As natives who’ve also lived in many different places in the world, we’ve always come back to our home in San Diego–mainly because it does offer everything we want–and maybe you will
too–if it seems right for you and your family.

You’re very wise to make a critical decision like this now with the great opportunities you have, as I can’t tell you how many people we’ve known over the years who have tried to survive in CA, and specifically in San Diego, who were living paycheck to paycheck (some on a very grand scale, some not), just hoping things would get better–offering very strong evidence of the financial irresponsibility and peacock mentality you mentioned.

They suddenly found themselves at 50+ with little to show for their life efforts, and that is definitely not a scenario to which any of us would aspire.

Sounds like you made your decision for all of the right reasons, and I wish you the best.