<prompt> Human: My background is this: approaching 40 years old, married, spouse works, 3 kids under 7 years old. In the last three years I went from making 200k per year to just over 1 million per year. My salary is 75k so the bulk of this is in the form of bonuscommission income. Prior to 2015 I had occasional unsecured credit card debt and student and car loans. With the ramp up in income I paid off all loans, maxed out 401k, and saved for a down payment on a house, which we bought last year. I should preface this by stating that I live in the Bay Area where an entry-level starter home can easily run you 1 million in an area with bad schools.The money in making now is tremendous, but the income is very cyclical and never guaranteed. The relative quality of life and cost of living here is killing me. What is a smart 3-year strategy to build a cushion to leave for a lower cost market with a better quality of life for me and my family? I would expect to make roughly 10 of what I make now elsewhere...  <response>: If you expect to make only 10 elsewhere wouldnt working 1 more year equal 10 years of work in the future ? Shit if you could stick at it for 3 or 4 more years had you considered you would never have to work again? Would that not be the ideal exit strategy from the rat race entirely ? 