Coming to terms with Being Middle Class

[Bryan O’Blivion]

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I don't fly a ton - just a few times per year on average. I do pay more if a direct flight is an option because connections add risk and hassle.

But I'm a little perplexed at why people cite easy access to a major international airport as a reason to put up with living in a HCOL area. Seriously how close do you need to be?

10 minutes?

Is an hour (or even two) such a hardship to drive a few or a dozen times per year to get to and from an airport? Of course not. Some people commute that much to work every day. If you're going to spend five or eleven hours on a plane, what's so awful about two hours in your car?

The country is full of low and medium COL places within two hours of a major international airport. I'm less than 90 minutes from two of them in one of the highest cost of living cities in the US (Washington DC) yet I live in a low to mid COL place. My home and property would easily cost 10x as much if it was inside the beltway.

My travel plans hopes and dreams aren't the last bit impeded by being a whole hour away from Dulles.

While I agree with you, there is something great about living close to an airport with direct international flights. If you like to vacation internationally, it’s nice to consolidate your travel days because you can get a direct flight to Madrid, Schipol, Frankfurt, De Gaulle, etc. Coordinating flights from the middle of the country adds travel time and makes your vacation feel shorter. I find this to be one of the painful realities of my middle class life. My European vacations are shorter than those folks who have made it. 😉

 

[crash2500]

I don't fly a ton - just a few times per year on average. I do pay more if a direct flight is an option because connections add risk and hassle.

But I'm a little perplexed at why people cite easy access to a major international airport as a reason to put up with living in a HCOL area. Seriously how close do you need to be?

10 minutes?

Is an hour (or even two) such a hardship to drive a few or a dozen times per year to get to and from an airport? Of course not. Some people commute that much to work every day. If you're going to spend five or eleven hours on a plane, what's so awful about two hours in your car?

The country is full of low and medium COL places within two hours of a major international airport. I'm less than 90 minutes from two of them in one of the highest cost of living cities in the US (Washington DC) yet I live in a low to mid COL place. My home and property would easily cost 10x as much if it was inside the beltway.

My travel plans hopes and dreams aren't the least bit impeded by being a whole hour away from Dulles.

When you have young kids and family in multiple states every minute makes a difference....

 

[pgg]

When you have young kids and family in multiple states every minute makes a difference....

I guess.

It just seems patently ridiculous to tolerate a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar difference in income-minus-expenses to live and work in a HCOL area, and then say saving half an hour in the car with your kids (a few times per year) is a good reason why.

 

[pgg]

While I agree with you, there is something great about living close to an airport with direct international flights. If you like to vacation internationally, it’s nice to consolidate your travel days because you can get a direct flight to Madrid, Schipol, Frankfurt, De Gaulle, etc. Coordinating flights from the middle of the country adds travel time and makes your vacation feel shorter. I find this to be one of the painful realities of my middle class life. My European vacations are shorter than those folks who have made it. 😉

I hear you

Though if travel time to Europe is the issue, that seems to me to be a reason to live in a LCOL area on the east coast rather than a LCOL area in Indiana or a LCOL/HCOL area on the west coast. 🙂

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I don't fly a ton - just a few times per year on average. I do pay more if a direct flight is an option because connections add risk and hassle.

But I'm a little perplexed at why people cite easy access to a major international airport as a reason to put up with living in a HCOL area. Seriously how close do you need to be?

10 minutes?

Is an hour (or even two) such a hardship to drive a few or a dozen times per year to get to and from an airport? Of course not. Some people commute that much to work every day. If you're going to spend five or eleven hours on a plane, what's so awful about two hours in your car?

The country is full of low and medium COL places within two hours of a major international airport. I'm less than 90 minutes from two of them in one of the highest cost of living cities in the US (Washington DC) yet I live in a low to mid COL place. My home and property would easily cost 10x as much if it was inside the beltway.

My travel plans hopes and dreams aren't the least bit impeded by being a whole hour away from Dulles.

Agreed. I'm, depending on traffic, a shade over an hour from Charlotte. We'll drive there as opposed to doing our regional airport to Charlotte as a connection. But otherwise I don't mind having to go to Dallas or Atlanta or wherever to then get a direct flight to pretty much anywhere in the world.

 

[nimbus]

I rarely fly. For me it’s not the airports but the H-mart and all the things that come with one. If there’s no H-mart, I’m probably not going to want to live there.

H Mart Locations

Enjoy the best of Korean cuisine with our authentic dishes delivered right to your door in the US!

www.hmart.com

 

[narcotics999]

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I rarely fly. For me it’s not the airports but the H-mart and all the things that come with one. If there’s no H-mart, I’m probably not going to want to live there.

H Mart Locations

Enjoy the best of Korean cuisine with our authentic dishes delivered right to your door in the US!

www.hmart.com

I used to live [emoji[emoji[emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji[emoji6]][emoji[emoji6]]]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]][emoji[emoji[emoji6]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]]]] blocks away from an s-mart. Walk over to shop, lol

 

[aneftp]

I guess.

It just seems patently ridiculous to tolerate a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar difference in income-minus-expenses to live and work in a HCOL area, and then say saving half an hour in the car with your kids (a few times per year) is a good reason why.

Florida isn’t cheap anymore. The dc area used to be super expensive and I’m looking at my sister home in Tyson corner proper (5200 sq feet) and it’s close to 2 million. And that’s what my low cost of living Florida home cost (6000 sq feet) (2.2 million)

Same my my child hood best friend home in Bethesda proper is 3.5 million. Not much different than a tampa or Orlando equivalent home. The Tampa home on the water is even more expensive.

 

[MTGas2B]

I rarely fly. For me it’s not the airports but the H-mart and all the things that come with one. If there’s no H-mart, I’m probably not going to want to live there.

H Mart Locations

Enjoy the best of Korean cuisine with our authentic dishes delivered right to your door in the US!

www.hmart.com

Your link is missing 10 stores...

STORES — H MART Pacific Northwest | Better Food! Better Life!

Store Index Page of Asian Grocery H Mart Pacific Northwest’s Webpage

www.hmartus.com

 

[narcotics999]

Florida isn’t cheap anymore. The dc area used to be super expensive and I’m looking at my sister home in Tyson corner proper (5200 sq feet) and it’s close to 2 million. And that’s what my low cost of living Florida home cost (6000 sq feet) (2.2 million)

Same my my child hood best friend home in Bethesda proper is 3.5 million. Not much different than a tampa or Orlando equivalent home. The Tampa home on the water is even more expensive.

Time to come to Midwest. Midwest will be the winner of global warming. 1 million buys you a really nice house.

 

[crash2500]

I guess.

It just seems patently ridiculous to tolerate a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar difference in income-minus-expenses to live and work in a HCOL area, and then say saving half an hour in the car with your kids (a few times per year) is a good reason why.

Oh I don't live in hcol. I'm in the Midwest in a metro with an international airport though. I would never live in sf, ny, la, DC, etc. But you don't have to go rural to get the best of both worlds.

 

[coffeebythelake]

Large or Medium-sized airport is important for locum work. Connecting flights is undesirable and can easily turn a 3 hour flight into an all day problem

 

[narcotics999]

Large or Medium-sized airport is important for locum work. Connecting flights is undesirable and can easily turn a 3 hour flight into an all day problem

The administration is sending out pink slips to ATC, TSA. I will not fly to anywhere.

 

[aneftp]

The administration is sending out pink slips to ATC, TSA. I will not fly to anywhere.

The good younger or middle age employees will leave. The bad ones or the ones close to their magic retirement age will ride it out to the end. Think about your VA doctor demographics.

And the plane crash was caused by helicopter pilot error not air traffic. Trump a little crazy blaming DEI

Speaking of DEI. There are pending reverse discrimination lawsuits now that trump is in offices against residency programs selecting too many women and non white/asian males

Will see how the acgme and aamc respond to this as the require federal tax money in terms of Medicare funding of residency programs.

Lawyers love this stuff.

How will it affect this match process for this upcoming March? They can probably skirt by this match but next year match may be different.

 

[Splenda88]

Florida isn’t cheap anymore. The dc area used to be super expensive and I’m looking at my sister home in Tyson corner proper (5200 sq feet) and it’s close to 2 million. And that’s what my low cost of living Florida home cost (6000 sq feet) (2.2 million)

Same my my child hood best friend home in Bethesda proper is 3.5 million. Not much different than a tampa or Orlando equivalent home. The Tampa home on the water is even more expensive.

That is a lot of space. Do you have 6+ kids. That is actually not expensive if you live in south FL.

 

[aneftp]

That is a lot of space. Do you have 6+ kids. That is actually not expensive if you live in south FL.

2 kids. Central Florida
Used to be dirt cheap to live

That’s why high and low cost means nothing because some housing places have out of hand in Florida. Miami was very affordable as well but rents increased to almost San Francisco type of rents (it has gone down now)

South Florida definitely more expensive. My cuz house is now 7 million in South Florida and she got it for 3 million back in 2012 and renovated it. She just lets it sit empty. Don’t ask me. First world problems. I’m afraid to ask her what the property taxes on non homestead home. It’s not even on the water in key biscayne. The water homes start at 10 million plus.

 

[Splenda88]

2 kids. Central Florida
Used to be dirt cheap to live

That’s why high and low cost means nothing because some housing places have out of hand in Florida. Miami was very affordable as well but rents increased to almost San Francisco type of rents (it has gone down now)

South Florida definitely more expensive. My cuz house is now 7 million in South Florida and she got it for 3 million back in 2012 and renovated it. She just lets it sit empty. Don’t ask me. First world problems. I’m afraid to ask her what the property taxes on non homestead home. It’s not even on the water in key biscayne. The water homes start at 10 million plus.

FL COL has gotten outrageous after the pandemic.

I am not sure what is so attractive about the state besides the no state income tax.

Your cousin property tax bill will be 80k+/yr. The property tax on 500k home I own in south FL is ~7k.

 

[abolt18]

Time to come to Midwest. Midwest will be the winner of global warming. 1 million buys you a really nice house.

2 years ago, it bought me 4400 square feet, fully updated except the kid's bathroom, and 11 acres, 12 minutes from the hospital in a city of a little over 400K people. Gonna be hard to beat most places!

 

[Splenda88]

2 years ago, it bought me 4400 square feet, fully updated except the kid's bathroom, and 11 acres, 12 minutes from the hospital in a city of a little over 400K people. Gonna be hard to beat most places!

You have won the game.

 

[anaesthetic]

2 years ago, it bought me 4400 square feet, fully updated except the kid's bathroom, and 11 acres, 12 minutes from the hospital in a city of a little over 400K people. Gonna be hard to beat most places!

You have won the game.

On paper. I have a few friends who did that, and they all ended up moving back to bigger cities after a few years. That life is not for everyone (me included).

 

[Splenda88]

On paper. I have a few friends who did that, and they all ended up moving back to bigger cities after a few years. That life is not for everyone (me included).

Thay might have been financially independent or on a good financial ground by the time they moved back, which is a good move IMO.

I would move to LA right now if I was worth 12+ mil. You can't beat that weather and amenities.

 

[coffeebythelake]

Thay might have been financially independent or on a good financial ground by the time they moved back, which is a good move IMO.

I would move to LA right now if I was worth 12+ mil. You can't beat that weather and amenities.

U dont need even 1M to live decent in SoCal

 

[Splenda88]

U dont need even 1M to live decent in SoCal

Most docs make between 250-500k/yr.

 

[nimbus]

Your link is missing 10 stores...

STORES — H MART Pacific Northwest | Better Food! Better Life!

Store Index Page of Asian Grocery H Mart Pacific Northwest’s Webpage

www.hmartus.com

When I was looking at the map, it was surprising to me that the PNW was an H-mart desert. Glad to see that is not the case.

 

[MTGas2B]

When I was looking at the map, it was surprising to me that the PNW was an H-mart desert. Glad to see that is not the case.

We have Uwajimaya too.

Uwajimaya Asian Market

Uwajimaya is an Asian market and grocery store providing the widest variety of Asian meats, seafood, produce and gifts. Locations in WA and OR.

www.uwajimaya.com

 

[coffeebythelake]

Most docs make between 250-500k/yr.

1M net worth isn't too hard to achieve. I'm academics in a readonably HCOL area, was at less than 350/year and I did it less than 5 years out.