OCKF

Great opportunity so up to you two to make it work for you! I personally wouldn't turn the opportunity down and MAKE it work no matter the initial struggle but its up to the individual!

Wish you the best of luck and do hope it works for you both!!!

MoshiMoshi

Hi Sjjen, my husband was a post-doc in LA for 2.5 years on a similar salary (albeit a few years ago).

On that single income, it was definitely a studenty lifestyle, and things were often tight financially. We didn't run a car for the first ten months. Unexpected expenditures were the worst, since it was impossible to save on that salary and we were living month-to-month.

Things loosened up when I got a job, too (I was a J2), but it took several months to get my EAD, which cost, IIRC, around $400, so do budget for that.

I also have a BA and MA, but finding work wasn't quite as easy as I'd thought, without American qualifications or experience. But there are sectors where an international CV is a plus, not a minus. If you have a particular career path in mind, do try to network pre-move and be realistic about the effect relocation may have on your own career. Stanford is obviously great on your partner's CV, but what will this time abroad do for yours?

Questions I would also ask myself, if we did it all again:
- when do you plan to start a family? (maybe not relevant if you're mid-twenties, on the first post-doc, but it becomes more pertinent when you're both over thirty!)
- do you have credit cards or an emergency fund you can access if, for example, you need to fly home short-notice? (can be very expensive, long-haul)
- how many post-docs has your husband done, and is an academic career definitely the way forward for him individually and you both as a couple (worth the financial sacrifice of these 'paying-your-dues' low-paid post-docs years, plus any career sacrifice on your part)?

If you're both on board, I'd say go for it. But with your eyes open! CA is gorgeous, but it can be very frustrating to live there on a low income. Are you getting any relocation assistance? I think we got $2000, which was nice, but didn't cover a transatlantic move, since there are lots of start-up costs to consider (especially if you haven't lived in the US before, and have no credit rating there).

Sjjen

Hi MoshiMoshi,

Thanks for your thoughts, it is good to hear from someone who has done a similar move and all of your thoughts and insights are hugely appreciated.

We are in deep discussions and all the help and insight people are giving is really valuable to us. We really want to do this for the benefits to my husband's career but as you say if there are no opportunities for me then it may not be the best idea. We are just concerned if he turns it down he will not find something else. This will be his second PostDoc with the first one finishing in April 2016, but we have only until end of October to confirm or reject this offer, much deliberation still to come I fear!!

tbm

Some comments as someone who followed his wife who started a postdoc in the US.

Check if Stanford has housing for postdocs. This is cheaper and will avoid issues with finding an apartment (which you may have without a US credit history).

EAD: you can apply for permission to work for $380 but it may take 3 months to get approved. Mine was really fast the first year but the renewal took forever. (I found comments on the Internet suggesting wait times are getting longer.) Make sure you have savings before the start of the postdoc because you can't count on additional earnings. (Plan for the worst case.)

Another problem with the EAD: the expiration date of the EAD is the expiration date of your DS-2019 form. Unfortunately, most universities give postdocs only an offer for one year even if the postdoc is longer. This means your EAD will expire after a year and you'll have to apply for renewal at $380. Try to get an offer (and therefore the DS-2019) for the whole duration, so you can avoid this problem (and similar problems with visa renewal if you want to travel outside the US).

It's not clear to me where you're now (since you mention SF). If you currently live in the UK and this is your husband's first postdoc in the US and you don't plan to stay for more than 2 years, there's a treaty exemption for income tax (search for j-1 uk tax treaty 20a). There's also exemption from social security for the first two calendar years. If you can avoid tax, your $55k will obviously go much further.

You definitely have to see it as an investment since it doesn't make sense from a purely financial perspective.

Bob

Just be aware that if you do go that route to save the tax and end up staying longer than the 2 years, that you will have to back pay the tax with potential penalties.

markonline1

A couple living anywhere in California on $55k a year is gonna be a bit of a tough grind if you ask me. Our household income is more than twice that and I feel anything but flush (although we do have 2 kids).

Sjjen

Hi Bob, thanks for this, it is certainly something worth looking into. But yes we won't be sure what we will be doing afterwards, still definitely on the things to research list.

We understand it is all about the investment in the future it is just knowing we can survive, have contacted Stanford about graduate housing but have been told by others the waiting list is long, still we shall wait and see.

In all honesty the pay is the only thing holding us back, rents are so high that by our calculations after tax and rent (should we not get Stanford housing) we are left with almost nothing!

retzie

Postdoc (employee) housing is not the same as graduate housing! There may well be a separate person/office you need to contact. I don't think you would face the same kind of wait - after all, Stanford want the best postdocs, as well as the other way around

N1cky

Here's the website for postdoc housing

Housing - Information for Postdoctural Scholars - Information Resources & Technology (IRT) - Stanford University School of Medicine

Hiro11

You probably already know this, but we're talking about:
1. The single most expensive metro area in the entire country, bar none. If you want to be anywhere close, Stanford is in a fancy area of that already expensive area. It's the heart of Silicon Valley so think Facebook, Google and Apple type money.
2. A well below average household income for the country, let alone that area.

It's possible, but it won't be easy. Day-to-day, clipping coupons etc. Student housing will help enormously. Forget about a car or eating out.

Pulaski

In the absense of assistance from Stanford with housing, it is likely that shared housing/ rent-a-room may be the only viable way for the OP to live there. Generally the more expensive housing gets, the more home owners are willing to rent out rooms.

N1cky

My boss' son has been doing an internship at Google. He's renting a room with a family who have 2 daughters. The 4 of them are all sharing one bedroom, while he has the other bedroom. There's only 1 bathroom in the house, and they don't want him cooking or hanging out in the living room. For this he's paying over $1k per month.

Not a situation I would put myself in.

bewildering

A close friend did a postdoc at the Carnegie institute at Stanford a 7 years ago. Great opportunity.

Rents have gone crazy since then. They lived in a granny flat in someones backyard, and then moved to the hills. There are places, but finding them is tough when you are not around the area. Try to email the lab he is joining and ask them to ask around. you might get lucky with another postdoc leaving around the same time. Landlords like to rent to postdocs.

Use the tax treaty but just save the money.

My friends wife was on the J-2. She ended up working in the 'development' field with a MS. And she was paid much more than him.

agnosticaphid

Depending on how much you hate being stuck in traffic, finding housing on the other side of the Dumbarton Bridge in Fremont or Union City would save you a bundle and a half. But driving over that bridge, or really any bridge, during rush hour in the commute direction is terrible. If your husband's postdoc position has irregular hours, though, the traffic might not be so bad.

I have no idea what car insurance costs for people without a domestic driving history, but you will easily save hundreds of dollars per month in rent if you live in the East Bay. Failing a car, there's a bus you can take, the Dumbarton Express, but it gets stuck in the same traffic as everyone else...

Anyway, even if you can't get subsidized housing, there's much cheaper places to live than Palo Alto, they just have trade-offs like everything else.

samiam1066

NO. SF has some of highest homes and rentals in USA. UNLESS you share housing with many, don't eat, don't go out.