California lifestyle?
#151
Race Director
#152
#153
Making 6 figures in Silicon Valley is basically a requirement and just about every professional is pushing that level quickly, or they won't even be able to live here. And that's for a single person. Married with a kid or two? Break even is about $250k annual household income minimum if you don't want to live in a really crappy apartment or your car.
#154
Making 6 figures in Silicon Valley is basically a requirement and just about every professional is pushing that level quickly, or they won't even be able to live here. And that's for a single person. Married with a kid or two? Break even is about $250k annual household income minimum if you don't want to live in a really crappy apartment or your car.
#155
Pro
California is great!
I live in Venice. On my way to the gym the other day, while riding my bicycle in a $1.5mm + neighborhood, I saw a used heroin needle and a bunch of used mini duster canisters on the ground.
The taxes are high, the traffic sucks and tons of homeless. You'll love it!
No where better IMO
I live in Venice. On my way to the gym the other day, while riding my bicycle in a $1.5mm + neighborhood, I saw a used heroin needle and a bunch of used mini duster canisters on the ground.
The taxes are high, the traffic sucks and tons of homeless. You'll love it!
No where better IMO
#158
Racer
#159
Race Director
I made $28k out of college in 1990. Took 7 years but the wife and i saved enough to buy a home 2 miles from the ocean. Now you need to make $250k and the place is shaky. Sad really.
#160
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Location: West Los Angeles & Truckee, CA
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Bottom line - every place has its ups and downs. California is like a Country. Not everywhere is expensive or high tech etc. It has beauty and ugly. And so forth. Parts of LA County are a hell hole and parts are beyond compare. Pepperdine is a fairly pretty school as an example. The great parts and the great schools are becoming so much harder to access. That is different than 10 even 20 years ago. Then there are smaller places e.g. Sonoma, SLO, Carmel, SB, etc., that are also amazing. My other personal favorite is Encinitas in SD. Our Company is expanding in other locations actually faster than in CA e.g. Boston, Austin and Denver, as they have so much to offer and are attractive locations to live in. I think you have to have 2 places to live in. My plan is to “retire” in Manhattan Beach and really walk everywhere ( beach, restaurants etc.). Get in the car on occasion and really only for fun. Right now the damn kids are in the way of that plan. For me, if I can afford it, I have to be close to the water. That’s why I’m here. Can’t beat the weather and the beauty that it brings. I will never live in Arizona for example. Could live in Austin (on the water) or CO near mountains.. But I’d have to have a place here for summer or winter depending on which one 😀.
Outside of CA, I,d say Sydney.. Perfection. But also expensive.. Cars are more than double and housing is crazy expensive just like LA or SF.
Outside of CA, I,d say Sydney.. Perfection. But also expensive.. Cars are more than double and housing is crazy expensive just like LA or SF.
#161
Race Director
Bottom line - every place has its ups and downs. California is like a Country. Not everywhere is expensive or high tech etc. It has beauty and ugly. And so forth. Parts of LA County are a hell hole and parts are beyond compare. Pepperdine is a fairly pretty school as an example. The great parts and the great schools are becoming so much harder to access. That is different than 10 even 20 years ago. Then there are smaller places e.g. Sonoma, SLO, Carmel, SB, etc., that are also amazing. My other personal favorite is Encinitas in SD. Our Company is expanding in other locations actually faster than in CA e.g. Boston, Austin and Denver, as they have so much to offer and are attractive locations to live in. I think you have to have 2 places to live in. My plan is to “retire” in Manhattan Beach and really walk everywhere ( beach, restaurants etc.). Get in the car on occasion and really only for fun. Right now the damn kids are in the way of that plan. For me, if I can afford it, I have to be close to the water. That’s why I’m here. Can’t beat the weather and the beauty that it brings. I will never live in Arizona for example. Could live in Austin (on the water) or CO near mountains.. But I’d have to have a place here for summer or winter depending on which one 😀.
Outside of CA, I,d say Sydney.. Perfection. But also expensive.. Cars are more than double and housing is crazy expensive just like LA or SF.
Outside of CA, I,d say Sydney.. Perfection. But also expensive.. Cars are more than double and housing is crazy expensive just like LA or SF.
#162
GT3 player par excellence
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thread seem to took on an tangent, so I'll have some fun
"However, my friends daughter - who went all the way through LA public schools system - got into Berkeley and now works in the Bay for a tech Company equal to Google - and doesnt live on the 405 and she makes considerably more than $40K at 26. It can be done.
I went through so cal public school, - got into berkeley then MIT. I don't know what google is ( I thought it's a search engine where I can find ****, it works well for that purpose ) and I cant type. I live next to 280 fwy, I kid you not. I made $24k at 26. I think that was 20+ years ago though
I think each state has issues. but CA isn't that bad.
affordable housing... that's really politics...
and as an ex architect, I did plenty of that....
worker harder make more than housing becomes affordable
the society doesnt owe you to provide affordable housing.
housing is a privilege not a right....
geese, did I just say that...
I guess I cant run for president now.
"However, my friends daughter - who went all the way through LA public schools system - got into Berkeley and now works in the Bay for a tech Company equal to Google - and doesnt live on the 405 and she makes considerably more than $40K at 26. It can be done.
I went through so cal public school, - got into berkeley then MIT. I don't know what google is ( I thought it's a search engine where I can find ****, it works well for that purpose ) and I cant type. I live next to 280 fwy, I kid you not. I made $24k at 26. I think that was 20+ years ago though
I think each state has issues. but CA isn't that bad.
affordable housing... that's really politics...
and as an ex architect, I did plenty of that....
worker harder make more than housing becomes affordable
the society doesnt owe you to provide affordable housing.
housing is a privilege not a right....
geese, did I just say that...
I guess I cant run for president now.
#163
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Washington, Ontario, Michigan
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This is a really great thread. I thought about CA for a few years now but as someone coming from MI it seems like an impossible task from a housing perspective. We also have a place in the Toronto suburbs but even that pales in comparison to some of the housing we found in parts of LA. I would like to try one day however. You CA guys seem to have all the fun.
#164
I would move to CA but its not the housing cost that bothers me its the state income tax, I would get crucified. I guess I should just rent a house there April through Sep?
#165
Race Director
This includes renting a house a few months or more per year. The notion that you can just live 51% of the year in another state and avoid being taxed in California is not true anymore.
Though Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Sonoma counties experience their share of audits, historically the most common casualties are affluent "snowbirds" who own vacation homes in the Palm Springs area as an escape from the winter blasts of the Midwest or northern states. In fact, many of the major cases in residency taxation are eerily similar: they usually involve Midwesterners who own winter vacation homes in Palm Springs and environs. If the FTB finds significant taxable income coupled with meaningful contacts with California (such as a vacation home, business interests or long visits to the state), it can lead to the launch of a full-blown residency audit.
In some ways, these audits are the equivalent of the old-fashioned speed trap, with the difference that a speed trap usually nets the state about $500, while these residency audits can often fill the state's coffers with tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes. And for the taxpayer this may also mean years of legal wrangling.
If a large enough tax liability is at stake, to establish legal residency, FTB auditors may appear out of nowhere to interview neighbors. They can subpoena a taxpayer's utility bills, credit card statements and check register. They solicit affidavits from friends (and enemies). In general, they pry into a taxpayer's private affairs.
The weightiest factors for residency are (based on case law, regulation and the practice of auditors):
- Ownership or lease of real estate.
- Business interests or employment.
- Financial accounts, such as banks and investments, safe deposit boxes.
- A spouse's residency (they don't have to be the same)
- Schools children attend.
- Voter registration.
- Automobile registration and license
- Use of professional services such as a primary physician, dentists, accountants and lawyers.
- Professional licenses.
- Family ties and social life.
- Representations of residency in social media or websites (where does your Twitter account say you're tweeting from?).
- Address used on various tax documents, such as a federal return (form 1040) or W-2s, 1099s, K-1s, etc.
- Location of important personal belongings such as family heirlooms, art, or important documents.
- Membership in clubs and gyms.
- And of course, where you spend most of your time.