This is hardly that simple. Lower cost of living means lower wages. That will be a wash with cost-of-living type products and services but not with, for lack of a better word, "international priced" items [1].
I don't understand why so many people in the self proclaimed capitalist hub of the world believe things like living in a lower cost of living area means you have more money.
[1] A closer word might be "luxury" items but it's hard to call something a luxury item that people of literally all classes have (e.g. an iPhone).
That is a false assumption.
http://swz.salary.com/CostOfLivingWizard/LayoutScripts/Coll_...
"In finance, you will be fighting against transparency for the sake of maintaining profits" - not sure what you mean by this, if you could please clarify
Even then, waiting 15 years to make a million won't have the same affect on everyone. Have you read Tony Hsieh's book after he sold LinkExchange: he could either sit around for a year and collect his ~40 million just by showing up and not doing anything, or he could leave early, and take less. He left early and took the cut in pay. I'm sure he made the right choice.
Banks don't make a lot of money from equities, they make a lot of money from over the counter (OTC) markets. These don't trade on an exchange, they are traded via phone calls and bloomberg emails. Banks try to keep pricing information as close to the chest as they can so that they can keep a wide bid ask spread (meaning they buy low, and sell for higher, and not because of appreciation or financial performance). Banks make money by offering 2 way markets (like a book keeper would) so the less transparent they are with their pricing, they more likely they are to be able to increase the bid ask margin. They don't have to disclose prices, and the traders can mark the bonds at almost whatever price they see fit, even if the price they have is super stale. Not only that, no one really knows what some of these complicated securities are really worth. As someone who comes from a science background, I was shocked to learn that "research reports" are more like marketing/advertising and they are not allowed to publish a negative outlook.
In my opinion, it's a messed up system and I don't want younger hackers thinking its a cool thing to do.
I can assure it will be nothing compared to what you are able to accomplish by starting your own company and building something you care about. In finance, you will be fighting against transparency for the sake of maintaining profits when you could be doing something way more important... And yes the problem solving is fun at first, but then you realize that you could be problem solving on something that matters to you. A few thousand dollars more doesn't matter, and if you figure in the cost of living in NYC you're probably making less.
That is my advice, take it or leave, but please, think about what you're doing.