How would you consider this situation in the Boston area

[snafu]

Wow syracusa, what a ghastly attitude you have to life's challenges. I doubt your husband can be successful in the Boston area because he will daily feel your dissatisfaction whether verbalized or not.

Your life is what you make it, how you respond to those challenges is what counts, not the streetscape or parks or museums. You may hold a piece of paper giving you American citizenship but you still call Home a country in Europe...I'm guessing UK. You apparently accepted your 'bread is buttered' on the west 'side of the pond...no employment for you both in the old country. Wasn't it generous of American employers to give you employment? Everywhere in the world change taking place. Have you heard... there is no more employment for life...not even in China where it takes Gwanxhi to get a job.

It's time to wake up and understand change happens and you'd best adjust as best you can...as fast as you can. No one is threatening anything but the lifestyle you desire. But for the grace of G_d, you could be living in Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan.

[syracusa]

Wasn't it generous of American employers to give you employment?

Isn't it outrageous and offensive for you to ask such a question? I should have left this thread at peace, but really, I couldn't help it. American employers, just like any other employers, DO NOT hire out of generosity. They hire out of self interest. If they hired me, you better be sure there was something in it for them.

The same "American employers" you feel so fuzzy-warmy about laid off my husband, equally "generously", even though they knew they were about to completely screw over a family with two small children. We could have easily ended up in the street and they would not have given a rat's junk about it. And yes, my husband was a senior, loyal employee with an outstanding record of hard work and good results. The fact that he found another job virtually the next day after his lay off should speak volumes. But they decided instead to keep some worthless personal darlings who were mostly gossiping their workdays away.

So spare me the fuzzy feelings about your beloved "American employers": self-interested vultures, not an ounce of consideration for hard working, loyal employees.

And yes, even if I have American citizenship, my home is where I was born and grew up. It is like this for the VAST majority of the people in this world, regardless of where they end up later in life.

I am sorry to be raining on your parade, but the history of American Immigration is hardly the sentimental journey you fancy. The history of American Immigration is the harsh history of ECONOMIC migration - little sentiment involved.

We DO plan to retire in my homecountry, one way or the other. We also DO NOT plan to apologize for it.

[cschin4]

I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like if we didn't have this stable refuge abroad and were doomed to sink in the American system, along with most other Americans who have no other choice.

Wow! A little melodramatic don't you think? Sorry you are "doomed" on 130K a year. As for easy street, I don't recall anywhere that we are guaranteed a life on easy street. As far as I know life is getting up every day and making the best of what you have where you have it. If i have food on the table every day, then everything beyond that is easy street.
As for us "doomed" Americans, I have a paid off home, money in the bank and lots of the "stuff" of life as well. If Europe is such a better prospect, then why isnt' your husband and you looking for a job there? If you can live well there on less, then I really dont' understand why you are staying here.
And, from your finances, it sounds like you are partially to blame as well for less than stellar management instead of blaming the "system". It seems foolish to move to Boston and even consider buying when you haven't sold your current home or don't have it on the market. I think you are making a big mistake to rent it out from a distance and it is going to cost you more in the long run if you don't. Have you thought of him renting a place and getting started while you tie up loose ends in Atlanta like selling your condo, etc? You could keep working as well and then keep some money coming in and make more of clean break.

[cschin4]

We DO plan to retire in my homecountry, one way or the other. We also DO NOT plan to apologize for it.


Bully for you! I for one am really getting tired of the "bash America" mantra of Europeans. And, I do not apologize for it.

[cschin4]

I am, by no means, trying to dissuade you from your dreams of living in LCOLA but do keep in mind that there is no FREE LUNCH; and particularly those going from HCOL to LCOL often find out, the hard way, WHY exactly the lunch is NOT free.

No, there is no free lunch. Life is what you make it. You may find living in America "boring". This isn't your home country. It is what it is. You can either find the things of joy here or not. As for having "something to do" with your kids, the rest of us have been raising children here and seem to have found plenty of things for them to do. I live in small town USA and love it. The roll up the streets at 5 pm. But, funny, we always find lots of stuff to do. Perhaps instead of assuming things should be a certain way, you might want to rethink your approach and step out with zeal and try some other things.

[syracusa]

As for having "something to do" with your kids, the rest of us have been raising children here and seem to have found plenty of things for them to do.

I know. It's called "TV" and "videogames".

And, from your finances, it sounds like you are partially to blame as well for less than stellar management instead of blaming the "system". It seems foolish to move to Boston and even consider buying when you haven't sold your current home or don't have it on the market. I think you are making a big mistake to rent it out from a distance and it is going to cost you more in the long run if you don't. Have you thought of him renting a place and getting started while you tie up loose ends in Atlanta like selling your condo, etc? You could keep working as well and then keep some money coming in and make more of clean break.

You might not have read my previous posts.

Yes, it would be so much "stellar" to break up the family, with two parents working in two different parts of the country, no end in sight, pay one mortgage in Atlanta and one rent in Boston, have living expenses in two different places, heavy childcare costs since both of us would be working full-time...now THAT'S what I call stellar money management!

My husband was laid off mainly because his salary had gotten a bit larger than that nasty company would have preferred. They used him for years, finally raised his salary last year to a point where it should have been years ago, and when they thought they could do without him, they did "restructuring". We hear they are now finding out it is NOT that easy without him, after all. Too little consolation for us. When they burn in H it will be a bit better.

So it is one of YOUR beloved "employers" that put us in this situation, not our "money management" skills.

As for you being tired of the "bash America" mantra of Europeans, you may not have noticed this but "employers" do not equate "America". America are the masses of people salivating over the miserable, unstable jobs employers are supposed to create so "generously", a good enough reason for all of us to want to kiss the ground on which they walk. So goes the propaganda.

It is this kind of mentality that makes America the place I will be all too happy to leave behind in no more than a few years, when everything falls into place. Thanks for the self-righteous tips though and the Oprah talk. Those are the best!

And speaking of self-righteousness, if I lived in "small town USA" and "raised" kids there (note past tense or even present perfect), I would have the house paid off too. The only thing I envy you for is your ability to live in such a place without thinking of suicide 2-3 times a week. :-) You got me on this one. I wouldn't be able to.

All in all, the trouble with self-righteousness is that it often ignores historical parameters - and that's a sin. ;-)