December 1, 2021 - An article I have wanted to write for a very long time and the perceptions about - and realities of - the wealth of foreigners living in Croatia.
Shortly after I returned from our epic trip to eastern Croatia last month, I posted this on Facebook:
I am genuinely and honestly shocked at how many of my Croatian friends tell me that they have never been to Slavonia. Guys, you are missing out big time. Osijek is the most fun place to be at this time of year.
It didn't take long for the predictable reaction to take over.
It's hard to travel as a local when avg salaries are 4-6000 kunas a month ( $600-1000)
I agree. It is also hard to travel as a foreigner when salaries are 4-6000 kuna a month.
But of course, all foreigners who live in Croatia are millionaires, and all locals earn almost nothing, isn't that the truth?
I decided to rephrase my Facebook post:
Ok, then let's reframe my sentence to suit this narrative. I am genuinely and honestly shocked at how many of my Croatian friends among the 200,000 Croats who go skiing abroad each year tell me that they have never been to Slavonia. Guys, you are missing out big time. Osijek is the most fun place to be at this time of year. How does that sound?
The conversation ended.
And just as there are plenty of rich Croats living in Croatia, so too there are a good number of foreigners living here who struggle to make ends meet each month.
In fact, I would go as far as to say that I probably know more foreigners here who live on or around a Croatian wage than rich expats.
I used to show my bank manager some of the things published on social media by people who had never met me but clearly had an opinion about me. As we finalised the details of a temporary overdraft one time, we laughed at the online claim on some expat forum that I was a millionaire who had retired early and was doing TCN as a hobby.
Life in Croatia is fantastic if you have money, and it is fantastic as a tourist.
Life in Croatia on a Croatian salary is tough.
But for foreigners too.
When I started the Total Project back in October 2011, I had 100 euro in my bank account, as well as two young kids to feed. I have never worked harder or longer hours (or had so much fun with work) as the last ten years. And while life is certainly a little more comfortable now than it was a decade ago, that comfort was generated by a start of 100 euro plus 10 years of hard work.
Unlike the 200,000 Croats who go skiing each year, I could not afford to do that every year, and neither could most of the foreigners living here that I know.
Despite this, my answer to the question Is It Really True That All Foreigners Living in Croatia are Really Rich? would be an emphatic Yes.
For they have discovered paradise and appreciate what they have.
There is a lot more to being rich than having money in the bank.
All the money in the world cannot buy you the safety and lifestyle and incredible experiences available in Croatia if you do not live in Croatia.
And if you have a mindset shift, as many of the foreigners who live here have, the daily struggle to make ends meet is more than compensated by the safety and lifestyle.
I was a lot richer before I came to Croatia, and I also earned a lot more money as a 25-year-old than I do now as a 52-year-old. Do I yearn for that salary and way of life of 27 years ago? Never.
A few years ago, a school friend I had not seen for 25 years came to visit me on Hvar on a family sailing holiday. It was great to catch up, and we traded stories about life and where we had got to in life. He was a hugely successful chartered accountant, a partner in one of the biggest firms. He lived in a large house an hour from London by train, earned a very nice sum. Far, far more than me.
But he also left the house at 6am Monday to Friday, returning home at 9pm, when the kids were already in bed. The babysitter at the weekend cost over £100, and the restaurants and bars with his wife were not cheap. But it was a good life, he reflected.
"And of course, I can take the family on a holiday to Hvar each year," he added.
Yes, he could I reflected, after he sailed back to Split to catch the flight home, and I to my beloved bench in Jelsa to watch the changing colours on the beautiful Biokovo mountain through the Jelsa palm trees across the Adriatic, an experience I could have for free, 365 days of the year.
It is true what they say - all foreigners living in Croatia are really rich.
It is all in the mindset.
