Hacker News Reader

The other option is lowering your expenses -- for example, working remotely in a city where your rent is much cheaper.

The income penalty you incur when you restrict yourself to remote only jobs generally vastly exceeds the 30k/year or whatever you save on rent by moving somewhere cheap.

Unless your current spending is extremely reckless, cutting expenses typically makes less of an impact than increasing income. If you currently spend 60k, you cannot cut your expenses by more than 60k, but you can definitely increase your income by more than that if you manage your career properly.

Generally that high rent is an opportunity cost. Saving 3k/month by living in rural Wyoming instead of NYC when you’re in your 20s is not desirable unless you want to be a really sad person with no friends.

Maybe option is not the right word, as it suggests it's alternative, but you can do that and also apply some of the advice in TFA.

But yes, remote work can be a great way to maximize happiness and savings (if it works for you, not everyone is happy with it).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com