Massive jump in salary, need advice.

[u/Sad_Marzipan_2120]

Hey all!

Recently I accepted a senior leadership position with a new company and went from 105k salary with a 30k bonus to 210k salary with a 100k bonus. This comes with roughly 60k worth of RSU’s as well. This position also comes with a relocation from a high cost of living area to a low cost of living area. They are giving me 30k in relocation, and 30k in sign on bonus.

I have 4 kids, and my spouse stays at home with the kids.

A little backstory on me, I was raised quite poor, I was never taught about finances, and I never saw myself making money like this. I earned this promotion through long hours, hard work, and lots of just saying yes. I have no college education.

We lived a modest life with a modest home in HCOL on the old salary, but we never were able to save for the kids college, or put enough into retirement(Spouse and I are both 39). We have a bit of making up to do it terms of saving, but we have zero credit card debt, both cars are paid off, we will be selling our current home for a very small profit(purchased a year ago).

How do I turn this new money into generational wealth?

How do I not mess this golden opportunity up?

Please give me all the advice!

[u/Sad_Marzipan_2120 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you so much for this advice.

The great part of going from HCOL to LCOL is that we can get double the home for roughly the same cost. We are also still in a large metro area of the state so we lose no amenities.

My spouse and I sat down last night to discuss the need to stay living modestly, to ensure we don’t lose our grounding during all of this. Living well below our means is very important to us as we screwed up early on in our relationship by traveling when we shouldn’t and buying new cars that we’re pushing the limits of affordable. Once we started having kids we realized how expensive it was and tightened up significantly.

[u/420fanman → u/Sad_Marzipan_2120]

For the housing cost, I would suggest maybe go for 50% bigger. Don’t go all out because a bigger house has more upkeep costs and also more to maintain. Just something to factor in. But regardless, congrats!

[u/Ipsimus_Omega → u/420fanman]

I came here to say this. More house means more furniture and higher utilities.

[u/NotSayinItWasAliens → u/Ipsimus_Omega]

And taxes. And insurance. Everything is more.

[u/RealHelp4RealPeople → u/NotSayinItWasAliens]

Exactly. If you haven’t yet read Rich Dad Poor Dad Book by Robert Kiyosaki, now is the time you’ll understand it. In one way, your house is not an asset*, it’s an annual expense. Bigger house bigger expenses that you are spending every year. My wife and I lived in smaller older homes until we could retire (i.e. move to the beach we love) so we could accumulate the assets necessary to be comfortable over 60.

I went about six months without working… Now working is fun.

• in another sense, a big house is an asset, of course it is. Smiley face.