Sunday’s comic NonSequitur by Wiley hit at FA of retiree pensions. Y’all will enjoy.
Saw a couple of old episodes of “American Greed” on CNBC. See the sharks out there. Sad on who got ripped off.
It does seem like there would have to be exceptional circumstances for the electric bill to be so high. Maybe they were telling HImom their entire bill, not just the additional? I understand utilities are different depending upon where you live, but just to charge one car, that seems crazy expensive!
My neighbor has a Tesla and, like AttorneyMother, can’t really see any effect on his bill.
That’s interesting. What a difference.
A full charge on a Tesla takes about 65KWh; depending on where you live and when you charge this could be anywhere from $0.06 to $0.40 or so per KWh. With inefficiencies, figure $5.00-$30 for a full charge. If you charge once a week (250 miles), that’s $20-$120 per month.
$20/month wouldn’t cause much grief, but we would definitely notice $100+/month.
@notrichenough, and how much would you not be paying at the gas station for those 250 miles?
^ Not enough to ever make getting a Tesla a smart financial decision. 
I was just talking about whether the hit on the electric bill would be noticeable.
Now that we are talking cars, how old should you be before giving the driver’s license?
I don’t think there is a set age, everybody ages differently and skills diminish at a different rate.
I would be in favor of some sort of testing program after a certain age, though. In my family, elders had their licenses taken away after they hit something. Fortunately no injuries, but it’s not a good system…
Taking away someone’s mobility has huge consequences though, so I don’t expect to give up my license without a fight.
No argument about it not being a smart financial decision; most new cars are not, and theTesla even less so.
But, my point is that if you’re noticing the electric bill go up, you should also notice the gasoline bill go down.
@lxnayBob, enjoy your tesla. We don’t have to be sensible all the time. A couple of my neighbors got it. It looks great.
@tom1944 We pay 12% into retirement (mandatory) and SS. Thus our retirement stool will have my pension, our SS, IRA, and a rental property. But we still have three kids to put thru college.
The Tesla looks cool. But I wish I can live till the time flying cars are availble.
They’ve been promising flying cars since I was a kid. And Jetpacks.
No, the friend was very clear that with our highest energy prices in the US, his electric bill due from his Tesla was $1000/month. He and his W drive in heavy traffic a lot. He’s happy that with the PV system and charger it is now 0.
@coolweather
This is the preparing-for-retirement thread! 
J/K
If those things actually came to market, then retirement might be pushed back a long ways. Big boys and their big toys.
Since many here are Boglehead fans and likely read “The Millionaire Next Door”, I am sadly linking the thread on the tragic, untimely death of my neighbor’s father and author of the book, Thomas Stanley. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1747621-the-millionaire-next-door-we-will-miss-him.html#latest
You won’t have to…self driving cars are coming.
It is weird to see one of those self driving things on the road (have only seen the white Lexus, not the blue prius). Google thinks they will be available in 2020. Wonder what the price point will be? http://www.ibtimes.com/google-inc-says-self-driving-car-will-be-ready-2020-1784150
^ I’m not so confident. There are a lot of issues to work out - starting with liability. Security. Data integrity. Data completeness. Networking. Failure. Etc.
I hope they become a thing, I really do. But this stuff takes a lot of time to bake.