[thebigguy1992]

I am going to be working at a big 4 firm in a Boston/NYC type office and my parents want me to live from home for the first year or two to save money. I am about 25 miles/40 minutes from the office with no traffic (probably an hour with traffic). I’m in audit, so I’m thinking my clients might be near the city or literally in it. My thinking is sometimes I will be in a hotel monday-thursday so why pay ~800/month for rent when I would only be living in my house 3 days a week. But then theres the trade off of the long commute vs. saving ~10k/year on rent. Has anyone else had a similar dilemma or have any advice?

[Biff-1955-Tannen]

I currently commute about 50 minutes to class. It is all interstate and virtually no traffic. It isn't as bad as it sounds. During my internship I had a manager that would commute about an hour and a half to work, and she didn't mind it too much. I personally am happy to be able to save $10,000 a year.

The only thing that would possibly suck is if you had a client about an hour in the opposite direction of your house that wouldn't require an overnight. But I feel like that would be rare enough that it wouldn't be too bad.

AUD 93 Jan 16
BEC 83 Feb 16
FAR 83 Apr 16
REG 84 May 16

99% Ninja MCQ only

[Track55]

I drive 1:10 on a good day and 2:00 on a rainy day – one way. I've done that over 10 years. And you know what?

Everyone else in So Cal does too.

AUD - 74, 99 !!
REG - 74, 92
BEC - 83
FAR - 73, 86

Studying for Ethics exam

California candidate
Business and Industry

[tuanxn]

You'll be saving $10k a year, but you'll also be losing time sitting in traffic. So if that time is worth more than $10k to you, then I would suggest finding a place closer to work. I would just load up on audiobooks and listen to them on the way to work, but like Track55 said, traffic in SoCal is inevitable.

Just try living at home for a month or two and if it's unbearable, get your own place 🙂

[Hammer]

I was commuting 50 minutes one way for a prior job. That lasted only a year because I hated it so much. When you are working 65 hours a week then throw on another 11 total hours just for commuting it's brutal man.

Left for a small firm, bought a house 7 minutes away and couldn't be happier.

FAR - 70, 81
AUD - 83
BEC - 77
REG - 70, 78

Licensed in Ohio.

Now what the hell do I do?

[Anonymous]

I worked for a year at a job that was a 40 minute commute, and once I get used to it (after a couple weeks), it wasn't that bad. However, it was a job that was at the same place every day, not one that could have an hour added to it. Then I got a job that is a 3 minute commute, and I looooooove it. So much nicer.

So, I'd say a 40-minute commute is very tolerable. Long-term, probably not, but for now, nothing wrong with it. Give it a bit, see how long-term the job is going to be, and then only make long-term living decisions decisions once you know for sure the job-location is.

The biggest thing that concerns me about this post is this: “my parents want me to live from home for the first year or two to save money.” Make this as your own decision, not your parent's or a forum's. Take advice from your parents and a forum, but make sure you're making an adult decision of your own as you start an adult job of your own.

[Missy]

A couple of thoughts. Some people actually enjoy commuting time. My husband would sit in traffic all day long and love every second of it. Some people loathe it.

Second, a Boston or NYC area and $800/mo rent? How many roommates are you planning on because thats unheard of if you want your own place.

Third, while many people get into big 4 and love it and stick around, I wouldn't sign a lease until at least several months in just in case. You don't want a year commitment on a place if you end up hating big 4 and want out less than a year later.

As mentioned above at least try the commute for a bit, while some auditors are in a hotel 4 days a week its rarely if ever like that for more than a few months a year. You don't even know quite yet where your clients will be. I am a good 20 miles out of Boston and every auditor I've ever had came from the Boston office, so you may move closer to the city and still have long commutes to clients more frequently than you'll be far enough away to necessitate a hotel.

Licensed Massachusetts Non Reporting CPA since 2012
Finance/Admin/HR Manager

[Vanessachy]

I takes me about an hour to go to work, I think you are fine.

Far 10/26/2015, 64, 1/4/2016, 82
Reg 7/10/2015, 60, 2/27/2016, 86
Aud, 5/9/2016, 74 (ouch), 7/26/2016, I cannot wait to take this test again
Bec, 6/10/2016, 70,9/8 retake

[y_u_no_pass]

Yeah honestly if you are in or near a city commuting is just a part of life. I'm in a relatively small city and my 3-4 mile commute can range from 10-25 minutes there and 30-50 minutes home. I say go with the commute it's not like you can't move but being on audits you are likely to have some commuting either way.

Florida CPA!
Took final exam 2/25/15.
Sent in Application 3/12/15.
Issued License 3/20/15.
Used CPA Excel solely for all exams.

[Jenny]

I lived in Western OK and drove 50miles to OKC everyday for 7 years. It wasn't too bad, all highway I40 miles. It took me about 40 minutes to get to work. I finally moved to the suburb where my office was located and then my office moved into OKC. So I had about 5 months of 10 minute commute before the office moved, it was awesome. But now I'm back to about a 25 min morning commute and about 40 min commute at 5. It doesn't bother me too much…I usually hit the gym by my office right after work, so when I'm done there, the traffic has died down a lot.

Oklahoma Candidate
AUD - Pass (8/14)
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REG - Pass (2/15)
BEC - Pass (11/15)
Ethics Exam - Pass (12/15)

[lswang]

I hate driving if it's not for fun. An hour commute each way would just kill me. I'm in SoCal, and my first audit job I made sure was a 3 mile commute. I purposely bought a condo that was less than 5 miles from 3 out of 4 of the Big 4 in San Diego because of that. (and the area is just nice. but still.)

I think I'm an extreme though. o.O

FAR | 81 - July 21 15
REG | 66 - Oct 1 15 | 87 - Jan 7 16
AUD | 90 - Oct 29 15
BEC | 86 - Nov 25 15

[ruggercpa2b]

You mentioned that you will be staying in a hotel. Another thing to remember is that if the office you are working out of is close to those clients then you will not be staying in a hotel. You may want to ask what the rules are since those would be considered local clients.

AUD - 73, 72 retake 7/2/2016
BEC - 8/20/2016
REG - TBD
FAR - TBD

I am so ready for this nightmare to be over. Been at this way too long.

[acamp]

If you are in a major city, you can bet the firm will have a LOT of clients in the city (I'm in SF, and the majority of our clients are located near the office); so you can bet you will be commuting in. As the clients are near the office (as mentioned above) you will NOT be in a hotel. Generally you only get a hotel if the client is far away from the office–the threshold at my firm is 50 miles I think.

With that said, I live about 45 miles away from my office and the schedulers have been good at not putting me on jobs that are 45 miles on the OTHER side of the office, for example, which would make it a 90mi one way trip from my house. So if you do end up living with the parents, try to get in touch with scheduling ASAP and let them know where you'll be living. Just ensure you tone in the email is very very FYI and not demanding. “Hey schedulers, I realize I'll be scheduled based on firm needs, but as an FYI I'll be living in XXXXX town…”

Also, skipping Boston/NY rent for 1-2 years sounds great. If you have any debt, pay it off. If you don't, build yourself a pile of cash. Sacrifice a couple years and put yourself in a great financial position.

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[the LAST Coffee]

45 min one way / 90 min RT is 7.5 hour a week for commuting, roughly a day's worth of work.

52 weeks = 52 day's worth of work,

52/5 work days in a week is 10 weeks worth of paychecks.

That is about $10,000 in lost salary and any gas expense you would used up and time lost waiting in traffic.

That's how I see things sometimes. It's not always black and white but this is my perspective for you.

FAR 84 (AUG '15)
BEC 83 (AUG '15)
AUD 79 (OCT '15)
REG 71, 78! (NOV '15, FEB '16)

[acamp]

Also, is there any public transportation between parents house and the office?

If so, that makes it a lot easier as your commute time is not dead hours. I usually work on the way in and Netflix on the way out 😀 [used 37GB this month, thanks grandfathered Verizon unlimited plan! hahaha]

Ninja + Wiley Test Bank: [FAR - 81] [REG - 76] [BEC - 88] [AUD - 73](doh!)

Becker Videos: [AUD - 82]

California CPA

[thebigguy1992]

there is public transportation from my house into the city. and yeah i was basically using the theory of sacrificing one or two years to build up my wealth with cash, as i will be saving a lot of money at a young age. If getting an early start on saving money means an earlier retirement, I'm willing to sacrifice extra hours for that.

[Author]

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