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HomePersonal SituationHow Much Money Would it Take for Your Job? Your Family? Friends?

How Much Money Would it Take for Your Job? Your Family? Friends?

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I grew up on Long Island, I went to undergraduate school on Long Island, I went to Law School on Long Island, I live about 5 miles from my parents, I work on Long Island and most of my friends are on this Island, but I would leave it (at least for a little bit) for a dollar amount.  Would You?

An Unsolicited Headhunter Causes Uproar

I couple months ago I received an unsolicited email from a headhunter,

Below please find detailed information regarding several searches we are conducting. Relocation packages are available.

Wealth Strategists

Boca Raton, Dallas, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Las Vegas, Newport Beach, Phoenix, & Houston

  • Tax and estate planning, cash flow analysis and comprehensive financial planning; extensive client contact
  • 120 – 150 area base, 150 – low 200’s package
  • Seeking strong technical planner with excellent client facing skills

Wait a minute…I currently “do” tax and estate planning, I currently “do” Cash Flow Analysis, I create comprehensive financial plans and I love meeting with clients and other professionals.  Oh yeah, we are talking Low 200s? Woah, I am not sure about you but I consider that a fantastic salary.  Especially when you consider the cities I would have been making that in…Las Vegas is a a lot cheaper than NYC/Long Island.  After talking to The Wife, we decided that if they were really talking that kind of money it is worth a reply email and phone call.

Obviously this particular opportunity didn’t work out – if it had worked out you know I would have shared all the details!

What I learned from This Headhunter

Even though I have a job that I love and live in a place that I am comfortable I can be bought.

Can you be bought? How much would it take?

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27 COMMENTS

  1. Las Vegas? From Long Island? I’d think that one over carefully…consider the culture shock.

    Easterners often have a hard time adjusting to life in a cultural desert. Most Southwestern cities are nothing but sprawling bedroom communities. They have little cultural life, weak educational systems, and not a lot to offer folks who aren’t into hiking, hunting, and fishing. Las Vegas has a lot going on, if you enjoy stage shows by superannuated pop stars. But as for higher forms of entertainment…well.

    • The whole thing didn’t work out but do you know what kind of house $500K buys here vs there! Although I have no idea how I’d survive the culture shock of gambling lol

  2. Right now, I would move – not too attached to any place. But with kids, this complicates things a little!

  3. The older we get, the less we tend to be bought. Why? Kids, families, friends, schools for kids, lifestyle, culture, income… But if it comes with more advantages in the majority of those above, then yes, I would move!

      • True!! Will not NEED to move anymore, but I actually like moving so we’ll see! 😉 And thank you for the post’s comment. I’m glad you found it inspiring! I’ll try to give my followers more details on how we did it in the next weeks.

  4. I can’t be bought without a hefty price tag that will take care of me and my family for a longggg while.

  5. Financial Blogger says it best. It would take a lot of money to give up our setup here with 2 incomes, close to family and okay COL.

    However, if we lost both of our incomes, then that all goes out the window. Suddenly our geographical preferences are open again. I would use the opportunity to move to a place with more jobs than where I am now.

    • You know what is interesting if I had to guess I bet state to state migration wasn’t up during our recent unemployment spike.

      • I think part of the reason that less people were relocating was that companies had stopped offering relo packages with job offers. In the past most companies also had a buyout option too and that’s ancient history with all the underwater homes out there.

        The people who had it easiest during this downturn were the entry level folks. They are pretty cheap relatively speaking and many weren’t tied to post bubble mortgages.

  6. Hmmm, low $200,000s… That is a lot of money, if my kids were in college, I would give it a try!

    But since my kids are in school and established here, I would consider going out, but leaving them at our hometown city. I would work for 5 years, then come back to my home town again. It would suck for me, but if I did it right, I could semi-retire after those 5 years!

    Hmmm, I don’t know, I really enjoy my kids and would really really really (yep that much) miss them!

    • I don’t know if I could semi-leave The Wife and Kids for 5 years…but to make them come with me for an increase in lifestyle/savings/early retirement.

  7. If the price is REALLY right, and i mean REALLY….it might be worth doing for a few years and even spending some of the extra money to communte back to NY on occasion. Once you’ve banked enough you can determine if the new city is right for you or you want to move back.

    • This parituclar opportunity didn’t work out for me but with that kind of money I would have flown home to see the parents/brothers/friends

  8. I turned down a major increase over something similar. It was more responsibility, would have to move to higher cost of living area actually and in the end, it’s only money. We’re getting by just fine and I’m in no rush to turn my life upside down. To each his own.

    • Interesting. Did you have an amount in mind that would have changed your mind? Would you not turn your “life upside down” for $500K/yr? $750K?

      • I don’t know; I guess when it becomes absurd, you throw caution to the wind and go. but it was about 80-90% total comp increase and I passed. if you’d asked me before, i’d say that was absurd. but when confronted with the opportunity, it just wasn’t worth it. (figured more like 40-50% when cost of living and commute factored in).

  9. If it was enough that we could live comfortably with only one income (now we have two), then we could be bought. Even though I always said I wanted to live far away from family, after I had kids they sucked me back in. I have a good family though, so it’s not so bad.

  10. I don’t know if I can be bought… it would have to be a lot of money for me to move away from my friends and family.

    The cost of living definitely comes into play to.

    I would say… hmm maybe $150K? 🙂 (that is an unrealistic number too, because no one makes that kind of money in my industry lol)

  11. We cannot be bought. My husband had an offer from Microsoft back in 1997 that we turned down because of family commitments. We would be rich now I am sure based on what was offered. However, staying here allowed me to care for my grandma and my father, which was incredibly important to me.

    • I really do respect that. This post may seem ridiculous when I read it back in 20+ years when I have to take care of my parents

  12. I can be bought for however much it takes me to move without losing money. The world is too big to stay in one place all your life.

    • That is a really cool attitude. I do get to travel but I think it would just be fantastic to live in another part of the Country and a fantastic salary would push me over the edge lol

  13. Relocating is a big risk as well, I had new someone that did it only to find out he was stepping in to a huge mess and a failing company. Hey, I also would like to feature this in the working mom post I am working on, would you mind? Let me know!
    Juggling Mama

  14. It definitely makes sense to consider better offers. The thing I have seen far too often is people focusing too much on the bottom line $$$ figure. The salary matters but for a overall well being other things also matter a great deal. They are much harder to compare. But just because it is harder to compare is not a reason to focus so much on only salary.

    It reminds me of a Russell Ackoff quote “Managers who don’t know how to measure what they want settle for wanting what they can measure.” https://www.management-quotes.net/quote/37452

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