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Post by Sexy Tom on Mar 19, 2024 16:37:43 GMT
You are buying everyone’s bullshit. People have been saying this for literally 40 years at a minimum. They will say it for another 40 years at least. There will always be people who struggle or fall back in financial or status terms. Most people are fine, even the ones who think they have it bad. Tell that to a renter. Rents have gone up nearly 30% since 2020. Scrossi the Landlord is probably doing well with higher rents and the fact that his properties have appreciated tremendously. It used to be advised not to spend more than 25% of your income on rent or mortgage. There's no way that's possible now. For a homebuyer, he/she has the worst of both worlds. There's a 7% interest rate, and with low inventory, prices are still high. |
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Post by srossi on Mar 19, 2024 17:42:48 GMT
You are buying everyone’s bullshit. People have been saying this for literally 40 years at a minimum. They will say it for another 40 years at least. There will always be people who struggle or fall back in financial or status terms. Most people are fine, even the ones who think they have it bad. Tell that to a renter. Rents have gone up nearly 30% since 2020. Scrossi the Landlord is probably doing well with higher rents and the fact that his properties have appreciated tremendously. It used to be advised not to spend more than 25% of your income on rent or mortgage. There's no way that's possible now. For a homebuyer, he/she has the worst of both worlds. There's a 7% interest rate, and with low inventory, prices are still high. My properties have appreciated but rents haven’t gone up much in Scranton, and maintenance costs have skyrocketed due to materials costs. The housing market is a mess due to the overregulation I have talked about here ad naeuseum. Rent controls, “low income housing” (which low income people can’t afford), red tape that takes years or decades to navigate, and literally millions of restrictions on the books that make it impossible to quickly build the types of modest, bare bones homes that weren’t uncommon in the ‘50s. Micro-homes became all the rage for about 2 years before the government put a stop to them. Any attempt at bringing down costs and size and modern conveniences for those who don’t want/need them are stifled, replaced by monstrosities that no one can afford. |
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Post by beejmi on Mar 19, 2024 21:19:29 GMT
And that's just it.
Housing prices high
Car prices high
Insurance costs high
Food prices high
Gas prices high
Utilities high
It costs too much to exist. Unless you're a 'newcomer' to the country.
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Post by beejmi on Mar 19, 2024 21:44:54 GMT
My costs are up 20% from before this out-of-control money-spending spree. Need a job that pays 20% more. Oh wait. Can't find that.
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Post by principalraditch on Mar 20, 2024 4:14:06 GMT
If all you guys had married some bitches with some $$$$ then you wouldn't have a problem. This is what happens when you marry/date broke ass ho's who don't cover at least 80% of the bills.
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Post by beejmi on Mar 20, 2024 7:16:04 GMT
If all you guys had married some bitches with some $$$$ then you wouldn't have a problem. This is what happens when you marry/date broke ass ho's who don't cover at least 80% of the bills. All my bitches have been addicted to cigarettes and have no money because of it |
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Post by principalraditch on Mar 20, 2024 12:39:43 GMT
If all you guys had married some bitches with some $$$$ then you wouldn't have a problem. This is what happens when you marry/date broke ass ho's who don't cover at least 80% of the bills. All my bitches have been addicted to cigarettes and have no money because of it You need to stop dating women from Gloucester City and hook up with some Bala Cynwyd's instead. Then this wouldn't be an issue. |
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Post by srossi on Mar 20, 2024 14:23:44 GMT
If all you guys had married some bitches with some $$$$ then you wouldn't have a problem. This is what happens when you marry/date broke ass ho's who don't cover at least 80% of the bills. All my bitches have been addicted to cigarettes and have no money because of it What bitches are smoking 3 packs a day in 2024? Is your dating pool the ghettos of 1965? |
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Post by Sexy Tom on Mar 20, 2024 16:30:30 GMT
Tell that to a renter. Rents have gone up nearly 30% since 2020. Scrossi the Landlord is probably doing well with higher rents and the fact that his properties have appreciated tremendously. It used to be advised not to spend more than 25% of your income on rent or mortgage. There's no way that's possible now. For a homebuyer, he/she has the worst of both worlds. There's a 7% interest rate, and with low inventory, prices are still high. My properties have appreciated but rents haven’t gone up much in Scranton, and maintenance costs have skyrocketed due to materials costs. The housing market is a mess due to the overregulation I have talked about here ad naeuseum. Rent controls, “low income housing” (which low income people can’t afford), red tape that takes years or decades to navigate, and literally millions of restrictions on the books that make it impossible to quickly build the types of modest, bare bones homes that weren’t uncommon in the ‘50s. Micro-homes became all the rage for about 2 years before the government put a stop to them. Any attempt at bringing down costs and size and modern conveniences for those who don’t want/need them are stifled, replaced by monstrosities that no one can afford. You're kind of making the argument that things have gotten much worse recently. Maybe Scranton is the exception, but rents have skyrocketed in most markets. Add gasoline, utilities, and food to the mix, common Joe and Judy are in deep dog doo doo. |
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Post by BlazerTron on Mar 20, 2024 22:11:57 GMT
I don't know. Went shopping this past weekend. Family of three. Around $800 in groceries. Granted, we try to go every two weeks instead of every weekend, so we throw a bunch of stuff in the freezer. Part of the trip was a Costco run, and we picked up laundry detergent, paper towels and some other essentials.
I was going through the receipts when we got home. $3 but a box of Mac and Cheese (in my mind, this should be 99 cents). $8 loaf of bread. We're not going to any fancy stores. After Costco, we do the local grocery store chain and then another store that specializes in a little bit better produce and organic stuff.
Biden can say "inflation is down" and "wages are up", but that's horseshit. Inflation was 8% in 2021, 7% in 2022, and now last time I checked it's around 4%. Technically it's "down" from two years ago, but most people didn't receive progressive raises at work of 10% for two straight years.
Throw in utilities. My ATT Uverse/internet/tv bill was $160/month two years. A new bill just came the other day for $220.
So, it's like all of these things start to add up.
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Post by principalraditch on Mar 21, 2024 1:35:51 GMT
So I got to thinking....am I really worse off financially now than I was 4 years ago? I figured I'd look at some comparative costs from this time in 2020 and now, as well as income increase/decrease and investments. It points to being way better off in our situation
Costs
Mortgage/Rent: Not applicable. We had paid off our house in 2018
Property Taxes: $3836 to $4673 annually
Google Fiber $70/month to $70/month
Cell Phone $40/month to $15/month
TV: Google Fiber TV $80 to YouTubeTV $73
Water: $82.58 to 88.53 this month. It varies by month ,but mostly is in the mid 80's to mid 90's
Electric I do average pay. $118.47 vs $110.74 now
Gas I also do average pay $130 vs $160 now
Insurance (the same 2 cars and my professional liability policy for work, a $1,000,000 policy) $108.64 vs $92.73 now
Homeowners Insurance $1734 vs $1926 annually now.
Food. Not sure what I paid weekly 4 years ago, but now it's @ $125-150 a week for the two of us with groceries (not including eating out) Let's say it was half back then at $75/week
Health Insurance we actually pay less because when Oracle Bought Cerner the premiums and deductibles went down. Now it's $326 a month vs $418 then
Gas. I drive the same, @ 5k miles a year. So I fill up every 3 weeks on average. $2.89 yesterday and was in the low $2's back then.
Those are most of the regular costs and don't obviously take into account variable costs such as eating out, clothing, trips etc..
Now looking at Income
My wife makes @ 22k more a year than she did in 2020 at the same job
I make $18.62 and $21.12 (if charging) more an hour than I did 4 years ago.
Big change comes in investments. 4 years ago we were getting 1% in bond rates for a 5 year bond. Now we're pushing 5%. That may not seem like a big difference, but it's a huge increase in guaranteed investment income that we have coming in
Home valuation is up at least 100k during that time frame as well
A simple eyeball test tells me we are way better off than we were 4 years ago. Yes there are inflationary influenced costs that have pushed up our bills, but our income from our jobs alone (and we're both in the same roles) easily outpace any increased costs. Investment wise, the rise in bond rates the last 4 years is huge.
Even if we had $10k more in costs per year (which we don't) income increases alone supplant that.
Now, no kids in the house anymore, but 2020 was the last year of 4 that we paid $55k a year towards my stepdaughters Med School which required some financial adjustments on our end to help her (reduction in 401k contributions during that timeframe and reduction in our variable costs)
Its not like I live in a fancy neighborhood. We live in a solid middle class sub division inf a 30 year old house in the north end of KC. I drive a 12 year old Jeep and my wife has a 8 year old Murano. We dont have high end jobs (She's a DBA, I'm an RN). Neither of us has particularily expensive hobbies which probably helps, and we don't go out and drop $100 each time out for a meal. I think we got used to living so far below our means (especially while paying for the med school) that we took that to become the norm.
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Post by beejmi on Mar 21, 2024 4:21:59 GMT
You don't drink do drugs or have a raging gambling problem?
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Post by principalraditch on Mar 21, 2024 5:36:27 GMT
You don't drink do drugs or have a raging gambling problem? Last alcoholic drink I had was 1988. Plenty of weed shops around, but I stand to lose my RN license if I test positive. There are 5 casino's here in KC. They were fun when i first moved here in 1998 since it was a novelty for me. 25 years later there's no attraction anymore. I probably eat out more than I should, but even then, if I'm out by myself for lunch or dinner, I'm not dropping very much since I have pretty simple tastes. I probably spend next to nothing on clothing each year. A couple of pairs of scrubs each year for work, then the rest of the time it's almost always Tshirts/Golf Shirts and shorts. I go to the gym 3 or 4 days during the week and the price is the same when i started going back in 2020...less than $15/month for the Planet Fitness a few miles away. I could probably join a nicer gym and pay more....but since a lot of the time I"m just on the treadmill...don't see the point. Shit that would have cost me a ton of $$$ years ago (TV's, Laptop, Tablet etc..) has plummeted in price. I just picked up a Samsung Galaxy Tablet a few months ago at Costco for @ $130. Does everything I need, so I wouldn't see the point in dropping 5x that for a high end Ipad. With my wife's travels for work I just steal her points for some short sports trips during the year. I just booked yesterday to see the Jays play the Rangers in Sept. I used some Southwest Pts for the flight, and Marriott points the room. Then for the car rental i used a bunch of point I got built up from Hertz from doing these medical focus groups. Once or twice a month I"ll do these focus groups that need RN's Usually they run 1-2 hours, sometimes in person, sometimes online. I'll make $125 to $200 for a few hrs work, and I'll get sent Visa or Amazon Gift card. I just save those for some if these trips. I probably live more like a college student at times than a working adult. |
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