I couldn't move to CA. Because I would have to use my savings to buy a smaller house than what I own now. I couldn't bring my "arsenal" with me for fear of becoming a felon. I'd make basically what I do here salary wise. And my cars probably wouldn't pass emissions requirements because I've never had to check before. So smaller house, car and home loans, same income, no savings, no $2/gallon gas …. .
It's easy enough to visit the places I want to see. We take a week a year and 2 weeks every other year to go places like LA, SF, NYC, Napa Valley, Florida, Paris, London, Rome, Colorado, Skiing, etc. We've traveled to every place we want to see and we have no debt and lots set aside. That's what living in boring flyover country can get you if you look really hard for the right job.
Of course, out there in the larger CA cities, if you ever have an upset stomach you don't need to find a place to go to the bathroom. Anywhere on the street works just fine. Make sure to log it in the poop app though.
My brother lived in the LA area up in the mountains by Lake Arrowhead for 25 years. Every time we came to visit, he'd show us around and finally get to do the fun stuff there is to do. Otherwise, he would go to work and go home and night, just like we do here. Sure there's more to do in some areas of the country. But 99.9% of people do the same thing on a weekly basis. Go to work, take care of the family, work on the house, go back to work. Sure, I'd love the mountains to get outdoors in near where I live. But given my work schedule, I doubt I'd get out to enjoy it as much as I dream about. I'd have to take vacation and schedule it just like I do from here. I might gain a weekend or two skiing, or at the lake, or in the mountains a year at best.
If you can make even close to the salary you make in CA in some other states, you only need to make sure there's an airport near where you live and the world's your playground. I have 5 or 6 more states to go see before I've been to all of them and 2 more countries on my list to visit. Then it's just going to do different things in some of them I've already seen. Not much different than someone in LA taking time off to go to SF, Tahoe, or Vegas to check them out.
Oh, and $800,000 will buy you a 5,200 sq ft house on 5 acres here. You could probably convert the home gym to another bedroom too if you decided you need 7. If you want more land it probably wouldn't be hard to find a $500,000-$600,000 acreage with a smaller 3,500-4,000 sq ft house on 10-15 acres. They go up in price if there's a pond and the land is suitable for farming. But then our property taxes will come kick you in the balls and you'll end up paying $800-1000/month for taxes on something like that.
I'm not a fan of LA so I wouldn't live there even without the weirdness and restrictions of CA. If I wanted mountains, there are plenty of places around the country with them. Or I can take a week or two off and rent a really nice place around the Dillon reservoir in Colorado, and get my fill each summer or winter. I've done the drive multiple times. It's not too bad. We normally end up at Lake of the Ozarks a long weekend or week each year. That's only 5-1/2 hours away. About like driving from LAX to my brother's place by Arrowhead if your plane lands too close to rush hour; but much less stressful driving through Iowa and Missouri.
Out here, we're accustomed to driving. Minneapolis 7 hours, Chicago 9, Denver 8, KC 3, Lake of the Ozarks 5-1/2 to 6, etc. There's a lot to do in a 9 driving hour radius. The last time I was in LA it took me almost 2 hours to get the 30 miles from Hollywood to the rental place by Disney. So they have a different definition of distance and time out there. That gets me about to the Kansas City Airport 170 miles from here.
It's easy enough to visit the places I want to see. We take a week a year and 2 weeks every other year to go places like LA, SF, NYC, Napa Valley, Florida, Paris, London, Rome, Colorado, Skiing, etc. We've traveled to every place we want to see and we have no debt and lots set aside. That's what living in boring flyover country can get you if you look really hard for the right job.
Of course, out there in the larger CA cities, if you ever have an upset stomach you don't need to find a place to go to the bathroom. Anywhere on the street works just fine. Make sure to log it in the poop app though.
My brother lived in the LA area up in the mountains by Lake Arrowhead for 25 years. Every time we came to visit, he'd show us around and finally get to do the fun stuff there is to do. Otherwise, he would go to work and go home and night, just like we do here. Sure there's more to do in some areas of the country. But 99.9% of people do the same thing on a weekly basis. Go to work, take care of the family, work on the house, go back to work. Sure, I'd love the mountains to get outdoors in near where I live. But given my work schedule, I doubt I'd get out to enjoy it as much as I dream about. I'd have to take vacation and schedule it just like I do from here. I might gain a weekend or two skiing, or at the lake, or in the mountains a year at best.
If you can make even close to the salary you make in CA in some other states, you only need to make sure there's an airport near where you live and the world's your playground. I have 5 or 6 more states to go see before I've been to all of them and 2 more countries on my list to visit. Then it's just going to do different things in some of them I've already seen. Not much different than someone in LA taking time off to go to SF, Tahoe, or Vegas to check them out.
Oh, and $800,000 will buy you a 5,200 sq ft house on 5 acres here. You could probably convert the home gym to another bedroom too if you decided you need 7. If you want more land it probably wouldn't be hard to find a $500,000-$600,000 acreage with a smaller 3,500-4,000 sq ft house on 10-15 acres. They go up in price if there's a pond and the land is suitable for farming. But then our property taxes will come kick you in the balls and you'll end up paying $800-1000/month for taxes on something like that.
I'm not a fan of LA so I wouldn't live there even without the weirdness and restrictions of CA. If I wanted mountains, there are plenty of places around the country with them. Or I can take a week or two off and rent a really nice place around the Dillon reservoir in Colorado, and get my fill each summer or winter. I've done the drive multiple times. It's not too bad. We normally end up at Lake of the Ozarks a long weekend or week each year. That's only 5-1/2 hours away. About like driving from LAX to my brother's place by Arrowhead if your plane lands too close to rush hour; but much less stressful driving through Iowa and Missouri.
Out here, we're accustomed to driving. Minneapolis 7 hours, Chicago 9, Denver 8, KC 3, Lake of the Ozarks 5-1/2 to 6, etc. There's a lot to do in a 9 driving hour radius. The last time I was in LA it took me almost 2 hours to get the 30 miles from Hollywood to the rental place by Disney. So they have a different definition of distance and time out there. That gets me about to the Kansas City Airport 170 miles from here.
Last edited:
