Author Topic: doubled my salary and lived in shared home to save for emergency fund  (Read 1596 times)

carolinap

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Little context:

I moved from MCOL area to HCOL area for personal reasons, but also knowing that the HCOL area had much better opportunities for my career that surpass the COL increase. Moved with no job opportunity on the line.

Worked as freelancer for 5 months until I land on a job with a salary that was 2x my previous formal job.

When I went to the HCOL area with no job I moved into a shared home were you could rent rooms but shared kitchen and bathroom. My room was 6mē. It was actually good, clean, safe, silent, kinda cheap and next to public transportation, but without the same privacy of an apartment of course. When I landed the job, instead of moving immediately, lived there for other 7 months while saving +- 35% of my salary for an emergency fund (not huge for mustachian levels, but it was the first time I was able to do it).

1 year after moving with good emergency fund, I felt it was time to move to an apartment by myself (but still cheaper than my income would allow), and drop my savings to 17% for me to be able to take the increase in cost of housing and pay for all furniture and appliances (I had 0 house stuff, moved cities with only clothes and personal stuff).

Of all things, I'm mostly happy that by moving cities for personal reasons also increased my salary and boost my career :)

carolinap

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Re: doubled my salary and lived in shared home to save for emergency fund
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2019, 08:46:19 AM »
Little context:

I moved from MCOL area to HCOL area for personal reasons, but also knowing that the HCOL area had much better opportunities for my career that surpass the COL increase. Moved with no job opportunity on the line.

Worked as freelancer for 5 months until I land on a job with a salary that was 2x my previous formal job.

When I went to the HCOL area with no job I moved into a shared home were you could rent rooms but shared kitchen and bathroom. My room was 6mē. It was actually good, clean, safe, silent, kinda cheap and next to public transportation, but without the same privacy of an apartment of course. When I landed the job, instead of moving immediately, lived there for other 7 months while saving +- 35% of my salary for an emergency fund (not huge for mustachian levels, but it was the first time I was able to do it).

1 year after moving with good emergency fund, I felt it was time to move to an apartment by myself (but still cheaper than my income would allow), and drop my savings to 17% for me to be able to take the increase in cost of housing and pay for all furniture and appliances (I had 0 house stuff, moved cities with only clothes and personal stuff).

Of all things, I'm mostly happy that by moving cities for personal reasons also increased my salary and boost my career :)

I think it's important to know that I have some hobbies that are important to me and by doing that I didn't need to give them up while building my stash. It was all about priorities: some people overvalue a big space to live, but I wanted time and money for my theater classes and sport activities :)

coldestcat

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Re: doubled my salary and lived in shared home to save for emergency fund
« Reply #2 on: March 26, 2019, 01:16:46 PM »
thats awesome! Good job on getting that savings!

Budgie

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Re: doubled my salary and lived in shared home to save for emergency fund
« Reply #3 on: March 26, 2019, 08:05:29 PM »
Good job! I think many people overlook the boost they can make to their savings if they are willing to share housing.

Linea_Norway

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Re: doubled my salary and lived in shared home to save for emergency fund
« Reply #4 on: March 27, 2019, 02:40:45 AM »
Well done. We often live like this as a student, but not often later in life.

For your future career: Try to find relevant additional education (courses or other) that fits with your profession and try to let your employer pay for you to take that. Every 3-5 years, look for another job, either at your own employer, or somewhere else. New jobs are your best option of increasing your salary. Staying in the same job does not. Additional education makes you more attractive.
« Last Edit: March 27, 2019, 09:57:18 AM by Linea_Norway »

maginvizIZ

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Re: doubled my salary and lived in shared home to save for emergency fund
« Reply #5 on: March 27, 2019, 08:45:13 AM »
I 100% agree with Linea_Norway:  To boost salary,  you have to jump jobs.

Year 1: Job A = $40k (USD)
Year 2: Job A = $40k
Year 3: Job B = $58k
Year 4: Job B = $62k
Year 5: Job B = $66k
Year 6: Job C = $85k + 15% bonus (I just turned in my 2 weeks on Monday for this job!)

Overall: congrats on 2x in pay job, moving to a location you want to be, and getting that emergency fund up!

clarkfan1979

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Re: doubled my salary and lived in shared home to save for emergency fund
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2019, 04:10:31 PM »
I think it took me about 9 years to double my salary from my first job out of grad school.

I prefer the higher salary in a higher cost of living area. However, I think it's only worth it, if you have a job with the higher salary. It is interesting that you choose to move to the higher cost of living area before you secured a higher salary. Looks like it worked out. I don't think I could do that.