It was wonderful here in the 80's. Now not so much but my house is worth a ton so at least I have that.

I got married in college and had a baby right after graduation. My husband was a military officer and we were able to live comfortably in Burke. But that was 30 years ago. My daughter is 23. She lives in Old Town and rents an adorable basement apartment from a lovely couple who has almost adopted her. She is a teacher. She makes $52,000 for the 10 months she teaches. During the summer she is an educational consultant at a zoo in our home town and probably makes another $5,000. She has plenty of disposable income as a young single person. I cannot imagine how she could buy a home or support a family on her income.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long story short.
I recently had to discourage an extended family member (recent grad) from relocating to the DC area.
I told her it made better sense financially to stay in her home state (midwest) where the cost of living is lower. Much lower.

She asked for my advice and I gave it to her.
Should I have been more optimistic?

I was told the same thing in 1986.

You cannot compare the cost of living in 1986 and 2016. Huge difference.

Anonymous wrote:I'm 30, but I did it all at 25. Great job in DC at 22, married at 25, first house at 23 (condo), second house at 27, first baby at 30. It's not out of reach and DH and I have never made more than 200k and made a lot less at 25.

Cost of living is a lot more expensive now than when you were 25.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What 24 yr old wants to be married with kids anyway?! Your 20's is for building your career.

I got married at 24 and had my first kid at 26, third at 30. Our HHI is around 650k. We both have master's degrees and have been married for over ten years. It's stupid to pretend that only uneducated, ignorant, poor people get married in their twenties.

You must be from the Midwest or someplace like that. Definately not from either coast, right?

No I'm from NJ. I met my future husband in college and always knew what I wanted (family and a career). I've always had my ducks in a row. I know many people like this by the way, highly educated, well paid, stable personal lives.

What do you and your DH do to make so much money with just a Masters degree?

Anonymous wrote:You don't need a 600k starter home... We bought a 350k condo with 70k downpayment (saved for several years). Then we sold that and bought our 600k house.

I'm the PP who married at 24. We did something similar except we never sold our "starter" SFH that we bought after our condo and instead renovated it. Saved a lot of money that way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What 24 yr old wants to be married with kids anyway?! Your 20's is for building your career.

I got married at 24 and had my first kid at 26, third at 30. Our HHI is around 650k. We both have master's degrees and have been married for over ten years. It's stupid to pretend that only uneducated, ignorant, poor people get married in their twenties.

You must be from the Midwest or someplace like that. Definately not from either coast, right?

No I'm from NJ. I met my future husband in college and always knew what I wanted (family and a career). I've always had my ducks in a row. I know many people like this by the way, highly educated, well paid, stable personal lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Long story short.
I recently had to discourage an extended family member (recent grad) from relocating to the DC area.
I told her it made better sense financially to stay in her home state (midwest) where the cost of living is lower. Much lower.

She asked for my advice and I gave it to her.
Should I have been more optimistic?

I was told the same thing in 1986.

It's bad advice because there truly are more and better career opportunities in a city like DC. When you first graduate college DC will be a much harder place to live and the salary differential won't be enough to make up for the higher cost of living. However over time you'll make a lot more money than you would in a small town or flyover city and you'll be able to save a lot more for retirement. People also move up the ranks here faster.

Anonymous wrote:Long story short.
I recently had to discourage an extended family member (recent grad) from relocating to the DC area.
I told her it made better sense financially to stay in her home state (midwest) where the cost of living is lower. Much lower.

She asked for my advice and I gave it to her.
Should I have been more optimistic?

I was told the same thing in 1986.

Did you provide pros and cons or only cons?

You sound like a Debbie or Dave Downer.

If she wants to move to DC, tell her how to make it work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What 24 yr old wants to be married with kids anyway?! Your 20's is for building your career.

I got married at 24 and had my first kid at 26, third at 30. Our HHI is around 650k. We both have master's degrees and have been married for over ten years. It's stupid to pretend that only uneducated, ignorant, poor people get married in their twenties.

You must be from the Midwest or someplace like that. Definately not from either coast, right?

Anonymous wrote:You don't need a 600k starter home... We bought a 350k condo with 70k downpayment (saved for several years). Then we sold that and bought our 600k house.

You also don't need ice cream. However, I love ice cream. Everyone is different. Glad that what you did worked. Our way worked too. We quickly filled that starter with three kids.

I think your advice was solid, but sometimes life is about more than money and you are only in your 20s once.

I followed the path you proposed by chance and luck and it has worked out well. I lived in the Midwestern city where I went to college and worked for a large consulting firm for 10 years out of college. I had a high income, low living expenses and the sense to save money. Now I have a nice house in North Arlington with a flexible job / modest salary and my husband is. Fed. We have short commutes and work/life balance with 2 kids because the money I saved in my 20s made a large down payment and well funded retirement accounts possible in our late 30s.

That said, I spent my 20s in Cleveland. I was lucky to meet and marry my husband because I was working 60-80 hrs a week and traveling full time in my 20s. I have travelled a lot and built a great career, but I don't have well established friendships with people locally because I was always working out of town. I made a lot of sacrifices in my 20s to have the great life I have now. I have no regrets, but that's because it worked out for me.

You don't need a 600k starter home... We bought a 350k condo with 70k downpayment (saved for several years). Then we sold that and bought our 600k house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We bought 600k starter home

So did we, but not at 23 and pregnant.

You know, for most people $600k is unaffordable as a starter home.

That said - for your niece, unless she's looking to settle down tomorrow, she can do what a lot of youngsters (and not so youngsters) do in DC. Live in a group house. Eat cheap food, while doing whatever it takes to keep yourself fed (I tutored LSAT for a while, for example). I would say moving to DC would be great if she has a realistic idea about what life would be like. If she expects a ritzy apartment without a job, then no.

Right. Her job prospects will be better coming OUT Of DC than trying to come INTO the city if she decides to try it later. Worst case scenario is that she lives in a group home in NoMa for a while while she interns and gets some experience, and then decides it isn't for her and goes back to Des Moines. Best case scenario, she loves it, thrives, and works her way up.

There are very few things that I'd caution a young relative against. Neck tattoos. Law school (outside a T15 school). Converting to Hari Krishna. But moving to DC? It'll be fun and it's easy to pull the plug if she isn't having a good time.