Two questions I'll split over two posts because of character limits.

#1 - Should I move into a city to get more income?

I do IT work inna VERY rural area. The pay is shit, and all my friends (we all pretty much work in the same industry) tell me I should move to the Big City where I could make CASH MONEY. However, when I sit down and look at the cost of living expenses, I not only don't understand my friends' arguments, I'm honestly wondering if I should argue that they should be doing what I'm doing.

Rural (me):
$7k/mo income (one thing about rural IT work is that I've found there's almost no labor competition)
Property tax (I was actually able to afford a house out here)+Utilities+Grocery = $2k/mo

City (friend):
$10k/mo income
Rent (I can't afford suburb/city housing)+Utilities (this is the one thing that's way cheaper)+Grocery (about double) = $4k/mo

It's like...yes, I'd come out $1k/mo more, but:
Stability - I have practically no competition. My boss is great. I actually feel needed. My friends are in constant competition just to keep what they got.
Relative prices - If I lose my job out here, I can afford to live 4.5 mo off of one month's income compared to 2.5 mo off of one month's income. I also just..._feel_ richer, if that makes sense? Another sidepoint here: has anyone else noticed that online cost of living calculators are just WAY off? The numbers above I get directly from my friends, but when I look online, it's telling me it's like only a 10% difference.
Quality of goods - I own a house free and clear v. renting in a rat cage. That's huge. My friends are all, "Yeah, but the rent can be comparable if you live in X suburb and get a mortgage at..." and I'm just not buying it and don't understand what they're seeing.

>>33357116 (OP)
#2 - How do you know whether something is in your disposable income and you can afford to blow some free money?

I'm the only one out of my friend group that owns a house, a car, doesn't have debt, etc.. I've saved a lot and I'm to the point in my savings now where I was originally considering to do FIRE (it's getting close to a million USD in savings), but now I'm not because...I don't know how to explain this, but...paranoia? Like the VAST majority of my friends are NOT doing well. They're living like bugs. And those are the lucky IT bros with jobs, the rest are stuck in this hand-to-mouth existence. Hell, the above calculation is rosy, most of my friends living inna city have basically their entire paycheck eaten up by rent/utilities/groceries. If I look at how the cost of living is increasing, I could easily see my large savings getting destroyed by medical bills and taxes. My parents are looking like they won't get social security/be able to retire. I feel like I should keep saving as much as I can because when I look around, I'm lucky, I think that when I lose this job, I won't get anything nearly as good, so I need to save as much as I possibly can while times are good because the future looks so bleak.

On the flipside, I keep wanting to blow $10k to learn to fly so I can take my grandfather up in the air one last time before he dies. I feel like that's financially irresponsible given what I see around me, though. There are so many things I would like to finally be able to buy as well, though, that I feel like the moment I open that door, I'd lose everything.

>>33357116 (OP)
#1. Stay where you are. More IT jobs can be done remotely so chances are you could do a big city job from a distance. Plus you couldn't pay me $1K more to work in a city. Parking, congestion, crime... no thanks.

#2 - Disposable income is what is left expenses, savings for rainy-day emergencies and retirement. Have a financial goal (e.g. $5million for retirement) and see what it takes to get there.

>>33357116 (OP)
the big city can be fun, but usually it's something you seek out not try to convince yourself of. if you're convincing yourself, then it's not worth it.

hard to answer #2 without knowing how much you already have saved. are you investing your savings btw?

>>33357184
>Stay where you are.
Thanks.
>e.g. $5million for retirement
That number is so large I'd have to ponder for a bit about whether it's even theoretically possible to do in a lifetime even with compounding magic. I'm guessing this is just a number pulled out of a hat.
>>33357225
>the big city can be fun, but usually it's something you seek out not try to convince yourself of. if you're convincing yourself, then it's not worth it.
Thanks.
>without knowing how much you already have saved.
It's around $700k atm.
>are you investing your savings btw?
Yes. Most is in a standard Vanguard index fund. In practice, over the last 10 years, I've probably averaged 5% return as opposed to the theoretical 8 or 10% I keep hearing about.

>>33357336
hm, well it's obviously a personal decision. if i were you, i'd go for the flight lessons because you only live once and this seems like one of those kinds of expenses. however, there is obv opportunity cost. you'd lose not just the 10k but the growth of that 10k. if you're comfortable with that, then go for it.

>>33357116 (OP)
My opinion regarding your first question is that you should stay where you are for the very reasons you stated.

You have already figured out that your income to expense ratio would be much lower in the city. You have job stability where you are.

Your friends probably don’t understand the concept of equity if they are suggesting that it would cost the same to rent as opposed to owning your own house. Even disregarding the fact that you don’t have a mortgage, you also have a nice piece of property that you can sell in an emergency situation. That gives you options that renting will not. Have your friends ever owned their own house before? I am guessing they haven’t.

I own a condo because I don’t want to maintain my property by myself and also because we have control over who lives near us. But I would never go back to renting and not owning property. The only reason renting is better is if you need very short term housing.

>>33357336
>I'm guessing this is just a number pulled out of a hat.
Sort of... yes. But take what you are living on now and factor in inflation to the date of retirement to figure out what you will be spending. Then figure out how much you will have at that time.

>>33357116 (OP)
This is the most sensible post I've ever seen on /adv/.

>#1
Personally I think cities are complete shit. Too many people, too little greenery, everything is more expensive, everyone is more retarded, etc. Significantly more risk, too, should you lose a job and have to fend for yourself, for the reasons both you and I have listed. Some people really want to live in a city though (for some reason). You don't seem to be one of those people.
Don't move to a city unless it's for an extremely good opportunity. You can also probably work a remote job that pays more; you wouldnt have to move at all.

>#2
There's something in investing called "the 4% rule". What it says is that you can conservatively take 4% out of your retirement every year (with no other income source) and your retirement savings will not reduce, because the interest will replenish it.
For example, if in retirement you want to have an income of $100,000, you'll need to save a total of 2.5mil. Realistically you can actually have slightly less and still be fine, like 2.2mil.