It all comes down to controlling spending. Biggest expense is taxes. Figure how to minimize taxes. Primary home and rentals will help. No vacations no lattes, don’t eat out. Figure a budget, put savings into RE. Iras won’t help till your 59. I scrimped and saved and was FIRED by 33. As long as your W2 income is eaten alive by taxes it is hard to get ahead.
I don’t now anyone from SV that’s taken a pay cut. Everyone got equal or higher pay whether they changed companies or stayed with their current. That’s across MSFT, FB, AMZN, GOOG, UBER, and even some smaller places.
from my personal experience with a close friend. It was same pay when the person moved to Seattle. and it was a small out of cycle raise (relocation fixup) when they moved back to the bay area.
What about the costs for anti depressants and vacations to sunny places. Everyone I see in Mexico and Hawaii is from Canada and Washington. They can’t stand being there in the winter