about this. There’s many “nerds”.
If you want to date someone in tech or corporate who makes six figure, it’s great.
If you want to find someone hot/fun/with diverse interests, it’s probably easier in a bigger city in Europe.
But even if you’re not single… Like now that I have a gf since a couple of years, I still wouldn’t spend 12 months in Zurich. It’d still be a bit too boring.
But…
Probably, the older I get, the more I’ll appreciate Zurich pros and the less I’ll care about its cons. Especially after starting a family and having kids.
I guess at that point you might care more about stability, safety, nature and peacefulness than about excitement, inspiration, going out, fun etc.
2. Warsaw
Great city, love being there, but I struggle a bit to see myself there long-term, for the reasons highlighted at the beginning of this article (geopolitics, infra, healthcare, EU).
It could be that in the coming years things will develop and become better / more resilient, then I will consider it.
But as of now, I’m not too positive about this happening. Some things are somewhat structural: proximity to Russia, social security contributions not being enough to predict a strong improvement of its healthcare system, etc.
I’m also not entirely bullish on Poland economy (it has some challenges):
Comparatively, I think Switzerland has a more reliable path to (continue its) economic prosperity (not without challenges, but still).
3. Valencia
Sounds great, but Spanish taxes are really horrible and the tax office likes to bully entrepreneurs.
So I’m not sure I’ll be able to put up with that.
Also some people there seem to really hate “rich migrants”.
It happened to me too sometime ago on LinkedIn!
Although when I lived there (almost 2 years across Madrid, Sevilla and Barcelona), I mostly found friendly people and it was a good lifestyle, so never say never.
It could be worth the tax premium if things stay good: they are generally quite good right now, if you’re earning remotely. But high debt, old population, and a recent economic growth that still needs to prove its resilience, make this not certain.
Basically, there’s the risk of ending up there with a decent remote income, but with the need to pay 50% in taxes, with degraded quality in healthcare and safety, crumbling infra etc…
Then it wouldn’t be such a sweet deal anymore (same as Italy or Greece today).
4. Lisbon
Good option.
You can find a good neighbourhood or suburb, great climate and food, good recent economic situation (high but decreasing debt, good stable economic growth), good (but, I hear, somewhat struggling) healthcare.
Its tax office is also a bit more chill than in Spain. They also have decent temporary programs (like NHR 2.0, that lasts 10 years).
Not sure about immigration and crime, but probably not terrible.
Efficiency etc not great but could be ok.
It’s an option.
Here’s a video about it. I’ll make an article in the future expanding on its pros and cons.
All in all, it might be the best place in Southern Europe for someone like me.
5. Dubai
I need to visit.
I hear mixed reviews of it.
On one hand, it seems very attractive:
No taxes
If you want something, you pay for it (a decent price), and get good quality
It’s growing
Both Swiss safe and Warsaw buzzy
On the other hand:
Not sure I’m comfortable in a non-democratic country
“Dubai bros”
Plenty of Russians (not great for my Ukrainian gf)
Once you account for all the private stuff (healthcare, schools, etc), the high rents, the expensive restaurants, the expensive flights to visit Europe, etc… I’m not convinced it stays super convenient
Here’s a few other options from another search
The highlighted one is Cyprus (in the pic is Limassol, but probably Paphos would be better).
It’s an OK option, but you’re still compromising some stuff compared to my current setup.
I have friends living there who like it; and I also really liked it when I visited: food is great!! weather is very nice too, lots of expats etc, for vacation is quite nice - but for long-term I’m not convinced.
Kuala Lumpur seems too far-fetched for me at the moment.
Bucharest I visited but didn’t feel like it was for me - but it could be great for some people. BTW, for remote devs it might be interesting?
Back to the city comparison I did on top of the search shown above.
Let’s talk about…
Lugano
It is quite a gorgeous place, to be honest!
And, lifestyle-wise, it feels more smooth/chill than Zurich.
I will do a deep-dive on it in the future.
For now, let me share the comparison done by Remote Compass between Zurich and Lugano for my situation:
Maybe!
I’ll visit again and do a full review, of a Lugano-based setup.
Cost of living in Zurich/Switzerland
It’s high… 😁
And, for most remote workers, this is the biggest downside.
(other than the lifestyle, for the 20/30 year olds looking for more vibrancy)
But:
Almost 0% income tax if you’re making low six figures
Social security money is not lost → will fund pension etc
If you have kids, taxes go even lower. I mean, look at this:
The above is if you have 3 kids. If you have 2 kids is very similar (just add ~2%).
If incomes grow, it’ll be a bit more. But, in my case:
I can keep the income at that level even if my company starts to make more (and leave the rest in the company)
Gf doesn’t plan to work all that much after kids: probably some part-time and/or remote job, so unlikely to become super high
These super low income taxes alone creates some cash flow, if you compare it to a place like Spain, for example, where 30-50% income tax won’t be out of the picture.
Childcare is super expensive, but, mostly just for the first 4 years (when daycare is like $4k/month), where potentially I could take some time out of Switzerland or have my gf take care of the kid full-time.
After that, schools are high quality and free.
Healthcare costs are not too high either, for families, and they’re good quality.
So, it’s not that crazy in the end.
Of course, if my income stabilises below 100k, I’m not sure it’d be worth it.
In that case, maybe a lower cost higher tax destination like Spain or Italy could have advantages. Or, a low-ish cost low-ish tax place like Cyprus/Portugal/Poland/Malta.
But, over 100k remote biz income (to sum to gf ~30-70k one), it might be ok.
Over 200k total incomes, it becomes certainly doable in our case.
Note that this be a bit different if you:
Don’t have a company: can’t control how much salary you get and how much you leave in the company or pay in dividends.
Your partner wants to work full-time: you need nannies/childcare etc + pay higher taxes.
So, I’m not sure how good it is if you and your partner are working full-time 2 regular onsite jobs in Zurich. Maybe not that good in that case.
You’d have to assess it for yourself: both lifestyle wise (nanny life) and on the income taxes (which, in Switzerland, are more favourable for married couples where one of the two is the main breadwinner).
You also get ~400 euro a month per kid from the social security, tax-exempt:
Not bad.
Some super random math:
$150k in as a couple (~130k euros, ~120k CHF)
3% in income tax → $145.5k net
10-15% of it goes into social security to fund your retirement → $134k left
health insurance (1 kid) ~14k per year → $120k left
Plus, you get around $4500 per year from the above table → ~$125k to spend
That’s about $10k per month (~8k CHF), which for 3 people should be enough to have a comfortable life, if one of the 2 works 50%.
You don’t need much more than that, to squeeze in another kid either.
Savings-wise: I wouldn’t need to save too much, because I have some savings already, and because the social security alone will build up a nice buffer (summed to what I have saved/invested, it would provide for a more than comfortable retirement in many nice places in Europe).
Asked ChatGPT just in case:
So, $150k before taxes as a couple, is kinda the threshold to have 1 or 2 kids family in Switzerland.
I’m not sure if with that income remote, it makes more sense to be there or somewhere else (it’s also gonna depend on what the options out there will be, when that time comes).
Probably I would still feel tight raising a family in CH on that income, I would look harder at alternatives if that’s gonna be my income situation in a few years.
For now, my current income is fine for my setup, so no need to change yet. :)
When the time will come to take other decisions, I’ll see.
Also, in general: life can always take unexpected turns!
We can’t plan everything.
We shouldn’t, also. Makes life less fun 😁
This article was mainly to analyse Switzerland as a location for remote workers, when planning for the mid/long-term.
And to provide a framework on how to select a place to move to.
(using a specialised software like Remote Compass, to aid in this research)
I hope you found it valuable! Let me know if you did :D
Don’t stop here
If you’re considering a relocation, or a city-analysis for the long-term…
Check out Remote Compass
It’s the software that helped me do this in-depth analysis that you’ve just read.
Tune the parameters based on your priorities, and let AI give you some cool insights!
Let me know what you find :D
For a 15% discount (until Monday), use BLACKFRIDAY code at checkout :)
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