Silicon Valley salaries don't seem so great

[jacob]

Of course, it's debatable as to how often this happens and if the end dollar amounts are worth it, but to someone just out of school and seeing 30-year-old founders making millions, it's seductive.

Anecdotally, I confirm.

It goes along with the "just find your passion and success is guaranteed [because you're unique and special]"-meme. My personal attempts at injecting a modicum of realism into that thought pattern has failed so far. So now I just don't bother. #cynicism

[Ego]

hence why living in a van while working in SV is genius

Seems you started a trend
http://qz.com/524138/rent-is-so-high-in ... -in-a-van/

[steveo73]

Of course, it's debatable as to how often this happens and if the end dollar amounts are worth it, but to someone just out of school and seeing 30-year-old founders making millions, it's seductive.

Anecdotally, I confirm.

It goes along with the "just find your passion and success is guaranteed [because you're unique and special]"-meme. My personal attempts at injecting a modicum of realism into that thought pattern has failed so far. So now I just don't bother. #cynicism

I often read about people trying to create their wealth like this. Its either this or the Tim Ferris approach. I'm completely cynical about it.

I live in Sydney Australia and reading this thread makes me realize how the situation is very similar in regards to salaries and house prices. Houses in Sydney are often worth $1million. Our house would be worth over that for sure. Our salaries are relatively high however everyone has dumped it into borrowing money and therefore paying more for houses. It also creates a vicious circle because people then borrow to buy investment properties. On top of that people like to have the standard consumer lifestyle - plenty of eating out, nice cars, gadgets, clothes and plenty of paid recreational activities.

[Dave]

I'm curious, is Indianapolis a good tech city? I've been considering moving to Indiana due to the low cost of housing but wanted to be within an hours drive of good tech jobs. Right now I'm leaning toward Florida as it meets my criteria and has no state income tax, but I have not crossed Indiana off my list, and still need a "back-up" city/state.

You know, there are more tech firms there than you might expect. It is not even close to the level of SV or Seattle, but there are some. A few that come to mind are Angies List, ChaCha, Exact Target, Interactive Intelligence, T2 Systems. I know there are numerous others, but those are the ones that come to mind.

FWIW, Indiana is a very business friendly state. The state also has a balanced budget, which is interesting since it does not have a balanced-budget requirement in the state constitution.

In my opinion, Indy is sort of a sweet spot if you like medium-large cities with decent salary/cost of living with reasonable access to professional sporting teams, casinos, restaurants (ethnic selection is so so), concerts, etc.

[James_0011]

The valley is very close to amazing destinations. Where else in the US comes close?

Totally depends on your personal definition of "amazing," but in addition to the midwest, I've also lived on the Gulf coast, in Honolulu and in San Antonio. And I assure you that both Hawaii and Texas are all kinds of amazing.

My favorite place in the US is Wyoming, however, since I strongly prefer the amazing places with very few people in them. And I expect Alaska is even more amazing in that regard... I look forward to finding out someday.

Edit: Does anybody else want to visit that town in Alaska where almost everyone lives in the same building? I'm so intrigued. G says this is almost as crazy as my desire to stay at the ice hotel.

I worked on a commercial boat in Alaska for awhile, and have been to that town (Whitter) many times. It is extremely depressing there, I would suggest you don't visit unless you're into meth or binging on alcohol.

[Did]

Getting out can be the difficult part, especially if saddled with debt, ego and narrow specialisation.

[James_0011]

Anyone have any insight on whether or not it is worth it to move to sv for the accumulation phase?

I mean, does anyone know that their savings were significantly improved by moving to sv?

[bryan]

@James, Definitely worth it, especially so if you have frugal tendencies. There is an argument for moving away once you obtain a high salary and someone outside of SV is willing to "match it" (where I always look at Net Income, Cash Flow, Take Home, and Net Total Savings). Can't beat SV for the competitive SW/HW job market and large corps + small corps.

Not too difficult to make a copy of your current year financials and do a little playing around with.

[Chris]

Anyone have any insight on whether or not it is worth it to move to sv for the accumulation phase?

It's typically easier to land a job locally than remotely, as many companies want to ensure they get their "culture" on you. So one strategy might be to start a job at HQ in SV, gain the high salary and equity, then move to a lower cost branch office after a couple of years. HQ will have more teams there, but if you demonstrate that you're good, a sane manager won't have a problem with you working out of the Pittsburgh office.

[Sclass]

Anyone have any insight on whether or not it is worth it to move to sv for the accumulation phase?

I mean, does anyone know that their savings were significantly improved by moving to sv?

Depends on a bunch of things like what you're doing and where/how you live.

My short answer is Yes.

I am where I am today (I'm retired after working 12 yrs) financially because I worked in SV. If you can avoid the expense traps like housing and lifestyle you can save a nice pile of money to invest. Couple that with aggressive and successful investing you can be far ahead of places where you'd earn less. I mostly invested in stocks and owned three small businesses. I lived in rented rooms in peoples' homes. Then a tear down home that was also rented for cheap. I finally relocated to SoCal when I really didn't need to live in SV anymore.

But it's all about how your numbers work out. I'm sure you can do well earning less elsewhere while living simply and aggressively investing. Just work it out on paper first. Income-Expenses. It's not rocket science.

So I could have earned less and lived on less elsewhere. The big difference is I probably paid more taxes in SV because of the absolute value of the compensation. I also lived in some pretty lousy living situations. Coworker's made fun of my living arrangements because I lived like a student who rented rooms in homes for awhile.

I know some new grads living in SF right now (pal's kids) and they are paying $4000/mo rent for a one bedroom. They make $100k each but between rent and life I don't think they're on a path to early retirement. So it really depends on how you handle your lifestyle.