I prefer to live in the city proper, but many people who prefer a more quiet lifestyle are perfectly content to stay in south SF or across the bay.
Commuting is easy, if a bit slow. Between BART, Muni and Caltrain getting to and from anywhere in the Bay Area is possible. I sold my car before moving here and haven't looked back. If I need to pick something up or leave the city for the day I just use getaround.
Hope that helps :)
Have fun in the city, but be mindful about saving as well.
Also, work hard, and LEARN LEARN LEARN. Your salary, if you are good and work very hard, will rise faster than you can imagine and if you live a frugal lifestyle, you will have a lot of money in 10 years.
You can get your own studio and it will cost you between 2K and 2.5K. A better idea would be to find some roomates. You can get a bigger place, pay less rent, and live with with interesting people.
Good luck!
Too many people undervalue time and health and overvalue money. You can always make money. But you're only young once. IMO the best thing you can do is invest time and money in yourself, not in any kind of fund. The lifetime ROI is higher.
"a bit of debt but not too much"...this is relative, thousands is probably ok, tens of thousands or more not ok.
the whole reason to save most of your income is so you can have free time to do with what you please (work more, travel, start up, nothing). the investment part is only so you can earn a respectable interest (8% to 10% vs 1% to 2% in a savings account) for you to live off of.
Could you please elaborate? Any resources about this topic [for foreigners]? Thanks!
I was living there two months, and the prices are not lower than 4k!