Cutting 10 Years to 5

We had a fascinating conversation that reiterated why I love to obsessively research a company and its people before speaking to anyone in the organization. In addition to finding out general information about the company and recruiter, I also like to research the salaries they have provided to others, which is available on a few of the amazing sites the internet provides us. This information allows me to have backup for my salary requests and an idea of their range before they open their mouths.

The first Seattle agency recruiter I spoke to responded to my salary range with “you’ve done your research” – which is not a positive or negative comment. However, this agency recruiter responded with “perfect – that’s the range we’re looking for,” which provided me with the valuable information I needed. I now know how much I can ask for from agencies in Seattle. And that range is a significant increase from what I’m making now. Such an increase that it changes my current calculations of 10 years, which include my current salary and living situation (NYC) to my future situation of Seattle and a serious increase in pay. And this is assuming I never earn another raise in those 5 years which is very unlikely. My time to retirement has just been cut in half by simply: maximizing my income and reducing my expenses. All the finance blogs talk about it, but seeing what it can do when it’s put into practice is truly miraculous. My research saying that Seattle pays NYC salaries and has half of the cost of living has proved true.

My current salary of $67,600 with expenses of $23,000 a year (70% of which is rent) would allow me to retire in 10 years as originally planned. Moving to Seattle and only spending $20,000 a year (following the trend of the last 6 months) decreases my time to FI to 8.7 years. If I spend $17,000 (which is what I am now projecting based on the cost of living and tax differences from NYC to Seattle) I will be FI in 7.4 years. Now knowing this new salary information: if I made $85,000 and spend $20,000 my time further decreases to 7.1 years. If I spend $17,000 I’m 5.7 years to FI. And if I am able to receive a salary at the top of the range: $90,000 and spend $20,000 I am 6.5 years to FI. Spending $17,000 reduces this to 5.3 years even with the increased tax burden.

Holy shit.

I could retire in 5 years without too many changes to lifestyle or even salary. Instead of retiring in 10 years I could conceivably retire in 5 at 30 years old. Now isn’t that a tempting proposition? Let’s see what happens.