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If you transfered, did your company raise your salary appropriately? If you found a new job, did you get a mega increase in your salary? Did your new employer ask you about your salary at your previous job?
Right now, we can't afford to live any place we are interested in based on my husband's current salary here in AZ. I have compared his salary to his same position in various cities, but they are so drastically different, that him getting that much of an increase doesn't seem plausible and we don't want to wind up somewhere we can't afford to be .
We moved from lower cost ky to higher cost fl. Hubby now makes 1.5 his old salary.
Salary ranges should be adjusted col in the area. We don't live any better than before (same size house, etc) but we do enjoy a few upgrades in our standards of living - house is newer, and all this wonderful weather. Plus hubby works from home 2 days a week.
What you need to be sure of is that the increase in salary matches or betters the increase in col. Making detailed projected budgets will help.
We did it but it was hard and even with the wage increase that looked attractive, we still scrimped to get by. The biggest advantage was that the high cost of living area had so much more to offer in the way of choices in so many different areas.
Always remember and never forget, when you relocate, make sure if you lose that job you are relocating for that there would be similar job opportunities in that area.
We moved from lower cost ky to higher cost fl. Hubby now makes 1.5 his old salary.
Salary ranges should be adjusted col in the area. We don't live any better than before (same size house, etc) but we do enjoy a few upgrades in our standards of living - house is newer, and all this wonderful weather. Plus hubby works from home 2 days a week.
What you need to be sure of is that the increase in salary matches or betters the increase in col. Making detailed projected budgets will help.
Wow, 1.5 times! That just seems crazy to me that one could get such a hugely different salary. I understand that our standard of living will be the same even though he'll be making more actual dollars, but I just want to make sure we can actually afford to live in some of these places. My biggest concern is buying a house. The cost for an average run-of-the-mill house in some of these places is more than double where we live now .
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Originally Posted by AnywhereElse
Many people do this not realizing how the difference in COL will be in play. The outcome is not good.
We did it but it was hard and even with the wage increase that looked attractive, we still scrimped to get by. The biggest advantage was that the high cost of living area had so much more to offer in the way of choices in so many different areas.
Always remember and never forget, when you relocate, make sure if you lose that job you are relocating for that there would be similar job opportunities in that area.
Yes, these places definitely have better education, activities and weather than where we are now. Thanks for the link. Most of the places we are looking into are large metro areas with low unemployment, so hopefully finding a job won't be too difficult.
Why don't you say where and what you're desiring, both in terms of place and job?
I transferred with the Feds once, they had a higher COL in place for the new area.
1) We are looking at several different areas and 2) The question can be answered without knowing exact locations as it's not a question about a specific area, but rather is it possible to move from a low COL of living area to a high COL area and how.
If you gain nothing (or very little) by moving, my question has to be "Why bother?"
I once knew a guy who literally doubled his wages (from $7.50 to $15.00 per hour).
Of course, he moved from North Central Wyoming to Oakland,CA. So, the Cost Of Living plus taxes more than doubled, so he actually LOST money! The CA sales tax was nearly twice what it was in WY at that time, plus CA has an income tax!
That was not a smart move.
Be careful.
If you gain nothing (or very little) by moving, my question has to be "Why bother?"
I once knew a guy who literally doubled his wages (from $7.50 to $15.00 per hour).
Of course, he moved from North Central Wyoming to Oakland,CA. So, the Cost Of Living plus taxes more than doubled, so he actually LOST money! The CA sales tax was nearly twice what it was in WY at that time, plus CA has an income tax!
That was not a smart move.
Be careful.
Because typically higher COL of living places have more to offer, like better education. They education system here is shamefully terrible. The education systems in most (no not all) low COL areas is terrible. We may not gain disposable dollars, but we will gain opportunity. Maybe your friend was bored and miserable in WY and the move was worth it to him.
No, the move from Wyoming to Oakland was traumatic and expensive, and he lost money.
the Wyoming school system is a very good one, so that was not an issue.
Lack of shopping could be solved by a 2 hour trip to Billings, MT. Not an issue.
There are always ways to spin something to make it look better than it is. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. For many people, the lack of disposable income after the move is much more important than having a municipal symphony (for which you can't afford tickets) available.
Yeah, it was so wonderful in Oakland that in less than 6 months he was back asking for his old job!
No, the move from Wyoming to Oakland was traumatic and expensive, and he lost money.
the Wyoming school system is a very good one, so that was not an issue.
Lack of shopping could be solved by a 2 hour trip to Billings, MT. Not an issue.
There are always ways to spin something to make it look better than it is. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. For many people, the lack of disposable income after the move is much more important than having a municipal symphony (for which you can't afford tickets) available.
Yeah, it was so wonderful in Oakland that in less than 6 months he was back asking for his old job!
A TWO HOUR drive. Geez, let's just zip into town shall we .
There are a thousand reasons why his move didn't work out and they could probably be traced back to personal decisions he made during his journey. Tweek some of his choices and maybe it would have worked out better for him. But you know what? I find it much more admiral to take a risk and fail then spend your life sitting around wondering "what if?"
I am a very thorough person and I am going to tackle this with as much knowledge as possible (hence the thread). I'm not going to sit around in hell sending my kids to ****ty schools because a big move is intimidating and could fail. What a waste!!
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