[zen_boy]

Wow, this advice is very valuable. I'll definitely investigate. Thank you.

Another interesting discussion is the ethical side of things. I do feel some obligation to pay back to my home country for things it has provided (free education, healthcare, etc.), many of which were financed with tax income.

But paying the whole amount from current and future gains would be tad too much. Also, would it be possible to achieve higher and more direct impact with dodging the taxes and distributing that money via philantrophic means? Just some questions I'm thinking about in the whole picture.

[charlesdm]

1. If you intend to move back at some point, it doesn’t matter. Say you generate €75-100k a year from that million in the future, you’ll be paying 25k a year in taxes anyway. The more capital you have, the more you can generate, hence the more tax you can pay in the future. Pay 333k now vs 25k a year over the next 50 years. But building that first €500k-1m is hard, imo.

2. Always give back. For example, I gift €X,000 every year to local good causes. Yep, I get a 45% tax deduction for it, but I also use it as a way to give back. You’re not going to spend one euro to save 45 cents in tax, if it's not something you believe in.

You can also give back by investing in Finnish companies.

3. If you’re interested in Belgium (low cost of living, high quality of life, free health insurance, relaxed society, high taxes but not on capital), I can intro you to my tax lawyer. He’s awesome.

[zen_boy]

Great points. Ultimately, it seems to boil down to deferring tax to the future instead of the present resulting in higher gains for everybody, and having the freedom to choose on how to give back. Both of which seem like the obvious after further consideration.

I'm really curious about your story. Would you be interested in continuing this discussion over email?

[charlesdm]

Sure! E-mail address is on my HN profile.