Is grass really greener elsewhere? While wages in France are the subject of constant frustration for employees, some compatriots decide to take the step of exile. This is the case of Agathe, which settled in Geneva. She tells us about the reality of a life in Switzerland.
A few years ago, Agathe decided to take her clicks and slams, leaving Paris behind for a new life in Geneva. A departure to Switzerland as a little more than 170,000 other French people, according to data from France diplomacy. And if chocolate, fondue and ski slopes are valid reasons for crossing the border, wages remain above all the major argument. What this 36 -year -old Frenchwoman admits.
“”I decided to leave France and in particular Paris, for a softer, calmer and more natural lifestyle. Find a less stressful life. The way of life I had in Paris no longer suited me. And also, we are not going to lie, have a salary that allows me to do activities alongside like going on a trip or doing sports activities“, confides Agathe. Her luck is that she works in the banking environment and that Geneva is an essential place for this. And she does not make a mystery of her very beautiful salary: 103,000 Swiss annual frank francs, or around 110,000 euros. Which puts her a little above the average annual gross salary which is 78,000 Swiss francs.
But was not going to believe that it allows him to buy gold bars every four mornings and live like a pasha. Because in Switzerland … everything is expensive! For example, his 35 m² apartment costs him the equivalent of 2000 euros, much more than she paid by living at the time in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. And, hold on, this is added the tidy sum of 700 euros in health costs every month (health and mutual insurance). “”We are never reimbursed 100% as we can be in France and meetings with specialized doctors can return very expensive. Better to be in good health in Switzerland but the health system is better than in France because they have more budget.“”
What about taxes? Agathe twists the neck with tenacious rumor: no, in Switzerland, no one is completely escaped by tax! “”It depends on the canton of residence where we live and the salary. For my part I am with an average of 15% of my monthly salary“, She said. In total, she considers almost half of her income every month in fixed costs. The only expenditure positions where she is a winner compared to France: electricity and the lease of her car.
In addition to the financial aspect, Agathe recognizes that her move to Geneva also allows her to live by feeling more security than in France. “”People are respectful. I have no problem going out alone in the evening; It has already happened to me to leave my car open inadvertently and that it is intact when I return “, she said, without wanting to make believe that it would be “The country of the bisounours” and stressing that the Swiss are “Quite racist in the countryside, especially towards the French.”
Here she loves it “the sweetness of life, landscapes and access to nature“But also admits that of her life in France, she is lacking in”cultural offer“Riche richer and still is not done in restaurants that are no longer used after 9:30 p.m. of the trifles in the face of what she won by crossing the border. Besides, she proclaims it loud and strong: she does not”Regrets absolutely not“To have left France.
