Author Topic: Wait til you read the last sentence...  (Read 8401 times)


maizefolk

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2018, 08:53:23 PM »
Looks like there are nonstop philidelphia to SFO flights for about $250/roundtrip. So say he's burning $1,000/month on his commute ($12k/year), an RN in SF makes ~$120,000/year ($75k after taxes), and ~$70,000/year in Philadelphia ($50k after taxes). Based on all that he's making a net of an extra $13,000/year from living half the time in a trailer in San Francisco.

If all those estimates are right, it'll take a lot of years of flying across the country to pay off that last sentence.

lost_in_the_endless_aisle

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2018, 09:01:14 PM »
I was giving moral support to a friend at a match.com meetup and met a nurse in Denver who commuted to Dallas, but this is a bit much.  The Denver/Dallas nurse didn't have a pool but did unsuccessfully try to get me into her hot tub! :o

Dicey

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2018, 11:29:45 PM »
Re: that last sentence. WTF?

marty998

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2018, 02:44:23 AM »
Clicked the clickbait headlines (both the article and this thread).

Was suitably shocked... What. The. Fuck...

ducky19

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2018, 06:46:09 AM »
I was going to post this yesterday, then just couldn't. I was having a hard time articulating all of the things I saw wrong with that situation. The last sentence in particular was horrifying - our house has a really nice pool... it was already there when we bought the place, but a good friend of ours installs pools and said it would be about a $50,000 pool if he were to build it today. I can't even imagine what a $120,000 pool looks like!

DS

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2018, 07:31:05 AM »
Quote from: MSN
When Tom Fowkes tells his friends in Pennsylvania that he commutes to work in Oakland, they all tend to react in the same way:
"You work in California? Are you nuts?!"

And he couldn't disagree more. The Kaiser pediatric nurse began his bi-weekly trip to work 9 years ago, and, he is happy to report, it "has changed my life."

When Fowkes was working as a nurse in Pennsylvania, he had to work three jobs, barely made ends meet and never saw his son because he was working all the time. Now that he works at Kaiser, he says, "I am making California money and I live very nice."

Those in the Bay Area who find it a challenge often forget wages in this region are much higher than many parts of the country. At SFGATE, we've been telling stories of locals who have moved to distant states where they can afford to buy a home, or even rent a place that doesn't cost over half their salary.

But Fowkes feels like he can have it all, the California money and Pennsylvania's cheaper cost of living. The difference in wages is so big that even with the cost of flying across country four times a month, it's a no-brainer.

"These are the highest paid nursing jobs on the planet," he says, referring to his job at Kaiser. "I make more than some doctors do back home."

He got his first taste of California several years ago when he came out on a travel assignment with an agency. After his agency job ended, a friend introduced him to Kaiser, where he had an interview and got hired the same day.

In his early days at Kaiser, he would work six -12-hour shifts in a row and then fly back to Pennsylvania for two weeks. But "that would be kind of brutal. By the sixth day, I was kind of burnt out."

At the time, he was sharing a trailer in Concord with a nurse from Mississippi. The trailer was small but all he needed was a place to sleep and shower since he was spending all his time working.

Nowadays, his schedule has softened a bit. He works 12-hour shifts on Monday and Tuesday every week and then 12-hour shifts every other weekend. It works out to 36 hours a week and after he has worked his 72 hours, he heads back to his home near Pittsburgh.

Fowkes says other nurses are living the long-distance commuter's life. On the floor he works on, Fowkes estimates that 10 percent of the workers travel from other places. Most are like him, Kaiser employees who work on a per diem basis, which gives them greater schedule flexibility but no benefits.

Fowkes took the Kaiser job for the money. But he wasn't sure he could take all the flying. "Now it has become so routine I don't even think about it," he says.

"I can't believe I've been doing it for 9 years. It seems like 4 or 5. It's changed my life. I spend more time with my son. And when I'm home and I don't work, we can do things because I have money now."

And, he adds, he also has a new $160,000 swimming pool.

acroy

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2018, 07:38:39 AM »
Actually badass. Arbitrage, baby!
now what he spends it on, that's another story entirely.

Zamboni

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2018, 07:46:40 AM »
Kick ass: racking up the miles!

Thank you for encouraging me to read to the end of it.

mm1970

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2018, 09:42:23 AM »
This doesn't really surprise me.  I had a friend who lived in the Bay area and then her family moved to So Cal.

She kept her job in the Bay Area though, working as a nurse at a UC.  She would fly up and work 6 or 7x12, and then come home for 3 weeks. 

Working 1 week a month (which was basically half time or 2 weeks a month, when you figure her total hours) at $95k.  She'd just stay with her parents when up north for the week.

fattest_foot

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2018, 02:20:36 PM »
How many weeks a year can you even feasibly use a pool in Pennsylvania?

And I don't understand why this is such a life hack when he could just live in a cheaper area much closer to SF? Seems like anywhere within about 6 hours drive would likely be cheaper and take the same amount of time. That doesn't even include security checks, delays (especially weather, how does that even work..."Sorry, can't make it in to the office. I know it's 70 degrees there, but there's a blizzard here"), and commute to and from the airport.

facepalm

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #11 on: January 03, 2018, 02:25:32 PM »
How many weeks a year can you even feasibly use a pool in Pennsylvania?

And I don't understand why this is such a life hack when he could just live in a cheaper area much closer to SF? Seems like anywhere within about 6 hours drive would likely be cheaper and take the same amount of time. That doesn't even include security checks, delays (especially weather, how does that even work..."Sorry, can't make it in to the office. I know it's 70 degrees there, but there's a blizzard here"), and commute to and from the airport.

Yeah, he could live in Fresno or Chico and do the same thing.

I bet his taxes are fun.

GettingClose

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2018, 11:57:12 AM »
My sister is a nurse with advanced degrees who works for Kaiser in the SF Bay Area and will end out doing the same thing for a while.  She makes almost $200k with just a little overtime.  Her husband has just been transferred to a New England state, and I'm guessing her salary will take a $100k annual hit.  The Kaiser pension and free lifetime Kaiser healthcare coverage after NN years are pretty amazing benefits, and I can see why from that standpoint alone why a person wouldn't want to walk away.

The cost of living will also be so much less in their new location - their house payment with PIT for a beautiful, large house will be about 3/5 of the rent they're currently paying for a very modest and dated ranch-style house.

MgoSam

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2018, 12:08:20 PM »


And I don't understand why this is such a life hack when he could just live in a cheaper area much closer to SF?


It could be that he doesn't want to move his family? It could be that he could be willing to move his kids, but they have a ton of family around that can help raise them while he is away. If this is the case, then the amount he saves in child care may be enough on a monetarily basis.

Yes, you could argue that him spending more time at home would be valuable. I would agree, but things happen. His story wouldn't be remarkable if he were a consultant. Those guys travel WAY MORE than this guy does, and it's rarely the same place, so it is likely more stressful for them and their families. At least he's playing to SF and likely has a routine in place to make it easier.

Lastly he could have a mortgage that is underwater. I don't know his situation other than skimming the article. I knew a few people during the recession that were underwater on their mortgage and couldn't find a job in their area so they found jobs in other states and would fly in on the weekends.

Indexer

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2018, 08:26:02 PM »


And I don't understand why this is such a life hack when he could just live in a cheaper area much closer to SF?


It could be that he doesn't want to move his family? It could be that he could be willing to move his kids, but they have a ton of family around that can help raise them while he is away. If this is the case, then the amount he saves in child care may be enough on a monetarily basis.

Adding to this, he could be divorced. The article mentions his son over and over, but never a wife. The guy could be divorced, ex-wife and kid are in PA, and she obviously isn't moving for his job. He has made the best of it... and then wasted a ton of money on a pool.

Mgmny

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #15 on: January 05, 2018, 07:08:28 AM »


And I don't understand why this is such a life hack when he could just live in a cheaper area much closer to SF?


It could be that he doesn't want to move his family? It could be that he could be willing to move his kids, but they have a ton of family around that can help raise them while he is away. If this is the case, then the amount he saves in child care may be enough on a monetarily basis.

Adding to this, he could be divorced. The article mentions his son over and over, but never a wife. The guy could be divorced, ex-wife and kid are in PA, and she obviously isn't moving for his job. He has made the best of it... and then wasted a ton of money on a pool.

I really wish there was a photo of the pool in the article... man....

BTDretire

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #16 on: January 06, 2018, 12:41:59 PM »
Since he has this new $160,000 pool, I want him to know I have an older $160,000 house that I live in, So there!  :-)

Dicey

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #17 on: January 06, 2018, 12:50:25 PM »
Since he lives in butt-cold territory, maybe he built an indoor pool. How else could it cost that much unless it's inside a new building?
« Last Edit: January 08, 2018, 10:25:31 PM by Dicey »

BTDretire

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #18 on: January 06, 2018, 01:07:52 PM »
Since he lives in butt-cold territory, maybe he build an indoor pool. How else could it cost that much unless it's inside a new building?

Extra special butt-cold lately!

pegleglolita

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #19 on: January 06, 2018, 02:42:25 PM »
Wow, what a freakin' carbon footprint.  The Earth weeps.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #20 on: January 06, 2018, 03:01:29 PM »
Since he lives in butt-cold territory, maybe he build an indoor pool. How else could it cost that much unless it's inside a new building?

Extra special butt-cold lately!

A lot of the pools and similar construction in hot areas aren't designed to tolerate extreme cold. I predict a lot of cracked pipes, destroyed pumps, and unusable pools. Even people with uninsulated houses are having pipes burst in their exterior walls.

FINate

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #21 on: January 08, 2018, 10:30:50 AM »
Looks like there are nonstop philidelphia to SFO flights for about $250/roundtrip. So say he's burning $1,000/month on his commute ($12k/year), an RN in SF makes ~$120,000/year ($75k after taxes), and ~$70,000/year in Philadelphia ($50k after taxes). Based on all that he's making a net of an extra $13,000/year from living half the time in a trailer in San Francisco.

If all those estimates are right, it'll take a lot of years of flying across the country to pay off that last sentence.

Also, nothing about the cost of the trailer. I had considered something similar, not flying but rather getting a small place near work to cut down on commuting...but the cost of keeping another place just wasn't worth it.

Since it mentions working 3 jobs in Pennsylvania, I wonder if one of the unstated issues is that he was having difficulty finding full time hours there. Presumably one cannot work 3 full time jobs, though maybe I'm just a wuss. Trying to piece together 3 part time jobs is inefficient and draining...lots of wasted time between shifts, etc.

I'll never understand how people who work so hard for their money can so easily piss it away on things like $160k pools.

Dicey

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #22 on: January 08, 2018, 10:27:50 PM »
I'll never understand how people who work so hard for their money can so easily piss it away on things like $160k pools.
^Solid gold.^

FireHiker

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #23 on: January 09, 2018, 11:57:43 AM »
I can't fathom how a pool ends up being 160k unless it's indoors and includes the building? We put in a nice pool (pre-MMM days) for 50k, plus another 6k for solar. I regret it now, but have learned from the experience.

Just Joe

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #24 on: January 09, 2018, 02:26:53 PM »
Maybe that pool is filled with special imported raw water...

jinga nation

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #25 on: January 10, 2018, 07:21:10 AM »
Maybe that pool is filled with special imported raw water...
and enclosed for countryside air.. coz you know you need the best freshest aire when you swim.
does he use raw cotton towels? coz those threads are fresh and puffy.

pegleglolita

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #26 on: January 10, 2018, 12:04:42 PM »
Guys, you're just not using your heads.  You know how to make a pool cost $160K!

Just Joe

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Re: Wait til you read the last sentence...
« Reply #27 on: January 10, 2018, 01:09:32 PM »
And that cotton was picked by people in genuine 1800s garb no less, and later processed by vintage cotton gins. Every step of this pool construction and operation must be authentic!

I hear there are even special water circulators in this pool to keep the raw water aerated properly. They rely on the movements of the oceans.   

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!