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Old 01-23-2018, 07:24 PM
 
142 posts, read 131,895 times
Reputation: 110

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Welp, I made it 6 months.

I haven't encountered any of the financial horror stories I encountered prior to moving here lol. Especially from a poster from my hometown (mid-sized city in the Midwest).

Immediately upon moving here I got a 6% raise simply due to shedding my old state's taxes. Sure, there are road tolls, but I rarely spend more than $30/month on this. My utilities are $25/month compared to the $125 I used to pay for electric in my old town in the dead of winter. I don't even have the heat or cooling on ever. Just sits at a nice 73ish.

Sales tax in Dade is less than my old city. The grocery tax is non-existent - 9.5% back home.

Basically I'm rich here. Yes my rent is 3x the amount as my hometown, but I accounted for that in my salary adjustment.

Money aside, I love it here. The hurricane was a fun "Welcome!" lol, but other than that it's been quite great. I haven't yet made many friends, but I'm also a pretty big homebody. I did hit up Duffy's for football Sunday each week and met a few nice people there.

All in all, I think I made the right move! I haven't even really ventured out too much to see all the neat things the city has to offer yet. Once I make some friends I do hope to do that.
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Old 01-23-2018, 07:37 PM
 
Location: Northeast states
14,055 posts, read 13,937,277 times
Reputation: 5198
Quote:
Originally Posted by MidwestBlondie View Post
Welp, I made it 6 months.

I haven't encountered any of the financial horror stories I encountered prior to moving here lol. Especially from a poster from my hometown (mid-sized city in the Midwest).

Immediately upon moving here I got a 6% raise simply due to shedding my old state's taxes. Sure, there are road tolls, but I rarely spend more than $30/month on this. My utilities are $25/month compared to the $125 I used to pay for electric in my old town in the dead of winter. I don't even have the heat or cooling on ever. Just sits at a nice 73ish.

Sales tax in Dade is less than my old city. The grocery tax is non-existent - 9.5% back home.

Basically I'm rich here. Yes my rent is 3x the amount as my hometown, but I accounted for that in my salary adjustment.

Money aside, I love it here. The hurricane was a fun "Welcome!" lol, but other than that it's been quite great. I haven't yet made many friends, but I'm also a pretty big homebody. I did hit up Duffy's for football Sunday each week and met a few nice people there.

All in all, I think I made the right move! I haven't even really ventured out too much to see all the neat things the city has to offer yet. Once I make some friends I do hope to do that.
How South Beach, Wynwood, Brickell
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Old 01-24-2018, 06:50 AM
 
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
7,409 posts, read 6,550,878 times
Reputation: 6685
Welcome...what area are you living in?....and, remember--stop signs and red lights are merely suggestions in Miami. Enjoy.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MidwestBlondie View Post
Welp, I made it 6 months.

I haven't encountered any of the financial horror stories I encountered prior to moving here lol. Especially from a poster from my hometown (mid-sized city in the Midwest).

Immediately upon moving here I got a 6% raise simply due to shedding my old state's taxes. Sure, there are road tolls, but I rarely spend more than $30/month on this. My utilities are $25/month compared to the $125 I used to pay for electric in my old town in the dead of winter. I don't even have the heat or cooling on ever. Just sits at a nice 73ish.

Sales tax in Dade is less than my old city. The grocery tax is non-existent - 9.5% back home.

Basically I'm rich here. Yes my rent is 3x the amount as my hometown, but I accounted for that in my salary adjustment.

Money aside, I love it here. The hurricane was a fun "Welcome!" lol, but other than that it's been quite great. I haven't yet made many friends, but I'm also a pretty big homebody. I did hit up Duffy's for football Sunday each week and met a few nice people there.

All in all, I think I made the right move! I haven't even really ventured out too much to see all the neat things the city has to offer yet. Once I make some friends I do hope to do that.
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Old 01-24-2018, 06:50 AM
 
6 posts, read 9,623 times
Reputation: 19
In which neighborhood do you live?
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Old 01-24-2018, 07:02 AM
 
Location: Doral
874 posts, read 899,921 times
Reputation: 542
Blondie, I'm happy to hear you're doing well. But seriously, after 6 months of settling in it's time to try to make some local friends and start enjoying the place. I recommend you check out meetup.com... hopefully you can find some friends who share your hobbies.
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Old 01-25-2018, 12:07 PM
 
142 posts, read 131,895 times
Reputation: 110
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnRyan View Post
Blondie, I'm happy to hear you're doing well. But seriously, after 6 months of settling in it's time to try to make some local friends and start enjoying the place. I recommend you check out meetup.com... hopefully you can find some friends who share your hobbies.
I appreciate it, but knowing myself, I'm very happy with how far I've come just making the move.

I hate Meetup lol. I'm a pretty big introvert/homebody.

To answer all other questions, I am in Bal Harbour at the moment, in a beachfront Studio
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Old 01-26-2018, 06:49 AM
 
Location: South Florida
5,021 posts, read 7,450,618 times
Reputation: 5466
Glad to hear you’re happy with the move and thanks for the update Blondie!
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Old 01-26-2018, 04:15 PM
 
18,069 posts, read 18,818,113 times
Reputation: 25191
Miami area is just fine if you make anything close to decent money. The doom and gloom are for those wanting to move without a job, or thinking they will be living the high-rolling lifestyle working the grill at PF Changs.

There are people who make it work under the above circumstances, but they usually do not need to get on a forum and ask about it.
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Old 01-26-2018, 07:39 PM
 
142 posts, read 131,895 times
Reputation: 110
Quote:
Originally Posted by boxus View Post
Miami area is just fine if you make anything close to decent money. The doom and gloom are for those wanting to move without a job, or thinking they will be living the high-rolling lifestyle working the grill at PF Changs.

There are people who make it work under the above circumstances, but they usually do not need to get on a forum and ask about it.
Good point. For me, I asked for a 23% bump in the job move (to make up for COL difference). Then I also basically got a 6% bump without state taxes. Now at the 6 month point, I got a promotion that put me well ahead. And the tax bill that just passed has drastically changed my take home pay. Road tolls are nothing, and utilities (at least in my studio where I love to be warm all the time anyway, are cheap as hell).

The only thing I've yet to know about as far as expenses are like, homeownership down here. I will say from a quick look on Zillow that it seems I'd need a bit more down here to get something super nice in a good neighborhood. But whatever. My company is planning on moving their office to Sunrise, so I might end up in Broward when all is said and done. Which I think I'd probably enjoy even more, truthfully.
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Old 01-26-2018, 08:15 PM
 
Location: Northeast states
14,055 posts, read 13,937,277 times
Reputation: 5198
Quote:
Originally Posted by MidwestBlondie View Post
Good point. For me, I asked for a 23% bump in the job move (to make up for COL difference). Then I also basically got a 6% bump without state taxes. Now at the 6 month point, I got a promotion that put me well ahead. And the tax bill that just passed has drastically changed my take home pay. Road tolls are nothing, and utilities (at least in my studio where I love to be warm all the time anyway, are cheap as hell).

The only thing I've yet to know about as far as expenses are like, homeownership down here. I will say from a quick look on Zillow that it seems I'd need a bit more down here to get something super nice in a good neighborhood. But whatever. My company is planning on moving their office to Sunrise, so I might end up in Broward when all is said and done. Which I think I'd probably enjoy even more, truthfully.
May to September = High humidity feel like 101, very hot, daily morning or afternoon 30 minutes to 70 minutes showers, thunder at night
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