[quote=flu][quote=bearishgurl]
But, there you have it. Your “peers” in SV have the potential to eventually make 2-3 times your salary but they have to make certain sacrifices to do so. [/quote]
This is the worst idea to live in the Bay area. Most average people don’t gothere for the salary. The salary is only pays the bills, barely. Most people that just goes there for the salary cannot afford to own the homes there, since affordability is even less than here.
The only reason one would go there is to work for stock options with the hope that one can hit the big one or if you are going there a C-level or higher executive.
My salary up there was about 25% higher when I was there during peak bubble. That’s squat and that’s before tax. Especially these days, if you break $200k up there as an enginerd (which isn’t hard to do), you’re also subject to additional “wealth” tax at both the federal and state level, so your effective take home pay in proportion to real estate prices up there is considerably worse versus here if you are below that threshold.
It’s not possible on one salary alone for the majority of worker bees to afford living in most of the places in the bay area that is ok..The rent also will eat into most of your salary since, again, you pay rent with after tax dollars and rent is so high there.
What the bay area does illustrate is that salary is the worst way to accumulate wealth for most people (unless you are an exec). Up there, if you can’t even afford to own your own primary, good luck being able to own investment properties that generate income.
So this is where I sort of chuckle. Some of my colleagues up there that weren’t so lucky with the stock option roulette might have pretty large salaried base packages (I’d say maybe 25% more), but they have no real estate investments, limited stock they purchased themselves, the same 401k (since everyone maxes out the same), and they still rent.
Salaries pays bills. That’s it. Most people will never get ahead on salary alone.[/quote]
flu, I agree that passive investments generate more “wealth” than salary alone. But do company stock options and opportunities to get in on the ground floor of a successful startup exist in SD? What is the difference in the level of venture capital swarming around SV as opposed to SD?
Let’s say you stayed in your position in SV and never moved down to SD. You would have been there during the RE downtown of ’08-12 instead of here. You bought condo(s) in SD cheaply during the downturn (in MM?). Weren’t there any similar RE investment buying opportunities during that time in the bay area? Sure, maybe your 1/1 rental unit(s) would have been across the bridge … in a less expensive city (comparable to MM SD). It is also possible that you would have been able to get more rent per month than you get in MM.
What would the difference in your salary be now between SV and SD had you stayed with your employer up there?
And did you keep your residence there as a rental? If not, what is the difference in sales price between when you sold it and now?
There is much to think about when deciding to relocate to an area with lesser opportunities in your field. It’s possible that opportunities would have been offered to you in your field by now which are not feasible in SD or even possible, had you stayed.
