"I intentionally took lower paying jobs with more opportunity to buy assets" Maybe I could adjust the language slightly to make more sense.
"I purposely took jobs with the best access to acquire assets. I rarely chased or accepted the highest paying job. In my opinion, those jobs were traps with less opportunity to buy assets. One job specifically was very low pay, which was the Florida job"
I applied to 10 different Ph.D. programs all over the country to work with professors that were doing the same research as me in my MA program. I was accepted to 4 different Ph.D. programs (Claremont University, Kansas State, Colorado State and Northern Illinois). Because they were all good picks academically, I then picked the school that I thought had the best chance to buy assets. The plan was to buy a 4-bedroom house close to campus and have 3 roommates. I chose Colorado State in Fort Collins, CO. I bought a 4 bed/2 bath close to campus for $182,000 in May 2007 with an interest rate of 6%. Original PITI was $1040/month and was later reduced to $950/month when I refinanced into a 4.75% mortgage.
I was scheduled to be done with my Ph.D. coursework in spring 2011. I applied to mostly college faculty jobs, but the economy wasn't great and I applied to a few research positions. One was a research position at a non-profit in D.C. on energy policy. The job ad asked for a minimum of Masters Degree and Ph.D. preferred. They offered me $65,00/year in late November 2010 and wanted me to start January 1, 2011. I ended up not accepting the job because in my opinion, it would be difficult to acquire assets with $65,000 in D.C.
There was a housing crisis in November 2010 across the entire country, except for D.C. The largest employer in D.C. continues to hire during recessions, so the housing rarely dips. If my fiance and I (now wife) were to rent a 1-bedroom (600 sq. ft.) it would cost $1900/month for a garden level basement unit. Normal price was $2200/month for a 1-bedroom with sunlight. I had a friend of a friend buy a 1-bedroom condo for $340,000 but I don't know exactly where it was in D.C.
I straight up told the hiring manager that the salary offer was not consistent with the cost of living for D.C. He said that if I was looking for something more affordable, he instructed me to rent a room in a 4-bedroom house about an hour away. I countered and said that I would work for $65,000 if I could work from Denver, CO. I told them that $65,000 is a fair salary for a medium cost of living like Denver, CO, but not for D.C. If they want me to live in D.C. I need at least $90,000, but I would be willing to accept $82,000/year, if they let me teach one class per semester at a local college for more money. I also asked for a $5,000 signing bonus for moving expenses. They countered at $67,500 with no signing bonus for moving. I rejected it and thanked them for their time. They were stunned. The economy wasn't good at the time and employers had leverage. However, I wasn't going to accept a job with an hour commute and little opportunity to buy assets. They offered a 4% 401K contribution, health insurance was $200/month and 4 weeks of vacation.
I ended up accepting a full-time faculty job in Fort Myers, FL for $40,000/year in March 2011, starting in August 2011. I got $3,000 for moving expenses and used all of it. I also got the opportunity to teach a summer class for $5,000, which is abnormally high because it was a percentage of your salary. Most colleges paid full-time faculty the part-time flat rate to teach summer courses, which was around $2,000-$2500. The 401a contribution was 10.42%, health insurance was $50/month and no state income tax in Florida. I also got 20 weeks of vacation (not including the summer class). The first two summers, I taught a 6-week face to face summer class. The second two summers, I taught an 8-week on-line course. The summer class is about 100 hours worth of work.
The biggest reason for accepting the job in Fort Myers FL was the housing recession in Florida. My dad was also retiring in Fort Myers, FL at the same time. I could live at his house for free and have enough for a down payment within 6 months. I moved in July 2011 with no money. I got my first paycheck in September 2011 and bought a house in January 2012 for $95,000 with an interest rate of 4%. Original PITI was $685/month and dropped down to $650/month when property taxes reduced. This type of house sold for $250,000 in 2006.
After living in Fort Myers, FL for 4 years, I accepted a job to teach at Kauai Community College in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai. Housing was more expensive there, but in my opinion, housing in Hawaii was slower to recover from the housing recession than the rest of the country. I thought it was undervalued. We did a cash-out re-fi on the Fort Collins house to come up with the down payment and repairs for a 603K house on Kauai. After 50K of repairs, it was immediately worth 800K and now worth 1.3 million in 2025.
After that, we moved back to Colorado to be closer to my wife's family because we had a two-year old. I took a pay cut from 69K/year to 52K/year. However, we could afford to do it because of the rental income. Because we are 2 hours away from Denver, the cost of living is more affordable, but not cheap. We are at the national average for cost of living. We did a cash-out re-fi on the Fort Myers house to buy a 5 bed/3 bath (2450 sq. ft.) house in Pueblo West, CO in November 2019.
My currently salary is $61,799, but I get a 14% retirement contribution from my employer. I don't think my health insurance contribution from my employer is great. The total plan costs $2250/month for a family of 3. I pay $550/month and my employer pays $1700/month. Because our compensation is low, administration does not have very high expectations for faculty, which is fair. You might get asked to work on "extra projects" with no extra compensation at schools with higher salaries, which I think is also fair.
My salary is about 25% lower than the national average. Some higher paying jobs would include Riverside CC in CA (125K), Maricopa Community College in Phoenix (115K/year) and Kalamazoo CC in Michigan (95K/year). I was a finalist at all 3 schools, but didn't get the job.
I'm slightly more optimistic about my salary in the next 3-5 years. I think I will be close to the national average in 5 years, instead of 25% below. If I'm wrong, I will be applying for faculty jobs that are 100% remote. We won't move, but we will spend more time traveling.
My wife is a substitute teacher at my sons elementary school twice a week. She also works part-time as a virtual assistant for a real estate agent. She makes around 25K/year. Our combined W-2 income is around 87K/year and our net worth is around 1.75 million. I work 1,000 hours and my wife works 500 hours. Rental management is about 200 hours/year. Among our peer group (college family and friends), they work twice as much and their W-2 income is twice as much. However, their net worth is probably half.
I attribute our higher net worth and lower employment obligations to focusing on acquiring assets and not chasing salary. This is the main part of the thesis for Gary's Economics. While it is very possible for someone to take the higher salary job in the HCOL area and save 50%, I haven't seen that much of it on this forum over the past 10 years. MMM himself admitted to taking a lower salary job in Boulder instead of silicon valley because he could buy a house in Longmont for an affordable price.
