I'm beginning to realize that I can't afford to live here anymore (San Jose: condo, mortgage)

[countofmc]

Originally Posted by zombocom

How old are you? 63k isn't exactly a bad starting salary for the first few years.

How did you rack up 70,000 in student loans going to a CSU?

That student loan is killing you, and is the problem. That's 15% of your gross income.

I'll let him answer, but that doesn't seem out of the ordinary. CSU tuition has gone up quite a bit. Plus living expenses. You are looking at at least 20k/year. 80k for 4 years.

I think CSUs are generally designed to be commuter schools, so students can save money by living with parents. But Cal Poly SLO is probably one of the exceptions, it's more of a "destination/dorm" college.

[zombocom]

Well, I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but he could have gone to a C.C for the first two years, and also worked a part time job while in college. CSU tuition is still about 3,500 less a year than what I paid at a U.C.

[countofmc]

Originally Posted by zombocom

Well, I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but he could have gone to a C.C for the first two years, and also worked a part time job while in college. CSU tuition is still about 3,500 less a year than what I paid at a U.C.

I did all that while walking through the snow to get to class to save money by not having a car, yaddy yaddy yada yada.

Spilled milk. I agree it's not optimal. Yes, he could have gone to JC and then transferred to a local CSU and saved money. But what's done is done, and that's not really the point of OP's thread, so saying stuff like that just makes one sound like an old codger.

[zombocom]

Perhaps not directly, but one reason why he is finding it hard to afford the lifestyle he wants is because of the lifestyle he chose to have while in college.

[countofmc]

Originally Posted by zombocom

Perhaps not directly, but one reason why he is finding it hard to afford the lifestyle he wants is because of the lifestyle he chose to have while in college.

That's true, but I think OP is just being hard on himself. 70k in debt to attend a good school (that's especially highly regarded for engineering) is not bad, and he's landed himself a solid position with good pay in his field. Plus the guy is saving like 30k/year. If he redirected all that to loans, he'd have the loans paid off in under 5 years.

These days at OP's age, you are ahead of the game if you aren't living in your parents' basement trying to figure out ways to dump that 100k of loans you took out to major in Art History on to the taxpayer.

[nightlysparrow]

Originally Posted by tonykent

"Spare time to enjoy life would decrease." Many middle class people with high income are also very busy, work so hard and don't have spare time to enjoy life.

Agreed. To get a house I worked a second job, every weekend. No daytime social life for awhile, but I went out nights. The money built up fast.
Guessing you salary at around 31.00 per hour, an extra 16 hours a week would get you almost 25K in a year.

[LittleDolphin]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

I think pride has made a lot of us hesitant to move away.

I remembered someone in my youth telling me "you were raised in California, your root is here, if you cannot make it here, then you have failed." Certainly at some point, survival necessity will take precedence over pride, but pride is really really strong especially if your family has been rooted in California.

There's a sense of elite-ism that Californians carry with them. Once they move out of state, they are no longer "elite". I know, it reeks of class discrimination but I think it's true in some ways--and I'm guilty of it to a certain sense as well

This is true..when we were considering moving from the Bay area, people would say, "But where else could you live?" as though CA was the end all and be all. It IS a fabulous state for those with the $ and leisure to enjoy its culture and natural beauty...but for those working, doing long commutes, it's just another metro area with a high cost of living and too much traffic.

Only you can decide if it's worth it to you...we made the move to North Carolina and are very happy we did.

But for you? Wherever you go, you'll still have that SL debt. Can you make more money elsewhere and lower your cost of living, too?? Research is needed...is your degree transportable (and experience) in demand in other areas of the country with a lower cost of living?

[zombocom]

Originally Posted by countofmc

That's true, but I think OP is just being hard on himself. 70k in debt to attend a good school (that's especially highly regarded for engineering) is not bad, and he's landed himself a solid position with good pay in his field. Plus the guy is saving like 30k/year. If he redirected all that to loans, he'd have the loans paid off in under 5 years.

These days at OP's age, you are ahead of the game if you aren't living in your parents' basement trying to figure out ways to dump that 100k of loans you took out to major in Art History on to the taxpayer.

I agree that he is overstating his woes - my wife has been working for 4 years at her job, her salary has gone from 48,000 to 70,000 in that time. It just takes time to progress up the ladder.

However, housing is ridiculous in the bay area, and nothing like what our parents had - the poor dude just has to realize that things are harder today than they used to be.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by LittleDolphin

This is true..when we were considering moving from the Bay area, people would say, "But where else could you live?" as though CA was the end all and be all. It IS a fabulous state for those with the $ and leisure to enjoy its culture and natural beauty...but for those working, doing long commutes, it's just another metro area with a high cost of living and too much traffic.

Only you can decide if it's worth it to you...we made the move to North Carolina and are very happy we did.

Exactly. That's what everyone around me says as well. It's like "WHY would you move?" And most people who moved never came back. And I'm not sure if it's because they don't want to come back, or if they could not come back due to financial constraints anymore.

One more thing from the OP: He's sharing a house with 3 other folks, yet his portion is $800. So that means the monthly rent plus utilities is $3200? This must be a nice decent house in a good neighborhood of San Jose, it cannot be a bad place like the OP said...OP can you clarify which area you're in? That monthly rent seems rather out of place for the majority of San Jose...

[countofmc]

Originally Posted by zombocom

I agree that he is overstating his woes - my wife has been working for 4 years at her job, her salary has gone from 48,000 to 70,000 in that time. It just takes time to progress up the ladder.

However, housing is ridiculous in the bay area, and nothing like what our parents had - the poor dude just has to realize that things are harder today than they used to be.

Exactly. It is what it is. He can choose to live here in the Bay Area and resign himself to renting indefinitely until his financial situation changes, or he can move. Either way, I think overall he's doing pretty well and should be happy.