6 Things Americans Might Not Expect When Moving to The Netherlands (and celebrating 5k subscribers!)

[@JayHarris]

I'm an American expat living in Amsterdam for almost 10 years now and I've been enjoying your videos remembering many of the same surprises when I first moved here. I can tell you, the surprises keep coming (most of them good). I'm glad you're enjoying life in the Netherlands. It's a wonderful place to live, and I, for one, plan to stay permanently - i.e. will be going for Dutch citizenship in 2021. :-)

[@JackSchitt]

Succes makker!

[@pepin8277]

Hey Jay, glad to hear that you are still enjoying your stay in the Netherlands! I wish you all the best of luck with your inburgering (integration) !

[@staceyme1480]

Welcome to the club, hope you get it. Toi, toi, toi. (Good luck)

[@jpdj2715]

Taxes are high, yes, but what you call taxes in part is insurance: health care, social security, old age transfer payments and between you and your employer an amount may be transferred into a pension fund that adds to your social security transfer allowance when you retire.

[@AnnekeOosterink]

Yeah, if you take all of that into account and add up all the taxes you pay in US, it's about equal for the average person. The labels given to certain items may confuse people, but in the end the difference in actual money isn't THAT big.

[@theBabyDead]

you still pay for a lot of these things (nowadays) so I'm not sure that's entirely true... Our infrastructure tends to be way better, though. A lot of things you mention are automatically deducted from your salary and such. Not covered by basic taxes. And I'm starting to realize that a lot of people actually don't know this...

[@GeorgeSaint666]

And lets not forget... also the holiday pay. I get the impression she thinks you get this some sort of extra. But it is actually taken from the salary and set aside for the month of May.

[@gerritvalkering1068]

@@AnnekeOosterink That's something I watched a video on too. There are a lot of additional fees and other things that are called anything but taxes in the US (same as here) and in the end we pay roughly the same per year

[@AnnekeOosterink]

@@gerritvalkering1068 yeah, a while back a read an article about an American guy who saw the tax rate of 40% or something and balked, but in the end, when he added up everything he usually had to pay in the US, and looked at the things that were deductible in the Netherlands, he ended up paying more or less the same. The difference wasn't all that big in the end.

[@jjbankert]

I also like the waterschappen tax, where you pay for clean water to come to your house and for the sea and rivers to stay where they are

[@atarvos8686]

Lol...we have a tax for everything. On your car, on your house, on your trash and water...general taxes are higher...even on my groceries are taxes. getting an inheritance is heavily taxed. Even having money is being taxed.

[@robox91]

Waterschap en drink water zijn apart. Of er moeten regio's zijn waar die instanties hetzelfde zijn.

[@moladiver6817]

@@atarvos8686 Don't forget the dog tax..

[@janwensveen1406]

Waterschap tax has been paid here in one form or another, according to records, since the 9th century.

[@marie-jettuinstra2127]

@@moladiver6817 that's not everywere, cause not every city has this. For example arnhem doesn't.

[@deanderekant1]

If you stay in the Netherlands for less than 4 months and want to arrange matters with the Dutch government, you must register as a non-resident. If you want to stay longer than 4 months, register with the municipality where you are going to live within 5 days of arrival. You will then automatically receive a BSN. So you can obtain a BSN in a matter of a day/days.

[@B.R.96]

I have a different experience. When I booked my appointment in August, the first free slot was 3 weeks later. I probably arrived on the busiest time of the year but still, I had to wait weeks to have my BSN.

[@rebeccaalbrecht771]

in the Netherlands you must declare the balances on January 1 in all your bank accounts, Dutch and American, and where ever else you have accounts. You must also declare the money in all your investment accounts. the tax rate is much less than 1% . Medical insurance is much, much less here. When my husband and I arrived here in 2017, what made finding an apartment so difficult is that it is taken into account what your salary is. Rent and utilities can not be more than say, 25 to 30% of your salary. We are living comfortably here on Social Security, that wouldn't have been easy in the USA. We had money from selling our house in the USA, which could not be taken into account when determining if we could afford rent. It all turned out for the best in the end because we ended up buying a house 2 1/2 months after arriving. We found that our property taxes, per square meter, are much less here than they were in the US, (Boston, MA) (One of the more expensive parts of the USA to live in). Water is cheaper here, Home insurance is less. We had to pay for trash removal in the US also. Not having to have a car with all the costs of insurance, maintenance, gas and wear and tear has been a big savings. Sure you can be car-free in the US but its a challenge. Even then you would have to rent a car from time to time. Our bikes and the great train system takes us anywhere we want to go. We have not gotten Dutch driver's licenses yet. I'm not going to bother, maybe my husband will so we could rent a car if we wanted to do so.

[@RustOnWheels]

Had to look up stationery. One learns every day!

[@SamuelHauptmannvanDam]

Me 2!

[@baskoning9896]

About salary: what confuses a lot of foreigners is the amount of tax they owe on salary. The difference between 'bruto' (before tax) and 'netto' (after tax), you negotiate the bruto salary: but thats not what you take home.

[@WeasolVonDiesel]

Most Expats get a big break on taxes tho

[@johanwittens7712]

Yep Especially with Americans I've noticed this confusion. When an American speaks about their salery, then tend to talk about their bruto salery before tax. But a European (at least where I'm from) they always talk about their net salery after tax. So when comparing this confusion kicks in because at first glance the Americans seems to earn more, but it's his/her pay before tax. So often the European actually earns more because he's talking about his salery already after tax... Even when researching average income you meet this difference as us government sites tend to measure average income before tax, whereas European countries' sites or EU government sites tend to measure average income after tax...

[@ehekkert]

Writing an essay to rent a house is definitely not standard when renting a house. Before you just said it I had never heard of anyone needing to do that.

[@DutchAmericano]

Oh, really! Good to know. I had to do it twice! Must have gotten unlucky...

[@baskoning9896]

I think she is talking about student homes where the current students living there decide which newcomer to allow in.

[@ehekkert]

@@DutchAmericano I guess it's been too long since I or anyone I know rented a house. A quick online search revealed that it happens way more frequently that I thought. I found several sites supplying templates for a "motivatiebrief". It seems to be something they've started doing since there are more people looking for a place to rent than that there are places available. To be fair with the protections a renter has you do want to get the best renter as evicting them is really hard.

[@MoraqVos]

It depends on how high the demand is.

[@TheEvertw]

It is common for chambers in a student home. The other occupants like to determine how compatible the applicant is.

[@gilauth6791]

Having stay several times in the Nederland I've been flowing your videos with interest and curiosity Even do I am not American I find your posts informative reflecting the day to day situation encounter while moving to the Nederland with it real life experience format Good work

[@BrazenNL]

Holiday pay is one thing, but I also get something called a 13th month. This isn't a requirement and you don't see it too often, but I get two months pay for the month of December. Merry Christmas!

[@AlexT74]

Taxes are high in comparison maybe, but that is why we have good roads and infrastructure, accessible education en healthcare, social welfare etc. Also your employer pays for part of your retirement plan, social security and holidays. That is why salaries can be lower than in the US where you have to pay or take care of these things all by yourself...

[@arjengerritsen5039]

Stop defending bad policies. We should abolish any taxes on labour and replace them with taxes on land.

[@AlexT74]

@@arjengerritsen5039 WOZ already exists. But I am not looking for a discussion about how the tax system should be organized. My point is that in comparison to other countries we maybe pay a lot, but that we also get a lot in return that improves quality of life.

[@BendeVette]

@@AlexT74 For me the only important thing is the quality of life and that seems to be, at average, very good in the Netherlands.

[@MoraqVos]

@@arjengerritsen5039 That sounds like a terrible idea, how would that work in practice? Seems to me that housing prices and rent will skyrocket, farms will go bankrupt, people will buy houses just across the border the game the system and income inequality would be likely to rise. Am I wrong here? Do you want to abolish taxes on corporations as well? I really don't think you thought this through.

[@arjengerritsen5039]

Daniël van Werven It works great. Income from land is unearned income. Income from labour is earned income. We should tax unearned income. Als taxes on land lower housing prices (or slow down rapid increases in prices), not increase them.

[@jannetteberends8730]

In the Netherlands wages are more equalized. The lowest salaries are higher and the high salaries are lower. But you must also look for the purchasing power of your income. (What you can buy with your income) Doing that the difference is not so big any more. GDP per capita is $59,928 in the USA, and $54,422 in the Netherlands in purchasing power. About the tax: you only pay 42% over the extra income. In the Netherlands you also pay tax over the income from wealth. That is not the case in the USA.

[@AreHan1991]

Also important: many things are much cheaper/free in the Netherlands, financed with those very taxes: tuition free higher education, hospitals, check-ups when pregnant, child care, etc. Plus good schools, roads (especially for bikes!), extensive and fast public transit, strict pollution controls for industry, a power grid that hardly ever give black/brownouts, low corruption,...

[@jannetteberends8730]

Are Hansen I forgot to note that not all is tax what is subtracted. It’s also social security, health insurance, and pensions for the elderly.

[@Bruintjebeer6]

At the end Dutch people have more to spend thanks to lest cost. The rent is lower, health insurance and food as well. In the US 20% of people are earning 70 % of the total national income. The middle class almost disappeared. the poverty rate is more then 40%

[@hatsjie2]

As far as I know that 42% can go up to 52% (2019, 50% in 2020) if your salary is very high. It's called "progressive tax".

[@Bruintjebeer6]

@@hatsjie2 yes that is correct. I only wish they would do something about the dead tax. Only the first 19,000 euro is free. At least it was like that 10 years ago when my mom past away. On paper my mom a loan at a rate of 6 % from us to overcome we had to pay 10 of thousands of euros in dead tax.

[@staceyme1480]

If you know a little Dutch you can google "gemiddeld salaris " this will give you a good indication of how much to negotiate for salary wise. Note, these salaries will most likely be bruto (gross) and taxes will be deducted from the salary before deposited on your account.

[@allydea]

I think in The Netherlands we don't want to use our cars. If we can walk or use a bike we would do that. That means that we go relatively close to our home, but that also means that we go to places that are in the towns/cities.. where space is a problem so there is no room for shops so big like Target.

[@marcobreur.]

5k, Gefeliciflapstaart

[@DutchAmericano]

Thank you!

[@eds5709]

Congratulations with the 5k subscribers dear Eva. Although I don't always leave a comment it's always fun to watch your vids. Hugs for you and your girlfriend and stay safe you both ;-)

[@fabimre]

Holiday pay IS a part of your salary, which is deducted from your gross monthly salary (8%) which is part of your taxable (gross) salary. When negotiating a salary (if even possible), you'd have to calculate that in. It is something to make sure that people don't spend all their monthly pay, thereby not being able to go on holyday. Part-time and temporary jobs sometimes pay the deducted holyday pay at the end of each month, so be aware!

[@MusicJunky3]

Way to go on 5K Eva! May you have many more episodes !

[@steffenberr6760]

Well it goes up progressively. You pay 20 percent up to a certain dollar amount then 33 percent on the remainder. I’ve been crunching my numbers and to be fair I wouldn’t be paying much more then I already do in California. Plus with all the services and lower cost of living I’d say I’d be coming out ahead

[@reighngold]

At the self check-out you can use your iPhone with applepay :) We did that the whole two weeks we were in Amsterdam.

[@AreHan1991]

About holiday pay: we have a similar system in Norway, but it's not on top of our regular wages. Instead we pay a little too much tax all year, and then get 12% of last year's gross income back in June, with interests. And yes, people here also see it as a delicious bonus

[@janmaartenvandenberg7942]

One thing that is very different, most of your healthcare is included in your tax. You pay an insurance premium, but also get a subsidy if you have a low pay. I always take out a realtime cost insurance premium when traveling to the US. Even a double Dutch cost will not be enough.

[@kingggerald]

Gratz on the 5k subs! For paying with a creditcard; most stores support Visa pay, which is free of use - as long as you have the visa creditcard- and that does support wireless payment as well as the terminal.

[@nixxol]

Eva your amazing , thanks for the vids

[@DocMurphyish]

The debit card issue works both ways, BTW. European debit cards won't work in the US either... Credit cards from major players like Visa Or American Express work everywhere. Often for outrageous fees, though. Cash works most places, and debit cards WILL work with ATMs. So, when across the atlantic, be prepared to use cash more often than you'd do at home...

[@MoViesDProductions]

I wouldn't say Visa/MC works everywhere. Acceptance is definitely going up, but outside of Amsterdam I'd say it still hovers around 50-60 percent. Sure, Jumbo and Aldi stores everywhere take them, but places like AH usually don't. It's mostly the large international chains that do (TJMaxx/TKMaxx, McDonalds, C&A), but forget about using anything other than a Maestro/V-Pay card at 95% of mom-and-pop stores. Most Dutch people aren't even aware Visa/MC debit cards exist and take every card with embossed numbers for a credit card. It can be frustrating at times.

[@MoViesDProductions]

Just noticed I misread your comment--never mind! :)

[@johannessugito1686]

As mentioned by Jannette Berends, you must compare the purchasing power of your salary rather than the figures. And more specific, the total package of your salary. On top of your monthly salary is the holiday money of 8%, the paid vacation days and paid national and Christian holidays. And, priceless and important, paid sickness days. By law an employer has to pay your sickness days up until two years.

[@TheNewPatsyBailey]

Omg afvalstoffenheffing, you're not alone there! I forget these taxes every year without fail and the amount is always SO high 😲😲 Congrats btw, 5k, woo! 🥳🥳

[@_JoyceArt]

But one plus side is that they don’t expect you to pay at once. My water/waste/home ownership taxes I pay after I pay in 10 equal installments. Still a lot and annoying, because I happen to live in an expensive area. But that comes with living in a well maintained country.

[@robhappe2705]

Being Dutch I live and work in China and my gross salary is less than in The Netherlands, however the part of my salary that I can use for my personal consumption is higher in China taking in consideration that a nice apartment is free and belongs to the job.

[@chrislaarman7532]

1) Congratulations on the 5000 subscriptions mark. I now got two ads before watching your vlog. ;-) 2) On taxes: yes, they may be substantially higher than in the USA, and there might be more of them. On the other hand, the system may be simpler: I seem to remember that VAT is a Dutch invention to ease imposing sales taxes at all and to ease assessing the amount due by member-state governments to the EU. On the other hand, we have an attitude to taxes that matches the American/British approach of making amounts-due understandable. That approach may have a legal side: garbage collection taxes may be considered "retributions": amounts intended to cover the real costs of the services involved, in contrast to taxes that are fed into the general pile (out of which general things are paid, like maybe flowers in the streets, or salaries of town hall staff). By contrast to the USA (if I remember well) consumer prices across the EU are to be shown inclusive of VAT, so your supermarket receipt may show all amounts including VAT, but with some code for the VAT rate applied and the amount of VAT paid shown as a total near the grand total. Shops (including webshops) aimed at business users may show the prices excluding VAT (but clearly stating so), or those webshops may have a toggle (managed in a cookie).

[@roelandpollE]

Congrats on the 5k. A suggestion for as surprise, our day care and after school programs for children. Also the government subsidies (toeslagen) and healthcare system could be a surprise. Keep going, love these vids👍

[@roelandpollE]

Ad Lockhorst funny how some people talk about other people without knowing anything about them. I hope you will find inner peace bc I think you’re mostly angry with yourself, seeing your hating on ‘the rich’. If poor people had the money they would do the same. They would have to bc of their work, and children want to go and those camps. But sure go ahead an judge people without know them🤔

[@philipfinken7951]

Ad Lockhorst z

[@barutjeh]

If you manage to get a debet card with the "Maestro"-symbol on it, you should be good. That's the type of payment system that's accepted everywhere.

[@2Fast4Mellow]

That is not totally correct. MasterCard (the owner of Maestro) has made geographical isolated systems. This is why sometimes a European Mastercard (or Visa) is also rejected on American websites. But it also happens the other way around. If you have an American MasterCard, but not opted for the international package (often referred as the 'Traveler' package), you can use the card only in the US & Canada.. As the majority of Americans never leave their country (you can travel to Canada with just your drivers license, so that doesn't really count), this is not really seen as a problem..

[@twinkharrylwt226]

2Fast4Mellow that js really suckish.. I could pay with my dutch card like almost everywhere in the world.. NY, Japan, China, Europe and a lot more places.. I didn’t where cash is the norm but it got accepted a lot

[@nienke7713]

@@2Fast4Mellow master card and maestro might have the same owner, but that doesn't mean they're the same; if your card has the maestro logo on it, you should be able to use it in stores and at ATM's, unless your bank is refusing to process transactions outside of your country, but that's not related to maestro system, nor the store/ATM card reader, but to the bank where you have the account; something like that is usually intended for security reasons, so that if you get skimmed it's more difficult for them to just use the copy anywhere in the world. Cards here are frequently limited to use in Europe, and you need to change the settings if you want it world wide (which may depend on the bank how easy it is to change that; where each bank needs to figure out what they think is the best balance between safety and ease of use.

[@TheDajunior]

@@2Fast4Mellow you confuse mastercard and maestro. You also confuse online and offline payments. Maestro works everywhere in the Netherlands indeed.

[@2Fast4Mellow]

@@TheDajunior I think I should clarify some things.. Mastercard is both the owner of the Mastercard credit cards and the Maestro cards. Mastercard does for both platform not issue the cards themselves, but use simply put a reseller strategy (i.e banks and other financial institutions). Maestro is a payment platform for cards with Maestro support. Every tried to pay with a gas card (tank pas) in a supermarket? Won't work, you can only use the card with payment terminal of gas stations even while it has the Maestro logo on the back.. In Europe the Maestro payment network is the standard. In the US it is Cirrus (also owned by Mastercard) that is the default here. Maestro is less common in the US than Maestro and that is one of the reasons why Europeans are encouraged to apply for a credit card is they want to visit a country outside Europe. Did you knew that only about 40% of Americans actually have a passport? You can visit Canada with any valid photo ID card like your drivers license. However credit card issuers have to pay a fee to Mastercard for every card that has Maestro enabled. So even if your US bank issues Mastercard shows the Maestro logo, it does not mean you can also use the card with Maestro payment terminals. Many US card issuers have a supplemental packages that allow you to enable Maestro on your card and in some cases (especially with the $0 annual fee cards) you actually have to pay an additional fee. This is a big difference to Europe where you normally pay a annual fee and that fee is already covered in the annual fee.. Most credit cards issued in the US don't carry an annual fee and you only pay interest (usually around 27%) when you buy things on credit.. If you deposit money on your account and use a credit card (than basically a debit card) to pay for something, you have no fees at all.. That is the reason why credit cards here in the US are used in the same manner as bankcards in Europe. You get your weekly pay check, cash it in and deposit the money into account..

[@lisannelaura71]

I am watching this video as a Dutch person who has been living in America for a little over a year now. And what is funny to me is that a lot of these things apply to me too. Getting a bank account in the US is so hard for some people, because you need your ssn. I got so frustrated with not knowing where to go for the stuff I need. I didn't understand what stores to look for and where to buy things.

[@peterkeijsers489]

About taxes: the lowest tax rate (income tax) is 33%, of which several social security is paid, as JP down here explains. The 8% holiday pay is part of that 33+% tax rate. One big (positive) difference between the US and most European countries including the Netherlands is that whatever you buy in shops is INCLUDING VAT. For food that's 9% and for non food it's 21%. So a loaf of bread is including this 9% VAT, and a stapler is including the 21% VAT. The price tag on the item ALWAYS states the price including VAT, so one doesn't need to use a calculator to go shopping.

[@gilles111]

The Cineville-pas isn't accepted at all cinema's in The Netherlands. Only at 44 of them (there are 283 cinema's registered at the Dutch Cinema Society - so, roughly 1 out of 7 cinema's accept the Cineville-card). If you want a pass or coupon to get to (almost) every cinema in The Netherlands you need to use the "Bioscoopbon". If you want kitchen stuff, don't go to a kitchen store. A Kitchen store sells kitchens (the hardware like stoves, sinks, counters, cabinets etc). A "Kookwinkel" (Cook store) sells kitchen stuff. But they are for almost anything not the budget option. You can also check out HEMA (you already mentioned) but also Blokker, Marskramer, Xenos, Action and a lot of stores as Budgetland, Euroshopper etc.. Or Zeeman or Wibra for the kitchen textiles. And congratulations with 5000 subscribers!

[@macmartin86]

If your mindset is to live cheaper in a Capital city, you're gonna be disappointed, in almost every country, living in the Capital is usually the most expensive.

[@LilliD3]

Croatia is perhaps the only county where the capital isn't the most expencive city to live in

[@harkuil]

Hollyday pay isn’t a gift from your employer. Each month your employer deducts 8% salary. In the month of May (mostly) hollyday payment will be paid out, thus 8% year salary.

[@mikepictor]

She does mention that. It's a matter of perspective. You can see it either way.

[@RuchamaGrace]

It totally depends on where you rent your house in the Netherlands on how much you need to pay and how long you have to wait. If you want to have a home without a long waitinglist and can afford it then you can rent on the private market. I am renting an appartment in a small city in Drenthe. It is social rent so it's not on the private market. It is a 90 m2 appartment with a 10 m2 balcony with a nice view for 595 euros and that is including the service costs (cleaning and repairing the stairway/elevator and electricity costs for the stairway/elevator and also the central heating of my own appartment) If you don't want to have an expensive rent then find a home in a small town. If I wanted to live in Utrecht or Amsterdam I would have had only a tiny room, maybe a bedroom, for this amount of rent.

[@FritigernGothly]

I would have expected you to also mention sales tax. In the US, the price tags on items in a store always exclude tax, which will be added upon checkout. To a Dutch person shopping in the US, this can lead to an unpleasant surprise when they wish to buy a cute 10 dollar toy for their nephew, and you get told at the checkout that it will be 11 dollars instead. Sales taxes vary from state to state and can even be different between municipalities.This practice of adding tax at the checkout can lead to much confusion and annoyance to Dutch people who are used to the "what you see is what you get"-principle because in the Netherlands, the price you see on an item is the actual price you will end up paying. The sales tax is already included in the advertised price, so if you see a 10 Euro item, you know you will be paying 10 Euros.

[@DM-ci5uv]

Hi! Fun channel! An important thing to add as a huge difference is there are no sick days at work. Here in the Netherlands you can call in sick and in general you’re covered for 100% for the first year and 70% for the second year of absenteeism under the so called Gatekeeper Law (this may differ somewhat but is stated in your work agreement (the so called CAO), minimum is always 70%). Your employer is obligated to take care of you (via company doctor), keep paying you 100% or 70% and can’t terminate your contract while you’re sick until the end of two years. Even if your sickness prolongs two years you’re still entitled to 70% (or 75%) depending on the basis of your sickness and possibility to work which is than paid by the government. Even our neighbouring countries in Europe don’t have a such a system. So this is typical Dutch health & benefits and also a portion on where our taxes go to. Enjoy your stay in the Netherlands!

[@10animallover10]

'Good times. I don't miss them!' xD Glad it's working properly for you now! I had to look up what you meant with stationary. Never heard of that English word before! Stores like Hema, Action and Xenos has a lot of different stuff, so did V&D. I actually tought that the US texes were higher than here. Learned somehting!

[@spiritualanarchist8162]

Maybe you can take an acount with an international Dutch bank in the U.S.before coming to the Netherlands, The ABN has banks in the U.S.

[@rebeccaalbrecht771]

Try Lorjé on De Neude for all your paper and writing supplies. Its' a family owned business which means the money stays in the community, a win-win.

[@iamalexwolf]

Congratulations on 5K!

[@VeryFastRodi]

Action is also a "discount" store, like a target, where u can buy lots of things for cheap. Office supplies kitchen stuff, some electronics and lots of other things

[@BNJ24]

They may not call it a tax but you do pay for garbage in the US. If your city provides the water and trash, they are often on the same bill. If not, you'll pay a private trash company like I do, about $35 a month, almost $400 a year.

[@jasmikko]

A few things i can add to that is that aside from the 8 percent holiday pay on top of your salary, you also get around 25 days of paid holiday every year. So basically you go on 25 days holiday somewhere in the Carribean spending your holiday money and when you get home you'd still get paid as if you're working the whole 25 days you're away. And since Jan 2020, NL also pay transition pay counting from day 1 if you get fired or your contract not renewed. Regardless how long you are with the company. (Clauses applied of course)

[@YouHaventSeenMeRight]

The salary differences are also caused by the fact that a lot secondary benefits are factored into Dutch salaries, which in America the salary receiver has to take care of. So while you get less money to take home, your expenditures after you take that money home are also lower. Added benefit: they are taken care of automatically, while for Americans it's sometimes not trivial to keep those in mind or even worse are actively neglected to have more spending money.

[@truusjenskens8485]

For stationary we have bookstores...Dekker vd Veght was a big one in Utrecht iirc... But yes, we don't have Walmarkt in holland, we have couzy cities with an ancient citycentre with loads of atmosphere...much better than only a Walmart...But we also go to the MAkro, which is similar to a Walmart i think.

[@ThW5]

Yes, to be a bit more specific, not every bookshop has stationary, the Dutch word to indicate one which usually does is "Kantoorboekhandel" i.e. "Office book shop", that is really part of those things which might surprise a newcomer mildly.

[@MaartenKok]

Just a note on the hypermarket thing (having small stores for every category of items). This is not a European thing, it's very much a Dutch thing. We have active municipal regulations that prevent stores from becoming like Walmart. This is done to help our city centers stay more lively, with a combination of shops and food establishments. France, for example, lacks this type of regulation, and they have lots of their 'hypermarchés' on the edges of towns that sell practically everything.

[@carstenhuitsingh2239]

At action you can get stationary and it's usually cheaper than any where else. Also pens, pencils and organizers for a reasonable price. It's called office essentials and they have from markers (permanent and whiteboard) to calculators.

[@Dutch1961]

To add to your confusion some people in the Netherlands (like me) not only get holiday pay but also receive a christmas 'bonus' that can vary from a few percent to 8.33 percent, a full 13th month.

[@remizeeland3505]

When buying goods in a Store here you don’t pay An additional tax on top. That makes the cost of living more troublesome to compare.

[@bartvanhoogstraten9108]

In the US it is also almost impossible to open a bank account without a Social Security number which I experienced as a Dutch immigrant into the US!

[@Joyanddaniel]

You'd like going to the 'kruidvat'. It's like a mini wallmart from your descriptions ;)

[@luciaberkenveld5643]

Hi Eva, congratulations on your number of subscribers. You can pay the afvalstoffenheffing in monthly payments, it seems less that way.😉

[@DutchAmericano]

Haha, good to know!

[@Welius]

Hollliday money is an extra above your standard salary. However, everyone gets it. Sometimes though, it is payed out monthly, so it looks like it is part of your salary. ABesides that, when you want to buy a house and need a morgage, your holliday money is also considered as part of your salary. And ofcourse...you pay income taxes for it...

[@eugenieC50]

we pay motorrijtuigbelasting its a tax for vehicels. that is to maintain the Dutch road and infrastructure. If you own a car, motor, truck, moped, scooter, disablecars, bus. You pay tax that differnce in weight classes, fuel sort, en admissions (?) the lights, paint, signs and the tarmac etc is being maintaind by those taxes. We pay also a lot tax for fuel but that is in the price by the gasstations (included)

[@macexpert7247]

En we betalen nog steeds een kwartje per liter aan Kok !

[@321alex123]

Dont forget we have healthcare and rentsupport. As wel as a payable healthcare incomesupport for the people who are sick or cant work lost a job or whatever reason. A system what creates a lot less stress in difficult situations

[@ghosttown66]

I think that one of the most confusing things probably is the fact that Americans see Europe as a unity which is true in the economic sense but is very deceiving if you think that all those countries are alike. i.e. our dutch tax or healthcare system is completely different from the U.K. or Germany as is the way salary is. It most likely would be the same assuming living in Arizona is the same as living in New York (state) its al the U.S. but I guess there will be differences state-wise unique to them. I hope this makes sense to you, Bottomline is you can't compare European countries as if they are the same.

[@gert-janvanderlee5307]

We have stores like the American drugstores. They are called Kruidvat, also a drugstore but you can buy a lot of other stuff too.

[@PrinceWalacra]

If salaries are higher in the USA but standard of living is not, then it means the exchange rate of the US Dollar is too high. Anyway, on average Americans have to pay more for living (food, health care, housing,etc.), although taxes are lower... somewhere it goes wrong. So who wins, Europeans with their system based on (higher) solidarity or Americans with their system based on (higher) competition.

[@Blackadder75]

that's very easy. The very rich win in the USA, because they can buy themselves out of the crap and pay other to do the work the government is not doing. , poor and middle class people are better of in Europe where the infrastructure is much better taken care of.

[@mikepictor]

As someone contemplating emigrating to the Netherlands, the financial picture is the most unclear part for me. I make a good living in Canada, and my company does have an Amsterdam office, but I don't really have a good sense of a) what my pay scale and benefits would look like if transitioned (I plan to ask about this), and b) what that means to my standard of living that I am just sort of intuitively used to. By this I mean not the dollars I budget to coffee for example, but just that inherent sense of "I can afford take out this often, to this approximate amounts". And then there is things like rent is higher, cheese is cheaper, taxes are higher, beer is cheaper, various scales I am used to are all up and down.

[@theGoogol]

Hi Eva ... Gratz on 5k subs ^_^ Still waiting on your "Cheese Special" !!

[@DutchAmericano]

Haha, thank you!

[@eckligt]

I think the difference between VAT and US-style Sales Tax may be be surprising for anyone moving between the US and Europe. They're superficially similar, but the economics seem to be very different -- though I'm not an economist.

[@macexpert7247]

Costco equivalent in the NL is the Makro. Department store Bijenkorf. But your are right always start with the HEMA 👍 (everyone gets their underwear there 😂 )

[@nimwey7701]

It would be great if you do a video about the health insurrance here vs the American health insurrance

[@thejaramogi1]

An out of the topic question? Are you a great, great, great-grandchild of Monalisa? Every time I see your face is like a portrait of that masterpiece! And thanks for the content too. For the bank account its much easier here than most EU countries especially France where you need an address as well!

[@HenkJanBakker]

There is social housing. These rent out to people with low to moderate income and these require insight into your income when you apply. Waiting lists to to get a house assigned to you can take years. You can refuse a house but three strikes and you are at the bottom of the list. If you plan to leave your parents house... plan ahead. Some young people even apply 3 years before actually wanting to move just to get enough points to qualify when the time is right.

[@McStrien]

About #3, in other European countries big “all in one” supermarkets are more common, The Netherlands seems to be the exception

[@Thorarin]

Regarding the holiday pay: barring a few minor exceptions, holiday pay is mandatory in the Netherlands. Therefore, if the salary on a job posting is expressed in a number of euros per month, you can almost certainly add that 8% for the yearly income. When the communicated number is per year, it might already include the 8% holiday pay, although typically this will be clarified in the text. While on the subject of holidays, there is a legal minimum for the number of paid holidays: 4 times the number of hours worked on a weekly basis (e.g. 20 days for a typical 40-hour work week). Perhaps a lesser known fact: it is a legal right to take a 2 weeks consecutive holiday at least once a year; employers cannot refuse this unless there are really extraneous circumstances. It's not just a right though; you're technically required to take a two-week consecutive holiday. This may or may not be actively enforced, but larger companies will typically monitor this, because otherwise they could be considered responsible in case of a burnout, for example. translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rijksoverheid.nl%2Fonderwerpen%2Fvakantiedagen-en-vakantiegeld%2Fvraag-en-antwoord%2Fhoe-hoog-is-mijn-vakantiegeld

[@lisakoenen7129]

It's true that American credit/debit cards don't work here, but it's not true that you can only pay at grocery stores with a Dutch bank account. As long as you have a Maestro or V-Pay debitcard, it should work in most cases, at least with European bank accounts. There are still times it doesn't work though. It's because the cards aren't compatible with the system the stores use. A lot of grocery stores actually don't accept credit cards at all, it's not as common here.

[@gyqz]

Let me add some things here that all Dutch people do and Americans really have to get used to: If you want stationary, you go to Action. If you want a (fake) plant, you go to Action. If you want kitchen supplies, you go to Action. If you want electronics, you go to action. If you want DIY, you go to Action. Thank you for this video.

[@nonexistingvoid]

My kids have figured this out too. And they pass an Action when they ride their bikes home from school. You can guess what they do with their allowance 😅

[@MM-vr8rj]

If you need a computer mouse you go to Action

[@nonexistingvoid]

@@MM-vr8rj gaming headset for kids: Action Underwear: Action School supplies: Action

[@TheMrZorga]

If you want a hotel, Trivago

[@casek1238]

Don't go to the Action.

[@Lilian_Verseveld]

On top of the garbage tax u also would be surprised to also pay Sewage Taxes (Rioolheffing), well in my city (The Hague) thats a thing as well, and its almost an equal amount of money.

[@bentrines9275]

happy to follow you and your fox :-)

[@atarvos8686]

Hi eva.... I have a total different question for you. At this time, during a pandemic, you are far from home, parents, family and friends. How do you deal with it, and how do you feel? Thanks... Bas

[@Peter-zd5ku]

The only reason why we still have something like "holiday -pay" is this: You save every month about 8% of your salary and in the month of may it is payed out to you, BUT,...BUT..not before the government put a taxrate over it of more than 50% (The Dutch treasury is the biggest beneficiary of this system. this is called "bijzonder tarief" or in English "special rate") and that is why this still excist. (without the saving of the 8% wich would be payed on monthly basis as part of your wages,...........it would be taxed only by the normal incometaxrate)

[@Maura237]

About the lower salary, there are thinks to consider 1. Euro's are worth more than dollars 2. You get paid holidays (by law) 3. Part of social (work/employment) security is paid for by an employer based on the employees salary 4. Your pension is paid before you get your salary 5. You don't have to pay ridiculous amounts of money for schools, healthcare and other stuff 6. Think about what you can buy with the money, not the actual number of euro's 7. Holiday pay I know she said part of this already and she is not trying to bash salaries in the Netherlands, but I'm just gonna leave it up here, cause why not

[@Ohne_Silikone]

5:54 is it that insane? What are the rules / laws on eviction in the US compared to the Netherlands? I guess that in the Netherlands renters are by law a lot better protected, So if you have your property rented by someone who doesn’t pay and trashes it, you might be in for a lot of trouble. In Germany renting is quite similar to the Netherlands. It also feels more like soliciting for an opportunity. Last time we moved, we even had to produce evidence of our rental payment history’s and statements about past rental behaviour and testimonies there of.

[@erikaverink8418]

Healthcare system. And what is included, pregnancy, costs. How it works in the Netherlands and the difference with the US.

[@mikaph3051]

Hi Eva, H&M Home and Zarahome also have pretty nice home and kitchen stuff.

[@sunv]

Great channel!

[@NaomiClareNL]

5K? Gefeliciteerd! What a lot of people forget about taxes is that it isn't a lumpsum but two distinct things. 1 actual tax - this pays for things like education, defense, infratructure 2 social insurance premiums - this pays for unemployment, sickness, certain hard to commercially insure medecial things (called AWBZ), government pension (AOW). Tax is about 1/3 and the premiums are about 2/3 in the lowest bracket. When you get to the detailed stage of wage negotiation it might be advisable to have the financial people make a sample calculation like the monthly piece of paper you get, called loonstrookje. That gives a good indication what you bring home. this might prevent some nasty things like the amount of money you have to pay because you get a lease car via your employer. nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loonstrook Be aware that beside municipal taxation based on house value (WOZ-waarde) there is also the taxation by the waterschap, waterboard. They are responsible for keeping your feet dry, clear waste water and in the west of the country they also maintain a lot of minor roads.

[@michelspijkvan2878]

Get an iPhone and add your creditcard to Apple Pay. Then you can use it in stores, contactless payment, just as a dutch debetcard. Easy, just like that.

[@shasita3361]

I get most of what I want at the Albert Heijn here just fine (town, not a big city). Also some plants and stationary... 😅

[@thephilosopherofculture4559]

Did you mention the amount of days off you get, with full salary paid during those days? It is 20 or 30 (work) days a year. And in some companies or institutions, like governmental jobs, they accumulate. I know people who retired half a year early with full salary just because they had not been able to take all those days off. Saving such days is not encouraged, by the way. Health and mental balance is more important than having personnel working unhappily as a slave at their jobs. I know this to be very different from the USA where people are reluctant to take even 14 days (10 work days) off, afraid they might find themselves having been made redundant upon returning to their desk. As long as you vote GOP, you will be slaves, promoted as 'free people'. In George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, you find the slogan "slavery is freedom". That is how it feels when working for an American company in the USA.

[@Bennie_Tziek]

Garbage collection is also a surprise for the dutch youth. I had to pay half a month of rent on garbage collection and tax for the local authority.

[@harrywissink842]

Hi Ava .. nice videos ! Thanks 🙏 Btw in the US you need social security nr too .. maybe not a bank account but credit cards definitely

[@shersmk90]

Many european debit cards can be use on those self checkout too. O and you need your SSN from the states as well because the usa demands from us to know what their citizens do with their money else where, when opening a bankaccount (I use to be that bank person).

[@berberbro]

Jumbo, Aldi and Lidl are fine with creditcards. Apple pay increasingly can be used at some chains.

[@nomadgigi4051]

In Australia you need 100 ID points to open any bank account. This can be hard for some people as you need at least 3 types of ID to get the points, eg licence, passport and medicare card. Self checkout here uses both cash and card. To rent here you need to apply in writing and they then choose between applicants, it can be a slow process to get a place to live. Rubbish collection is paid by the landlord in the rates (land taxes). Water usage is paid by the tenants as a rule, my daughter got hit with a big unexpected bill. I get the first 100kl per 6 months included in the rent (rather unusual) and have never paid any as 100kl is a huge amount. Here taxes get higher the more you earn, paid holidays are always 4 weeks, casual workers don't get paid holidays but their pay rates are a bit higher to cover it. No such thing as extra pay for holidays, also most people here are paid per fortnight not month. I find the differences really interesting. I'm Dutch-Australian.

[@smenor]

I was similarly shocked to see how hard it was to get a French bank account and an apartment in Paris

[@andmen3112]

Fiancé wants me to move with him to his parents but there’s so many steps to do it ! Thinking of flying back &forth but covid restrictions are still in effect right?

[@nienke7713]

I love Betsies kookwinkel in Utrecht, I got my first chef's knife there; that said, I think most people get kitchen equipment at Blokker, Hema, or Action.

[@blindbrick]

It is not only encouraged to take a Holiday but it is mandatory to take at least 2 consecutively weeks a year off. Your employer could get in trouble if You did not do that.

[@truusjenskens8485]

You can't compare the rental or real estate prices of Amsterdam and Utrecht with the rest of the country...it's a lot cheaper outside the Randstad....And if you go up north it's even pretty cheap but if your hobby is not milking cows you better not live there. But we also have a double renting system...we have social rent and private rent. Social is from the huge institutions which have regulated prices, private is from any private person who rents out condo's or houses. Private renting costs more but also has the better spots usually...And for social renting the waiting period can be easy over 10 years for certain cities... You can Google for : Kookwinkel and you'll find the cookingstores, we have loads of them...and the best thing is they are affordable for the real german/swiss quality cookingware brands. Yes they still cost more but they last much longer. Yes these days the supermarkets have those selfpay counters and a long queue at the manned counters..5 years ago we had supermarkets where there would never be more than 3 customers in the queue, if you were number 4 you would get all your groceries for free...they always made sure there were plenty open cashiers or they had to give it all for free.

[@theBabyDead]

Holiday pay is NOT normally "on top of what you earn". It's redacted from your pay every month. That's the normal scenario. And also, this isn't for everybody, either. You can generally choose whether or not you want this.

[@abrahamcusters2987]

Can I ask you: if you want to live in a foreign country don’t you prepare the move? Then you have all info available to you before you travel.

[@dnwitte]

When I went to live in The Netherlands I thought did all the necessary preparation, but there are things we don't know we're supposed to ask, and the locals think are so normal it doesn't occur to them to tell us.

[@abrahamcusters2987]

D Witte Locals will tell you if you ask them. Don’t twist it around.

[@dnwitte]

@@abrahamcusters2987 That's exactly my point.

[@Deckzwabber]

Credit cards are not widely accepted, nor are debit cards that run on the same payment system. We have ideal, because so many people don't have a credit card and we needed a system for online shopping that is compatible with our national card system.

[@baskoning9896]

Writing essays to get into rent is only with student homes, where the other students select a fitting new comer. Social renting never has that, private renting I dont know, but dont think so. Here, people that rent have A LOT of rights, if people stop paying rent: the owner has to jump through many loops, make much costs, and have lots of patients to evict a renter, it can take up to 4 months easy. To prevent that, people want to know who is renting their place: so they know they will get paid. Social renting also has this need to know how much you make, so they wont rent you out to expensive houses, that you wont be able to pay, and they wont be able to evict you with ease. Waiting lists for social renting is easy 4 years or longer for the better houses. Its not uncommon for over a dozen people reacting to a single house getting free. Dont give up, just keep reacting, one day you will be first in line.

[@rolebo1]

on the point of lower salaries for the same job, pretty sure this is just a currency thing. you are getting the same value of salary just in a stronger currency, so of course the number looks smaller.