4 ms·

Places like SV or Seattle or London are places you go to and make money in (and then leave), not places to settle in and stay forever. So, for now, make as much

Places like SV or Seattle or London are places you go to and make money in (and then leave), not places to settle in and stay forever. So, for now, make as much money for as long as you can, then relocate to some place where houses cost a fraction of your net worth and start working remotely from there. Alternatively, if you can stomach your job for 10+ years and really hate renting, get a mortgage for a good house in Seattle, pay it off while living in it, then move anywhere else and just life off renting the house + some cushy remote, possibly part-time, job. Really, most people in the world can only dream of being in your position.

notsureaboutpg 5y ago
>Places like SV or Seattle or London are places you go to and make money in (and then leave) AND THEN LEAVE is the part most people forget. Switch to a remote company (yes, take a pay cut if you have to), use your millions to buy a $500k home (essentially a mansion) in any mid-tier city (Indianapolis, Houston, Dallas, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, etc.) and use the savings as a nice little investment / nest egg, you can have more kids if you want, or just enjoy being rich.
alexchantavy 5y ago
Your username is very fitting for this comment haha: I'm assuming the 'fire' part of it means FI/RE?
- burntoutfire 5y ago
  Yup, that's it.
Talanes 5y ago
That's not a sustainable model for a population though. That works for the average SV type, but the legion of service workers that support that population aren't making enough money for the (and leave) portion. If you're only barely making it here, where do you get the resources to plan a move?
- burntoutfire 5y ago
  I agree, it's just a shit sandwich for them. They should leave asap if they can. Also, somehow in Zurich (another place with obscene salaries and real estate prices), the service workers lead decent lives from what I've heard. They're paid enough to live on, and it's reflected in everything involving local labor (e.g. a sandwich at a local kiosk) being super expensive in absolute terms. BTW, I'm not sure if their higher wages are mandated by minimum wage laws or are an just effect of labor market forces.
  - Gwypaas 5y ago
    This is something that has always fascinated me regarding the US, there's so many workers standing around providing "service". Greeters, baggers and what not, maybe this has changed in recent years since I last visited, and previously lived in the US. Something in Scandinavia which usually would be operated by a single person, likely teenager, instead has 2 or 3 people hanging around.
    - Talanes 5y ago
      Grocery baggers, at least, are actually the stores main gofer people. Bagging is done to either make lines move faster during busy periods or as a default position when there's nothing to do, but they also handle go-backs, grabbing products that customers couldn't find, cart return, and restock on the high volume areas.
      - Gwypaas 5y ago
        The cashier or customer manages all that in your regular Scandinavian grocery store. The cashier has two "lanes" so two customers can bag simultaneously, if that is too slow they'll just leave a third pile up and close and hope it's a small order, or see which side goes fastest. Never a problem. For the few go backs the cashiers has a tiny stash. For the rare question you likely have to find someone restocking somewhere in the store and ask, otherwise their time is wasted. If you forget something, well pay and put the bag(s) by the cashier and go back in yourself. I guess someone sometimes are sent on cart-return or rebalancing. Though we tend to place those out by the cars so you grab them outside and then put them back by your car when done.

notsureaboutpg 5y ago

>Places like SV or Seattle or London are places you go to and make money in (and then leave) AND THEN LEAVE is the part most people forget. Switch to a remote company (yes, take a pay cut if you have to), use your millions to buy a $500k home (essentially a mansion) in any mid-tier city (Indianapolis, Houston, Dallas, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, etc.) and use the savings as a nice little investment / nest egg, you can have more kids if you want, or just enjoy being rich.

alexchantavy 5y ago

Your username is very fitting for this comment haha: I'm assuming the 'fire' part of it means FI/RE?

burntoutfire 5y ago
Yup, that's it.

Talanes 5y ago

That's not a sustainable model for a population though. That works for the average SV type, but the legion of service workers that support that population aren't making enough money for the (and leave) portion. If you're only barely making it here, where do you get the resources to plan a move?

burntoutfire 5y ago
I agree, it's just a shit sandwich for them. They should leave asap if they can. Also, somehow in Zurich (another place with obscene salaries and real estate prices), the service workers lead decent lives from what I've heard. They're paid enough to live on, and it's reflected in everything involving local labor (e.g. a sandwich at a local kiosk) being super expensive in absolute terms. BTW, I'm not sure if their higher wages are mandated by minimum wage laws or are an just effect of labor market forces.
- Gwypaas 5y ago
  This is something that has always fascinated me regarding the US, there's so many workers standing around providing "service". Greeters, baggers and what not, maybe this has changed in recent years since I last visited, and previously lived in the US. Something in Scandinavia which usually would be operated by a single person, likely teenager, instead has 2 or 3 people hanging around.
  - Talanes 5y ago
    Grocery baggers, at least, are actually the stores main gofer people. Bagging is done to either make lines move faster during busy periods or as a default position when there's nothing to do, but they also handle go-backs, grabbing products that customers couldn't find, cart return, and restock on the high volume areas.
    - Gwypaas 5y ago
      The cashier or customer manages all that in your regular Scandinavian grocery store. The cashier has two "lanes" so two customers can bag simultaneously, if that is too slow they'll just leave a third pile up and close and hope it's a small order, or see which side goes fastest. Never a problem. For the few go backs the cashiers has a tiny stash. For the rare question you likely have to find someone restocking somewhere in the store and ask, otherwise their time is wasted. If you forget something, well pay and put the bag(s) by the cashier and go back in yourself. I guess someone sometimes are sent on cart-return or rebalancing. Though we tend to place those out by the cars so you grab them outside and then put them back by your car when done.