“People always tell you to follow your dream”. But often following one’s dream comes at a cost, or at least comes with some risk. Yet, the advice to “follow your dream” is a blanket advice, it supposedly trumps everything else.
I ended up deciding to not follow my dream, at that point in life, and I am happy I didn’t. I won’t be telling my kids to “follow your dream”. Think about it real good before blowing up your life.
Perhaps in the US. It's the privilege of living in an extremely wealthy country - the risk of following your dream is not that high, since, if you fail, you'll probably still be able to eke a relatively comfortable living. It doesn't work that way in most other countries. In most places, having a stable job that allows you to afford an apartment or (gasp) a house!, IS the dream, whereas in the US it's almost seen as failure due to lack of ambition.
However, seeing that living expenses in the US (mainly housing) are going way up, perhaps the era of following your dreams will end there (US) as well?
Of course some people are wealthy enough for this not to be a problem, and it is easier to get investors there. Still, I would not characterize it as risk-free in the US.
Also, serious health problems before 40 are really rare.
It seems to me you are taking only maximum absolute dollar into account. 50k€ or less in Europe is more like $100k in my experience.
Assumptions:
- Comparing salaries in absolute dollar amount, without considering other costs from taxes, social security and cost of living.
- Education cost.
- Not falling sick, rare or not. Or needing an ambulance.
TLDR. The worst case in Europe is better than in the US. The best case in the US is better than in Europe.