I’ve started a job that is 100% Remote. I can work anywhere in the USA and I’d like to make the most of the opportunity. I’ve got nothing tying me down to any specific geographical area of the country right now, so I’m looking for some ideas concerning where to move and what to do with the 9 hours of the day that I’m not working remotely or sleeping.
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Obviously, either Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, or Wyoming. Pick your poison.
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If you’ve just gotten this job, dont do anything too drastic until you’ve settled in and are sure it is working out.
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First, make sure the employer truly doesn’t care about your location. While working remotely I’ve been told by an employer that I can’t move to a state where the company doesn’t have any employees and that a move would trigger a cost-of-living adjustment (up or down).
As qcumber98 mentioned, you could minimize taxes (income, sales, property, etc) and living expenses. If you’re a homebody and move to a place with good public transportation, you could save money by not having a car. If you don’t want to be tied down, maybe a RV would work better.
I’m assuming you’re asking in terms of financials, not for us to tell you to figure out your hobbies.
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Agree with both scripta and qcumber98. If you have to interface with anyone in a particular time zone with some frequency, it may behoove you to move somewhere inside that time zone. For instance, if you regularly have to take 9am ET calls, living in Alaska (5AM) or Washington (6AM) wouldn’t be great.
I live in Washington and I can tell you that the lack of an income tax is a huge perk. While the cost of living is high here, we make enough and are frugal enough that it really isn’t too heavy a burden. By comparison, I grew up in New York - had we been making what we are making here but living in NYS, we’d not only have a high cost of living, but we’d also be forking out tens of thousands more in higher income and property taxes.
Sort of off-topic - roths also make a lot of sense in no income tax states. It gives you more flexibility in terms of where you might live in retirement. If you’re withdrawing that money tax-free because you “paid” income tax in the state where you resided when you made the deposit, who cares if the state you retire in has a high income tax?
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Interesting thread.
I guess it sort of depends on where you live now and how well you like it. High rent isn’t a complete fail if you like living in the city, although you could certainly downsize. Portland or Seattle instead of San Francisco, Philly or Chicago instead of New York, etc.
You could also just move out to the burbs of wherever you are now, since your daily commute isn’t an issue anymore.
I’m also assuming you’re youngish, and renting. I wouldn’t want to be tied down to real estate if your next job isn’t remote and you have to move again.
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Nomad says non sequitur.
Can’t tell if you’re joking (I’ve used public transportation in Seattle and Austin, thought it was fine), but that’s also not what I wrote – I was listing separate options.
Not directly finance related but:
• Eat healthy by cooking your meals at home. Having a full kitchen at your disposal will make it easier to eat healthy, than if you’ve only got the office microwave available and/or you feel pressure to eat out w/ coworkers.
• If you can get your work done anytime rather than being available at certain hours, run errands when most people are in the office and thus there are smaller crowds to deal with. When I worked remote, I hit the gym everyday during “regular business hours” and would easily save 20-30 minutes each time simply by not having to wait for equipment to free up. Similar time savings for when I made Costco runs while the rest of the city was in the office.
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Some factors to consider:
- Single male in my 30s: Meeting new people and starting random friendships while having interesting things to do is important to me. Moving to a 1000-population town in low cost of living rural Mississippi is not for me at this time.
- Part time job: I would want to get a part time job somewhere… partly for social reasons and partly because the pay of my remote job is merely ok - not great. Even better if the job is somewhat physical… after being stuck at my desk at home all day, I want to be moving around.
- Mid term goals - Get an MBA. Work at a radio station: I look the GMAT a few years ago and scored in the top 10%. I’m interested in pursuing a part time MBA, so living near a university with a low-cost option would be a huge plus. Also, I’ve always had an interest in radio. I’ve heard the pay in radio sucks, but even it were minimum wage, I’d like to give working at a radio station a shot.
Congrats on your enhanced freedom! So you’re seeking ideas. Here is an idea for you:
Don’t click if you’re one who requires urban/suburban stimulation and who objects to making dump runs.
Come to think of it, I’ll bet there are people reading this who don’t even know what a dump run is!!
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Yes. :-
As someone working mostly remotely, you also need to ask your employer whether you’d have to make trips to the main office often. For me, that’s maybe twice a year (for a week or so typically). Usually it’s for training but in some jobs it may be also for collaborative projects or other reasons. Just be clear about it up front. That may inform your destination as in picking somewhere with a nearby airport with direct flights to headquarters.
Also hardware/software setup is important. I need good internet access to VPN in, work, and do things like audio/video conferencing. In the middle of nowhere with shitty satellite dish access is not an option that my employer (or me) would entertain. It depends on the job but connectivity for remote work is often very important.
Finally, consider growth in your job. Physical presence is still worth considerable amounts. Those who are in the office are more visible and get promotions drastically more frequently. Management is not an option for remote work at most companies. Just depends on your career plan.
As far as location, regular real estate rules still apply. You can go to a low-CoL area but within it, you’ll want locations that will appreciate.
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Alaska is the clear answer. They pay you to live there.
What kind of climate do you prefer? hot, cold, snow, rain ?
What about activities? do you prefer/want to have pro sports, ski resorts, fishing, the beach, etc nearby?
Clearly hunting (for 
or maybe 
) is a priority 
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How about New Orleans? Not that cheap anymore, but lots of 
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Especially if you don’t have to work before noon. 
Most of the people in my neighborhood in New Orleans coming in seem to either own businesses, or they’re on a remote salary from somewhere else. Our economy isn’t that good,