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"If you’re smart, you can go the MD or STEM route and end up in tech or finance" These typically entail large student loans, which make it difficult to save mu

"If you’re smart, you can go the MD or STEM route and end up in tech or finance" These typically entail large student loans, which make it difficult to save much in one's 20s. "If you can’t do that, then electricians, plumbers, and mechanics make a decent amount starting very young." These are good options, but realistically there are only so many of these jobs to go around. They also require vocational training, which costs money, or the good fortune to obtain an apprenticeship. "If you give up your 20s in SoCal, you better be doing something to hit the ground running fast with $150k+ " Most people will never achieve that salary in their lifetime (speaking in real terms).

lotsofpulp 8y ago
That’s my point, if you’re giving up your earnings in your 20s, you better end up an MD, or FAANG, or a high paying finance/law firms. If that isn’t your trajectory, and you don’t have a trust fund, then you should expect a tough cash flow situation, especially if you’re accumulating debt, and giving up $50k+ per year for 8 years. Unfortunately, I don’t know the situation the trades are in from firsthand experience, but from the contractors I hire, they are constantly jacking up prices due to lack of licensed workers, so even if it’s not sufficient pay to entice enough people to do the job at this moment, I would say the future looks good for them. If that’s not doable, then unfortunately SoCal, and CA in general, probably isn’t an economical place to live in the long term. Just like living in Manhattan or London or SF is a luxury, so is a desirable location like CA. Edit: I’m not saying this is ideal, but that is the advice I would give to someone at the start of their life deciding on whether or not to live in SoCal, even if they grew up there. Perhaps the situation will reverse once all the people who are willing to suffer through the living conditions that lower paid positions offer, but I don’t see the situation bettering itself before that happens and the supply curve for labor shifts enough to force living wages.
- slow_donkey 8y ago
  You're probably talking about LA when referencing socal, but San Diego is reasonably affordable if you live in the right places (aka not downtown/la Jolla).

lotsofpulp 8y ago

That’s my point, if you’re giving up your earnings in your 20s, you better end up an MD, or FAANG, or a high paying finance/law firms. If that isn’t your trajectory, and you don’t have a trust fund, then you should expect a tough cash flow situation, especially if you’re accumulating debt, and giving up $50k+ per year for 8 years. Unfortunately, I don’t know the situation the trades are in from firsthand experience, but from the contractors I hire, they are constantly jacking up prices due to lack of licensed workers, so even if it’s not sufficient pay to entice enough people to do the job at this moment, I would say the future looks good for them. If that’s not doable, then unfortunately SoCal, and CA in general, probably isn’t an economical place to live in the long term. Just like living in Manhattan or London or SF is a luxury, so is a desirable location like CA. Edit: I’m not saying this is ideal, but that is the advice I would give to someone at the start of their life deciding on whether or not to live in SoCal, even if they grew up there. Perhaps the situation will reverse once all the people who are willing to suffer through the living conditions that lower paid positions offer, but I don’t see the situation bettering itself before that happens and the supply curve for labor shifts enough to force living wages.

slow_donkey 8y ago
You're probably talking about LA when referencing socal, but San Diego is reasonably affordable if you live in the right places (aka not downtown/la Jolla).