You Can’t Win Without a Clear Goal

**SPEAKER_1** (0:04)
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**Jade Warshaw** (0:13)
Normal is broken, common sense is weird. So we're here to help you transform your life from the Ramsey Network here in the FAIRWINDS Credit Union studio.
We're going to take your calls all hour long. Get involved. We've got Michael who's in Springfield, Missouri online.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:36)
Hi, how's it going?

**Jade Warshaw** (0:37)
Doing all right, how can we help?

**SPEAKER_4** (0:40)
Great, so I am currently being offered a position in the company I work for that would require me to relocate to a much more expensive area. I was just calling to see how much should I push for. I like the company and I like the position, so I don't want to push too hard and have it get offered to somebody else, but I also don't want to undersell myself.

**Jade Warshaw** (1:01)
So is this something that you're viewing as salary or is it a moving stipend? Like how are you viewing the structure of this?

**SPEAKER_4** (1:08)
So I am paid hourly. The relocation costs would all be paid for the company card that I have.
So I would use that to pay for the U-Haul or the movers or however that's done.

**Dr. John Delony** (1:20)
But is your hourly wage going to stay the same in this new position?

**SPEAKER_4** (1:25)
That's what I'm asking is how much I should ask for. We haven't gotten to the negotiation on what the salary would be for it or anything.

**Jade Warshaw** (1:33)
Do you have a sense of what it is?

**SPEAKER_4** (1:38)
So right now I make $42 an hour, and I live pretty comfortably in Springfield.
I'm looking at the area I would be relocating to. Rent-wise, it looks like it's about $1,000 to $1,200 more for about the same rental in my area.

**Dr. John Delony** (1:58)
But that means groceries are going to be that much more expensive, tires will be that much more expensive, right?
There is websites with cost of living index that you can put in one zip code and it will compare it to another. I don't know them off top of my head, but I've done it before. If you make this much money in this zip code, you'd need to make this much money in that zip code for it to be comparable. My bigger question is, what is it about this position? Because it sounds like you're about to cash in on a place where you like living and you make a great hourly, like a really great hourly wage. What is it about this position you're worried about somebody else taking if it's going to move you to a town where you don't know anybody, it's going to be expensive. In your overall life, this life you're building is going to be of less quality.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:45)
So I really like the company I'm working for. And this position would just move me up a level in this company. Kind of give me a quick boost in where I'm, I don't know, like ranking with the company.

**Dr. John Delony** (2:59)
So would it be something that-

**SPEAKER_4** (3:00)
And that area-

**Dr. John Delony** (3:02)
Go ahead.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:04)
The area is, it's a very nice area, obviously, with cost of living.

**Jade Warshaw** (3:07)
Where is it?

**SPEAKER_4** (3:08)
You would expect it to be nice. It is Charleston, South Carolina. Okay.

**SPEAKER_6** (3:13)
They have, from what I can see, they have really good schools there.

**SPEAKER_4** (3:16)
But like I said, it is much more expensive. That's the, that's the only thing I'm really worried about with this.

**Jade Warshaw** (3:23)
So if I take a quick look, and I would do this if I were you, I would just pull it up, like you could use a comparable, like what John said, or you could, you know, look in ChatGPT and see. But just me doing this search for you, if I worked in Springfield, Missouri, and I was making 42 an hour, if I wanted to move to Charleston, the equivalent would be somewhere around 60 bucks an hour. So you'd go from making 87 a year to maybe 133 a year. And for cost of living, that's what they're saying is equivalent. This is just one search. I'm not saying this is the be all end all. This is just me doing literally 30 seconds of research to try to see. And then from there on, I'd keep going, I'd keep going down the rabbit hole and try to compare that a little bit further to see if you're on point or if you're way off.