Author Topic: Choosing your location: is this discussed on here?  (Read 3066 times)

tastytreks

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Choosing your location: is this discussed on here?
« on: January 04, 2018, 07:35:50 PM »
Greetings, 'Stachians! So look - where you live (geographic location) is a huge, YUUUUGE factor in the pace at which you can attain FI and the pace of the drawdown of your eventually amassed nice fat nest egg, right? Yet I have been searching the site in vain for discussion of this topic, aside from some related-but-not-on-the-nose threads, like the very cool relocation guides, and a pretty new post from a lady looking for ideas of small towns with LCOL her family might relocate to.

Am I just utterly inept at using the site search engine?  (Plausible, lol!!) Is there a subforum/sticky/links you can point me to?  Or is this maybe not a topic people frequently grapple with, seeing as many folks will have location-specific jobs, extended families they wish to remain near, kids in school they don't want to disrupt, etc.

Right now in my own life, this seems like an enormous low-hanging fruit to take aim for, but I want Mustachian perspectives on it - not say, Forbes' opinion of the best places to retire to because there's a big-a$$ hospital system there to take care of you when you have a coronary. I'm a digital nomad and former FL resident currently living with the guy I love, who unfortunately is something of a spendthrift whose industry is based in NYC, ugggh. The price of one treat night of modest take-out here might just give me that aforementioned coronary! Everything in NYC costs the earth. And it's killing me to watch my own ability to save take a hit while I try to determine if I need to fish or cut bait with the guy, or if I might persuade him to live in a place that doesn't nail you on taxes, housing, food, and every other requirement for living, sigh. 

I'm casting a wide net, including maybe spending part of the year as expats, but again - not finding tons of info that addresses this here. On his site, Jim Collins mentioned considering moving to Cuenca years ago, but I haven't see that resurface, as either a 'yep, we're gonna do it eventually' or 'nah, never mind.'

ixtap

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4553
  • Age: 51
  • Location: SoCal
    • Our Sea Story
Re: Choosing your location: is this discussed on here?
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2018, 08:02:09 PM »
Use Google to search the site, as the built in search engine is useless. also, search for the phrase Geo arbitrage.

Turkey Leg

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 258
  • Location: US

mozar

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3503
Re: Choosing your location: is this discussed on here?
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2018, 09:39:03 PM »
There's been some threads about living cheaply in NYC too. I think @Dollar Slice might be able to talk about it.

terran

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3793
Re: Choosing your location: is this discussed on here?
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2018, 09:42:04 PM »
Yeah, it's a pretty common topic. Here's another one going on right now: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/iso-a-lcol-smaller-city/

It's not you, the search on this site is pretty much useless. Better to use google restricted to this site like so: "search terms site:forum.mrmoneymustache.com"

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3053
  • Location: Emmaus, PA
Re: Choosing your location: is this discussed on here?
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2018, 04:51:10 AM »
You want to be close to NYC with a low cost of living? Pennsylvania calls you.

Location is definitely a huge factor, especially for those of us who can do our work from anywhere. That's why I found myself a very nice part of the Rust Belt.

rubybeth

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1390
  • Location: Midwest
Re: Choosing your location: is this discussed on here?
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2018, 08:23:42 AM »
Discussion of HCOL areas vs. LCOL areas happens regularly. It's tough that in most of the US, a lot of higher paying jobs are in HCOL areas.

Currently, DH and I are making "normal salaries" like MMM and his wife: http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/15/a-brief-history-of-the-stash-how-we-saved-from-zero-to-retirement-in-ten-years/ But we live in a relatively LCOL area (at least in terms of housing, which is a huge factor, as is having a shorter commute--my husband and I work within 2 miles of each other, and live less than a mile from my job, 2 miles from his), so we're doing pretty okay.

We also sometimes go to the fairly close major metropolitan area for entertainment, culture, restaurants, etc. so we aren't starved for that stuff. There's this discussion happening right now, too: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/live-where-you-play-yay-or-nay/?topicseen

MMM himself has talked about this, as well: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/09/28/get-rich-with-moving-to-a-better-place/

I will admit that I sometimes look at job postings in bigger cities, but then I do a cost of living calculation like this one, and it reminds me partially why we live where we do (in my case, we'd need to earn at least $10k more per year to break "even," probably more, since it would involve more driving): https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx

tastytreks

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 2
Re: Choosing your location: is this discussed on here?
« Reply #7 on: January 06, 2018, 11:44:52 AM »
Thanks so much, everyone! Those are helpful threads/links; I really appreciate it!! 

Of course, the "easy" solution is to just ditch the non-'Stachian honey-bunny who is working for a startup (read: not even getting regular pay) in one of the most expensive cities on earth......  >_<   

I have suggested to him, why don't we just go back to leading separate lives and just visit periodically, and I'll come back when I've got enough scratch that he can simply not work!  (We could do that now, tbh, but not here in NYC.  I don't think he realizes, he basically is pursuing what currently amounts to a very expensive hobby, since the little he earns doesn't come anywhere near to offsetting the costs of having to be here in NYC!)

Sigh - that's a whole other discussion.