Friday Morning in the Valley

Another day...  another dollar...  as my dad used to say...  and, when I heard that and obviously remembered it, I did not understand his sarcasm but I do now.  Pay raises are a necessary evil in that when one receives more money, one has to pay more taxes, and what I always experienced was that my insurance costs also went up, leaving me receiving not much of a gain.

The only way to BEAT THE SYSTEM is to receive SUBSTANTIAL pay increases of $10,000/year or more and the best way (I found) to achieve that growth in pay was/is to leave the State and move to another State.  Not necessarily UP NORTH (if you are in the South) because with that increase comes a higher COST OF LIVING situation...  which negates the increase.  But, move laterally...

I moved from NC to TN in order to receive my SALARY INCREASE and actually moved from a higher cost of living to a lower cost of living without realizing it until after the move...  plus TN has no STATE INCOME TAX effectively boosting one's salary by 7%...