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Movin' on... up? down? left?


Tank
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Community college is still cheaper. Our local CC has deals with several state schools where they offer some full 4 year degrees at the CC. One or two even offer a masters or two and at least one offers a doctorate as well. Basically the state universities have like a micro-campus here in NW Houston. So I'm probably going to chose a degree from one of them. The University of Houston is one of the most expensive public colleges in the state, so I don't want to go there. Prairie View A&M is close to my house, so that might work as well. At this point, I don't really care where the degree is from or what it even is.

 

I still don't have much of an interest in having a career, but I want to be able to not have to worry about money, housing, transportation, and healthcare. The last time I had a job that allowed me to not worry about that, it nearly killed me, but it's all I could get.

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If you can get the 4-year from a community college and save some cash, go for it. We have a new guy at work who did that and got his BS by age 20 because we have a dual enrollment program at our local CC so he graduated HS and got his AA at the same time. Now he has 2 more years of putting money into a 401k or IRA. He is a good employee too, and brighter than a lot of people with fancy pants degrees.

 

My husband has a degree in Aviation Management, but most of the people he works with have very random degrees. So often a BA/BS is just a litmus test for can you adult. Not always a fair test, mind you, but companies have bought into it as a screening method.

 

Personally, I wouldn't mind having the workplace go to more flexible arrangements like more part-time work. I would be perfectly happy working 30-32 hours and making 75-80% of my salary. The problem for me is my company will then only award you 50% paid time off to work 80%, which I don't think is a very fair trade. Might mess with my service time, too, not sure.

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If you can get the 4-year from a community college and save some cash, go for it. We have a new guy at work who did that and got his BS by age 20 because we have a dual enrollment program at our local CC so he graduated HS and got his AA at the same time. Now he has 2 more years of putting money into a 401k or IRA. He is a good employee too, and brighter than a lot of people with fancy pants degrees.

 

My husband has a degree in Aviation Management, but most of the people he works with have very random degrees. So often a BA/BS is just a litmus test for can you adult. Not always a fair test, mind you, but companies have bought into it as a screening method.

 

Personally, I wouldn't mind having the workplace go to more flexible arrangements like more part-time work. I would be perfectly happy working 30-32 hours and making 75-80% of my salary. The problem for me is my company will then only award you 50% paid time off to work 80%, which I don't think is a very fair trade. Might mess with my service time, too, not sure.

 

I plan to have Noah finish his AA/AS along with high school at the community college. A lot of homeschooled high schoolers do this. It just makes sense.

 

And this whole BA/BS as litmus test for can you adult is precisely my frustration right now. I'm closing in on 40. I have a family, 3 part-time jobs, and a crap-ton of volunteer gigs. That should be all the adulting proof they need, but OH NO!!

I'd suggest looking into Communications for your degree. The skillset that you get from it basically gives you a swiss army knife of tools that a lot of employers find extremely valuable. It's worked out fairly well for both me and the wife.

I'll look into that as well! Thanks!

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Man, I envy your job as a writer sometimes but I wouldn't want any job that dictated I live in or near a city. I live upstate NY, about 70 miles from NYC, so its not super cheap but nowhere near what you have to deal with or people who live nearer the city here. I own 2 homes and together they are much less expensive than the prices you are talking about.

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I'm about this****ingclose to moving my whole family to live in the wilderness somewhere. Wanna come?

 

That's all I have. Our finances and house situation have been pretty ****ty since Trevor was laid off back in 2015. I'm actually considering returning to school to get some BS 4 year degree because not having one at this point is getting painful.

https://www.beginningfarmers.org/funding-resources/ and https://www.beginningfarmers.org/finding-land-to-farm/

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I submitted an application on a place. More than I want to pay.. but I really like it. I am just going to go with the living the lifestyle I want, manifesting my shit, etc. Living there will make me happy.

 

Of course they application system assumes people are just normal folk with a boss and a monthly paycheck. That's not how it works for me, so hopefully they just look at my financials and see I'm not a risk.

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I honestly don't know how people live in LA. Some guy on the WEF moved to LA and used coding as his leg up to get in from England but it wasn't as shocking for him and surprisingly easy because well, London pricing is about the same. But others I know who went to LA were bust in a year and moved back in with their parents. Sending you super good juju that you get it, Tank. You deserve nice things and you can probably offset it with maybe some side gig hustle!

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I've been here for 21 years and have been able to adjust to the prices of things as they've increased. I've also finally gotten a high paying paying job. Well-- high paying anywhere else in the country, just upper middle class here, hence a 3 bd apt and not a house.

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London pricing is fucked. A small one bed flat to rent, and by small I mean a shoebox, is like 1400 quid (like 2600 us dollars) a month minimum. pretty much matter what borough you are in.

 

Where I live now, the same money you can rent a 3 bed 3 story terrace house with a front and back yard.

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Reporting analyst at a credit reseller/CRA. Its an invented position for my company. I imagine there are similar roles at other places, but i have ten years where I'm at so I know the products I'm working on very well. Id have to start from scratch somewhere else, and certainly wouldn't be making my current rate (not that I'm rich--far from it, we struggle every month, but they pay more in California, so).

My hope is sooner or later Ill work up to a promotion to business analyst, which has more transferable skills. My boss is aware that's my hope and has actively tried to get me training and side-by-side opportunities, there just haven't been many chances for it yet.

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Prostitution

if anyone would pay for it, I totally would

The question isn't if anyone would, it's if you would sell to the people willing to pay.

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On this topic, maybe you guys can help me with a similar thing.

My wife and I are still playing with the idea of moving to LA late next year. It's partially insane because we've been able to put ourselves in a position where we've relatively got it made here in Huntsville. We both work for NASA, we're in a ridiculously low cost of living area, we've built a great nest egg and are able to do all the fun stuff we want. Yet we both feel like we're in a bit of a rut.

 

It's kind of the same old same old around here, and I know she'd like to do something different. I'm kind of okay with where we're at, but I'm open minded about it and want to support her doing her thing. We have solid jobs, but they're so soul sucking sometimes. It would be nice to get out of the often-maddening government bureaucracy, but I'm realistic enough to know that much of the petty gossip and mundaneness will be the case just about anywhere.

My wife is encouraged by the story that a friend of ours had when her and her boyfriend moved out there. She went on a whim, got a good entry level marketing job pretty quick, and her and her boyfriend got a nice enough condo. Thing is, that same friend got laid off from her tech startup around a month ago so I know that fairy-tale isn't exactly bulletproof.

 

Part of me wants to take a risk for once in my life and go for it, but the other part realizes it's pretty irrational and would probably result in us losing a ton of our savings in such a costly state.

 

What do you guys think?

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Your life seems pretty awesome and stable-- but I am all for risks. I moved here 21 years ago with whatever fit in my car.

 

I would say moving here just to exist though seems like it would be a frustrating downgrade.

 

Moving here with a goal or intent might be better...

 

That said, you can get out of a rut by traveling more. You guys have gone on some pretty dope trips. I'd say go away more often, for longer stretches, and further away.

 

If you still don't like a stable home, sure, come on out.

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The dream for me is to take at least a month to backpack through South Asia.

Mostly Thailand since I know it so well now, but I'd like to hit up some of the neighborhood like Vietnam and Cambodia. That area of the world is just mindblowing. You don't realize how much into that rut you are in the Western world until you spend some time where everyone handles everything so much different. Everyone is just so laid back and hilarious around there. Plus it doesn't hurt that the scenery is amazing and everything is cheap. If I can get enough vacation time or seniority to do it, I'd like to make that happen in the next few years.

But as for LA, I really don't know. I feel like I'm in a place in my career where it wouldn't take a ton of work to find a good enough marketing or communications gig. And I've spent enough time there now to know that I like the area and most of the people in it. But I also know just about everything else would be a step down. No more house, no more international trips, stuff like that. I could go to Coachella to scratch the music itch, but I know it would be a far different world than taking our hippy bus up the road to Bonnaroo.

Maybe the trick is finding that middle road somehow.

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I'd say look around. There are plenty of bigger cities that aren't LA that could potentially scratch your itch. Huntsville is pretty small. What about somewhere like Austin?

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