Salary and working remote

With full remote positions becoming more common, it got me thinking, what if i secure a job at some high cost of living city but buy a property in some much cheaper area and eventually move there? How likely is it that my company will lower my salary?

…or realize we can all be replaced with someone cheaper in a 3rd world country

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I’m thinking about that, listing my mom’s address in SoCal while i move up the coast closer to the vineyards.

I toy with the idea of buying a house in the suburbs since i basically haven’t had to go into my office at all in 2 plus years and i hate apartment living. Im held back by laziness on selling my place and the fact that i dont drive. Also having extreme fatigue at times makes it hard to go about it.

Also that manhattan is supposed to be awesome even though in my 21 years here it isnt

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cheap areas are cheap for a reason

are you trying to live life or are you trying to hoard money

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Remember what community you are responding to.

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Yes and no. If ao_fan enjoyed living in Manhattan on its merits then I would 100% agree with you. If it were someone else yearning to live in Manhattan but balking at the price, I would agree with you. Lots of people do love Manhattan.

I loved living downtown and being able to walk to work & museums & bars/restaurants & the symphony/ballet/theater & concerts & sporting events. Plus I didn’t have to deal with yard work and there was a gym & pool on-site that I didn’t have to take care of. Even an herb garden where we could clip fresh herbs and I didn’t have to take care of that either… just use the fresh mint for mojitos whenever I wanted.It was great.

But I am not ao_fan and my “downtown” wasn’t Manhattan. She doesn’t actually like living there. Why pay extra to live somewhere she doesn’t enjoy just because it’s considered cool?

Are you trying to live your life or impress others?

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So going back to my original question (LOL), is it common protocol for companies to seek lowering salary if you were to relocate to a cheaper COL area?
I guess you can threaten to leave and negotiate with the company?

For the record, I am in the NYC area and yeah, as a young actuary im having a hard time justifying paying for (at best decent) a house for 600k minimum in this current inflationary/high mortgage rate environment.

If I didn’t have any roots, personally I’d do exactly this. A bit reason cheap areas are cheap are because of access to high paying jobs, but if you can do it mostly/fully remotely then you should indeed see a shift in price from densely around urban areas outward. It’ll be slow though, because people are tied to family.

Personally I don’t think I’d ever move so far that I couldn’t commute 1-2 days/week if I really needed to, because going all in on remote for the rest of my career is too bold for me, but I’d definitely live like a 2 hour drive away or something if it was just me.

Alas I have lots of roots down where I am so I may move one town west in this effort…

Not that I’ve seen

Grass is always greener imo.
People forget about the convenience of the city when they move away, and people forget about the smell of nature and the tranquility when they live in the city. But that’s a lesson one has for learn for him/herself.

I do encourage moving every now and then. A lot of gays move because they’re not getting dick or aren’t happy. A lot of the times it’s not the place, it’s you.

I do fantasize about going and living up on the coast in Maine or something… but with wife/family/kids there’s no chance of that. I probably sugar coat how bad the winters would be anyway so I’m probably better off

I do kinda agree with you that too many people that live/grew up in the city live in a bubble and they never got the chance of finding out how great other parts of the country are. Some of my friends think Im crazy for wanting to leave.

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Yes

Most likely the company would just let you go, unless you’re absolutely stellar.
My best friend works for Amazon and had to move to Singapore for her husband. And Amazon transferred her to the Singapore office, gave her a raise and all (might just be a COL adjustment).

Actuaries usually aren’t that important though

This is still relatively uncharted territory with everyone wfh due to the pandemic to give a clear answer on this. My company wants people to start coming in a few times a week but thus far hasnt forced us, so whether you’re working from your actual home or a friends house or a beach somewhere far away they don’t actually check on.

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But to add to that, i think there is a real risk all our work gets outsourced to a 3rd world country with companies that did previously have everyone come in an office. Since full time remote is now the norm i think people should just move to wherever they want to be because in the end it won’t matter if you’re in a cheap suburb in the US or new york if your job will just be outsourced to asia.

No, i don’t think they will lower your salary merely by moving within the us to answer the op. In the before times maybe. Now with everyone remote, no.

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time zones do make a difference. it’s already tough enough to live on the west coast and work east coast time.

my previous job I had to work with people in Europe and South America, that was worse. very hard to navigate around

Sounds kinda cool to work with people in other parts of the world.
Maybe consulting is something I should look into :smiley:

Are there other parts of the world that fully recognize CAS credentials?
Let’s say I want to work in Shanghai/China or London/England, would I be respected or do I have to go through their own system to be recognized as credentialed?

pretty sure CAS is recognized in Asia. There aren’t that many P&C jobs in Asia though. A lot of the insurance there is nationalized.

not sure if my appended words were read, but to answer your op directly, no, i don’t think they will lower your salary for moving within the US. too many jobs are remote right now to hold you to the standard of living local. when applying for any job though, you will need to find out if you have to be in the office at all when deciding where to purchase property. if it’s truly fully remote, i don’t think they will lower your salary.

my company is still getting used to the idea that people might not go back to the office ever though. it’s still too new.

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