I have been flopping back and forth on this for two weeks. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Current Situation:
DINKS, both early thirties
Long-term vision:
- Stash some cash, retire to a lower-cost, mountain west area.
Current financial strategy:
- Finally paid of ~80K in student loans about a year and a half ago. We had been putting most of our extra cash into this.
- Maxing out 401(k), putting the rest of our extra cash into savings for a house down payment.
Location:
- Roseville, CA. Both of us are originally from Utah and moved here after college for jobs. We have been here for 4.5 years. The location is ok, the city is nice but expensive. The rest of our family is back in Utah. We would like to be closer to them, but travel between the two locations is not bad. The best part about CA for us is the diversity of outdoor activities (backpacking, skiing, etc.) available within a few hours.
Income/Expenses:
- Income: ~140K
o Me: ~80K (IT at Mega Corp, bike commute; started out at 70K, now ~77K base, the rest is bonus)
o Wife: ~60K (PE teacher; commute is about 30-45 minutes depending on traffic; one year from vesting in the CA teacher pension)
- Expenses: ~50K
o 33% on housing, another 30% on food/shopping. Rest of auto, taxes, travel, etc.
Net worth:
- ~160K
o 401(k): ~85K (vested)
o Cash: ~70K (saving up for house down payment)
o 2009 Ford Focus: ~3K according to Mint
CA housing:
- Rent on our one-bedroom apartment has increased from $1,050 to $1,550 since 2013. Just enough to erode my salary gains of the same time frame.
- Home prices are increasing, now most houses in the immediate area are over 400K
Kids:
- Until now, we haven’t really been trying for kids. But we have been discussing it a lot recently and now look like the time to try if we decide yes.
- Having a kid in our current situation would be a challenge, and may mean that my wife will stop working or we will end up paying a lot for child care. Losing or having to spend a lot of the second income would make it challenging to afford a house and keep saving at our current rate.
Job offer:
- ~125K at another Mega Corp in … Fayetteville, Arkansas. According to CNN Money, that translates ~165K in Sacramento. Other Mega Corp stuff (mixed bag compared to current situation) also included, 401(k) match, bonuses, discounted stock, etc.)
- Three executive/senior level people (including my previous manager) from my current company have left to work for this company over the past few months. They called me up and offered me a position as well. I would have the chance to be a lead (not people manager) on a new team.
- Office is in a part of town that we would not want to live in, so bike commute may be out and we may end up with a second car.
Current thoughts:
- Job sounds like a great next step for my career. Career growth has been stagnant at my current job.
- Wife will likely struggle to replace her job. Just not a lot of openings in her field. Also, she may end up needing to get certified in another subject area (something she had been considering anyway in case a move like this ever happened). She likes her current job and says she is ok with giving up, but I worry that she will not feel the same if she ends up not working after the move. What about that CA pension? I hate to give this up before it vests.
- Housing, taxes, etc. are not nearly as expensive. We may have the chance to keep a greater % of our income even though we will be making a bit less.
- Family seems supportive, think that it will be a good way to land an even better job in a better location down the line.
- This may be the best chance we will get to try for kids without giving up the value of a second income.
- Arkansas sounds … less than exciting. I guess we could plan trips to Colorado or Utah a few times a year. Probably will end up flying a lot, likely will cost at least 3k a year (3 trips at ~$500 for each of us). Neither of us have really spent time in the south/mid-west. I have been to Texas a few times for work.