move to Berlin from Finland

[alracu]

Hi,

This message aims to the expats from Germany living in Finland that could help me with some advice.
I am interested to find out the cost of living in Berlin compared to Helsinki/Espoo nowadays, how much (gross/net) would be enough for a family with one kid.
We plan to move there in August and I would appreciate any info you might have about visible/hidden costs

Thanks in advance

[sammy]

Hi,

while you might find some Germans on this forum, but it might also be worth visiting http://www.saksalaiset.fi/ (Forum - http://www.saksalaiset.fi/jforum/ )

(there's also http://www.suomalaiset.de by the way )

[alracu]

Thanks!
I'll check, too bad I don't know german... or finnish

[paulrenn]

I believe you will find Berlin much cheaper than here.

Accomodation is very cheap, amongst the cheapest in German "big" cities, and for a European capital it is very low.
Food is also cheap. And most importantly, beer is cheap
Tax is lower. VAT is lower.

I noticed that Germany is the "promised land" for many Finns, probably for all the above reasons, but especially for beer.

I lived in Berlin for a year, and while I did not find it a great place for kids to be honest, it was certainly a cheap place to live!
There are several international schools and daycare places too. You'll need to google for those though.

If you are still going to have Finnish connections, a good place to make contacts is at the Finnish church in Kreuzberg.

[alracu]

Thanks Paul, I appreciate it
I have also read tons of forum posts from the Germany's English speaking crowd (http://www.toytowngermany.com) and apparently taxes might be higher or at least at the same level with FI. Health insurance is mandatory, and is quite significant amount.
I tried this for the net income calculation: http://www.parmentier.de/steuer/steuer.htm?wagetax.htm

All the best

[bavarian-girl]

Try to google "cost of living helsinki berlin"
You will get quite some results.

Housing prices might be cheeper, but it depends a lot on the area (for details check out http://www.immobilienscout24.de/immobil ... berlin.htm - Germany only, but you might get a "feeling")
Food should be cheeper, also going out (yes, alcohol is less expensive, especially beer and spirits)
In gerneral, taxes are lower in Germany, but social insurance (health, pension, unemployment, ...) is higher. You might end up around the same if you look at net income, but it is very much depending on how much you earn.

You should do a post in http://www.saksalaiset.fi/jforum/. I'm sure it's OK if you do it in English.

[Noige]

Hei there,
well all in all living in Germany especially in Berlin in cheaper than in Finland. This is true (I know what I'm talking about, I'm actually from Berlin ).
Rents are lower in Berlin since there are more free flats in Belrin than people who are searching for one (which is not the same in other parts of Germany). But you really have to look for where the flat is. If you have a child I would advise you to move not to the city centre. I used to live in a part of Berlin called Treptow-Köpenick and I think this is a quite nice place to stay especially with children. Normally there the rents are there also lower than in the city. The public transport by bus and train is really good in Berlin so you can go everywhere quite easily and the prices are okay as well (I'm thinking of 2,10€ for going 2h in the closer city of Berlin and 2,50€ for one drive within Tampere... )...
and taxes are lower and everything BUT normally the salary is lower as well! (Of course it depends on the job you have, but you should be aware of this fact as well and it can get difficult for a foreigner to find a job especially when you don't speak German... So actually all this talk about "cheap" stuff isn't that cheap anymorw once you live there...
But if you have any further questions also about living areas in Berlin, feel free to ask me
All the best.