When Mary Brown met her husband Sébastien, they both lived in Chicago. But on their second date, Sébastien, a French native, told Braun that he didn’t plan to stay in the United States for long — he’s been in America for 15 years and wants to return to Europe soon.
“He actually almost came back, but then he decided to stay a little longer and met me, so it was very serendipitous,” Braun tells CNBC Make It.
At the end of 2020, the couple moved into a two-bedroom apartment together on the north side of Chicago. At the time, Sébastien was working as a business unit manager for the ZF Group, a German technology manufacturing company, while Mary was working as a social media manager for a hair care company.
They both worked remotely and eventually the apartment proved too small for them, so the couple moved across the street to a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom duplex where they paid $2,585 a month in rent.
“I miss it a lot. It was a really sweet building that still had the brick walls and the Chicago character, but it was gutted and renovated,” Braun says.
When Mary Braun met her husband Sébastien, they were both living in Chicago. But on their second date, Sébastien, a French native, told Braun that he didn’t plan to stay in the United States for long.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
Braun and Sébastien lived in the apartment for about a year and there they overcame the covid-19 pandemic together. During that time, they began to think seriously about going to Europe and which country they would soon call home. Switzerland was at the top of their list.
Sébastien enrolled in the Executive MBA program at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland. “He chose it because he could do a lot of it remotely from the US,” says Braun. “Since the long-term goal was to return to Europe, it was logical for him to create a European program.”
Another mitigating factor for the couple was that Sébastien was unable to see his family in France for an entire year due to travel restrictions caused by the pandemic. He started actively working on the transfer to the European offices of his company.
The ZF Group offered Sébastien a transfer to the office in Germany, but Braun rejected the idea. She didn’t speak the language and there were no direct flights to and from Chicago. Sébastien was then offered a transfer to Belgium, but it failed. He got another chance to work from a brand new office in Bern, the capital of Switzerland.
Although the move to Bern still didn’t appeal to Braun – there are also no direct flights to and from Chicago – she realized that Zurich was close enough for Sébastien to commute to the office every day.
“He really thought it was the best career opportunity for him, and at the time the company I was working for was willing to let me go and work remotely for them from Switzerland,” says Braun. “The stars aligned.”
By December 2021, the couple had begun the process of moving to Switzerland — which included obtaining a Swiss visa — so they didn’t actually move until September 2022. Braun and Sébastien married in March of that year, shipped most of their belongings to Switzerland, and moved went to Braun’s parents while they were waiting for the paperwork to be taken care of.
“We still had a lot of time to adjust to it and be with our family,” Braun says. “Which I think helped make the transition easier.”
When Braun and Sébastien finally moved to Zurich, they lived in temporary accommodation – first in a furnished 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment that they paid 3,880 francs or $4,253 USD, and then in a 2-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom apartment which they rented for 5,090 francs, or $5,580, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
“I remember sitting on the bed in the shelter with our dog and thinking how is this real? How are we in Switzerland? How did our dog get here? How did everything fall into place?” says Braun.
“This was our real life now and we had to deal with it. It was just surreal.”
That December, the couple found a more permanent living arrangement. It was a 2-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom apartment in the Enge district of Zurich, where the rent was 4,120 francs, or $4,516.
When Braun and Sébastien finally moved to Zurich, they lived in temporary accommodation. The couple soon found a more permanent way of life.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
The couple liked the apartment, but in January 2023, Braun found out she was pregnant. Living on the fourth floor of a building without an elevator became a big concern. The couple were also informed that their rent would be increased. They concluded that the time was right to find a place with more space.
Five months later, Braun and Sébastien left their old apartment and moved into a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment in Uitikon, a town not far from Zurich, for 3,950 francs or $4,330 a month. Braun says one of the upsides for them is that their taxes went down because they no longer lived in the city.
In Switzerland, people pay federal income tax ranging from 0 to 11.5%, but this does not include local taxes, according to Block H&R. Cantons, which are similar to states in the US, and municipalities also collect taxes.
The couple lived in this apartment in Uitikon for about eight months.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
Downside? It wasn’t so easy to get around their new city without a car. When Braun gave birth to the couple’s daughter and went on maternity leave, she took a job as a social media manager for a Swiss company that didn’t favor remote work. “I started to worry about balancing my life,” she says.
There was a possibility that Braun would lose her job if she did not return to her office full time when her leave was up.
“If I was in the U.S., I would have my mom or someone I know well look after our daughter. We started thinking that we need to have a plan for the financial worst possible scenario.”
The couple and their daughter currently live in a town outside Fribourg, Switzerland.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
When Braun’s boss confirmed the worst, Sébastien began looking for a better-paying job while she considered her options. “I appreciate it [my boss] was very honest with me, but it was difficult because I somehow had to choose between career and family,” she says.
“I’ve taken the loss, but there are other bonuses to being home with our daughter. Being a stay-at-home mom is just a different job.”
Last year, the couple and their daughter moved to a town outside Friborg, just under two hours from downtown Zurich, where the family still lives. They pay 2,630 francs or $2,883 a month for their 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment.
“We were able to save a lot of change and Sébastien was making more money. It didn’t really close the gap between my loss of income, but it definitely helped from a financial standpoint,” says Braun.
The family has a beautiful view of the city from almost every window of their apartment.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
Additionally, since French is the primary language in the area, Braun was excited to raise her daughter there, knowing she would learn the language and improve her own.
Since becoming a stay-at-home mom, Braun says she really appreciates the sense of security that comes with living in Switzerland. She walks a lot in nature alone with her daughter and the family dog.
“The level of safety here is so different that honestly, as a woman, I just feel safer doing things that I would probably think twice about doing in the US,” says Mary. “It feels very safe and secure, and it’s beautiful at the same time.”
Braun and Sébastien have been living in Switzerland for more than two years and while they miss the American sense of celebration and so much available to them like Amazon delivery and shops that stay open until 6pm, the results of the 2024 presidential election mean that a return is off the table for them. : “There is too much uncertainty in the US”
“I never want our daughter to feel like she’s not American, and I want her to identify culturally with the US, at least in the good parts,” Braun says. “It’s also tempting because it would be easy for me to get back into the job market with my journalistic background, especially as a freelancer, which isn’t really a thing in Switzerland.
The apartment has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
But, “I think socially it doesn’t make sense for us right now,” she adds.
The couple think they will eventually move again to be closer to Sébastien’s family, but that won’t happen anytime soon. “Having the ability to help and have someone to lean on and watch our daughter is amazing,” says Braun. “I think it would be great for us if he grew up in one of his cultures.”
Mary doesn’t think the family will return to the US anytime soon.
Mary and Sébastien Braun
Until then, Braun is focused on learning French to expand her career options if and when they move to Sébastien’s home country and she’s ready to return to work.
Want to improve your AI skills and be more productive? Take CNBC’s new online course How to use AI to be more successful at work. Expert instructors will teach you how to get started, practical usage, tips for effective speed writing and mistakes to avoid. Sign up now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory 30% discount to $67 (+ taxes and fees) until February 11, 2025.
Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.
