How to Prep Financially for a Job change across US

[wealthviahealth]

Curious as to what ideas/tips you guys might have regarding how you would financially prepare to move across the country for a new job.

I will potentially be moving to a much more expensive city but it will come with a significant pay raise. I am a young professional so this will be my first
big move and I am wondering what I can do to best prepare my self for the increased cost of living and potential rough patches before I am a few pay checks in to the higher paying job.

Most of my net worth is invested in the market but I also have a much smaller cash reserve of $5k.
I have a car loan and a student loan that I am paying rather aggressively and both cut be cut down a bit in a pinch if needed.

 I am about 4-6 months out from the move and also wouldn't mind taking a month off in the new city before starting the job.

[TexasStash]

I moved to another state when I was first starting out in the workforce, so I can relate. Fortunately for me, I did not live in a high COL location, but I think the biggest thing to keep in mind is that COL is not as out of your control as it appears (and others think it is). Your spending is still primarily dependent on your habits, values, lifestyle choices and laziness (or lack thereof). Certainly there are things you cannot control like some portion of increase in rent and some other items. But you get to benefit from the company likely giving you more money thinking you'll need more to live and then challenging yourself to live on a similarly frugal budget despite the move.

One tip I would advise is to limit the amount of spending on things you "think you will need in a new place." Outside of the bare necessities, let yourself go a week or more without things that just seem like theyre needed, and then decide if you really need to buy some or maybe they arent as necessary as you thought. This could be everything from furnishings in a new apartment to cleaning supplies to new clothes.

I was surprised at how easily i long i was able to survive with just a few toiletries, some toilet paper, a towel, and a few changes of clothes.

Also, nobody seems to care if you wear the same clothing to work week after week, at least in my field.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

These are things we found useful to make sure we didn't suddenly have to drop a bunch of money to function:

1. Go to the location first. Pre-arrange housing when you're in no rush to make a decision.
2. Find out how everything works in your new city and your new residence. Who do you pay the power bill to? Water? Internet? What grocery stores have reasonable prices? This might affect your residence choices.
3. Show up with at least $2,000 in cash on you, maybe more if it's a high COL area. People might not accept checks, especially from out of state, but everyone takes cash.

[galliver]

My bf and I moved last August and I am glad we used all the time we had (4 mos notice) to crack down on liquid savings. You an always make a big payment on your loans once you're settled, but you can't take that money back to make a deposit on an apartment or similar. (Obviously keep up on the minimum payments, though!) I'm also glad I got a new credit card with a 0% intro rate to put reimbursable expenses on; so I didn't have to drain savings to avoid interest charges, or worry about when the reimbursement came through. Finally, something we didn't think through sufficiently was that in this area (LA area), landlords want first+deposit in a cashier's check or money order (personal checks not ok). So if you're looking for an apartment (vs roommates), and with an online bank, or a local CU that doesn't exist in that are, maybe open a Chase or WF or BoA account at least temporarily and throw 3x the max acceptable (to you) rent in there, and be prepared.

[TrMama]

As a young single person, I'd stop making such large payments on your debts until you get settled. Stash cash so you'll have it available for deposits, expenses, etc. If you don't end up spending it all on moving expenses, you can always use it to make a big lump sum payment.

Definitely plan a house/apartment hunting trip prior to moving permanently. I would also seriously consider finding a short term roommate situation (sublet maybe?) to give you even more time to figure out where you want to live long term. It should be much cheaper and easy to leave after a couple months once you've got your bearings.

We moved x-country (with a family) several years ago and the hardest part was figuring out which neighbourhood we wanted to live in.

[galliver]

Ok, just to throw this out there: whether you should get a place lined up in advance depends on the housing market. Obviously you should have a plan, but some parts of the country it makes more sense to get there and couch surf or stay in a hotel or AirBnB while you hunt for a place than making the extra trip out beforehand. Of course even if you do that, start trawling Craigslist, Zillow, Padmapper, Google Maps, etc to get a sense of the options a few weeks ahead of time.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Ok, just to throw this out there: whether you should get a place lined up in advance depends on the housing market. Obviously you should have a plan, but some parts of the country it makes more sense to get there and couch surf or stay in a hotel or AirBnB while you hunt for a place than making the extra trip out beforehand. Of course even if you do that, start trawling Craigslist, Zillow, Padmapper, Google Maps, etc to get a sense of the options a few weeks ahead of time.

Partially that's a comfort thing. I would lose my shit if I moved to a new city and didn't have a place.

[galliver]

Ok, just to throw this out there: whether you should get a place lined up in advance depends on the housing market. Obviously you should have a plan, but some parts of the country it makes more sense to get there and couch surf or stay in a hotel or AirBnB while you hunt for a place than making the extra trip out beforehand. Of course even if you do that, start trawling Craigslist, Zillow, Padmapper, Google Maps, etc to get a sense of the options a few weeks ahead of time.

Partially that's a comfort thing. I would lose my shit if I moved to a new city and didn't have a place.

I admit it was at times nerve wracking. But making the trip and paying double rent for a month just wasn't an option.

[rmendpara]

Curious as to what ideas/tips you guys might have regarding how you would financially prepare to move across the country for a new job.

I will potentially be moving to a much more expensive city but it will come with a significant pay raise. I am a young professional so this will be my first
big move and I am wondering what I can do to best prepare my self for the increased cost of living and potential rough patches before I am a few pay checks in to the higher paying job.

Most of my net worth is invested in the market but I also have a much smaller cash reserve of $5k.
I have a car loan and a student loan that I am paying rather aggressively and both cut be cut down a bit in a pinch if needed.

 I am about 4-6 months out from the move and also wouldn't mind taking a month off in the new city before starting the job.

I also made a significant move in 2013. It was surprising how much cash flow mismatching there was, so I'd just add that you should probably build up a really large cash buffer.

Once I found an apt, I had to pay:
- 500 - security deposit/fees
- 200 - utility startup costs/bullsh*t fees
- 1,500 - partial month plus first full month rent in advance
- 1,500 - all furniture plus delivery
- 300 - random stuff, pots/pans, dishes, bathroom crap, etc.

Point: It really adds up when you have nothing! Save up a few thousand more in cash, you won't be disappointed.

I had a sizeable bonus and relocation coming my way, but those don't pay out until 60 days and I had to front load the stuff. Some was on a credit card, so I got at least a few weeks off that, but I was shocked how much it was.

Could easily be more in a place like LA/NYC/SF/Chi if the deposit required 2 months rent or something like that to guarantee a place.

Otherwise, good luck!

[wealthviahealth]

Thanks for all of the great suggestions!

In addition, I think I am going to set my goal for my emergency fund to be 10k by the time of the move.
This will mean really buckling down on my current spending ( a good thing) and slightly stepping away from my regular investing as well
as cutting down my student loan payment by about $150 ( still doing above the min)
Do these last two seem foolish? My thoughts are that it is only a few months of smaller student loan payments and less investment contributions but this extra cash could make a world of a difference if I am blindsided by extra expenses.

I have been doing great with selling all of my junk now which is not only adding to my EF but is also making the whole idea of this big of a move much easier.

[Lia-Aimee]

Assuming you have no dependents, I see no need to have more than 3-4 months of living expenses (+ travel expenses, + another month of living expenses if you plan to take a month off) so long as you have a set start date for your job. I'm assuming that you trust the new job to pay you within a month of your start date.

I've done two cross-country moves in my life, never with a job lined up.  Am contemplating an international move like this soon.

What I've done is stay in a hostel and dedicate 12 hours+ a day to finding a room to rent on a month-to-month or otherwise short-term basis.  If it came unfurnished, I'd sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag.  Then I'd job hunt and get to know the city.  Only then would I commit to a long-term place to live and slowly figure out furniture and other misc. stuff. 

I never spent more than 3k before receiving the first paycheque.