Help me crunch some numbers, please!

[liberal_chick]

I want to bounce some ideas off of you very wise people so that I make sure I'm not missing anything.

Backstory: DH is a manger with a company that is nationwide and is being offered a transfer to California.  Based on the information we had on the new center he'd be managing, we expected a base pay raise of about $70K (making his yearly salary around $100K/yr.).  This is rooted in the fact that A) he'd go from managing 4 people to managing 27 people B) it is in California, where COL is higher C) the center is bringing in $750K in PROFIT each month and D) the sales staff he would manage makes about $90K/yr. as their base.  A large part of what this company offers is in profit sharing, so that rolls in to the total compensation package as well.  However, it is never a guaranteed amount so one year we could get a check for $65K and the next year we could get a check for $5K.  This year, the outgoing manager will take about $62K after taxes in profit sharing.

Now, the official offer came through yesterday and they offered him $46K.  We are absolutely shocked.  When dh went to the guy who is potentially going to be his new boss with the $100K number, the guy laughed and said he didn't pay any of his managers over $60K.  After taxes in CA, if we wanted to live in a house bigger than a shoebox in a good neighborhood, we are looking at that costing 50% of dh's take home pay at the offered salary.  Part of the allure for going out there (when we thought the pay would be better) was that I could quit working and homeschool our kids.  We'd actually have the money to take advantage of all the cool stuff!  That would obviously be off the table with this offered salary.  Dh is still leaning towards taking the job thinking we can somehow live on that salary with one income.  I also know that this is a HUGE step up career-wise for him and he feels very excited about taking on a center this size (3rd biggest in CA, 9th biggest in US) at age 30.

Number crunching:

This is the best estimate that I can come up with for our living expenses vs. net salary.  I want to be sure that when I take this to dh and tell him we CAN'T live on this salary, I'm on top of my game.  He responds to hard fact, not emotion.

Income: 2946/mo. after taxes

Expenses:

Rent: 1400

Utilities (Gas, Water, Electric) 300

Phones 100

Health Ins. 250

Life Ins 87

Dental Ins 100

Car Ins 107

Gas 550 (We'll see a huge increase in our COL here, this is the best I could guess at 1 tank of gas/wk in each car.)

Groceries 900 (Another big COL jump here; this is 30% more than we spend now.)

CC 250

Student Loan 210

Netflix 9

Internet 60

Gym 50 (This can be cut out, but honestly the numbers are so bad it won't make a difference.)

Total: 4383

Shortage: 1437/mo.

Did I miss anything?  Thoughts on this whole awful story?  And, yes, the salary can still be negotiated, but even at $70K base/yr. we're still 265 in the red each month.

[cali2tx]

Arkansas to Cali? That may be a big culture change.

What part of California are you planning to move to? The cost of living changes by the area. In areas like SanFran, SanDiego, SantaBarbara & OC real estate is priced very differently than Inland Empire/Riverside and Sacramento. In the pricier areas you be lucky to get a small 2-bed rental for $1400. Heat & AC/electrical costs will vary by region too.

Why do you expect your food budget to jump so much higher. In my experience produce was cheaper in Cali than in New England & fairly equivilant to what I now pay in TX. I would imagine your food budget would go down since you'll have more time to prepare meals at home.

Are there job opportunities for you in Cali? If you did work, would you be able to maintain the same standard of living you currently have?

In my experience, job transfers work best when moving from a high COL area to a lower COL area. Example: If he worked in Boston earning $120k salary & was transfered to Pittsburgh where COL is cheaper, most companies would keep him at the $120k salary. He'd be happy because his $120k goes further in Pitt than Boston. Moving the other way is a frustrating if your quality of life takes a hit & you live in a smaller home, eat out less & stress about purchases & savings.

Also, while gas is a lot pricier in Cali, you won't be commuting to work or even dropping the kids off at school, so you may not fill as often as you'd think. $550 sounds crazy to me, how did you come up with that figure? Do you each drive Hummers for long daily commutes?

What are your husband's career options if he turns down the opportunity? Will he ever get another opportunity to transfer? If something happened to his current position would he be able find work easily?

[liberal_chick]

Originally Posted by cali2tx 

Arkansas to Cali? That may be a big culture change.

What part of California are you planning to move to? The cost of living changes by the area. In areas like SanFran, SanDiego, SantaBarbara & OC real estate is priced very differently than Inland Empire/Riverside and Sacramento. In the pricier areas you be lucky to get a small 2-bed rental for $1400. Heat & AC/electrical costs will vary by region too.

Why do you expect your food budget to jump so much higher. In my experience produce was cheaper in Cali than in New England & fairly equivilant to what I now pay in TX. I would imagine your food budget would go down since you'll have more time to prepare meals at home.

Are there job opportunities for you in Cali? If you did work, would you be able to maintain the same standard of living you currently have?

In my experience, job transfers work best when moving from a high COL area to a lower COL area. Example: If he worked in Boston earning $120k salary & was transfered to Pittsburgh where COL is cheaper, most companies would keep him at the $120k salary. He'd be happy because his $120k goes further in Pitt than Boston. Moving the other way is a frustrating if your quality of life takes a hit & you live in a smaller home, eat out less & stress about purchases & savings.

Also, while gas is a lot pricier in Cali, you won't be commuting to work or even dropping the kids off at school, so you may not fill as often as you'd think. $550 sounds crazy to me, how did you come up with that figure? Do you each drive Hummers for long daily commutes?

What are your husband's career options if he turns down the opportunity? Will he ever get another opportunity to transfer? If something happened to his current position would he be able find work easily?

The transfer would be to Bakersfield.  I've been browsing the rentals (houses) on craigslist and it seems like $1400 is on the low end of a house with 3 bedrooms in a decent area.

Food costs may go down, true.  We went to visit about 10 days ago and never made it into the grocery store to check prices.  If our food budget stays as it is now, we'll still spend $700/mo.  We only eat out as a family about twice a month, now.

I could work there.  I'm licensed to teach, so I could do that, or I could work in a library, which is what I do now (halfway through my master's in library science).  We would most likely be able to keep the same standard of living with me working, but dh called me working a dealbreaker as we were chit-chatting on the plane.  He wants my oldest ds (the only one currently school aged) to homeschool in the worst way, but it won't be a choice on the offered salary b/c I feel that I'll HAVE to work.

My gas figure was what it, generally, takes to currently fill both our tanks with gas.  I drive a little sedan and it takes about $50 to fill it here, dh drives a truck and it takes about $80 for him.  If we each need a tank a week (which, you're correct, I may not need if we're stuck at home) then that's about $520/mo.  Gas is about $1 more per gallon in CA.

If he turns down the opportunity, nothing changes.  We stay where we are.  The possibility of a transfer may come again, it may not.  Likely, it'll be a long time before another chance comes along and he'll probably NEVER be given the chance to go to another center this large.  Dh is super smart but he doesn't have a college degree and could never make as much money as he does if he's ever let go.

[sarah_bella1050]

We are a homeschooling family in CA and our costs aren't nearly as bad as you are considering. We are conservative, but not stingy. Wee spend about 150-200 on utilities and 600 on food and are a family of 5.

Have you even headed of a homeschooling charter school? We go through a school called south sutter charter and they pay for all our homeschooling needs as well as extra curriculars. They also hire licensed teachers to be education specialist. Several of the ESs are homeschooling moms as well. I believe it can be part-fullbtime hours and you make your own schedule. Just Google south sitter charter and all the info is on the site. Good luck!

Ps nursing while typing please ignore typos

[liberal_chick]

On the utilities, I'm mainly worried about being in the valley in the summer.  I worry that keeping the house cool will be super costly.  Do you deal with that?

[sarah_bella1050]

We keep our thermostat at about 78 and use fans. When looking for a rental try.and find a place.with shade trees and a front lawn.

[liberal_chick]

Originally Posted by sarah_bella1050 

We keep our thermostat at about 78 and use fans. When looking for a rental try.and find a place.with shade trees and a front lawn.

Oh, my husband would die!  I currently keep our thermostat at 72 in the summer and he frequently moans about how hot it is and wants to bump it down to 68! LOL