It’s not a waste of time at all, quite the contrary. The aim of the thread is to find out about good places to live with kids, above all else. That’s why I threw in the “assuming you had a choice” clause at the beginning. The thoughtful and reasoned responses have helped clarify the pros and cons for “choosing to have a choice”, so to speak.
If we continue to prioritize material gain and the narrow pursuit of employment in other people’s companies, then the vast majority of the world is off limits. However, if we put a healthy living environment ahead of the possibly mythical goal of winning at the rat race, there are all kinds of quite attractive places.
We could give up on private school, move, buy a smallish, but livable, house with the equity we have and start a business. Or go back to the way we lived in grad school. Or actually go back to school, which admittedly, I ruled out as economically unfeasible, but if the goal is just to make enough to get by, it doesn’t matter.
Not to mention the remote possibility that my employer will get bought out and make me rich enough to retire. The kids will still need a place to grow up, and at that point there’s no reason to stay here.
Yeah, you’re kind of limited with oil patch work: Texas, LA, OK, ND, AK, or take a job in the Saudi/Kuwait arena. I met a guy who works for ARAMCO. He makes a lot of money, but absolutely hates living on a compound in Saudi, regardless of the provided amenities.