From Geneva to Helsinki, is it worth it?

elijahpaul · Post by **elijahpaul** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 9:41 pm

Hi there,

We are looking into the possibility of moving to Helsinki from Switzerland. My salary would roughly be 2,000+ euros per month only. I have a wife and a baby. Would it be possible to live on that budget? My wife is a Swiss citizen who speaks french and english only. I'm planning to send her to school to earn a degree if she would not be able to find a job in Finland.

That amount of money is significantly lower than what we are getting from here, but I wouldn't know the exact equivalence of 2,000 euros in Helsinki if I factor in the cost of living compared to Geneva. Any thoughts on this?

The reason would be in the long-term sense, career-wise for me. I need to practice my profession and since I can't to it in Switzerland, I would do it in Finland (I earned my diploma there).

Any thoughts welcome. TIA

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sky2 · Post by **sky2** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 10:30 pm

What's your connection to Finland? Why making life hard when you are already settled in Switzerland?
Is €2000 before paying the taxes? If yes then it would be very much on the edge, depending on the rent and your lifestyle of course.

PJG · Post by **PJG** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 1:35 am

Madness.

I've no idea what it is that you studied, but if you can't use it outside Finland then maybe the wise thing to do is to go back to university yourself and get a more useful qualification.

Uprooting your family to bring them here, especially on a much lower income and with such limitations and stresses it will place on your wife does not sound like a kind of considerate thing to want to do.

You have lived here. If your wife can quickly connect with a support network here, it might work. If not, you know how this could all end up. Do you want that for her and your child? Do you want that for yourself?

Think long and hard before pushing ahead with this idea. I know what I'd be doing, and moving to Finland would not be my first decision in your circumstances.

007 · Post by **007** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 8:45 am

If that's before taxes, you and your family will be basically living off social benefits here.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 10:04 am

007 wrote:If that's before taxes, you and your family will be basically living off social benefits here.

Or at least they will not have noticeably more income than those living purely on benefits.

I find the original question bit strange. OP has lived here, so he should have an idea of the costs. He knows details of his particular situation much better than anybody else, so it seems quite unlikely he'd got truly useful advice.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 12:54 pm

Ummm... Don't understand the career part. So isn't Switzerland in the EU-agreement of reciprocal degree/diploma recognition? Or is it a vocational one that requires a local test??

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 12:55 pm

Ummm... Don't understand the career part. So isn't Switzerland in the EU-agreement of reciprocal degree/diploma recognition? Or is it a vocational one that requires a local test??

leisl · Post by **leisl** » Tue Nov 01, 2016 2:19 pm

Don't do it, you'll live on rice and your wife will be incredibly isolated. Speaks no Finnish, has a small baby, got no job, got no money? That's a recipe for deep depression, boredom and ending up with no friends. It'll then have knock-on effects on your relationship.

Sort your own career out, don't mess up hers, not to mention her social life and support network possibilities in raising your child. (By the way it's very telling that you will SEND her to school. Here's a tip, ask her what she thinks, tell her what we all said, and actually listen to her opinion.)

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