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Cost of living
- Thread starter lariat
- Start date
The Covid-19 related Democratic spending spree and ensuing inflation completely fucked anyone in the middle class that didn't own a home prior to 2020. The middle class folks that owned houses are probably going to hold on but likely won't have much to leave to their children like previous generations could.
You’ve hit the nail on the head. The middle class is really feeling the squeeze, especially with rising costs and stagnant wages. It’s disheartening to see how inflation impacts families who don’t own homes. Many are struggling to keep up, and it feels like the American Dream is slipping away. However, I noticed, a lot of people are still satisfied with the Creadit Union conditions, especially when it comes to loans. Actually, I'm not an exception. I chose community financial credit union over a bank due to lower rates and fees.
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If you had 1 Million in savings in 2019...that 1 million is worth 500,000 in 2024 in terms of 2024 purchasing power in many areas.
2 large ALL meat pizzas cost about 80 dollars plus tip now.
A Big Mac Combo is now $16.99 and half the grammage as 1985.
24 of Bud Beer costs $49.99.
Mortgage rates are 6.99% prime on say 500k with 100k down.
An F150 Platinum costs 110k @ 6.99%.
Paki's and Filipino's cut wages in half...
2 large ALL meat pizzas cost about 80 dollars plus tip now.
A Big Mac Combo is now $16.99 and half the grammage as 1985.
24 of Bud Beer costs $49.99.
Mortgage rates are 6.99% prime on say 500k with 100k down.
An F150 Platinum costs 110k @ 6.99%.
Paki's and Filipino's cut wages in half...
If your mortgage is 6.99 it's a good idea.
If your mortgage rate is 2, 3, or 4% and you are making 5% on investments...then you are up 2 or 3 %...
Ahhhh. Gotcha.
Thanks for helping me understand.
Follow up question:
-As rates continue to drop on HYSA where are people able to “park cash” and earn a better yield without risking the money to pay off the house?
Thanks for helping me understand.
Follow up question:
-As rates continue to drop on HYSA where are people able to “park cash” and earn a better yield without risking the money to pay off the house?
S&P 500. Won't get mega rich, but you'll have steady growth. Any index fund generally beats inflation just not over the short term, can't stress about it every week.
Anything in the market can dip. I have some stuff I do myself, and I have a brokerage that manages a good chunk of my money in mutual funds. Also have the 401k.
Between all 3 I can probably leave my kids enough to buy a few guns when I tip over. Not a single man in my family has made it past 70 so I'm planning on working until I'm dead.
Your own personal risk tolerance is huge though. I can lose all my investments tomorrow and shrug my shoulders and pay my bills.
I know some people that will pay cash for new trucks and houses but are scared to death to let someone else possibly lose $5k.
I was trained by a Billionaire WASP.
Blue chip Dividend yield stocks.
Old faithful reliable stocks that pay a dividend of 3-6%.
Visa. Mastercard. Wells Fargo. AT&T. Bank of Montreal. Toronto Dominion. Bank of America.
Boring old stocks.
Everyone I know that did not follow that has lost out due to trying to be a Wall Street hotshot.
This aligns with what I've been posting elsewhere over the past few months. Long & short of it, we have a population that likely measures in the millions (not exaggerating) that were "left behind" and are no longer participating in our economy because... well they just can't afford it.
That said, we've still got a very vocal group that will chime in and say that they should have taken school more seriously or studied a better major in college. After all, it worked for them 40-50 years ago so that work ethic/pull yourself up by your bootstraps must still hold merit right?
Of course, "they" don't see that their numbers are dwindling and the number of folks following that "advice" are stuck in limbo and struggling. It's absolutely terrible out there, wages are a joke on what's needed to live the "lavish" lifestyle of buying a small house and affording groceries at the same time. But of course "nobody wants to work anymore". That statement is thrown around like a gold bar but those playing "hot potato" ignore that the wages for the jobs they're complaining about still pay less than welfare... and ignore this as a problem/glass ceiling. Look at folks legitimately collecting disability from Social Security... they're limited to something like $2K no if's or but's about it right?
Not trying to rant but as a country/nation, I think it's fair to say we've got some work to do in these parts is all.
-LD
That said, we've still got a very vocal group that will chime in and say that they should have taken school more seriously or studied a better major in college. After all, it worked for them 40-50 years ago so that work ethic/pull yourself up by your bootstraps must still hold merit right?
Of course, "they" don't see that their numbers are dwindling and the number of folks following that "advice" are stuck in limbo and struggling. It's absolutely terrible out there, wages are a joke on what's needed to live the "lavish" lifestyle of buying a small house and affording groceries at the same time. But of course "nobody wants to work anymore". That statement is thrown around like a gold bar but those playing "hot potato" ignore that the wages for the jobs they're complaining about still pay less than welfare... and ignore this as a problem/glass ceiling. Look at folks legitimately collecting disability from Social Security... they're limited to something like $2K no if's or but's about it right?
Not trying to rant but as a country/nation, I think it's fair to say we've got some work to do in these parts is all.
-LD
Personally,
I couldn’t stomach taking the cash on hand for the house and parking it in anything other than a HYSA or CD
But perhaps that’s because I have a scarcity mindset? Idk.
I feel better when things are very firmly in place and very little is left up to chance.
I’m still renting and don’t own. One day. One day.
Then I’ll just be renting from the state, county, municipality. Forever a tax slave
I couldn’t stomach taking the cash on hand for the house and parking it in anything other than a HYSA or CD
But perhaps that’s because I have a scarcity mindset? Idk.
I feel better when things are very firmly in place and very little is left up to chance.
I’m still renting and don’t own. One day. One day.
Then I’ll just be renting from the state, county, municipality. Forever a tax slave
Jobs that paid 60k in 1996 pay 60k in 2024.
That is like 26k in 1996.
Don't know how mega corporations are going to
stop gouging.
Place is going Communist.
If you're looking for a wild ride- check into the Reddit thread '/latestagecapitalism' I don't necessarily agree with everything posted there but if nothing else, you'll get a good read on how the "other side" thinks/perceives things. Just a thought/suggestion.
-LD
-LD
You mention welfare but gloss over the real problem of it.
Businesses have to compete with govt. and govt. pays more for you to be dependent on them than business can afford to make you independent.
It's created inflation and pushed our manufacturing overseas.
It's probably fueled the heavy drug trade as people that want to be independent become despondent and resort to "medication".
If there is one problem you can point to.......its govt.
It's the exact same scenario playing out across all OECD countries. House prices rising to ridiculous and unsustainable levels, unfettered immigration, rise in homelessness and the working poor, increasing levels of crime. Add in the green agenda and woke-ism.
Australia, Canada etc. I listen to podcasts on all these countries issues and if they didn't mention the specific country you'd think they're talking about your country.
End stage capitalism, fiat money in it death throws, whatever you want to call it.
Bad news is it is going to get a lot worse.
Australia has fucked itself in a period of 30 years. Lightly populated country with untold resources. It is now well and truly gone.
The Australian dream/Lucky country is well and truly cooked. People that were considered lower middle class are now struggling to make ends meet. If you don't own a home you will now have next to no chance of ever owning one within a reasonable commute of any Australian capital city (Unless you want to post up your flange on onlyfans etc lol)
Local parks and under bridges near me have families, women and kids, sleeping in tent cities or their cars. Unseen before in my 50+ years living here. (All Australian people of course, you'll probably never see a refugee, new arrival in this situation. I certainly haven't as yet)
Australia, Canada etc. I listen to podcasts on all these countries issues and if they didn't mention the specific country you'd think they're talking about your country.
End stage capitalism, fiat money in it death throws, whatever you want to call it.
Bad news is it is going to get a lot worse.
Australia has fucked itself in a period of 30 years. Lightly populated country with untold resources. It is now well and truly gone.
The Australian dream/Lucky country is well and truly cooked. People that were considered lower middle class are now struggling to make ends meet. If you don't own a home you will now have next to no chance of ever owning one within a reasonable commute of any Australian capital city (Unless you want to post up your flange on onlyfans etc lol)
Local parks and under bridges near me have families, women and kids, sleeping in tent cities or their cars. Unseen before in my 50+ years living here. (All Australian people of course, you'll probably never see a refugee, new arrival in this situation. I certainly haven't as yet)
Both parties love spending money that isn't theirs, 2020-2022 needs to be called out because the Democrats wasted biblical amounts of money and did so much damage to the American middle class.
I believe the true problem are Irish/Italian run Teamsters that act as Dobermans for the CEO's who want 50-100-400 Million dollar bonuses.
Teamsters muzzle workers....they are muscle/ errand boys for S&P 500.
Put Teamsters in concentration camps.
Make corporations pay zero tax.
Institute laws to force corporations to pay wages that follow inflation, including housing.
So the John Deere workers in East Moline, Illinois should be paid 140k per year and in Iowa 110k per year.
Instead the NYC fag's are outsourcing to Mexico...again...
In Canada all the fuckin fat old fuckin Estrogen titty boomers hire temporary foreign workers so that they can spend 500k in Vegas every year.
Greed, Envy, and Lust are the main reasons for Canada and the U.S. turning into inferiority zones.
Every cockroach at every level is fucking the system like an ultra corrupt used car sales manager.
There is no other reason.
Oh look. The Toronto and NYC Jew and WASP bankers sent Justin and his well dressed son on a mission to find slave labor that is cheaper then Mexico and China!!!...
Half of you voted for Clinton, Obama and Biden and you fuckers will vote for Kamala the post here bitching about your stupid fucking decisions. I doubt anything of the other half ever wrote their politicians a nasty letter or made a call to say stop voting for this shit.
We had a republican congresswoman for twenty years, she is retiring this year. For twenty fucking years she has ran ads about helping vets. She has not helped a single veteran, introduced a single bill helping veterans or assisted a single veteran in a fight with the VA.
Same with the local air base. It's a fucking ghost town. Downsized by 50% and getting filled with Army guard idiots and DRMO garbage, AF works half days most of the time and never weekends or nights. Every new plane or project goes elsewhere.
Covid was just an excuse to throw off the restraints and finally ignore voters once and for all. We might vote but they workbfor Bill Gates, George Soros and
fucking communist China. Good luck finding one person in Washington to bitch about the largest fentenyal producing country on earth. Yeah, China.
Your paycheck is shrinking because they hate you and want to watch you suffer and die poor. When Trump helped, they countered with the importation of 15,000,000 foreign peasants who do not give a shit and work for pennies.
We had a republican congresswoman for twenty years, she is retiring this year. For twenty fucking years she has ran ads about helping vets. She has not helped a single veteran, introduced a single bill helping veterans or assisted a single veteran in a fight with the VA.
Same with the local air base. It's a fucking ghost town. Downsized by 50% and getting filled with Army guard idiots and DRMO garbage, AF works half days most of the time and never weekends or nights. Every new plane or project goes elsewhere.
Covid was just an excuse to throw off the restraints and finally ignore voters once and for all. We might vote but they workbfor Bill Gates, George Soros and
fucking communist China. Good luck finding one person in Washington to bitch about the largest fentenyal producing country on earth. Yeah, China.Your paycheck is shrinking because they hate you and want to watch you suffer and die poor. When Trump helped, they countered with the importation of 15,000,000 foreign peasants who do not give a shit and work for pennies.
That's fine.
But over the span of 1 or 2 or 5 years you will have more money in the bank if you pay down that mortgage.
If you have an emergency and need 20 or 30k for a car or a heater or AC unit...you can take out a home equity loan.
Time is the friend of interest.
Money down is the enemy of interest.
I was told keep 10k in the bank.
That's it.
