Living on postdoc salary (San Diego, Santee: buying, preschool, living in)

[rcsapo]

Pressed for time right now, but quickly you're not on either the main campus in La Jolla or the Medical Center, that address is in an area a couple miles north of the main campus in a tech park. It is not easy to access from Hillcrest without a car.

Have you been out to visit?

It's an MRI lab affiliated to UCSD's Department of Radiology. Unfortunately, I haven't had and will not have the possibility to personally visit the lab in advance. You can imagine that flight tickets from central Europe to the US west coast are rather expensive so we communicated online only. This was my first ever job interview to be held via Skype - quite an interesting experience, I can tell you

You can find better and might consider places in the North County since you will be right off the coaster at that satellite.

I assume the coaster refers to a train? Which place in the North County did you have in mind? Del Mar Heights or Mira Mesa do not seem to be far away. Are these decent living areas?

Push for as much salary as you can get. $40k is the lowest that they can pay you right now since they've been pegged to NIH salaries.

Are salaries negotiable? For PhDs and postdocs they are not here in Austria. I thought that it was just the years of experience as a postdoc that decided on the level of salary. According to this I could get $44k if my entire previous postdoc experience got acknowledged.

I was a postdoc a few years ago at UCSD. You can shoot me an private message on here for some more details if you'd like. I am pretty busy with some travel and wrapping up a grant deadline (transitioning to tenure track isn't that glorious) so I won't be online much but will try to answer anything that you have to ask.

Congratulations for having been awarded a tenure track position! And many thanks for your nice offer to help me with any specific questions. For now, I'm just trying to get a broad overview over our future life in San Diego but I'll certainly get back to you if any specific questions arise.

You don't have to own a car 24/7 to see San Diego. Again, cartogo or other rental. If someone invites you somewhere it's cheaper to rent than pay for everything else that comes with car ownership.

I fully agree with Clevelandgal in that coping without a car would be much cheaper and certainly preferable. However, I fear that a car will be indispensable, my supervisor was quite explicit about that. This is also because "willingness to work in off-office-hours" is expected. But I'm sure that this will become quite clear once we've arrived.

Could you also provide me with a rough estimate of further living costs? How much, approximately, would you pay per month for electricity, water and gas (provided economical usage in a 1-BR apartment)? What about costs for household insurance, TV and internet fees? I read that San Diego has got a very pleasant climate with year-round mild temperatures. Do you still need heating / air conditioning?

BTW....Congrats and I welcome you and your wife to the US! It is an absolutely gorgeous city. You'll enjoy it.

I'm sure we will! We're already so excited

[max.b]

What many foreigners coming the US to work don't realize is that the salary quoted to them is pretax. What you'll be taking home is a lot less.

You can find out what others at UCSD are making online. California state employees' compensation is public info, and UCSD is a state school.

[rcsapo]

What many foreigners coming the US to work don't realize is that the salary quoted to them is pretax. What you'll be taking home is a lot less.

Thanks for this advice. I had been expecting this (I guess taxes are nowhere higher than they are in Europe) and had actually asked before whether anybody knew what net income I might expect from 40-44k gross salary.

[max.b]

I think you'll manage on $40k, but barely.

My guess at your expenses:

used car: $5k upfront, $150/mo (gas, insurance)
rent: $1200/mo (deposit, first mo rent upfront)
utils: $200/mo (electricity, internet, cell phone)
groceries for two: $400-700/mo (not organic, but a news article I read recently said organic food didn't seem beneficial)
furniture: some upfront costs, less than a car

Depending on the visa, your wife may be eligible to work.

Btw, Hillcrest is primarily gay.

[rcsapo]

My guess at your expenses:

used car: $5k upfront, $150/mo (gas, insurance)
rent: $1200/mo (deposit, first mo rent upfront)
utils: $200/mo (electricity, internet, cell phone)
groceries for two: $400-700/mo (not organic, but a news article I read recently said organic food didn't seem beneficial)
furniture: some upfront costs, less than a car

Thanks, that's very specific. If you're guesses are correct, the monthly expenses sum up to about $1950-2250, so I'd have to take home at least $27k per year. According to a gross-to-net calculator that I found online (although I didn't know what to fill in half of the required fields), $40k gross would result in only about $23k net income per year. Can this be true?
https://secure.gtmassociates.com/calculator.aspx

Depending on the visa, your wife may be eligible to work.

Yes, J2 holders are eligible to apply for an Employment Authorization Document and she'll certainly have to do that. I just expect it to take several months to actually receive this and don't know how hard it's going to be for her to find a job. She's a kindergarten teacher but would certainly also accept other jobs.

[max.b]

$23k seems low. Try a different site for tax estimation and read up on "the number of federal exemptions" (with your marriage and immigration status things get complicated).

[tonyinsd]

Originally Posted by rcsapo

Thanks, that's very specific. If you're guesses are correct, the monthly expenses sum up to about $1950-2250, so I'd have to take home at least $27k per year. According to a gross-to-net calculator that I found online (although I didn't know what to fill in half of the required fields), $40k gross would result in only about $23k net income per year.

I'd lop off around 30 percent for your taxes. So you'll be looking at around $28Kfor your take home pay at $40K. If you get the $44K, you'll have more leeway.

It's not going to be easy initially, but since you'll be on a career track, I'd say do it.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

First of all: you will love the weather! If you live on the coast (La Jolla, Del Mar, even University City) you won't need air conditioning. It can get damp and chilly in winter, but you probably won't have to turn the heat on--compare a typical coastal San Diego winter to October/April in Austria, with the possibility of anything ranging from fierce rain storms to pleasant warm days, and occasional snow in the mountains. You will be able to e-mail home about going to the beach in the morning, and throwing snow balls in the mountains in the afternoon...

When looking for an apartment, ask if utilities are included. That is sometimes the case, and can save you a couple hundred $ a month. The landlord may be able to help you with renter's insurance. No TV license here--if you can stand just local channels, it's free, but you will want to subscribe to cable TV, trust me. Some cable TV providers also offer Internet and phone plans (a "bundle"). Just a cable plan may cost around $40 a month, I believe, and a bundle plan can run from around $150 to over $200. If you're going to call home a lot, plan on using Skype, but at least one major phone company, AT&T, will also create a discount plan for you with low-cost calls to your country of choice. Also, get a local cell phone, and don't count on using your cell phone from home. Many Europeans take for granted that their mobile phones will work over here, and some plans do allow that, but the cost will probably be prohibitive.

Another thing: watch the Euro. It is higher against the dollar right now than it's been in a long time. Not a bad time to buy $...

[earlyretirement]

Originally Posted by rcsapo

Thanks for this advice. I had been expecting this (I guess taxes are nowhere higher than they are in Europe) and had actually asked before whether anybody knew what net income I might expect from 40-44k gross salary.

Can you ask the guy that hired you to give you the contact information for someone in HR that you'd deal with for your salary? I'd ask them what are all the possibilities for possible tax exemptions or tax deferrals as a foreign employee.

Our tax code here is terribly complicated depending on various situations. Typically you are correct that the % of taxes compared to most European countries is lower.

The best person that can answer what your estimated NET take home pay will be is the HR department or someone in Payroll that most likely can tell you exactly how much you will make.

That isn't much of a salary for 2 people in San Diego. Hopefully your wife can get a job here but more realistically it won't be in education. I can't see a J2 holder getting a job in education in the SD area over more qualified ABAT (American born American Trained) educators. So odds are she will have to work in retail, bar/restaurant, etc.

Good luck.

[max.b]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

I can't see a J2 holder getting a job in education in the SD area over more qualified ABAT (American born American Trained) educators. So odds are she will have to work in retail, bar/restaurant, etc.

I can see how being a "non-ABAT" is an advantage if she were to teach German or math.