Author Topic: Success stories of families on HCOL areas  (Read 2217 times)

Sonos

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Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« on: August 26, 2019, 01:38:52 PM »
Hi, all.

I’ve been looking for success stories of families with young kids that are achieving FI in HCOL areas. I haven’t come up with many examples that don’t involve moving away to a LCOL area to achieve FI.

Any recommendations? Fat fire or lean fire is fine.

Thanks in advance!

seattlecyclone

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2019, 01:54:12 PM »
I just did it. Married with two kids, FIREd in Seattle earlier this month. The math is the same as anywhere else if you're determined to make it work. With retiring even earlier to a cheaper place also being a perfectly valid option, it's not surprising that quite a few people choose that path.

ysette9

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2019, 02:39:35 PM »
We are pretty close to doing it. I don’t have a blog or anything useful like that but just want to raise my hand and say “me too!”.


ysette9

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Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2019, 02:44:59 PM »
You ask for recommendations which has me reflecting. Here in the Bay Area the housing prices are crazy but you can also make crazy big income, so it can work out for the best. If you are not making fantastic income then it would clearly be a lot harder, and you may need to reflect on your reasons for staying. (And I completely understand there is a lot to keep people in HCOL areas; they are high cost for a reasons, after all.)

As much as you can, take advantage of why the area is HCOL. What I mean by that is if it has fabulous weather, like the Bay Area, then live in a small place and spend most of your time outside in the garden or at the park. Go to the beach and state parks for free or close to it. Send your kids to immersion whatever language programs in the public school system and get them an education and cultural experience that other people elsewhere pay tons of money to give their kids. Shop groceries at little ethnic stores to save $ and make your diet more interesting. Take your kids to amazing parks like Magical Bridge in Palo Alto for free. Go to the art museum on Stanford campus for free. You get my drift.

Fru-Gal

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2019, 02:53:48 PM »
We did it, even through decades of lean income and self-employment!!!

1. start saving ASAP & never ever touch your stash
2. buy your forever house *if* you're the kind of family that can choose well, is handy, likes a house/garden & all the maintenance that goes with it.
3. public school & low-cost kids clubs/activities; teach kids to use transit and bikes
4. 1 or no cars, preferably indestructible and ancient
5. pay off debt (ironically this was our last step)

More on houses:

Understand that however expensive houses are, they are likely never going back down in price in a HCOL. Kind of like the stock market -- you don't get to buy in at 1960s prices. However, be very careful buying new houses in overbuilt suburbs of HCOL areas; those prices *can* drop drastically in a housing market crash. You don't have to leave, but you may want to if your neighborhood becomes a ghost town. Having said all that, I simply can't fathom paying over a million for a house, not to mention the property tax! So yeah, we're very lucky we did it a long time ago.


cloudsail

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2019, 03:36:22 PM »
We are on track to do this in a couple years, with two kids ages 9 and 6, markets willing of course.
Though we do have plans to eventually move into a lower cost area, but probably not until at least the oldest finishes middle school.
The biggest benefit of HCOL areas are the job opportunities, so you should be fully taking advantage of them. If you are not making the big bucks, seriously reconsider if you actually need to live there.

Tuskalusa

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2019, 06:51:51 PM »
We will do it in the next couple of years. Early 50s, so not super early, but works for us. We’re in the Bay Area. Some of the things we do to keep on track:

- Stay out of the highest cost areas, like Palo Alto and Menlo Park. Lovely places to live, but very pricey.
 - Keep the kids in public school.
 - Don’t subscribe to the typical Silicon Valley Trappings. We don’t have a Tesla. We don’t send our son to hyper-competitive sports or coding camps.
 - Don’t trade up on a house unless it is super affordable to do so, and only if you will really use the space/area where you buy.
 - Take advantage of the high Silicon Valley wages as long as possible.

We don’t have big plans to move to a significantly lower cost area in retirement (our family is here), but we will likely downsize to a smaller house.

It can be done!

Sonos

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2019, 11:25:12 PM »
Thanks all. I know the math is the same (that’s a good point to remember), but it’s just nice to hear some folks say they did it or are on track to do it.

We stay because of family, and we also enjoy our beautiful city (Seattle).

lookingforadelorean

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2019, 08:00:11 AM »
PTF. We’re just north of you in Snohomish County.

cloudsail

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2019, 09:51:24 AM »
Thanks all. I know the math is the same (that’s a good point to remember), but it’s just nice to hear some folks say they did it or are on track to do it.

We stay because of family, and we also enjoy our beautiful city (Seattle).

We are reluctant to leave Seattle too because of family, but whereas we now live just ten minutes from downtown, if work and school were no longer under consideration, we could move to a surrounding area and still be within driving distance of family. Like maybe Tacoma or Everett. It wouldn't exactly be cheap but it would cut down significantly on housing costs. That's our current plan anyway.

LightTripper

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #10 on: August 29, 2019, 05:34:17 AM »
We are FI in London with 2 kids (5 and 2), though my OH doesn't plan to retire particularly soon, and I am getting cold feet (though most of me really wants to, I'm also scared of whether I'll get depressed without the structure of work in my life).  Plus a bit of OMY syndrome...

But financially it is doable at least, if you're lucky enough to have a high paying job and no strong drive to keep up with the Joneses!

2sk22

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #11 on: August 29, 2019, 06:26:59 AM »
We are long time New Jersey residents - I can see the tips of the building in Manhattan from where I live. We have lived here for over 25 years and are completely FI. Our property taxes are about $14.5 K and that's very much on the low side - so this definitely makes us a an HCOL. However, apart from home related costs, the other costs are not exceptionally high. We do not plan to leave this area - I love the diversity of my town.

As @ysette9 says, along with higher costs, you also have much greater opportunities to earn well in such areas. The New York city area is really bursting with opportunities nowadays. Very different from 25 years ago when we first moved here. When I decided I was done at my megacorp, I did not have to look very hard to find my next gig - it practically landed in my lap.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Success stories of families on HCOL areas
« Reply #12 on: August 29, 2019, 12:28:28 PM »
Also almost there, in the bay area. If we wanted to downsize our house a bit, we'd be there. We've done things many of the others have stated. We have very large incomes, but try to keep our non-housing spending in line with significantly smaller incomes. In our area, that means: we clean & maintain our house, cars & pool on our own. We meal plan, travel hack, shop sales, & maximize our income wherever possible while minimizing expenses.

 

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