well Great Depression era tactics should still apply….
The average Trump supporter basically does think you can self finance your way out of this: Electricity and a/c isn’t a necessity for living and people lived without that stuff 100 years ago. Internet isn’t a necessity and neither is having a cell phone. Owning a vehicle isn’t a necessity, simply walk or add 3+ hours a day you don’t have to your commute waiting on public transportation. The average person is always fighting weight gain, so cut food costs with controlled
starvationrationing. Deodorant, toilet paper and hygiene isn’t a necessity either. Needless to say no one deserves to be happy and you should be spending no money on video games, eating out, or anything fun. But spend money on dating and having kids because our society definitely deserves you give them more workers. Also, privacy isn’t a necessity too so if you aren’t sharing a studio apartment with 4 other people you have nothing to complain about. If this is an issue than you should have chosen to get lucky and be rich, maybe pray about it too because God knows best.This is unironically my boomer evangelical mother’s opinion.
I bought my house in 2014, $224k at 4% APR, my monthly payment including taxes is $1400/mo.
It’s only been 11 years, inflation is up ~35% in that time, so buying the same house now should be ~$1900/mo. Actual price if I were to buy it now? ~$3500/mo. And wages have barely budged. No wonder young people entering the workforce can’t buy houses anymore.
Interestingly, though, that huge run-up in price is also half the reason why people think they need to own homes. We need to stop looking to homes to be the “engine of wealth creation” or we’re only asking for more of this.
The other half of the equation, of course, is wanting to have a stable home that you can control. And that’s still as valid as ever.
But homeownership isn’t necessarily the best choice for everyone. It reduces your mobility and optionality and it carries some risks and hidden costs.
But as long as everyone looks at it as the gateway to wealth, and feels like everyone is getting a piece of that action except them, it will contribute to the continuation of hyperinflation.
This is exactly right. I don’t believe in property ownership anyway, but even if you do, it is still irrational to chase this from a social and economic planning model. Life should be affordable for everyone. Period.
We bought a house in Tampa Florida area in 2018, our monthly cost was $1400/month. Moved to Washington in 2022 and bought a house and the house is smaller and our monthly payment is $3k. Area matters of course, but comparably I’d imagine we’re in similar situations.
Exactly. $400 for mine. $100 would fill a shopping cart with groceries back then. Health insurance: $80-125/mo. Internet: $15/mo. Garage sales almost everything was less than $10, most of it was less than $5. Goodwill was a deal. DIY/homemade was a deal, a way to save money.
It was a different time. There’s no equivalent to that time today, today is pretty awful.
And now it’s all going to be so much worse thanks to MAGA, oligarchs, and Heritage.
Agreed.
The only way for a wage earner to bootstrap their way up is to have money when historic opportunities to invest present themselves, like March 2020 and April 2025. If you have a few thousand to invest now, chances are that will turn into a massive profit over time. And even better, hold those securities for longer than a year and you get a preferred, lower tax rate on any profits.
But most people can’t do that. They’re stuck taking out an (air quotes) “interest-free” loan from Klarna to make sure they don’t starve this week. Our politicians are, thankfully, focused on the most important priorities, like drag queen story time. (And that’s sarcasm, btw.)
Please don’t invest right now. You are right that you can make a lot of money if you know what you’re doing, but it’s still a casino. With the people running the US right now, if they ever fully implement the tariffs, the market is going to eat shit. Then you can buy if there’s some glimmer of hope like Republicans losing Congress in 2026. I’m not trying to do US defaultism here, I believe this advice holds worldwide.
I pulled all my money out when Trump got elected, and that was a good choice. If I’d gone all in on options I’d be straight up hood rich, but I can’t gamble everything we have.
I switched my retirement accounts to cash apprx feb 28, before the tariffs announcement and the market starting crashing. I just moved back into stocks this week. I’m convinced we’ve seen the worst of the tariffs… too many people are in trumps ear telling him he’s a retard. It’s only up from here.
I hope you’re correct for your benefit and the benefit of people who have retirement funds in the market.
I disagree however. Even if that fucking toddler-brained jackass backs completely off the tariffs (which I don’t think his ego will let him) he will do more heinous shit that will ruin the world economy in other ways. He’s also got several accelerationists in his ear that would love to see another great depression.
In less than 90 days the tariffs are back on, and the insane China ones are currently rolling I believe. Adidas put out a statement today saying the shoes are going to get a lot more expensive. Also, as of today, the oligarch Jeff Bezos is under federal investigation over a rumor that Amazon was going to tell customers what portion of the price of an item was due to tariffs. Just over a rumor. A rumor about a legal action that would be a smart business decision.
I’m keeping my money in the bank, and some in cash hidden in my home. Hopefully FDIC insurance still works.
Strongly agree. We’ve seen nothing yet and I think we’re going to see quarter after quarter of poor earnings and layoffs. Some empty shelves mid to late May. Housing crash at the end of this year or beginning of 2026. Hate to be somewhat doom and gloom but I’m also not going to miss this opportunity to jump back in with liquid. Good luck!
Yeah. We’ll see i suppose. The markets holding back a lot of suppressed upward mobility that we saw when the fake “tariffs are off” tweet happened. One whiff of good news will have us going up again.
In any case, at least I mitigated some of the damage. Can’t win 100% every time.
Just keep in mind the maxim- The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent. It’s more of a vibes casino than it ever was before the GME stuff.
Even though I think you could be right, please don’t bet the barn. I don’t want to see you get hurt.
Ill be ok. Been 100% in a vtsax equivalent for 10 years… not retiring any time soon
Cluster B personality disorders don’t change their mind when called out, they double down. And interruption of the self constructed false reality makes them reactive.
If the US collapses, the dollars you saved from pulling your investments is worthless…
That’s true, but so would the investments themselves.
Yes… But if the US doesn’t collapse then you make a lot of money buying the dip.
So either the US survives, and you make a lot of money if you invested, or the US crumbles and your cash or investments are both worth the same amount (zero).
Pooooor Heritage Foo dation
Actually think their kids will be down to be obscenely rich in the future world where coral reef diving and backcountry skiing are only possible in VR
(I have to assume wealth and intelligence have a decent correlation sometimes, but Heritage proves the relationship is certainly not 1:1)
(I have to assume wealth and intelligence have a decent correlation sometimes, but Heritage proves the relationship is certainly not 1:1)
They decidedly do not have a correlation. The majority of wealthy people inherited their wealth. Inheriting enough wealth to pay a competent finance professional has been the primary means of accruing wealth since at least the 80s. Those getting wealthy from startups and the like are outliers.
Yes, what is up with thrift stores charging almost the same as “first-hand” stores? Yet another example of how this generation is screwed (along with all of us old people).
Boutique thrift shops all try to act like they’re some amazing place to find funky retro fashion just waiting to be discovered on a Tiktok. It’s all overpriced. We’ve been to Goodwill and Habitat locally for stuff. Prices go from great to dirt cheap. They just want to move stuff, not hold on to someone’s idea of vintage cool.
Ive noticed this at chains, but not at my local stores. Goodwill for example, I always see dollar tree items marked as $2+. I know Theyre from dollar tree because theyre still in the damn package.
I found a neat looking board game at the thrift store once. I looked it up on my phone to check reviews, and learned it would be cheaper to buy it new than what they were asking. Usually they have good deals but not that time.
Or they somehow want to price things off eBay prices. Bro, you are a thrift store. You aren’t some place that should be trying to get the absolute most out of an item.
Price it vaguely on what people might pay for some used, unwashed, beat to hell thing. If someone thinks they can get more by selling it online, that’s fine. That’s on them. You don’t have to compete with them. Turnover of items is more important than the most money on that old glass cup.
Hey, at least they employ people who might not be able to get a job elsewhere. Goodwill does anyway.
I know it’s a little off topic but eBay is a fucking scam as well… So many used items go for prices very close to brand new. I live in California, which charges VAT for ebay transactions. Add in shipping and I would be paying more than brand new for the vast majority of the inventory.
There are no good deals on ebay unless you spend a lot of time in bidding wars. You still risk getting a damaged item too…
You used to be able to get grandpa’s old used golf clubs for $5/7 at goodwill and I put together a whole set for cheap. Moved and had to leave it behind now they put all the clubs straight online, you can’t even get them at the stores anymore. And the price is barely better than a newvset from Walmart. I wanna golf again :(
Video games are almost always ridiculous too. They’ll sell anything good online, and then charge like $10 for one of their 40 copies of Wii Fit.
The only good place to thrift nowadays is the small local places run by like churches. Goodwill sells shitty acrylic yarn for more than it costs new, wants $20+ for used kitchen appliances, sells current dollar tree shit for $5…
Goodwill fell off. It’s worth noting how the stuff we buy is basically worthless for resale the moment we buy it, since cheap new stuff is outcompeting it. It’s only value is use value.
Good news! Tariffs just made new stuff significantly more expensive so the resale value will be higher now. /s
Watching new vs used prices on things will be intresting
They do employ people who might not be able to get a job elsewhere, so not evil, just halfway shitty.
What the fuck? Thanks for making my day even worse I guess. Seriously thank you for the information, they will no longer get my business.
Walmart cut costs to the bone and squeezed down on what thrift stores used to charge.
Thrift stores are a deal compared to Macy’s, JC Penny, and such.
I blame macklemore.
Now playing MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - Thrift Shop
“Have you tried simply having more money?”
Life’s really easy when you’re born rich and white.
If you’re born rich it doesn’t matter what color you are. The difference is probably being born middle class and white, that’s probably where you reap the most benefit from systemic racism. Being born poor, doesn’t matter, the cards are forever stacked against you.
If I’m not mistaken Liz Ryan is a former fortune 500, has been a consultant to several multibillion dollar companies like IBM, and at one point might have been appointed by the Biden Admin to run Youth Counseling services?
IDK, but I’m not convinced she’s struggling with rent or groceries and she doesn’t seem to pick the correct side in US Politics.
She doesn’t have to be struggling herself to see other people’s struggles and try to amplify their voice.
Even when people are millionaires, it’s a reality that they likely can’t just turn over their whole fortune at once to fix things. I’d generally guess people like this donate a lot to programs trying to fix these issues.
So because she’s not personally struggling, she can’t analyze the situation?
Whenever you see a message promoted and shared at large scale you have to try to analyze what it is they have to gain and what steps they’ve taken to achieve it.
They’re not promoting the obvious solution. They make massive amounts of money just by maintaining this image as a megacorp consultant and an author. Smells like grift, that’s all I’m saying.
Except she is identifying the problem and kinda the solution. You are just complaining because… you don’t like her. Her analysis was fine, your “analysis” was “idk” and ‘but but but she must be bad’. It’s kinda weird. Something tells me I just should peace out of this conversation.
You sound like a Maga right now.
Said the person complaining that someone pointed out that its getting to expensive to live and that avocado toast isnt the issue
Are you implying that the CEO of a company that consults for IBM is struggling to get by?
She never said she struggled
Shes likely not renting as the CEO
She also says it in past tense
I dont know what her life was like before hand
Dude. Your entire “analysis” was : this person might possibly have a bias so what they’re saying must be wrong. Which is an idiotic conclusion. Bring skeptical is fine. But assuming everyone who could have a motive must therefore be lying is a good way to never gain any information at all because literally everyone who says something online has a motive to do so
I never claimed they were wrong in any way, shape, or form. I said it smells like a grift and we should be aware of their position.
You just called someone maga because they said she was right regardless of what her personal situation was…
It’s right there. You’re not going to trick people in forgetting what was already said.
Hot take, but it’s both. I make $40k in a major american city, and while it sucks I have a decent amount saved up, I live alone, and I’ve paid off all my debt (although I’ll probably never be able to afford a home).
To be clear, I don’t think anyone should have to cut the corners I do to live with financial security, and not everyone can (my partner is disabled, financial security is a pipe dream for them), but it isn’t impossible for most people.
I make $40k in a major american city
I hope you have healthcare, because that sounds terrifying.
I do, I actually have very good insurance and a pretty-alright 401k. My partner doesn’t, and it’s… brutal. They’ve got several serious health conditions that they just hope aren’t going to kill them in the next decade or so.
Nobody should be subjected to that.
Rent isn’t linked to inflation, it’s linked to your income. The income you are able to gain in the area goes partially to the real estate in that area.
You can’t compare it to easily imported goods from china. Who don’t work for an amount that you get paid.
Ok and assuming this person was probably in the 80’s where minimum wage was about half what it is now… that means the $310 should be $620… which it isn’t.
Just compare median income with median rent over the span of time in various places of the world. Make a study like that, or find one that did this. That’s useful information.
“In 2023, 1.1% of hourly paid workers in the USA earned the federal minimum wage or less.”
Okay minimum wage+50¢, woopie. It’s someone’s first apartment. For rent. This is not median levels of income. This is first quartile at best. Median income shouldn’t even be renting.
But sure, they have data on quintiles, so let’s use upper limit of the first from 1985 (~10k) and 2022 (30k) is 3x so even at that, it should be $930. https://taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/household-income-quintiles
The data is on household incomes which is less ideal than individual income but whatever.
Ignoring if it’s the same apartment from the 80s to now that’s 40 years older, and I doubt it’s been kept up to date, so it should not be worth anywhere near as much, but you know, whatever.
Aight, now you need to figure out why this is the case. Real estate went up in value. Why is that?
Your country has a lot of capital. Like 550k euros per adult. In a country of 230 million adults or such. It’s all residing at top 1 to 10% because they live in USA for its legislature.
If you change the legislature then they’d flee to other parts of the world. Such as Ireland.
I’d say go and learn French and move to France. They have the highest taxes in the world. Bonjour Duolingo, comment çava?
Have to say it is very fun watching you dismantle their hand-wavy bullshit on their terms lol
That approach should be the standard, not talking bout minimum wages when it’s clearly just a symbolic euro. Your country doesn’t have a real minimum wage so you cannot use it in calculations.
👍
Well then it’s good we kept the minimum wage at $7.25 which is why inflation never happened.
“In 2023, 1.1% of hourly paid workers in the USA earned the federal minimum wage or less.”
Come on broskis, you’re not paying me for economy lessons. I want you to entertain me properly
you’re not paying me for economy lessons.
And we’re still getting ripped off.
Profit incentive seems to be important. I have no problem giving misinformation if you people can’t figure things out.
There’s a great answer that you folks could use to look at this subject.
You should ask yourselves why the situation is what it is. How it relates to other areas in the world.
Do some research.
I’d do it, but you’d have to pay me and you don’t have any money 😬
Could I pay you to shut up instead? I think that’s a better use of my money.
Inflation occurs regardless and they are saying what today’s equivalent is for comparison because if they just said “$310” everyone would go “yeah but inflation blah blah.”
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t
Guess what, having real estate in countries that had booming economies was a good investment. Having the exact same real estate quality in shithole economies would be a bad investment.
Go to Indonesia, buy a house for 20k euros.
Guess what lil bro, you’re gonna earn a lot less money 👍🏻
If there’s an economy that allows you to generate a higher net worth. MOVE THERE
Fucking hell, literal refugees can do it. But lazy Americans nah they just cry
Anyone whose response is “just move” is so profoundly blinded by the combination of a complete lack of imagination and unbelievable privilege as to not be worthy of further consideration in a discussion. Have a good one.
Idk broski, my passport is so strong I can be your neighbour tomorrow. But why would I live in a shithole like that
Someone who doesn’t know the difference between a passport and a visa 😒
Basically where you’re from will make it easier to either travel or move. Belgian passports are pretty good. On top of that, being educated and having capital will make getting a residency quite easy.
Didn’t you hear? PASSPORT VERY STRONK
so brave
Idk what you answered this to 👀
Your nonsense was removed for a reason. Leave me alone
So someone is renting it out. It’s all supply and demand?? I don’t think landlord just leave their apartment empty unless someone comes with 1600 bucks rents.
In Denver here, it’s hard to find apartment and 2 bed 2 bath close to boulder is 2500 bucks minimum. But people still want to stay close to boulder rather than living on cheaper town.
Landlords are not greedy. They are inherently parasitic.
Adam Smith would agree with you.
Avocado toast is a big fat waste of money and I don’t take anyone seriously who buys it then complains they need more.
All CEOs are bastards or something
My own mother has been talking about leaving town and rather then selling her house, her plan is to rent the house out survive off the rent she collects.
on its own that wouldnt be outrageous, if it werent for the fact my mother is extremely irresponsible with money and her lifestyle and bad habits are essentially going to be paid for by someone else.
its opened my eyes on landlords… a lot of them dont work, and they dont even do the minimum for their tenants. they just expect to get paid.
I paid $750 for a 2br 30 years ago. I pay $850 for a 3br now. I used to live outside San Francisco, now I’m in Ohio.
Not living in Ohio is worth at least $1k a month, so that tracks.
Yeah places with really low rents, there’s always a reason. But sometimes it’s still an option.
Ha, I was just being snarky. I’ve never liked the few parts of Ohio I’ve been at, but I’m guessing there are some good places there.
I used to pay $1100 for a 3 bedroom apartment 10 years ago, now a 2 bedroom is $2600+
