Company announced you are going full remote

I know there have been similar threads in the past about if you could live anywhere... or if you could work from anywhere...

However, I felt that most of the responses were just places that would be cool to experience without being too realistic or thinking about the consequences like family, friends, cultural differences, etc. 

With the recent trends in implementing a fully remote workforce, I am worried that my NYC company might do this as well. 

If your company announces that you are going fully remote, what would you actually do? Would you move or stay? Nearby (closest decline in COL) or far away (cheap COL anywhere)?

 

This is a good topic. I think there’s some other factors to consider:

Will your pay be the same or adjusted for COL in whichever city you choose? Facebook reduces pay for low COL workers, Reddit pays everyone SF salaries. Two different approaches. 
 

Another consideration, does your company/ team expect you to be on a specific time zone or just get your work done? That could restrict your move. I have a buddy who works on East Coast time but lives in LA. He is an early riser and finishes his day at 2P, which is pretty sweet if you naturally wake up early. 
 

If I had the opportunity, I’m not quite sure where I’d live. Probably move out of LA and go into Orange County if anything. I would like to explore Texas, I loved visiting Boston a while back, I don’t think I could stomach a Nevada summer, Seattle seems cool but my wife hates rainy days. 

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.” - Nassim Taleb
 

Compensation has not been fully discussed, but one idea that is being thrown around is to reduce the salaries of any future hires for COL adjustments and reduce the number of future pay bumps in current employee compensation.

In terms of hours, they want everyone on normal EST hours. If you want to live on the west coast, it seems like you can do that but you’d have to be up early.

 

Yeah OC is chill and a lot cheaper than LA with some nice beaches and waves.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

If your company announces that you are going fully remote, what would you actually do? Would you move or stay? Nearby (closest decline in COL) or far away (cheap COL anywhere)?

I'd stay in the state I'm in (tier 2/3, low CoL, think ATL/CLT). I'm in a client facing business and facetime does still count. However, I would not be here full time. even though I'm in the south, we still have winter which I dislike, would love to be in south florida or puerto rico for 3-5 months out of the year.

I would say the Mediterranean, but time zone and regulatory differences prevent that from being feasible. If those weren't impediments, I'd have a hard choice between Lisbon, Barcelona, and Florence.

 

I'll make it easy for you:

Florence - nice to look at for few a days. No work. No life.

Lisbon - fantastic for old retirees looking for that golden European passport. No work. A lot more life however - those British stag never get old!

Barcelona - fantastic city to live in. Great work. Tons of life - go go go. Also life is still around in the winter.

If a city has limited amount of opportunities it won't attract the type of crowds you would like to spend your down time with. If you want to retire - plenty of other places I would go to starting with Greece. 

Edit: Forgot to add schooling! Lisbon and Barcelona great for international education - Florence, not so much

 

If international were on the table, I'd probably try living in random cities in South America (i.e. Buenos Aires, Santiago, major Colombian cities, etc.) and Mexico for a few months at a time to see how I liked them. There's also less of a time zone hassle since they're within 3 hours of the continental US, but taxes could be problematic. If international is not on the table, I'd probably move to Florida, or the less expensive SoCal cities (i.e. Orange County/San Diego).

 

I'd live in NYC from April/May to October/November, then somewhere warm for 4-5 months in winter. Most likely Miami or SoCal (LA or San Diego). Potentially even places like Medellin or Buenos Aires if that worked from a compliance standpoint. 

I'd also take a couple month-long remote work "vacations" (where I'm working half the time and getting time to explore the area) each year to new destinations. I'm tired of the BS week-long "vacations" (I hesitate to call anything shorter than 2 weeks a true vacation) that have become normalized in this industry, at least in the US. 

 

If you're young and single I can't imagine you would want to leave a major city like NYC. Ditto if you're in a 2-year IB program and your goal is to exit to the buy-side given the sheer volume of exit-ops in the NYC area. Where I think this becomes a bigger factor is if you're married with kids. The ability to afford better housing and access higher quality state schools will be a major pull factor for guys who know they are not going to be the next Paul Singer of this business. Big questions would be what kind of climate you enjoy, the time zone you want/need to work out of, and the quality of transport links bank to NYC as I would imagine some face time will still be required (maybe flying in once a month for a team gathering). I've only been there once but I could see a younger version of myself liking Nashville as a base.

 

Gonna have to agree on the first part. I am moving to NYC in may for my analyst job and I don't see myself leaving for at least a year or two even if I was given the option to WFH entirely(which I won't be lol). I feel like I would miss out on a lot of growth and learning working from home as a rookie analyst.  

Array 8.5.2
 

As someone who is born and raised in NYC and working in the west coast, I fully intend to move back in a year or two and have my family/raise my kids in NYC in the future. It is interesting to hear other perspectives on this about schools and universities especially in NY. While it is understandable that the SUNY and CUNY systems obviously leave a lot to be desired, I feel like primary through high school education in NYC is very tough to beat compared to other parts of the country. I personally went to a private day school so while it was different from public schools, I personally feel that NYC has some of the best public schools in the country. While private day schools like Dalton, Collegiate, Trinity etc. are always going to be around and going to be the great schools, it is understandable that a lot of people may not be able to afford the 50000 per kid cost without being an MD or Principal making a ton. NYC has some amazing public high schools that punch the same weight as these day schools like Stuyvesant and Bronx Science and while they are competitive, personally feel like education in NYC is amazing with the amount of opportunities that kids have. 

 

Not to come off like a dick, but the two schools you named are not sure fire things. 3% of kids who take SHSAT get in to Stuy. I wouldn’t include those in the NYC public education system realm because the median does not look anything like that. 

 

To those who are moving to NYC right now - it is good you weren’t here before all of this shit because it would be a major letdown. The place is a wasteland compared to what it was. I’m not sure why people get so angry with this, it’s true. I’m not “dissing” NYC, I was born and raised here. There are major problems facing the city right now that could easily snowball into a severe long term problem (one that effects quality of life), but I guess many aren’t seeing it. 

 

Fugit ex nulla distinctio quaerat omnis facilis quaerat minus. Quod nihil asperiores ut repellat explicabo nobis aliquam. Fugiat possimus consequatur perspiciatis vitae id aspernatur ut. Omnis officia voluptas sed. Necessitatibus explicabo hic dolorem dolorem quo est.

Ad dolorum ducimus dicta. Sequi voluptate et numquam ut est. Sint omnis repudiandae temporibus dolore sint.

 

Non sapiente accusantium non accusamus maiores quia. Quo doloribus veritatis et aut quasi architecto. Magni hic explicabo quibusdam officia pariatur explicabo. Minima quia fugiat ipsa voluptatem et consequatur perferendis hic. Sunt explicabo fugiat accusamus voluptas explicabo sint. Velit delectus et sit.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”