OT: Pretty sobering story about Americans' saving habits

F308GTB · Post by **F308GTB** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:52 pm

pk500 wrote:
F308GTB wrote:Still loads of depreciation in thos 1-year old cars. I prefer to stick with 20+ year old Italian classics that essentially allow you to "borrow" the car or 6+ year old German sports coupes that have hit about 70-80% of depreciated value. Several year old sports cars are the best car investments if they stay mechanically sound. You could buy a mid-late 90s Viper, drive it a few years, and sell for what you paid. Only cost is maintenance and probably a little higher insurance.
And how do you put three kids and their gear into those cars?

Take care,
PK

An M3 or M5 will seat 5. For the 2 seaters, there is a hood to strap them on, no?

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:52 pm

AcemanPR wrote:It's a scary thought seeing how few in this country do save for the future. I have a good number of friends that I know hardly have anything saved up, and they are in their mid-30s. What are they going to do when they retire?

Or worse yet, how are their kids going to go to college? Not everyone gets a 1,580 on their SAT or can run a 4.3 40 while having Stick-um hands.

My biggest concern isn't retirement. It's putting three kids through college. I'd sacrifice a posh retirement so my three kids can get degrees and good jobs.

Then again, I'm greedy: I want the kids to go to college and have a nice retirement. That's why we're misers now.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:53 pm

F308GTB wrote:
pk500 wrote:
F308GTB wrote:Still loads of depreciation in thos 1-year old cars. I prefer to stick with 20+ year old Italian classics that essentially allow you to "borrow" the car or 6+ year old German sports coupes that have hit about 70-80% of depreciated value. Several year old sports cars are the best car investments if they stay mechanically sound. You could buy a mid-late 90s Viper, drive it a few years, and sell for what you paid. Only cost is maintenance and probably a little higher insurance.
And how do you put three kids and their gear into those cars?

Take care,
PK
An M3 or M5 will seat 5. For the 2 seaters, there is a hood to strap them on, no?

An M3 or M5 will seat five with little space left for anything else, especially if two of those five are in car seats. I've shoehorned five into a sedan before, and it's not really fun.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:56 pm

Lord, Ace, between the cars and the savings, it sounds like Mr. and Mrs. Ace and Mr. and Mrs. PK were separated at birth.

Congrats. Good for you guys!

I buy a car with every intention of driving it until it's not functional any more. I had a car from 1991-98 and then my next one from 1998-2005. I hope to get similar length of service from our Chevy Venture minivan. Fingers crossed, along with good maintenance. Since I usually pay off a car within two to three years, usually I get anywhere from four to five years of service without a payment.

Take care,
PK

AcemanPR · Post by **AcemanPR** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:03 pm

We're certainly setting money away for our kid's to go to college. The rate college tuition is going, they will need a million just to get through 4 years.

I'm still going to push the word "Scholarship" on my boys, as if they get one, that is just more $$$ for the wife and I later on, but if not, my kids won't have to worry about their college education.

Paul, in about 30 years, you and I will probably be on the same beach someplace soaking up some rays drinking cold beer enjoying life.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:08 pm

We sold my wife's 1994 Accord in 2004 to buy a new SUV. I even felt guilty for doing that because we could have easily got another 5 years out of it. However, I was pleased with the $6k I got for it and we needed more space for the two kids. I'm actually buying a new car this week (probably another Accord) after having my current car for 8 years. I'd better like the new car because I will be driving it for at least the next 8-10 years.

jondiehl · Post by **jondiehl** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:13 pm

AcemanPR wrote: I'm still going to push the word "Scholarship" on my boys, as if they get one, that is just more $$$ for the wife and I later on, but if not, my kids won't have to worry about their college education.

Exactly. If you don't tell them that they have a seperate account setup for college, or money earmarked for it, they maybe they'll push harder in high school to be at the top of their class to try and get a scholarship (if they think that a student loan is in their future otherwise, on their own nickel).

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:20 pm

AcemanPR wrote:We're certainly setting money away for our kid's to go to college. The rate college tuition is going, they will need a million just to get through 4 years. I'm still going to push the word "Scholarship" on my boys, as if they get one, that is just more $$$ for the wife and I later on, but if not, my kids won't have to worry about their college education.

Paul, in about 30 years, you and I will probably be on the same beach someplace soaking up some rays drinking cold beer enjoying life.

Ace:

I hope so! How does Grand Cayman sound? We went there for our last "big" vacation, in 1996. Absolutely divine.

Take care,
PK

AcemanPR · Post by **AcemanPR** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:22 pm

Grand Cayman? Never been there yet, but have heard great things about it. See you there in 2030.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:29 pm

pk500 wrote:Or worse yet, how are their kids going to go to college? Not everyone gets a 1,580 on their SAT or can run a 4.3 40 while having Stick-um hands.

My biggest concern isn't retirement. It's putting three kids through college. I'd sacrifice a posh retirement so my three kids can get degrees and good jobs.

Easy--tons of loans. There's a reason I owe nearly $30,000 from college (undergrad degree). My parents are also burdened by loans from me and my sister's education. We're lucky that my wife came out of school with zero college-related debt.

That's why I feel that one of the best gifts I can give my kids is to pay for their college education. It sucks paying ~$250/month for the next 15 years and it totally prevented me from going after any sort of post-graduate degree.

And don't get me started on the recent bill that pegged student loan rates around 7-8% (can't remember which). That scares me considering I have a sub-3% rate and tuition is only going up.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:17 pm

bdunn13 wrote:
Outsource the good jobs but they still want Americans to buy their goods.
What good jobs are outsourced? I have no clue.

I am in IT, and yeah alot of tech support phone jobs are outsourced. However, these are low paying for the most part and any educated IT person would not touch these jobs with a 10 foot pole.

I think the problem is the H1-Bs. Letting foreigners in to take jobs at home. These lower everyone's salary. Not only that, most of the money is sent over seas to their family and taken out of our economy.

Thirty years ago, the biggest employer was GM and single wage-earner families could buy a home and send kids to college. Now Wal Mart is the biggest employer and many former manufacturing workers are greeters.

Yeah it's low-end IT jobs being outsourced now but that won't stay that way for long. Thomas Friedman said the solution for all the displaced American programmers was to become software architects!

Hey, then if accountants lose their jobs to outsourcing, they could all become CFOs.

India tech schools are as rigorous as any in this country. The people who get in are literally a few hundred or thousand out of the millions who try to get in.

What India lacks is venture capital infrastructure and entrepreneurship for creating their own companies. Meanwhile, the companies and executives who bemoan the inadequate number of students going into science and engineering are the ones who lobby for higher H1B visas and also outsource low-end programming jobs.

India won't just have low-wage IT jobs forever. Already, some Indians are posted to Hong Kong for $250k packages.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:25 pm

If out-sourcing is taking away so many jobs, why is the current Unemployment Rate lower than the historical average for 1960-2005? Out sourcing is just a buzz word dreamed up by the same anti-trade zealots who thought Japan was going to take over America in the 80s.

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:43 pm

Feanor wrote:If out-sourcing is taking away so many jobs, why is the current Unemployment Rate lower than the historical average for 1960-2005? Out sourcing is just a buzz word dreamed up by the same anti-trade zealots who thought Japan was going to take over America in the 80s.

Not all jobs are created equal...

The restaurant industry has outpaced just about all other sectors when it comes to job growth.

Also, the home improvement boom has provided growth in the construction/contracting business. Same can probably be said for Realtors and mortgage salesmen (there are TONS of those up here).

Here's a graph:

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/115/6336 ... yrolls.jpg

And another detailing the "professional" growth, mostly through temps:

http://photos1.blogger.com/img/115/6336 ... yrolls.jpg

anchester · Post by **anchester** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 11:44 am

I equate this to the overall "avoid taking responsibilty for you actions" theme or "inability to delay gratification" which is so prevalent in society.

I don't feel sorry for anyone who falls on hard times if they just blow off saving for the future. You gotta reap what you sew.

Unfortunately the burden of these slackers will be borne by everyone w/ higher taxes, etc.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:58 pm

AcemanPR wrote:We're certainly setting money away for our kid's to go to college. The rate college tuition is going, they will need a million just to get through 4 years. I'm still going to push the word "Scholarship" on my boys, as if they get one, that is just more $$$ for the wife and I later on, but if not, my kids won't have to worry about their college education.

Paul, in about 30 years, you and I will probably be on the same beach someplace soaking up some rays drinking cold beer enjoying life.

Aceman, I find your choice of avatar ironic considering your fiscal responsibility. Although if you get pocket rockets, it's a great time to invest all your capital

TRI · Post by **TRI** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:13 pm

I am saving about $30,000 dollars a year and have no debt. There are many people though who have not managed their finances well and the consequence will likely be a recession. Many people are now simply priced out of the housing market eventhough interest rates are very low.

I bought a F-150 Lariot in July and get about 17 miles/gallon, but it is very useful for towing my boat trailer.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:21 pm

What, you're socking money away insted of shorting Sony and EA stock?

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:26 pm

wco81 wrote:What, you're socking money away insted of shorting Sony and EA stock?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:38 pm

TRI wrote:I am saving about $30,000 dollars a year and have no debt.

Don't you mean you're "making" $30,000 a year? Saving and making are two different things ya know.

matthewk · Post by **matthewk** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:04 pm

TRI wrote:I am saving about $30,000 dollars a year and have no debt. There are many people though who have not managed their finances well and the consequence will likely be a recession. Many people are now simply priced out of the housing market eventhough interest rates are very low.

I bought a F-150 Lariot in July and get about 17 miles/gallon, but it is very useful for towing my boat trailer.

It's amazing how much you can save if you never move out of your parent's house and never have a girlfriend