Nice would lovely

OP’s 2nd post today complaining about Seattle.

You still pay sales tax on Vehicles. You have to report that sale to the state of Washington when you get it registered. Some people who own property in Oregon though will get it registered “out of state” to avoid the taxes and just bring it to WA. I feel like thats only worth it is your are getting a really expensive car.

Biggest issue is the tax kicker varies by year but is nice to have. Most people end up better off in Washington if they are a high income earner or slightly better for median income earners. I worked for a company based in Camas and we referred to it as the “Fun Tax” to live in Portland instead of Vancouver but that was all mostly pre-pandemic. The effective sales tax rate for the average person in Vancouver is fairly low and I think if you have remote flexibility and don’t want to live in Portland proper you benefit being north of the Columbia.

WSJ a few years going did a correlation study on schools SAT scores and the median income/poverty rate in that area. The suburbs of Boise where the largest outliers on there for high income but extremely poor test scores.

I actually think there is advantages to having a young kid in the city. Museums and activities everywhere for them.

I would probably rent to start, if you more in Mid Town maybe look at Williamsburg or Long Island City so you are 1 line or just 1 transfer away from work. I wouldn’t live Midtown with a family, maybe Upper Eastside if you really want to be in Manhattan.

You guys are going to lose the Apple Cup and be emotional messes though out the season. But probably still end up 8-4

Seattle is the only major city in Washington and is the largest PNW city. It’s also a city with alot of people in tech so things like reddit are heavily used among other social media. But like I said, people from all across WA, Portland, etc. I don’t think reddit users is a good measure of social awkwardness. At the end of the day social media isn’t that much different by platform.

NGL I rarely hear people say Pike Place Market is underwhelming. It is indeed crowded but it’s huge, and not just the fish market section. Post alley and all those shops are all part of the market and there is so much good food and hidden spaces in the market.

The tech bro culture and Seattle has grown massively since 2010 but there is still hidden gens in Seattle. Also so friendly and great people just outside of Seattle. Tacoma is great and not enough people go down there to check it out.

Also, if you look at the Seattle Reddit page, there are significantly more members there compared to other cities like Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, etc., all of which are bigger cities.

Not sure what this has to do with anything? Miami and Atlanta are also much city proper populations than Seattle and areas like Miami are much more divided between Broward and Dade County. A lot of people who live clear across the state from Seattle follow there reddit page. I follow it and haven’t lived in King County in a decade.

Here you go

I would take a look at some areas in the Cascades near close to Seattle or Portland.

Personally I would recommend Leavenworth or Cashmere (but there is a ton of options in Chelan County). Only about 2 ish hours from Seattle with a regional airport nearby in Wenatchee. Leavenworth gets tourism year around, although double check short term rental rules since the pandemic really did a number on them.

For Portland, I would look at hills surrounding White Salmon, WA or Hood River Oregon. In Hood River you are just outside the base of Mount Hood and only 60 minutes to PDX. If you do 10-15 miles North of White Salmon you are truly in the Cascades. Hood River gets great winter tourism for skiing on hood and just weekend trippers from around the PNW.

These uber wealthy schools also do things like group trips to Europe/Asia during breaks, they purchase top of the line education technology, and have extremely well designed spaces. It’s kind of like asking “Why does Harvard or Stanford raise money when they have $30+ billion dollar endowments?”.

Simple, everyone wants more money.

OP, What do you consider reasonable distance from major airport? Some people say 3-4 hours and some be say less than 1 hour.

Thats what I was about to say. Unless you are living in really rural montana with a home thats not connected to services, no home in Montana, especially near Missoula, Flathead or Bozeman, is considered cheap anymore.

Confused why no one is listing SF/Bay Area given it’s the venture capital/PE/Fin Tech hub of North America. Finance isn’t just tradition banking. But if you are wanted to pursue that it would be 1. NYC 2. Chicago 3. Boston 4. San Francisco 5. Dallas/Charlotte.

OP, best cities to start out in finance are any city that givens you an opportunity to work near it’s HQ. I worked at a large independent RIA that was based out of the PNW and many of my old colleagues ended up in London, SF, NYC, and Dallas in due time.

Again, light rail systems that have full right one ways and have subway like functions are still metro.

Why? Because there is no universally accepted definition in the transit planning community, particular in NA where systems straddle uses. This has been debated all the time on this sub. If you don’t consider Link a metro, and it damn sure isn’t a tram, then you are saying it doesn’t fit at all in the categories that OP laid out.

The facts are Seattle’s system is about to double length in the next couple years but all the extensions being elevated. Functions fully as a subway through the primary urban core and is elevated out into the suburbs outside the at grade (but fully separated) section crossing Lake Washington.

No definition of metro requires them to be fully grade separated. Link is mostly grade separated anyways.

Seattle has the South Lake Union Trolley which is a tram. Link is definitely metro.

Seattle has all 5.

Sounds like you want to live in Washington. Poulsbo and Leavenworth (moreso than Poulsbo) are tourist towns but people do live there or in some of the surrounding cities.

What field of work are you in and would you need to find a new job?

All the West Coast states are fine, it’s about what lifestyle you want. LA is far different then Portland or Seattle in weather, economy, and culture.

Don’t over look that Apple Cup. Reports are WSU’s defense has improved and receiving core is deeper than last year.

The thing is those lists are trying to “quantify” the best city which will always end up with so wealthy suburb or some small mountain town.

You should just stick to long term investing. You shouldn’t risk more than 10% of your portfolio on any options play, and for the professionals that would be extremely high for 1 play.

As cliche as it sounds, Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you are succeeding on small plays keep doing it. Everyone loved the idea of getting rich quickly, but very few people get to that point on day trading (options, swing trades, etc). The best case for most people is build some extra income trading. Those who can get really good just hope they can make enough consistently to replace a full time job (7K - 12K per month). But those people usually have other assets and safety nets as well.