When I was growing up, Sweden was considered the wealthiest country in the world, and it was also deemed the safest in every aspect of life, including education, pension systems, healthcare, and more. Everything was outstanding, with almost no crime, making it seem like a dream life in many ways. However, today tells a sad story. Sweden is no longer anywhere close to what it was 50 years ago. Everything we were proud of, the so-called Swedish model, has long disappeared.
I have always worked hard. I started working at the age of 10 as a newspaper boy on weekends, selling the local newspaper. During every school holiday, I worked on a farm sorting potatoes. It was a tough job, but we also had a lot of fun. I have always believed that hard work would pay off. I got my first full-time job at 17, working in a chemical factory 30 km from my hometown, loading and unloading bulk trucks and train wagons with sodium sulfate. It was dusty and dirty, but we enjoyed it, turning every day into a competition to see who could load and unload the fastest. This was in 1983, a period when Sweden was at its peak. Everything was working well; people had good lives, made money, went on holidays, and as a teenager at the time, we could afford to go out and have a good time several times every week.
In 1986, I became a father, a life-changing moment. I had three jobs: I worked at the chemical factory during the day, sold newspapers by phone in the evenings, and worked as a dishwasher in a local bar at nights and weekends. I enjoyed working a lot and truly believed it would make a difference the day I decided to retire. However, at 55, when I opened the so-called "orange" envelope from the pension authority while I was on holiday in Thailand, I was shocked.
The figures showed that if I decided to retire at the age of 62, I would receive only 55 euros per month. It was a shock. I knew that the government had changed the retirement system and the rules for when we could retire, but I was really angered when I realized they had scammed me. They had stolen a huge part of my life. This realization made me decide to sell everything in Sweden and start a new life and career somewhere else.