See, you're looking purely in terms of financial economics.
But, just as there are other forms of wealth than financial wealth, there are other forms of economics, like social economics.
Your decision to take the XX% improved pay in the higher COL area surely will improve your balance sheet over a decade.
But what will your peers look like after that decade? Will they be a bunch of 40yo millionaire single people all secretly worried that they took a bad tradeoff?
Will the dating pool be full of careerist greedy types? Or family-focused types?
I've lived all over the US, and can't recommend enough making actual sacrifices for family. As in, yes, less 401k contribution this year, but I get a house proper for raising children and a stay-at-home wife that is extremely happily homeschooling our brood.
So funny, too: Building intergenerational capital for your family is now easier in low CoL areas, because the sacrifices imposed upon children raised in high COL areas are arguably much more damaging than them having smaller college funds.
(specifically: dual-income requirement means less parental time, plus high COL areas have spent the past decade making their schools less competitive in order to eradicate, for one example, the horrid specter of white supremacy from the math classroom, where it has loomed large for generations, apparently, which makes the "but the schools" argument basically irrelevant).
Can't recommend enough: Move to the country, homeschool your kids, spend as much time as possible with them.
Finally, basically the very most common deathbed confession is guilt regarding prioritizing work over family.
Do you actually care about regret-minimization? Or do you really truly care about buying baubles and ensuring your children are just as entranced with the rat race as you and all your peers are? If the latter, stay in SF!
But, just as there are other forms of wealth than financial wealth, there are other forms of economics, like social economics.
Your decision to take the XX% improved pay in the higher COL area surely will improve your balance sheet over a decade.
But what will your peers look like after that decade? Will they be a bunch of 40yo millionaire single people all secretly worried that they took a bad tradeoff?
Will the dating pool be full of careerist greedy types? Or family-focused types?
I've lived all over the US, and can't recommend enough making actual sacrifices for family. As in, yes, less 401k contribution this year, but I get a house proper for raising children and a stay-at-home wife that is extremely happily homeschooling our brood.
So funny, too: Building intergenerational capital for your family is now easier in low CoL areas, because the sacrifices imposed upon children raised in high COL areas are arguably much more damaging than them having smaller college funds.
(specifically: dual-income requirement means less parental time, plus high COL areas have spent the past decade making their schools less competitive in order to eradicate, for one example, the horrid specter of white supremacy from the math classroom, where it has loomed large for generations, apparently, which makes the "but the schools" argument basically irrelevant).
Can't recommend enough: Move to the country, homeschool your kids, spend as much time as possible with them.
Finally, basically the very most common deathbed confession is guilt regarding prioritizing work over family.
Do you actually care about regret-minimization? Or do you really truly care about buying baubles and ensuring your children are just as entranced with the rat race as you and all your peers are? If the latter, stay in SF!