Should I move to the bay area? Any suggestions appreciated! (San Diego: 2014, house)

[anp04005]

I am currently working and living in Northern NJ, I am a 25 year old single male and overall am happy with my lifestyle besides the fact that I wish I was living in a cooler location. I recently accepted a job offer in Dublin, CA and would be living in the bay area but am having second thoughts, especially since I just had a great review with my company and was moved into a different position which I like better.

My main hobbies/passions in life include the following:
Snowboarding
Surfing
Golf
Cars
Exploring the outdoors

The bay area seems like an awesome location for these things as I could get to tahoe easily and santa cruz and other surf spots are close by, so as far as that is concerned it is a no brainer that California would be better and from trips to the area I generally like peoples mentality etc. better.

The tough part is when it comes to my career, here are the main things:
1) I would be taking a 30% income decrease for the first year, after that it would be about 20% and moving to a more expensive location
2) I would be sacrificing my vesting in the company which is a significant amount of retirement cash
3) I would essentially be starting from an entry level position with a new company which I'm not established with
4) There is a good possibility that I would be able to move to CA in 3 years with my current company once the project I'm working on is finished
5) I like the work I'm doing now more than what I would do in CA
6) New company gives every other Friday off
6) I would get 2 weeks of vacation with new company vs. 3 with existing
7) Overall I like my company better than the one out there

Is it worth moving out there just for the location? I don't hate it here and have access to the things I like to do, they just aren't as good out here. I think the smart thing to do would be to stay here but it would be more fun to go out there.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or words of wisdom?

Thanks in Advance!

[mayorhaggar]

Pretty much all of your post is stuff about work that only you can decide. And it's really up to you whether it's worth moving here. Some people like it here a lot, other people hate it. There's plenty of yakky people from the NYC area who move here then complain about how it's not NYC, and there's plenty of people who move here from there and never want to leave. It's not the laid back paradise people assume it is, it's a real rat race kind of place with a lot of workaholics working long hours, lots of traffic, stores are crowded, etc. Also Dublin is in the middle of beige suburbia, you wouldn't have to live there but it's pretty far from the beach and is a bit of a hike from SF. I think surfing here is kind of an acquired taste, it's generally pretty gray and chilly at the beach here and you need a wetsuit. Maybe look into jobs in San Diego and the rest of Southern CA if you want warmer beach weather.

[tstieber]

It sounds like all you need is a vacation. You seem to be happy with your current setup. Santa Cruz is a decent surf spot, and really pretty nice weather compared to the rest of the SoCal coast (Wikipedia shows it averaging in the 70s for 6 months of the year, and in the 60s for the other six months, which is way better than, say, San Francisco), but SC is also notoriously unfriendly to non-local surfers, unless you're in the touristy areas where they teach you how to do it.

But yeah, Dublin isn't really close to SC. It's a good hour drive without traffic. It's almost exactly like Agrestic in the show "Weeds." Lots of golf, tennis, hiking, and biking out there though. Tahoe is also several hours away.

[NYC809]

Originally Posted by anp04005

I am currently working and living in Northern NJ, I am a 25 year old single male and overall am happy with my lifestyle besides the fact that I wish I was living in a cooler location. I recently accepted a job offer in Dublin, CA and would be living in the bay area but am having second thoughts, especially since I just had a great review with my company and was moved into a different position which I like better.

My main hobbies/passions in life include the following:
Snowboarding
Surfing
Golf
Cars
Exploring the outdoors

The bay area seems like an awesome location for these things as I could get to tahoe easily and santa cruz and other surf spots are close by, so as far as that is concerned it is a no brainer that California would be better and from trips to the area I generally like peoples mentality etc. better.

The tough part is when it comes to my career, here are the main things:
1) I would be taking a 30% income decrease for the first year, after that it would be about 20% and moving to a more expensive location
2) I would be sacrificing my vesting in the company which is a significant amount of retirement cash
3) I would essentially be starting from an entry level position with a new company which I'm not established with
4) There is a good possibility that I would be able to move to CA in 3 years with my current company once the project I'm working on is finished
5) I like the work I'm doing now more than what I would do in CA
6) New company gives every other Friday off
6) I would get 2 weeks of vacation with new company vs. 3 with existing
7) Overall I like my company better than the one out there

Is it worth moving out there just for the location? I don't hate it here and have access to the things I like to do, they just aren't as good out here. I think the smart thing to do would be to stay here but it would be more fun to go out there.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or words of wisdom?

Thanks in Advance!

Stay in Jerz. Current economic times must shift people's priorities. You're vested in your co, you won't incur an income decrease and there's potential down the road to relocate. Also, you're young and it's important you gain financial traction early in your career. You'll be out there in no time.

[ttocs99]

Originally Posted by anp04005

I am currently working and living in Northern NJ, I am a 25 year old single male and overall am happy with my lifestyle besides the fact that I wish I was living in a cooler location. I recently accepted a job offer in Dublin, CA and would be living in the bay area but am having second thoughts, especially since I just had a great review with my company and was moved into a different position which I like better.

My main hobbies/passions in life include the following:
Snowboarding
Surfing
Golf
Cars
Exploring the outdoors

The bay area seems like an awesome location for these things as I could get to tahoe easily and santa cruz and other surf spots are close by, so as far as that is concerned it is a no brainer that California would be better and from trips to the area I generally like peoples mentality etc. better.

The tough part is when it comes to my career, here are the main things:
1) I would be taking a 30% income decrease for the first year, after that it would be about 20% and moving to a more expensive location
2) I would be sacrificing my vesting in the company which is a significant amount of retirement cash
3) I would essentially be starting from an entry level position with a new company which I'm not established with
4) There is a good possibility that I would be able to move to CA in 3 years with my current company once the project I'm working on is finished
5) I like the work I'm doing now more than what I would do in CA
6) New company gives every other Friday off
6) I would get 2 weeks of vacation with new company vs. 3 with existing
7) Overall I like my company better than the one out there

Is it worth moving out there just for the location? I don't hate it here and have access to the things I like to do, they just aren't as good out here. I think the smart thing to do would be to stay here but it would be more fun to go out there.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or words of wisdom?

Thanks in Advance!

Everything you list, makes staying with your current company sound better. This is coming from someone who hates New Jersey and LOVES the Bay Area. One point you made, you may be able to move to California in 3 years with your current company is the kicker. As much as I hate Jersey, it sounds like you'd be miserable with the move. Stay there until a better offer comes up.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Don't do it. The hype about this area exceeds the reality, and once you p___ away your financial situation you'll require years / decades to recover.

[anp04005]

Thanks for the responses. I agree that staying here is definitely the smartest thing to do.

However I should make one clarification:

The pay cut would be to my current total compensation, much of which is a per diem I am being paid for being located in NJ, which I consider additional compensation because I am not paying for a house etc elsewhere. This project is scheduled to last till the end of 2014 which is when the additional compensation would likely end unless I can get on another per diem project. What I am trying to say is the job in CA is a 30% increase over my base salary but a 30% decrease from my total compensation.

I think I just need to take advantage of the situation I am in, save the extra cash, and make the move once I have a major project under my belt and am more valuable and have a really good savings going. I'd assume that I'll enjoy surfing etc. at age 27/28 as I do now.

[jade408]

Stay put. Use your savings towards a surfing vacation, and move to the bay area when you have a better job prospect.

For the record: I have a coworker and client who are avid surfers and they are mid-40s+. They go surfing almost every weekend.

[80skeys]

To respond to your original post, work is approximately 50 hours/week of your waking existence, and non-work is about 62 hours / week of your waking existance. So I would put some numbers on it. right now, the 50 hours of work give you X satisfaction and the 62 hours non-work give you Y.
In California, the 50 hours of work would give you R and the 62 hours non-work would give you S. So just add them up and get a total for each location. Then just pick the one that has the most overall satisfaction.

Forget about retirement. Too many unknowns between now and then. Your company could go under. Your retirement fund could be stolen. You could die. Who knows. I wouldn't base a quality of living decision on how good my retirement fund is. I would base it on a work/free time satisfaction scale.

Hope that helps.

[04kL4nD]

Forget about retirement. Too many unknowns between now and then

I'm all for living in the moment-and trust me, I do- but this is TERRIBLE advice. My parents generation left a whole mess for the rest of us because of this exact sentiment...