4 ms·

I'm 40 and making the most money I've ever made in my career, fighting off hiring managers begging me to interview, and doing the most exciting work of my caree

by pault 8y ago

I'm 40 and making the most money I've ever made in my career, fighting off hiring managers begging me to interview, and doing the most exciting work of my career. Also, you should leave the bay area now, not later. Your crazy money is getting eaten away by living expenses and you could have higher discretionary income in a smaller tech hub, and you could buy a house now and build equity instead of renting in the bay area.

deanmoriarty 8y ago
> you should leave the bay area now, not later Curious, why? I am having no problem being hireable right now at all (literally just joined a FAANG recently). As far as I know, it would be impossible to get the same pay I'm getting now anywhere else. Even after considering the high cost of living, the spread between income and cost of living is very high, and allows me to stash away a significant amount of savings every year, to pay for my future freedom. I really doubt I'd be able to save that much if I were working anywhere else. What else would you suggest?
- magduf 8y ago
  Basically, the people who recommend moving someplace cheap are people who value stability over cash savings, and want to have a big house for a family. If that doesn't fit you, then it doesn't make sense for you. If you're single and live cheap, living in the high-CoL makes much more sense.
  - pault 8y ago
    If you are planning on staying in the bay area for 10 years to save money, why not move some place with a lower COL and buy a house that might appreciate significantly in those ten years? You can make good money in Austin.
    - magduf 8y ago
      There's no guarantee housing will appreciate, in fact it's a pretty good bet that it won't. Housing is already unaffordable in many places relative to local wages, so it looks like another bubble that may burst. Also, Austin, while not as bad as other parts of Texas, is still in Texas.
      - pault 8y ago
        > Also, Austin, while not as bad as other parts of Texas, is still in Texas. I've lived in six cities on three continents (and I'm talking signing a lease, not staying for a month) and I can assure you Austin is no better or worse than any other metropolitan area regarding... wait, what metric exactly are you using here? Weather? Burrito size? Number of smug, passive aggressive west coast urbanites per square mile?
      - Fins 8y ago
        > Also, Austin, while not as bad as other parts of Texas, is still in Texas. So, what's the disadvantage?
        souprock 8y ago
        It's a felony to receive unregistered chemical apparatus, such as an Erlenmeyer or Florence flask. https://www.dps.texas.gov/RSD/Precursor/Laws/index.htm https://www.dps.texas.gov/RSD/Precursor/Laws/index.htm
        Fins 8y ago
        That does seem a bit excessive, but is getting a transfer permit actually difficult? And it's not like California isn't doing the "war on drugs" either, with the same success.
- pault 8y ago
  Okay, it's crass but let's talk numbers. I'm currently earning $210k/year in Austin, TX. My monthly income is about $12k after taxes, and my rent is $1,400 for three bedroom house 20 minutes from the office (wood floors, nice appliances, yadda yadda). I save about $9,000/month, give or take. When I was looking at relocating to the bay area I crunched the numbers and couldn't find a realistic scenario where I wouldn't be taking a relative pay cut.
  - deanmoriarty 8y ago
    You have a nice situation, but my goal is mostly saving money for the future while living a decent life now (and admittedly I am minimalist so many things people care about don't bother me much). I have obviously higher cost of living expenses (living frugally I do it in $50k-$60k/y), but just my base salary is higher than your compensation, and with RSUs I get easily into ~400k/y total comp or more depending on the year, so basically I end up saving a lot for the future, which is really the metric I'm optimizing for. I'm in my very early 30s and already saved up ~1.5M liquid. I don't own a house here in the Bay, I dump everything in very diversified index funds and some rentals out of state, since I'm not interested in staying in this place long term and play the million dollar mortgage roulette. The day I call it quit, me and my partner (she does well too) can move to Austin TX, or anywhere else really (we're both immigrants with citizenships in really really cheap countries), with our fat liquid assets, and not having to worry about necessarily finding work in my 40s. At least that's my very optimistic plan, it might completely not turn out like this, or I might die tomorrow.
    - pault 8y ago
      Man, if I had 1.5 mil in cash laying around I'd be on the first flight to Spain or Italy.
      - deanmoriarty 8y ago
        While that might seem like a lot, if you estimate the money is invested to just keep up with inflation and no real growth (very conservative assumption, but still possible), for $1.5M to last you 60 years (i.e. from 35yo to 95yo, completely depleting the capital at the end of your life essentially) you could just withdraw $25k inflation-adjusted pre-tax every year. I'm not sure you could necessarily live that well in Spain or Italy with that, without working. I happen to be originally from a cheap European country, and it's not that obvious. So it's really not that much, most people who get private or state pensions get a better deal than that from a cash-flow perspective.
magduf 8y ago
>Your crazy money is getting eaten away by living expenses and you could have higher discretionary income in a smaller tech hub, and you could buy a house now and build equity You're assuming that he would actually want to stay in that other place long enough for the house purchase to make financial sense. You have to own a house at least 5 years for it to work out, minimum. Moreoever, in the big tech hub, you're making more money, so if you keep your living costs low, you'll bank more cash than living someplace cheaper.
christophilus 8y ago
Seconded. I make good money, am nearly 40, and work remotely while living in an inexpensive small town near a reasonably fun metropolis. I’m probably going to be able to retire in 5 years. All of this would have been much, much harder in a different career track. Computer science was a great career choice for me.

by pault 8y ago

deanmoriarty 8y ago

> you should leave the bay area now, not later Curious, why? I am having no problem being hireable right now at all (literally just joined a FAANG recently). As far as I know, it would be impossible to get the same pay I'm getting now anywhere else. Even after considering the high cost of living, the spread between income and cost of living is very high, and allows me to stash away a significant amount of savings every year, to pay for my future freedom. I really doubt I'd be able to save that much if I were working anywhere else. What else would you suggest?

magduf 8y ago
Basically, the people who recommend moving someplace cheap are people who value stability over cash savings, and want to have a big house for a family. If that doesn't fit you, then it doesn't make sense for you. If you're single and live cheap, living in the high-CoL makes much more sense.
- pault 8y ago
  If you are planning on staying in the bay area for 10 years to save money, why not move some place with a lower COL and buy a house that might appreciate significantly in those ten years? You can make good money in Austin.
  - magduf 8y ago
    There's no guarantee housing will appreciate, in fact it's a pretty good bet that it won't. Housing is already unaffordable in many places relative to local wages, so it looks like another bubble that may burst. Also, Austin, while not as bad as other parts of Texas, is still in Texas.
    - pault 8y ago
      > Also, Austin, while not as bad as other parts of Texas, is still in Texas. I've lived in six cities on three continents (and I'm talking signing a lease, not staying for a month) and I can assure you Austin is no better or worse than any other metropolitan area regarding... wait, what metric exactly are you using here? Weather? Burrito size? Number of smug, passive aggressive west coast urbanites per square mile?
    - Fins 8y ago
      > Also, Austin, while not as bad as other parts of Texas, is still in Texas. So, what's the disadvantage?
      - souprock 8y ago
        It's a felony to receive unregistered chemical apparatus, such as an Erlenmeyer or Florence flask. https://www.dps.texas.gov/RSD/Precursor/Laws/index.htm https://www.dps.texas.gov/RSD/Precursor/Laws/index.htm
        Fins 8y ago
        That does seem a bit excessive, but is getting a transfer permit actually difficult? And it's not like California isn't doing the "war on drugs" either, with the same success.
pault 8y ago
Okay, it's crass but let's talk numbers. I'm currently earning $210k/year in Austin, TX. My monthly income is about $12k after taxes, and my rent is $1,400 for three bedroom house 20 minutes from the office (wood floors, nice appliances, yadda yadda). I save about $9,000/month, give or take. When I was looking at relocating to the bay area I crunched the numbers and couldn't find a realistic scenario where I wouldn't be taking a relative pay cut.
- deanmoriarty 8y ago
  You have a nice situation, but my goal is mostly saving money for the future while living a decent life now (and admittedly I am minimalist so many things people care about don't bother me much). I have obviously higher cost of living expenses (living frugally I do it in $50k-$60k/y), but just my base salary is higher than your compensation, and with RSUs I get easily into ~400k/y total comp or more depending on the year, so basically I end up saving a lot for the future, which is really the metric I'm optimizing for. I'm in my very early 30s and already saved up ~1.5M liquid. I don't own a house here in the Bay, I dump everything in very diversified index funds and some rentals out of state, since I'm not interested in staying in this place long term and play the million dollar mortgage roulette. The day I call it quit, me and my partner (she does well too) can move to Austin TX, or anywhere else really (we're both immigrants with citizenships in really really cheap countries), with our fat liquid assets, and not having to worry about necessarily finding work in my 40s. At least that's my very optimistic plan, it might completely not turn out like this, or I might die tomorrow.
  - pault 8y ago
    Man, if I had 1.5 mil in cash laying around I'd be on the first flight to Spain or Italy.
    - deanmoriarty 8y ago
      While that might seem like a lot, if you estimate the money is invested to just keep up with inflation and no real growth (very conservative assumption, but still possible), for $1.5M to last you 60 years (i.e. from 35yo to 95yo, completely depleting the capital at the end of your life essentially) you could just withdraw $25k inflation-adjusted pre-tax every year. I'm not sure you could necessarily live that well in Spain or Italy with that, without working. I happen to be originally from a cheap European country, and it's not that obvious. So it's really not that much, most people who get private or state pensions get a better deal than that from a cash-flow perspective.

magduf 8y ago

>Your crazy money is getting eaten away by living expenses and you could have higher discretionary income in a smaller tech hub, and you could buy a house now and build equity You're assuming that he would actually want to stay in that other place long enough for the house purchase to make financial sense. You have to own a house at least 5 years for it to work out, minimum. Moreoever, in the big tech hub, you're making more money, so if you keep your living costs low, you'll bank more cash than living someplace cheaper.

christophilus 8y ago

Seconded. I make good money, am nearly 40, and work remotely while living in an inexpensive small town near a reasonably fun metropolis. I’m probably going to be able to retire in 5 years. All of this would have been much, much harder in a different career track. Computer science was a great career choice for me.