> You'll have a hard time moving up the ladder on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley if you live in a low-COL area. You have to signal confidence to be groomed fo

> You'll have a hard time moving up the ladder on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley if you live in a low-COL area. You have to signal confidence to be groomed for promotions, and that requires buying a house in an expensive place (Brooklyn Heights is OK in most circles) and sending your kids to brand-name private schools. That's true, but that's also only if you really want to be moving up a lot in finance. Elsewhere, you can make $150-200k as a developer without anyone caring where you live. Just live off $75k and save the rest—soon enough you'll have a couple hundred thousand dollars in savings.