Søren, 40 — Copenhagen
An engineer whose ground is expensive in more ways than one.
Does the exit work from Europe's priciest ground?
Søren spends €3,400 a month in one of Europe's most expensive countries, holds €520,000 and saves €2,300. His family is here, his life is here — and both his prices and his fund taxes are here too.
10 yrs 4 mo at 50
Their numbers, in the tools
The Exit Calculator, prefilled Find your country the way they would The rules where they live: Denmark · cost index 139.7Søren pays twice for staying: the ground is priced near the top of the continent, and his accumulating funds are taxed on gains he hasn't sold — the deferral that quietly powers most FIRE maths isn't available to him. His number has to be honest about both.
And staying can still be the right call. Family is a real return; it just doesn't show up in the spreadsheet. What he owes himself is to price the alternative once — the same life, somewhere cheaper — so that staying is a decision, not a default.
Everyone here runs at a deliberately modest 5% real return (after inflation) and a ×30 number — the calculators default to showing you more of the range; drag the sliders yourself. The people are invented, the arithmetic is real, and none of it is advice.
Bring me a challenge.
The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.