What is the biggest challenge I face in the next six months?

Deciding who I want to be when I grow up and how that will impact my housing choices well into the 2030s.

The condrum is simple…

• Living in Upstate New York sucks. The taxes are high, the government regulations are stupid, everybody who lives in Upstate NY is terribly corrupt due to all the work arounds they have to build into their lives to appease the power brokers who speak of high moral causes but are primarily interested in lining their own pockets.
• I make really good money with my patronage job that I love doing, one that finally taps into my talents with data and programming. I do good work and have a record of securing results for my clients and working inefficiencies out of processes. I find NY state politics to be endlessly fascinating drama, watching as the people’s business gets done, maybe with a cringe worthiness like gawking a fatal automobile crash.

I really see three options forward…

• Try to hold on to my relatively inexpensive dumpy apartment in the suburbs, trying to cut costs anywhere possible in my budget so I can save as much as possible towards moving out of New York State at age 55 the earliest I can collect retirement. If I have to move find a similarly dumpy apartment. Continue to build my resume and work skills, deliver results for clients and earn more pay and invest it. Seek lower income work at age 55 outside of New York State. Continue to do trips so I can have some joy in life but the primary focus should be on taking care of my health and finances so I am in good shape come age 55 in 14 years. Obviously such an approach has risks of health declines and potential death especially in a less than healthy living environment that my apartment represents.
• Build that solar powered and wood heated cabin on the outskirts of Albany on the edge of deep rural Upstate NY. Have a fair amount of acerage, good neighbors and be careful what and when I’m burning things in bonfires. Make sure to carefully build and engineer that property to comply with all state codes, set it up to be well screened from the roads and neighbors. Familiarize myself with all the necessary work arounds for living in Upstate New York like traveling to buy ammunition out of state. The thing is this option while the appealing middle option blocks the first option as once I build a unique property it’s likely difficult to sell and will tie up a lot of money even if it’s a more enjoyable option then the first.
• Leave New York State and completely reboot my life from scratch, in many ways writing off a lot of the experience and salary bumps I’ve given up over the past decade and a half. There are plenty of much more wild places in America that suit my values, are far cheaper to build in and don’t require so many work arounds for every day living. Places where they respect the second amendment, where they have few restrictions on fires, taxes are low and life is affordable. Much of the Midwest and the West come to mind. Pennsylvania and West Virginia are decent options too though such states have their own problems.