new payroll taxes

[awptickes]

not to be technical but that's not a raise, that's a promotion , but 45% holy fucking shit that's awesome, grats on that

Yeah, it'll be nice. It comes at a good time . I'm going to ask Amy to marry me in the next year or so. After I feel financially stable, it's on.

Then it'll be house-time.

 

[corvetteguy78]

Yeah, it'll be nice. It comes at a good time . I'm going to ask Amy to marry me in the next year or so. After I feel financially stable, it's on.

Then it'll be house-time.

o what joyous times lol.....Been married, what, 3 months now. I feel like a pro. Home owner for what, 1.5 months now, big time pro.

You going to ask her father for her hand in marriage?

 

[awptickes]

o what joyous times lol.....Been married, what, 3 months now. I feel like a pro. Home owner for what, 1.5 months now, big time pro.

You going to ask her father for her hand in marriage?

Uh, yeah. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be done?

Besides, her dad is an old-school NYC businessman. I'd be scared not to ask him first.

 

[jeffie7]

One hole for the rest of your life? Well, 3 but you know what I mean.

 

[Briansol]

Good fo ryou dude

 

[totalburnout]

Some companies prefer bonus benefits to larger raises. Her bonus potential is tied directly to company profitability. Her insurance line had no major catastrophic events and brought in a bunch of new specialty business and therefore, the employees are rewarded handsomely for their hard work.

My company is 10% standard bonus and I've gotten stock options before. My raises are standard at around 2-5%. My biggest raise came from leaving and coming back

This is pretty standard in a number of different industries.

I think what many don't realize is that the biggest earners generally own their own companies or have pays tied directly to the performance of the company that they work for as an incentive to drive specific metrics.

As for B16, if we're talking about a job that has a straight up $170,000 salary rather than a total compensation package, then that's an absolutely outstanding opportunity that I would never turn down.

I have opportunity to make over $200,000 (top sales people that have been at it for years are around the $1million range) but that compensation is tied directly to the revenue I bring into the company. There's no guarantees and when I wake up on January 1st, I don't know if it will be a $90,000 year or a $250,000 year.

It sounds like first world, people problems, but most people that have these huge pay days have highly stressful, high risk, high reward jobs.

I've always said that I would take a $100,000 salary job in any industry that I have an interest in, over the heartache associated with not knowing what money I'll bring in the door. My job essentially leads me to live a bipolar sort of lifestyle. Huge ups and huge downs.

/end rant.

 

[B16]

Over the phone it was 170k base salary, private company no mention of bonus. I'm a little over that now if you consider "entire compensation package" with stock options and bonuses. So I'm not so quick to just jump ship for it, especially if the cost of living does not change for me. Ideally I'd like to get a job in the DC Metro area so cost of living is less (you can spread out more) and we'd be close to my wife's family. However, many of those jobs require a TS clearance already in possession which I do not have... New year, new positions available, I'm still looking.

 

[Briansol]

My job essentially leads me to live a bipolar sort of lifestyle. Huge ups and huge downs.

do you sell elevators?

I'd like to get a job in the DC Metro area so cost of living is less (you can spread out more)

i think youre in for a suprsise here... DC metro is like #2 highest cost of living in the country.

 

[totalburnout]

do you sell elevators?

I chuckled. I've had elevator companies ask me to insure them before. They're bad risks, can't put them on the books.

i think youre in for a suprsise here... DC metro is like #2 highest cost of living in the country.

This.

The only costs of living that can even touch the cities on the east coast are out in California, so he should know what to expect. You can live outside of DC and have a lower cost of living, but the commute in is horrible. Like unbearable horrible.

 

[B16]

I've looked at what I can buy in Haymarket VA for $500,000. It is 3x the house I have now. Today my commute is 50 miles each way, 3-4 hours driving time total round trip. I know unbearable commutes.

Haymarket to Reston or Herndon cannot be as bad. My wifes brother lives there, they don't seem to complain about their commutes into Reston.

 

[corvetteguy78]

i like using this little tool

Cost of Living Wizard | Salary.com

 

[Briansol]

ask jeffie about nova.
and the cops.

you'll hate it there.

 

[awptickes]

But you can carry in VA.

VA isn't bad, as long as you're not obnoxious, and you avoid the fuzz like the plague. I've never had an issue with them.

Around DC is anything but cheap. I'd have to make 2x what I do to afford to live there. I live in Baltimore and I'm going to move out of it to go for cheaper living.

Haymarket to Reston or Herndon cannot be as bad. My wifes brother lives there, they don't seem to complain about their commutes into Reston.

I have friends in that area. One lives less than 25 miles from his office. He commutes at least an hour every day.

 

[jeffie7]

As far as living and commuting in NVA, it really matters where you live and where you work as with timing. NVA has some of the worst traffic in North America, I believe last year it ranked 2nd due to road construction, they finely finished the express lanes a few months back, that should help out some, but only some.

NVA is great because it has such a big mix of people, on the flip side, drivers in NVA suck fucking ass like no other, because they're from all over the world. I've seen some crazy stuff like stopping in the middle of a highway or intersection because they were not sure if they missed their exit/turn as with making left turn from the far right lane of a THREE LANE ROAD!

VA police are not bad, its Fairfax county police. they are well known for being the worst of the worst when it comes to facking you. When you enter VA everyone slows down, when you enter maryland from VA everyone speeds up, its really funny to see.

VA also = no radar detectors

My wife's friends all get on her for living 50+ miles away from where she works (she works in VA) they all live 10-15 miles from their jobs. They can't get over just how far she drives.

Her drive time is 45-50 minutes, her friends drive time that are in VA is around 1-2 hours.

VA Traffic........

Out of DC, VA, and MD, Maryland is hands down the best state car wise, one inspection, once thats done you never have to do anything inspection wise ever again, you do have a smog test that happens once every 2 years, they plug into your OBD2 port and if no codes show, you pass. $14.00

You also pay tax only when you buy the car, in VA you pay personal property tax so you pay tax every year on your cars for the life of owning them.

I love visiting VA but I could never live there, Linh grew up in VA and never had issues with it, now that shes on the other side of the bridge she also says she could never go back.

The DC Metro area is pretty small but very well packed, so house prices are going to be all over the place, that will depend on how bad the area is, My town house was $305K and I gutted the place as soon as I moved in, it was nasty. 5 miles away I can get a turn key newer town home with all the good upgrades, more sq ft, and a cheaper HOA, for about 50-75K less than what I paid. Sadly the area is total shit.

 

[jeffie7]

Haymarket to Reston or Herndon cannot be as bad. My wifes brother lives there, they don't seem to complain about their commutes into Reston.

I go to reston and herndon pretty often, we have friends in both cities, they never bitch about the traffic/commutes and always get on linh about driving so far, yup those are the same people who drive 1-2 HOURS a day to get to somewhere else in NVA.

You grow up with it, you don't mind it.

There's some road projects that VA started when linh was a kid.... Yup still going on. You will hit traffic in VA 7 days a week and on weird ass hours like 3pm on a sunday. WTF!

 

[B16]

Thanks Jeffie and Awpticks,
Still looks better than what I have now in terms of commute time and housing cost. The short of it is I want a bigger house for my kids and I want to be able to make it home for dinner with them. I cannot get that in the SF Bay Area unless I double my pay.

Jeffie,
Where in MD are you? And how long does it take to get to Herndon/Reston?

 

[jeffie7]

I live in an awesome area, right smack in the middle of Baltimore, DC, Annapolis and Columbia.

Anne Arundel County.

Herndon/Reston is pretty out there, maybe 90 minutes without traffic, IMO its too far of a commute. Plus you need to take the toll road, or go way out of your way to avoid it.

 

[totalburnout]

Over the phone it was 170k base salary, private company no mention of bonus. I'm a little over that now if you consider "entire compensation package" with stock options and bonuses. So I'm not so quick to just jump ship for it, especially if the cost of living does not change for me. Ideally I'd like to get a job in the DC Metro area so cost of living is less (you can spread out more) and we'd be close to my wife's family. However, many of those jobs require a TS clearance already in possession which I do not have... New year, new positions available, I'm still looking.

Well for that sort of job, I would hope they offer a relo package. Even if they don't, I suppose you make enough that you can handle the proper chain of events to make certain its an appropriate move for you.

The best part about relo packages is the opportunity for a week or two to go check out the suggested areas to live, test the commute, and get a feel for the office.

 

[B16]

They pay (up to) 50% relo. Sounds like it is a bargaining chip.

 

[Bob Vila]

My wife got her bonus today, effectively 43% was taken out. Its been a high % before, but not this high

I know, I know, don't bitch, its bonus money...