I'm going to ignore a lot of the terrible replies and assumptions I've gotten to say a few generalized things: medical students in Europe have less burnout, money in Europe goes a lot farther, and people live healthier and longer lives. Make of that whatever the hell you want. This thread has turned into such a Europe vs. U.S. thread, which is sad because I think only a handful of you have actually experienced both.
Oh and @Mad Jack: Index funds hu? Never heard of them... /s
And, you can invest in OPEC since it's publicly traded, so I'm not sure what you're talking about.
Have fun investing in the market, I'm sure it will make you rich. Only report your gains though, yea?
I almost forgot!--Enjoy the tax bomb (capital gains) on your earnings through the stock market.
Only fools or very skilled investors try to game the market by investing heavily in specific areas. Unless you're Warren Buffett, don't do it. And of course you pay taxes on earnings, but capital gains are a mere 15%. Compare that top the 50%+ taxes and 15% VAT I'd be paying in Europe and I'll take it any day. As to "investing in OPEC," many OPEC member nations have either government-owned our other non-public oil holdings, such as Iran and Venezuela. There isn't just some OPEC ticker and the vast majority of their holdings cannot be invested in. It's always amusing to me, how people don't understand investing horizons, compound interest, etc despite being intelligent enough to get into medical school- you don't make a net loss until you sell. So if you're buying new and retiring in 38 years, the chances of you losing (and hell, even not gaining substantially) are miniscule. And you only get taxed 15% of earnings when you sell, so it's not really a big deal for buy and hold sellers. The market has tumbles, but your accounts recover if you leave them alone- unlike trusting bankrupt governments like those of Greece and Spain, which can change their deal with you at any time and tend to take decades (if ever) to recover.
Anyway, the whole point is that Americans, in general, don't want what Europeans want. We don't want the government taking care of us when it's already 19 trillion dollars in debt, we don't want to be content with being merely middle class, we don't want to have our options limited in the name of security, etc. You want to be a peasant wage slave your whole life, go get a cushy 9-5 doing physicals for the government. They'll give you pensions and a union health plan and low wages and all the other stuff you so desire. For the rest of us, the ones that want to make well into the six and seven figures, we'll put in the extra effort and time, thanks. It's also interesting that you seem to think we work that much more than our colleagues overseas post-residency lol. Most attending over there are putting in close to 50 hours a week, very similar to most fields here. Are you concerned about working hard for a couple of years of residency to cut your training time in half compared to the alternative? Polls have been conducted in the past asking residents if they would prefer a lengthier, lower hour, European-type system and the answer was a resounding no by a vast majority of residents.
Oh, and as to money in Europe going a lot farther, that's just completely incorrect. The US has some of the lowest consumer goods prices in the developed world. Even our real estate is reasonably priced compared to England. If you're poor, you have less money for consumption her compared to overseas, so such things don't matter, but if you're well paid the US is a consumer's paradise.
