Boomers cant afford they houses. boo hoo

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KCCLONE712

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Jun 29, 2011
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It takes a special kind of person to take joy in other peoples misfortunes.


You do it also, and every day. You just don't let yourself realize it. Capitalism 101...

FYI - This is not an anti-capitalism post, I love capitalism, has worked out great for me so far
 

Dr.bannedman

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Aug 21, 2012
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that island napoleon got sent to
You do it also, and every day. You just don't let yourself realize it. Capitalism 101...

FYI - This is not an anti-capitalism post, I love capitalism, has worked out great for me so far

its done **** for me i have nothing and my wifes boyfriend just got a new 2007 silverado jacked up my miata is barely getting me 2 the pet store for work
 

SoapyCy

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Oct 10, 2012
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My mom would give us money every year for big things if she could but my dad says we'll see his money when he dies. I don't know why they're so different but (not to be morbid) $250,000 is a lot more meaningful to me with kids in daycare and a mortgage than when I'm 50 and no more big expenses. I suppose that would mean I'd invest it for my own kids and grandkids (and maybe that's his point) but they have enough that giving away money to their kids won't hurt them but would help us a lot.

Our remaining mortgage is about $105,000 so paying that off would have a huge benefit to us. I can see how people who do get money while young would get a bigger or nicer house thinking they'll never need to save because money will always be there.

My dad asked me what we pay for cell phone, internet, andTV. $250/month. He was shocked and I said that's probably low for a lot of families.
 

JP4CY

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Not only this, but many of our grandparents had gardens, that allowed them to cut down their food expenses. Many grandmothers did not work fulltime, so she was home cooking the night time meal as opposed to ordering out, because she got home late from work.

My wife's parents were like this, he worked in a factory 20 miles away, every morning her mom got up and fixed his lunch and a large breakfast, eggs, bacon the whole deal. When he got home from work, he would work in the garden, it was his hobby. Picking weeds, and such. My MIL canned a lot of stuff they grew to eat later in the year. It was a joy to eat dinner at their house, everything was homemade, lots of steak, potatoes and gravy, fresh baked bread. My MIL worked part time at the local care center. My FIL always had at least 2 hot meals a day at the dinning room table, always with a slice of homemade pie or cake for dessert.
It was just a different America, you could actually have a nice life on a single income or a full time and the other part time job. Those days are gone.
That's pre-shuttling your kids to a zillion sports. Not saying that's right or wrong but that's a big chunk.
We have a large garden but I'm not sure the input cost with time makes up for it in the end. A can of diced tomatoes is pretty damn cheap. Think of all the time spent to accomplish that.
 

jbindm

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Dec 2, 2010
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My mom would give us money every year for big things if she could but my dad says we'll see his money when he dies. I don't know why they're so different but (not to be morbid) $250,000 is a lot more meaningful to me with kids in daycare and a mortgage than when I'm 50 and no more big expenses. I suppose that would mean I'd invest it for my own kids and grandkids (and maybe that's his point) but they have enough that giving away money to their kids won't hurt them but would help us a lot.

Our remaining mortgage is about $105,000 so paying that off would have a huge benefit to us. I can see how people who do get money while young would get a bigger or nicer house thinking they'll never need to save because money will always be there.

My dad asked me what we pay for cell phone, internet, andTV. $250/month. He was shocked and I said that's probably low for a lot of families.

My parents are the same, as are my wife's. I get it. It's their money and they should do as they see fit with it. And also, they can't possibly know when they're going to pass away or what kind of care they might need as they get older. I mean, I know you can plan for that but only to some extent. I'd rather have it and not need it as I age. When I'm gone my kids can have it.
 

cowgirl836

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That's pre-shuttling your kids to a zillion sports. Not saying that's right or wrong but that's a big chunk.
We have a large garden but I'm not sure the input cost with time makes up for it in the end. A can of diced tomatoes is pretty damn cheap. Think of all the time spent to accomplish that.


Agree on the last. We have a garden but by the time you account for the time spent for the return, it probably doesn't save us anything.
 

JP4CY

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Agree on the last. We have a garden but by the time you account for the time spent for the return, it probably doesn't save us anything.
And you are heating up the hell out of your house when its hot as hell out/running your air.

We've started to go down the path of less canning and more freezing.
 

Remo Gaggi

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Aug 28, 2018
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I'm a boomer and I can afford my oversized mansion. Not crying a bit. And Polk County keeps on jacking up the value to bring in more cash.

I burn REAL wood in my fireplace in the winter to help global warming and run the air at 70 in the summer.
 

cowgirl836

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And you are heating up the hell out of your house when its hot as hell out/running your air.

We've started to go down the path of less canning and more freezing.

I'm too chickenshit to get into canning. Also seems to take more time. I freeze everything. Blanch the tomatoes first but then boom, tomatoes for spaghetti sauce, soups, peppers for stir fry - done.

Of course this year I'm burning $$ and time replanting all the stuff that isn't coming up :rolleyes:
 
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BillBrasky4Cy

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Agree on the last. We have a garden but by the time you account for the time spent for the return, it probably doesn't save us anything.

I don't think most people plant a garden because of the cost savings though. My wife and I plant one mostly because the produce is amazing and there is a sense of reward enjoying the fruits of your labor.
 

JP4CY

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I don't think most people plant a garden because of the cost savings though. My wife and I plant one mostly because the produce is amazing and there is a sense of reward enjoying the fruits of your labor.
I think my grandmother's era it wasn't so much about the cost, it was that they were a single car household so she couldn't run to the store to purchase stuff and have dinner on the table when grandpa came home.
The deep freezer and cold cellar dictated a lot of dinners I'm sure.
 

cowgirl836

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I don't think most people plant a garden because of the cost savings though. My wife and I plant one mostly because the produce is amazing and there is a sense of reward enjoying the fruits of your labor.


I would agree. Most of what we grow is not expensive to purchase. I'd argue the reason for past generations having large gardens was a combo of available time/labor + lack of affordable/easy accessibility to what they were growing. For many of us in suburban/rural America, the latter is not much of an issue but the former is.
 

Tre4ISU

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I look around the DSM Metro and I seriously don't know how people do it. My wife and I both make good money and I can't fathom taking on that kind of debt.

Right out of college I was paying of small student loans and had $800 in rent. Once both of those are gone, you can pencil in a pretty decent home and that's not even considering if you get married and cut out a lot of other costs. I figured it up and monthly, my girlfriend and I would save about $500 in monthly bills/other expenses. I'm fairly cheap in these departments and don't like payments but since I live in a small town, you're looking at a pretty decent home for not a lot more cost than you already have. That doesn't mean I want to take on a $500,000 mortgage but we probably could and we don't make huge money.
 

SEIOWA CLONE

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I think my grandmother's era it wasn't so much about the cost, it was that they were a single car household so she couldn't run to the store to purchase stuff and have dinner on the table when grandpa came home.
The deep freezer and cold cellar dictated a lot of dinners I'm sure.

I am not saying your are right or wrong, but it was just a slower life style. My in-laws had 2 cars, but they both did not drive them everyday. A gardening was a hobby my FIL enjoyed.
My in-laws grew up in the Great Depression, my FIL was in WW2, so they only used cash to purchase anything. They basically bought nothing on credit, their idea was if we want it, we will save for it. When he died, we found thousands of dollars that he had squirreled away in the basement and in the freezer, he had purchase quite a few CD's and never told my MIL. He grew up poor, had seen what it was like to have banks close and wipe people out, and he was not going to let that happen to him.

I always tell my wife, her dad died the best way possible, he had just finished eating Sunday Dinner, rolled back in his chair and they think he was dead before he hit the floor. Massive heart attack. Hopefully they had sex in the morning.

My FIL, a quiet but very likeable guy, and man he loved to talk about his time in the army. Not in a bragging way, but just what he had seen and done.
 
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Tre4ISU

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I think my grandmother's era it wasn't so much about the cost, it was that they were a single car household so she couldn't run to the store to purchase stuff and have dinner on the table when grandpa came home.
The deep freezer and cold cellar dictated a lot of dinners I'm sure.

There were a ton of factors. Women didn't work away from home nearly as much, they didn't make trips to the store every other day, they all had huge pantries, freezer reserves, etc. It's just what you did and it probably was cheaper to do that back then relative to buying it. 15 years ago I would have told it was stupid to hire someone to change your oil too but now I can't afford to do it myself. The stuff to do it gets within 10 bucks of what I can have someone else do it for.
 

Tre4ISU

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I am not saying your are right or wrong, but it was just a slower life style. My in-laws had 2 cars, but they both did not drive them everyday. A gardening was a hobby my FIL enjoyed.
My in-laws were grew up in the Great Depression, my FIL was in WW2, so they only used cash to purchase anything. They basically bought nothing on credit, their idea was if we want it, we will save for it. When he died, we found thousands of dollars that he had squirreled away in the basement and in the freezer, he had purchase quite a few CD's and never told my MIL. He grew up poor, had seen what it was like to have banks close and wipe people out, and he was not going to let that happen to him.

I always tell my wife, her dad died the best way possible, he had just finished eating Sunday Dinner, rolled back in his chair and they think he was dead before he hit the floor. Massive heart attack. Hopefully they had sex in the morning.

My FIL, a quiet but very likeable guy, and man he loved to talk about his time in the army. Not in a bragging way, but just what he had seen and done.

I don't think people give enough credit to people living their life by how they grew up. Those people saw times in this country that young people haven't seen anything close to. They've seen credit cards and borrowing for there entire life and it's lead to generations of people thinking that's the norm and the way to live. It's not good. It inflates the big ticket items and will very likely lead to an enormous crash in the economy in time.
 

ClonesFTW

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This is what I do not get about people hoping for high prices.

Higher selling prices are generally eaten by higher purchasing prices.

You are a rat running on a treadmill.

The only ones who win are the real estate agents. And, indeed, that is often the point.

There's only 3 possible benefits if you're the home owner:

- Rental property sale
- Moving to a different market with lesser housing inflation
- Going from owning to renting