I worked and lived in the SF Bay Area for nearly 30 years and I grew up in Marin. I left in 2016 and now own land in a rural area back East. I'm building my dream/retirement/Jeff Tracey Thunderbirds house and will never return to California. I still have most of my family in the SF Bay Area but they are going to end up "holding the bag" and lose out if they wait too long. My brother who has a house in Noe Valley worries me the most but I can't save him from himself.
I realized about a decade ago I could never retire in California due to the costs regardless of retirement investment. I also realized that what made Silicon Valley work politically, economically and intellectually is now 100% gone thanks to Woke.
I actually like urban cities. But I've lived in cities that ACTUALLY WORK - Taipei, Singapore, Tokyo, etc. And NO CITY in the USA will ever attain even 1/10th of what these cities achieve in terms of livability and cost - we don't have the cultural or national stamina to do what it would take (and NO green energy is not the answer). I've had hope in the past but clearly it's never going to happen.
And that won't change in my remaining lifetime (based on my grandparents' lifespans, I've got as much as 30 more years). If you've ever lived in "real cities" like these in Asia or Europe, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you need to travel and experience it. Honestly it's a lot like meeting woman overseas - you discover what you thought was normal absolutely is NOT nor remotely necessary.
The lower cost of where I live now has enabled me to make all the capital investments for my next companies (I've cofounded 4 since 2000 - all SW & HW based). Having the R&D "done/validated" before we talk to money means we keep far more ownership and are closer to release to market with time-to-market advantages.
This is completely impossible in California or NYC now. Doing this is pretty marginal in AZ or TX or OR or WA but sometimes doable in certain niches fields. It's a slam dunk if you have far lower operating and living costs.
Everything is changing - all the places you could MINDLESSLY assume would be good never will be again. A very useful historical analogy: between 1920 and 1960, the "electronics industry" (including the 1920s Radio Boom which was analogous in growth to all the booms in Silicon Valley over the last 50 years) were all centered in the NYC tristate area.
And then it was all gone - when it all moved to Silicon Valley and other western states. Nothing is permanent. And this type of migration is currently in progress right now. Again. But California is the "overpriced, antibusiness" location everyone is fleeing from. Just as in the 1950s-1960s, it wasn't necessarily clear where the new "hotspot(s)" would be. A lot of people were also sure that NYC would remain the center of electronics just as many people think California will always be the place for "Tech". They were wrong. The weather is not enough to keep people!
I've lived more time in Taipei than any other city throughout my life and I love it.
That said, California's weather is amazing and while I can see some businesses "fleeing" in the near term, it will still be California and it's hard to imagine it not being a hot spot to some degree. People will always be drawn to good weather, mountains and coastlines.
Who knows what the new hotspots will be in a 50-100 years.
I'd say Florida is going to be one of them. Business-friendly, amazing weather, accumulated wealth from all over NA (snowbirds).
I worked and lived in the SF Bay Area for nearly 30 years and I grew up in Marin. I left in 2016 and now own land in a rural area back East. I'm building my dream/retirement/Jeff Tracey Thunderbirds house and will never return to California. I still have most of my family in the SF Bay Area but they are going to end up "holding the bag" and lose out if they wait too long. My brother who has a house in Noe Valley worries me the most but I can't save him from himself.
I realized about a decade ago I could never retire in California due to the costs regardless of retirement investment. I also realized that what made Silicon Valley work politically, economically and intellectually is now 100% gone thanks to Woke.
I actually like urban cities. But I've lived in cities that ACTUALLY WORK - Taipei, Singapore, Tokyo, etc. And NO CITY in the USA will ever attain even 1/10th of what these cities achieve in terms of livability and cost - we don't have the cultural or national stamina to do what it would take (and NO green energy is not the answer). I've had hope in the past but clearly it's never going to happen.
And that won't change in my remaining lifetime (based on my grandparents' lifespans, I've got as much as 30 more years). If you've ever lived in "real cities" like these in Asia or Europe, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you need to travel and experience it. Honestly it's a lot like meeting woman overseas - you discover what you thought was normal absolutely is NOT nor remotely necessary.
The lower cost of where I live now has enabled me to make all the capital investments for my next companies (I've cofounded 4 since 2000 - all SW & HW based). Having the R&D "done/validated" before we talk to money means we keep far more ownership and are closer to release to market with time-to-market advantages.
This is completely impossible in California or NYC now. Doing this is pretty marginal in AZ or TX or OR or WA but sometimes doable in certain niches fields. It's a slam dunk if you have far lower operating and living costs.
Everything is changing - all the places you could MINDLESSLY assume would be good never will be again. A very useful historical analogy: between 1920 and 1960, the "electronics industry" (including the 1920s Radio Boom which was analogous in growth to all the booms in Silicon Valley over the last 50 years) were all centered in the NYC tristate area.
And then it was all gone - when it all moved to Silicon Valley and other western states. Nothing is permanent. And this type of migration is currently in progress right now. Again. But California is the "overpriced, antibusiness" location everyone is fleeing from. Just as in the 1950s-1960s, it wasn't necessarily clear where the new "hotspot(s)" would be. A lot of people were also sure that NYC would remain the center of electronics just as many people think California will always be the place for "Tech". They were wrong. The weather is not enough to keep people!