Friday, July 6, 2012

Would You Move?

Apparently, more and more people in the US are saying they won't.

We have moved 11 times in close to 17 years of marriage.  All have been work related and all have been with just two companies.  It is expected that you will move at least once in your career.  Performance reviews make it very clear that an unwillingness to move will negatively impact your upward mobility.

As a disclaimer, I will also note that all of the moves had a stable job at the end and all were paid for by the corporation.  In the last 17 years, I have not packed or lifted a box.  All I have done is make plane and hotel reservations.

From The Economist

That make economists fret: a nation of stick-in-the-muds could face disappointing productivity growth and more stubborn unemployment than it is used to.

On the other hand, I have only moved state to state once.  I have been more likely to move country to country.  I think it is good for my kids - they are pretty tough and adaptable.  It is good for my husband - he is rapidly moving up in the company.  It is good for me - I get bored staying in one place too long.

We said "no" once.  We didn't want to move to Angola.  Actually, we wanted to move to Angola, but we didn't want to expose the boys to the constant malaria medication.  We gave up a lot of money, but some things are not worth it.

3 comments:

Book Dragon said...

I think you've made some wise decisions. We haven't had much opportunity to move, all my husband's job related "moves" were just office to office and still basically local.

I'm thinking I'd like to move, there isn't any chance of it but I'm slowly clearing stuff out like there is.

love reading your blog ;-)

Patricia said...

That is the best reason to move ... every three years or so we get a chance to clean out our closets and declutter.

Girl Detective said...

I am dearly hoping that I will never move again, or at least not till age/ability make me. I have lived in/rented/owned 23 places over my 44 years. If I whittle down to metro areas, I've lived in ten places, only one outside the continental US. My husband is on his 3rd job in this town, and has moved up with every change. My mobile childhood made me long to put down roots. Once my husband and I moved to the Twin Cities in MN, we found where we wanted to stay.