LA (or Dallas) on 200K+ a year.... (Los Angeles: home, high school)

[honeysmack]

Originally Posted by windnsea00

Networking is so important and I feel I am missing out a bit down here in SD. If you don't mind me asking, what industry do you work in?

I'm in the tech industry but moonlight as an artist whenever I can (music). I work a lot though, so my social life has become smaller and smaller lately.

The majority of my friends are professional artists who have over time landed high profile gigs (photographers, musicians, directors, etc) so I get lucky and end up meeting some cool people sometimes. I'm one degree away from a few celebrities that if I told my 15 year old self I'd be anywhere near, especially in a casual scenario, I would lose my mind!

Mind you, I really am not bragging -- this is true for a lot of people that I know. It's sort of a side-effect of living in LA and having talented artistic friends who have gone beyond playing dive bars.

[True Freedom]

My wife and I have a combined annual income of around $450k.
We have three kids in private school and live in a $2M house in Pasadena.
We are comfortable, but still need to watch how we spend money. We're pretty low key and financially conservative. We take two vacations a year, drive older cars (honda, toyota), and put money aside for retirement.

My wife grew up here and I grew up in Dallas. For raising a family, I'd move back to Dallas in a heartbeat, but I have a ball and chain, er, I mean a wife that ain't movin'

Here's why I'd choose Dallas for family:
1) IN GENERAL (notice all caps), Texas culture puts more emphasis on being a good person, neighbor, friendly, etc. You are taught to be considerate of others and be polite.. first and foremost. You are also taught to stand up for yourself and what is right... and to do it in a strong but pleasant way. These, in my opinion, are nice qualities for people to have. As a parent, you can instill these qualities, but it's much easier when your peer group and their kids are on the same general page.

I feel like, IN GENERAL, folks are much more self centered here.. and spend very little to no energy thinking about how their actions affect those around them. The epitome of the "me" generation.

2) Nice areas and towns are much more contiguous in Dallas than here. In LA, you have some very nice neighborhoods.. but you can go over a few blocks and things can degrade quickly. We live in a fantastic neighborhood, but do not visit our local park because thugs from the next neighborhood over are always there. LA is patchy. Dallas city and some burbs have bad areas.. but they are way over there. You won't be exposed to it if you don't want. Here, it's pretty much in your face.

I find myself much more relaxed, especially when my kids are with me, when we visit my relatives in Dallas. We can go to public areas and not worry about a bunch of sketchy people or thugs milling about.

3) Financially, as others have said, your money will go a heck of alot further in Dallas. No state income tax (you'll be in the 10% ... or higher if Jerry has his way with your income here). Plus, a $2M house here is an old shack compared to a mansion on a very large lot there.

I'm sure some will poo-poo on my generalizations.. but I've lived many years in both places and that's my opinion. It's my story and I'm stickin' to it

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by hockfan86

Anybody that tells you that you cant live a pretty damn good life on 200k anywhere, is delusional. Debt and family are huge factors, but all things held constant 200k is plenty.

I make 60k with no debt and no family and I have plenty of extra money, so 200k with even with a family or a bit of debt should be fine.

Of course there are various levels of luxury, but provided you don't consider penthouse living as the bare minimum you will do fine.

That's my take as someone making even less than you and raising a family in Japan on a single income.

If I had even 70k/ year, I'd be packing up and moving to Honolulu.

I don't get the types that are in the top 1% of income earners and struggling on it.

[Daisy32673]

Originally Posted by True Freedom

My wife and I have a combined annual income of around $450k.
We have three kids in private school and live in a $2M house in Pasadena.
We are comfortable, but still need to watch how we spend money. We're pretty low key and financially conservative. We take two vacations a year, drive older cars (honda, toyota), and put money aside for retirement.

My wife grew up here and I grew up in Dallas. For raising a family, I'd move back to Dallas in a heartbeat, but I have a ball and chain, er, I mean a wife that ain't movin'

Here's why I'd choose Dallas for family:
1) IN GENERAL (notice all caps), Texas culture puts more emphasis on being a good person, neighbor, friendly, etc. You are taught to be considerate of others and be polite.. first and foremost. You are also taught to stand up for yourself and what is right... and to do it in a strong but pleasant way. These, in my opinion, are nice qualities for people to have. As a parent, you can instill these qualities, but it's much easier when your peer group and their kids are on the same general page.

I feel like, IN GENERAL, folks are much more self centered here.. and spend very little to no energy thinking about how their actions affect those around them. The epitome of the "me" generation.

2) Nice areas and towns are much more contiguous in Dallas than here. In LA, you have some very nice neighborhoods.. but you can go over a few blocks and things can degrade quickly. We live in a fantastic neighborhood, but do not visit our local park because thugs from the next neighborhood over are always there. LA is patchy. Dallas city and some burbs have bad areas.. but they are way over there. You won't be exposed to it if you don't want. Here, it's pretty much in your face.

I find myself much more relaxed, especially when my kids are with me, when we visit my relatives in Dallas. We can go to public areas and not worry about a bunch of sketchy people or thugs milling about.

3) Financially, as others have said, your money will go a heck of alot further in Dallas. No state income tax (you'll be in the 10% ... or higher if Jerry has his way with your income here). Plus, a $2M house here is an old shack compared to a mansion on a very large lot there.

I'm sure some will poo-poo on my generalizations.. but I've lived many years in both places and that's my opinion. It's my story and I'm stickin' to it

Totally agree. You don't by chance live near MCDonald park do you? Either way, that's exactly how it is here. You can live in a nice area and go two streets over and you are in the hood.
Most public schools are really bad so if you want your kids to get a quality education private is the way to go. And like this poster said, the kind of home and quality of life you could get for your money in LA pales in comparison to Dallas. That to me is a no-brainer

[True Freedom]

Originally Posted by Daisy32673

Totally agree. You don't by chance live near MCDonald park do you? Either way, that's exactly how it is here. You can live in a nice area and go two streets over and you are in the hood.
Most public schools are really bad so if you want your kids to get a quality education private is the way to go. And like this poster said, the kind of home and quality of life you could get for your money in LA pales in comparison to Dallas. That to me is a no-brainer

No, we're down in the SE corner of Pasadena... but I know what you're talking about. I'm still not used to the "patchiness" in LA.

There are few public parks in Pasadena that we go to. I do like the one on Orange Grove near the dog park.. and Victory Park is good, most of the time.

RE: schools.. yeah, you're right. We did consider elementary schools in Pasadena, some of which test very well. After touring, though, and seeing some of the interactions of the staff with the kids.. we decided to go private from the get-go. We always knew we would for middle and high school, where things in Pasadena pretty much go rapidly downhill..

[Daisy32673]

Originally Posted by True Freedom

No, we're down in the SE corner of Pasadena... but I know what you're talking about. I'm still not used to the "patchiness" in LA.

There are few public parks in Pasadena that we go to. I do like the one on Orange Grove near the dog park.. and Victory Park is good, most of the time.

RE: schools.. yeah, you're right. We did consider elementary schools in Pasadena, some of which test very well. After touring, though, and seeing some of the interactions of the staff with the kids.. we decided to go private from the get-go. We always knew we would for middle and high school, where things in Pasadena pretty much go rapidly downhill..

I never got used to the patchiness of neighborhoods either. The only park I ever really felt safe in, or didn't see drug use/paraphernalia or gang members in Pasadena is Garfield Park.
LA is great for single people or people who don't have kids and if that were me I would stay but you can live so well for the money in Texas ( and I have to imagine schools are better too)!

[Tasksgirl]

It sounds to me that you would be a great fit for the Santa Clarita valley, if you can find work there or don't mind the commute. I grew up in Houston and if I had to choose between the nicest suburb in Texas vs. the nicest suburb in Southern California (which is basically Valencia or Stevenson Ranch - both in the Santa Clarita valley) I would choose Santa Clarita any day. I couldn't wait to get out of Texas.

If you look at crime stats both Houston & Dallas have FAR more crime than Los Angeles. Guns are more abundant over in Texas and home robberies are more common too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clarita,_California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valenci...ta,_California

[AllenSJC]

Originally Posted by hockfan86

Anybody that tells you that you cant live a pretty damn good life on 200k anywhere, is delusional. Debt and family are huge factors, but all things held constant 200k is plenty.

I make 60k with no debt and no family and I have plenty of extra money, so 200k with even with a family or a bit of debt should be fine.

Of course there are various levels of luxury, but provided you don't consider penthouse living as the bare minimum you will do fine.

Exactly. 200k is very, very comfortable in all but the most exclusive communities.

[CA Dreamer]

I live in Dallas, but spent a good time in Los Angeles/ Southern Cal. Unless you live in Fort Worth or inside the 635 (or loop 12 if you really wanna get down to it) in Dallas...DFW is ridiculously vanilla compared to Los Angeles. If you ask me, I would rather have my kids grow up in Los Angeles simply because I would have loved to grow up there.

Of course, this is coming from a 26 year old single male. And coming from someone who grew up in Laredo, a drugwar infested Texas Bordertown. Dallas is the trendiest town in Texas and it doesn't have an identity, unlike Houston, Austin, or San Antonio. Dallas is a "wanna be" L.A.. I know it sounds like I'm hating on Dallas, but I personally am just completely seduced by Los Angeles. But there is simply no comparison between Southern California (or California in general) vs Texas. I completely understand why people pay a premium to live in Los Angeles.

You can live a fantastic life on 200k in Cali so long as you RENT...and so long as you don't force yourself to live in Bel Air or Beverly Hills. I'd look at Los Feliz if I had 200k. Close to downtown, close to Hollywood, close to everything.

[impala666]

Originally Posted by TurtleCreek80

"Absolute top of the tree?" HARDLY!!!

There are 20 Fortune 500 companies HQ'd in Dallas metro. Dallas is 4th behind NYC, Houston, and Chicago. Where is LA on that list? Seems like corporate opportunities are "limitless" in Dallas, too!

You must not know that despite the Dallas metro area's population being half of LA metro's, Dallas metro has 26 billionaire's to LA metro's 34. LA (city proper; Forbes pulls Beverly Hills out for some weird reason) ranks 8th in the WORLD for billionaires; Dallas is 11th- hardly a difference! If you adjut for metro areas, LA is around 5th and Dallas 8th.

Both are good cities. I'm not crashing your forum to say pick Dallas or pick LA. Just pointing out your scope of knowledge regarding business opportunities and wealth in Dallas is a bit lacking.....

If you show me a $50 million house in DFW I will show yo 50 in LA!!