Never Retire: Building a Life Worth Working and Fighting For
What it really costs to be self-employed in Spain—and why I’m still all-in
Some days, it feels like the math shouldn’t work. The taxes, the paperwork, the Social Security quota that’s about to multiply six-fold.
But then I walk outside, and remember why it does.
This isn’t an $1,000-a-month Mercedes payment we’re talking about when you could be spending $400 for a Hyundai. People see real and perceived in value in spending—somewhat indiscriminately—for the Mercedes so they don’t have to drive a Hyundai.
This is life we’re talking about. Not mindless transportation or social status. Life requires work. And when you work, you have to pay. So I can never quite comprehend people—particularly so-called “expats” and immigrants—who complain about having to pay taxes or make Social Security contributions.
You can go back to the hostile sociopolitical culture of the United States or the shitty weather in the UK. That’s always an option. But you can’t expect to come to Spain to escape what you don’t like where you’re from and get something better without paying—maybe a premium (a Mercedes payment)—for it.
The sense of self-entitlement reeks. As if Spaniards got their country for free—they didn’t—and you just expect walk in and participate only in the romanticized parts. The reality is that people here work—not only for livings—but to maintain a place that has become (whether they acknowledge it or not) the new land of opportunity.
A couple of months ago, I did a complete analysis—using my actual numbers—to detail the cost of being self-employed in Spain versus the United States.
Read that after you read this.
Long story, short—the math works out. And likely favors Spain when you consider that your Social Security payments cover universal healthcare.
That said—being self-employed (an autónomo) isn’t easy. But it’s not easy in the US either. Never has been, likely never will be.
I have been thinking a bit harder about this in recent days for two reasons.
In 2026, my monthly Social Security quota will increase to €543.86 from its current €87.61. That’s a big jump.
Under a proposal from the Spanish government, my quota would actually increase to €648 in 2026, €766 in 2027, and €885 in 2028. Huge jumps, but the odds of this passing in time for 2026 or at all appear extremely low. There has been intense backlash from just about everybody—from the union that represents the self-employed to every other political party.
All of this said, there’s context and nuance the headlines and the loudest voices miss. So, let me try to provide that context tying it back to the situation in the United States—as it pertains to the very same issue (Social Security) and the sentiment expressed in the title of today’s Never Retire newsletter story—Building a Life Worth Working and Fighting For.
Whether you’re directly affected by this particular issue or not, it speaks to how governments treat problems and their citizens as well as the value the places where we live create with respect to quality of life.
Never Retire is field notes from midlife abroad.
I write from Spain, but this isn’t a travel blog. It’s a lens on how daily costs, routines, and choices add up to a second act that works—financially, emotionally, and practically.
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