So hard for people to just live their lives. We downsized a little in 2019 to be close to kids school. We bought in a much less expensive area near beach and restaurants. We bought in Jan when prices are best for houses. It’s a bit too far for normal commuting for most people. Didn’t matter to us as we work from home. Property taxes were less than half here. We lucked out.
House has risen 46%. It’s insane. Don’t think I’d want to buy it now. I think people realized during and post covid lockdowns that they wanted to be outside cities. Places where you can walk to things or the beach have gone up sharply. We’ll likely stay here.
I drove to a client yesterday. Sat in traffic for 1.5 hours each way. No thanks. They can have the suburbs near the cities. It’s tough for families though. People flock to the best school systems up driving up prices further. These expensive towns often lock out condos and apt’s to keep housing prices high.
As a young working adult in the seventies with a commute I remember the panic as gas prices went way up. But my wages went up too. Fortunately we moved at the worst and I got rid of the commute. Then as we wanted to buy a house the interest rates went to 17%–overnight. Nope.
I bought things I knew I would need just because the price was going to be higher in a few days. I can see why my depression era parents never threw anything away.
I’m settled now but I know that feeling. And honestly this feels worse this time around. I especially feel terrible for young people who need to get to work and have any commute at all.
I just think too many of our leaders are out of touch–they get richer and everyone else is poorer. Not good.
This. Plus, I wonder how politicians making 150-300K can have multiple houses and millions of dollars to fly around the country/world. Yes, I know some have family money and some write books etc. But others?? We’ve always made a lot. Even with great investments and good planning, money doesn’t grow that much. It just doesn’t.
My neighbor told me yesterday that he bought second fridge to stack up on meats because prices skyrocketing. I don’t know how sustainable it is. You can’t buy food for the next few years plus after few months your frozen meets taste nasty.
We already have a Tesla (hence my comment re: the price of gas). I’d be happy with a Leaf but the used ones’ range of 100 miles would cut too close to my RT. Sadly, not going to buy another Tesla. Their CS is non-existent.
However, stocks are risky, particularly in the short term (such as money that we need this year and next). Rental property requires management. The money does not just roll in. In an economic downturn renters might have trouble paying their rent (to you).
I do not think that there is any safe investment right now. Perhaps a balanced portfolio is the best bet.
Yes, for multiple good reasons.
And to me also. The word “bubble” is the first one that comes to mind. The phrase “largest economic bubble in the history of the world” also comes to mind. I do not think that there is any really safe investment in a bubble of this magnitude.
I am thinking that education in a marketable field is quite a good investment for those of us who have kids of the appropriate age and inclination. This does depend upon there being a stable market for whatever skills the student is gaining.
I just buy what’s on sale from the weekly ad, not the meat that went on sale because they are ready to throw them out. I plan my menu ahead. Then any leftover I freeze them.
Meat at the supermarket now is getting nastier. I have to shop around and sniff when I buy groceries. Amazon Fresh seems to be the most consistent, but not always.
We aren’t eating out less but we rarely eat out. And if you don’t count having dinner with my dad once a week, its even less frequently. That isn’t a recent change though in terms of overall frequency.
Of course inflation will impact some more than others. It will be interesting to watch how people not only modify their spending, but also how it impacts our collective will concerning the direction of our country.
I have come to understand my parents’ choices/spending habits as I’ve gotten older…and hopefully, wiser.
I know my children did not understand why their grandparents were so preoccupied with getting a second or third use from something.
It will be interesting to see how this time of their young adult lives will impact their choices, now and long term. We often talked about lifestyle creep, but now they’re experiencing firsthand adult realities that sometimes you don’t foresee.
We supported a couple of local places throughout the pandemic and ate out more than we normally would, but we are dialing that down. Better for our waistlines, lol.
A trick is there are a lot of people who have never dealt with a recession (still much debate amongst experts as to whether one is inevitable – though its interesting that recessions were part of the normal business cycle at one point but we seem to have moved away from that as a possibility–reality is yes there will be one…at some point…just not clear when and that shouldn’t be viewed as a bad thing). And everyone is so accustomed to incredibly low interest rates that 6.5% interest rates (below historical averages) seem “high” to so many. Its tough to act like you have been there before when so many haven’t and don’t really know what to do or have a lot of ability to do it even if they did.