[The Masked Tulip]

Anyone here worked and lived in Switzerland - if so, what are the pros and cons?

I am told that it is nigh on impossible to work as your own company in Swissland so you effectively work as a permie with total income and NI taxes being about 25% of take-home pay, am told that monthly rental is about 1,000 to 1,300 Swiss Francs per month.

Other than financial, although I would like to know financial, what is the whole quality of life life... seems a bit far from the ocean for myself...

[guitarman001]

I've been to Lausanne (twice) and Geneva (once) for job training. Lausanne is beautiful down by the sea where you can see the alps which aren't too distant. Great weather in summer - women are incredibly beautiful. Saying that, the people are very proper and I found them quite boring. Financially, it would cost a bomb to live there - I would suggest a quick holiday there!
Geneva I found pretty seedy - massive red light zone and not as nice as Lasuanne.

[The Masked Tulip]

guitarman001, on 15 July 2011 - 10:44 PM, said:

I've been to Lausanne (twice) and Geneva (once) for job training. Lausanne is beautiful down by the sea where you can see the alps which aren't too distant. Great weather in summer - women are incredibly beautiful. Saying that, the people are very proper and I found them quite boring. Financially, it would cost a bomb to live there - I would suggest a quick holiday there!
Geneva I found pretty seedy - massive red light zone and not as nice as Lasuanne.

Thanks.

I have worked in Swiss banks and, well, never again. Boring, formal, staid.

Been offered a very well paying job in Swiss land but it would be a major move - not a country I have considered before. Suspect any money I make might go on the cost of living.

[Darkman]

Take what you need and disregard the rest....

I've been there a few times, but never through work. I did really like Geneva. There is an aura of safety like nowhere else in the world, perhaps. I view Switzerland as a retreat, from the outside world. It's difficult to say how living there would be. But I'm sure I could enjoy it for a five year stint or something like that. It's certainly an expensive place to be though. And don't step outside the law or piss off the cops. There's a reason it's a safe place and litter free

[guitarman001]

I should say about Geneva - at the time I was in a hostel in a grim-looking area, so I'd probably go with Darkman on that one..

I'd only go for 'the experience' as I don't think I'd be saving much while living there. Nothing wrong with that, I'm considering the same with Silicon Valley or Munich.

[Pauly_Boy]

Switzerland is very expensive.

As TMT says, what ever extra money you make will go on higher living costs. I still shed tears when remember paying £10.50 for a McDonalds quater pounder meal in Geneva.

[guitarman001]

Yeah even the McD's were expensive, pretty shocking.
I remember going to a restaurant one night for some regular eating, and it was £55 a head. The receipt came on what looked like gold parchment lol!

[moesasji]

The Masked Tulip, on 15 July 2011 - 09:44 PM, said:

Anyone here worked and lived in Switzerland - if so, what are the pros and cons?

I am told that it is nigh on impossible to work as your own company in Swissland so you effectively work as a permie with total income and NI taxes being about 25% of take-home pay, am told that monthly rental is about 1,000 to 1,300 Swiss Francs per month.

Other than financial, although I would like to know financial, what is the whole quality of life life... seems a bit far from the ocean for myself...

I've lived and worked in Switzerland for about a year, but that is by now more than a decade ago, so my knowledge is probably out of date.

Overall a beautiful country with a high standard of living, but very expensive to live in. Rental is high, but you should not forget that you also need to pay (health?) insurance, which I remember as incredibly expensive. So although your salary probably looks extremely high on paper with little tax to pay you have to calculate carefully what the living expenses will be in reality. I doubt for example that that 25% includes the local taxes! Bottomline is that you really need advice from someone who knows the expenses well. If you've been offered a job they must be able to do such an example budget for you.

Personally I would be hesitant to live there long term, mainly due to the fact that my experience is that "Switzerland is for the Swiss", i.e. a very closed community with strict unwritten rules that is "unfriendly" to anybody not native Swiss. Most Swiss friends are for example the ones that I met and worked with outside Switzerland, none when working there.

[GBdamo]

The Masked Tulip, on 15 July 2011 - 10:48 PM, said:

I have worked in Swiss banks and, well, never again. Boring, formal, staid.

That unfortunately is the vast majority of Swiss. Lovely country spoiled by it's inhabitants.

To qualify the above I've been to most Swiss cantons for some reason or other and it's pretty much the same all over, paranoid and superior attitudes abound.

Bizzarely though I keep going there on holiday, the place is just too pretty to avoid. Having said that I can only bare the place for three days and last time that was wearing a little thin.

[The Masked Tulip]

Thanks all - I will be giving it a miss.

The offer was for 120 Swiss Francs per hour per 8 hour day for 6 or 12 months. The money sounds superb but judging by the costs of living there perhaps it is not that impressive?

[guitarman001]

Are you JOKING!? So nearly 20k Swiss Francs a MONTH? You must be joking, right? I'd be off in a shot, it's not THAT expensive there!!

jesus, what sort of money do you get for your job (IT?) in Wales? And I thought you were dead set on getting out of there?

Christ, I'm on £30k a year, wish I could get some of that money.

[The Masked Tulip]

guitarman001, on 16 July 2011 - 03:52 PM, said:

Are you JOKING!? So nearly 20k Swiss Francs a MONTH? You must be joking, right? I'd be off in a shot, it's not THAT expensive there!!

jesus, what sort of money do you get for your job (IT?) in Wales? And I thought you were dead set on getting out of there?

Christ, I'm on £30k a year, wish I could get some of that money.

I was never any good at currency suff? Is that a lot?

[guitarman001]

Whaaaa? Go to currency converter and figure it out!

120 CHF an hour.
8 hours in a day. Say 20 working days. --->19, 200 CHF a MONTH.

That's £14.6k A MONTH, or £175k a year! Are you telling me you get paid more than that, or you think that wouldn't be enough to live on?? Man, you'd be rich... unless you got thenumbers wrong?

Get out of Wales and go do it. I would - hell, my £30k is peanutes in comparison.


Surely you mean 120 CHF a day, rather than per hour?

This post has been edited by guitarman001: 16 July 2011 - 04:45 PM

[redwine]

The Masked Tulip, on 16 July 2011 - 04:32 PM, said:

I was never any good at currency suff? Is that a lot?

I live next to Genevé i have also worked there for two Swiss companies
I can see La Suisse from my home on the French side
Today i work for a French company but my french wife works in Geneva
120 Swiss Francs is 91 quid an hour or 14,560 pounds a month
Here it works out at a 104 euros an hour or 16640 euros a month
The average pay is about 4,000 euros a month in Geneva!
I don't know who offered you this job but if i was you i would take it (thats if you are not making this all up)
Having said that you will need a work permit also you will have to find somewhere to live and if you do not speak French or German depending on where abouts in La Suisse you are going to live then you might end up being isolated
As for other comments about Switzerland being boring well this is just taking the p*ss isn't it?
If you like sh*gging whores then Geneva is the place to be not forgetting guns its the country that has the highest amount of gun owners in Europe
What i like about this region is the the beautiful scenary
Theres lots of work a mixture of locals and the CDs or diplomatic corps on there expensive cars
Its international and open to the outside world

In your case i believe that you are better off in Wales its not for you its easy to talk but its much harder to actually do anything about it
I just love these we are going abroad threads they are really funny
We are all leaving but not today not ever!
Next week its" whats its like in Sweden" or god knows where as long as we stay at home dreaming on the web

[AteMoose]

The Masked Tulip, on 16 July 2011 - 01:41 PM, said:

Thanks all - I will be giving it a miss.

The offer was for 120 Swiss Francs per hour per 8 hour day for 6 or 12 months. The money sounds superb but judging by the costs of living there perhaps it is not that impressive?

sounds like you could live in wales and fly in everyday