Thanks for the post. I will check out Zug. I guess the weather is not going to be as good as monaco/nice. UK has terrible weather it rained all this bank holiday weekend.
Right, the weather in Zug is worse than in Monaco. If not bound to Zug, people spend most of the time in Ticino in a second home, where the weather is much better and similar to the Côte d'Azur. Temps in Ticino are about 5°C lower than in Monaco, but the wind in MC is nasty. I lived in all 3 places and prefer Ticino - only 170km from Zug, a 2 hrs drive.
Is Zug much cheaper than Zurich and Geneva ? Accomodations might be a bit cheaper there than in Monaco but other costs are higher.Fom memory Monaco is not very different than Paris posh districts, and the costs are in euro. Costwise considering the taxes you mentioned it's probably cheaper to live in Monaco. I'm not familiar with Zug and didn't imagine it very lively, but if taxes and cost of living were not an issue I'd rather live in Switzerland than in Monaco as well - I spent a few years mostly between Geneva and Zurich and still go there once in a while but whereas I remember the place expensive, costs with the sfr near parity with euro are way higher than in neighbouring countries - where I now spend much more time on holidays than in Switzerland.
Renting a 3 room flat in Zug goes around 4000 Sfr. Same price as flat in Monaco. I think Monaco is cheaper for living. You can go and shop in France, go to french restaurant, just a few kilometers away. In Zug you don't have that possibility. And Monaco is ZERO personal taxes, Zug 22%. Make the total calculation of all you need and Monaco will be cheaper I think.
Another nice option in Europe is Bulgaria. Flat tax of 10% on everything. Lowest living expenses in Europe. With 2000 EUR a month you can live like a king there. Sure, the infrastructure, social security... are not as good as in other European countries like Germany or UK. But the internet there is one of the best in Europe. Their girls are nice and easy. And in the east they have some nice beaches at the black sea coast, warm and mild climate. To me, Bulgaria is somewhat like the Thailand of Europe
10% tax on everything, that's enticing. I went on a road trip with a few mates to Bulgaria about 10 years ago. I have some funny stories. We flew into Sofia stayed their a couple of nights then hired a mini van and drove through down the 'valley of roses?', via veliko turnovo to Varna & Burgas. To be fair I wont be rushing back to Bulgaria for a few reasons. When we were in Sofia the doorman at the hotel warned us not to go for a late night stroll as it wasn't safe, other areas in Sofia didn't feel safe. One bonus was that when we arrived we found out that there was a strip club on the top floor of our hotel, I remember we were like 10 floors up and none of the elevators worked lol. Then there was the food, some was ok, I hope I don't offend any Bulgarians but most of it was just plain nasty (shepherd salad wtf). I do remember a lot of the women being very attractive and much slimmer than girls in the UK. We then had another experience in Burgas where we parked up and the police came over and told us not to park where we had as it wasn't safe. One priceless moment was when he asked to see the cars passport, apparently cars in Bulgaria have passports. We handed it over and when he opened it a couple of notes fell out, I still remember the look on his face lol. Safety is also another issue. Many of the drivers over there literally have a death wish. So many times you would be cruising along traffic in both directions and then a Merc with blacked out windows would steam down the middle of the road at 100mph and literally force people off the road. Not sure wtf was going on there were also motorcades of blacked out Mercs steaming around, some sort of Mafia or government? All in all 10% is enticing but with a family it would be a non starter for me.