How do people afford to live?

[Desdichado]

Many Americans buy brand new cars, finance them with 5-8 year car notes, drive them for 2-3 years and then trade them in on another brand new car. I did a regression analysis on this a couple of years ago using a 2-car couple buying $25,000 autos with each transaction and they ended up wasting something like $400,000 in depreciation and interest opportunity costs over a 30-year car buying time frame.

Well, that doesn't make much sense to me, true. (And I mispoke earlier -- my car is ten years old, but I've had it for eight. I bought it used on a five year note. And I know that my overall cash outlay was greater for having it be five year, but at the time, short term cash flow was important to me; I was still in school.) If you have to have a new car every 2-3 years for whatever reason, a lease is the only way to go.

 

[der_kluge]

We just bought a new minivan. I would have prefered to buy a used one, but unfortunately there are some cars that just aren't available with the features that we wanted. My wife insisted on the navigation system and DVD player as well, so we had to get the top of the line model as well. sheesh

And I don't agree with the statement that a kid costs 25k to 50k a year. There was a billboard in KC that read something like a kid costing $564 a month. That's just under 7k a year. Yea, kids aren't cheap, but they aren't outrageously expensive, either.

 

[Mallus]

Hearing about other parts of the country always boggles my mind.

120,000 1930s SqFt house, pristing condition, 3 bed, 1 bath, finished basement, in a suburban neighborhood. Paid the going rate of 65k last year.

2000 Ford Explorer, pristine condition. Paid 15k.

2 kids.

We eat out frequently, have four high-end computers, DSL wireless networked, 180-channel satellite.

We make 60k, total. Lots left over.

Are you trying to trick us? You actually live in the past, right?

You bought those comsumer electronics on the vacation you took into the future using the Atom-Powered Time Car your crazy old neighbor Doc Brown built out of an Edsel.

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

Are you trying to trick us? You actually live in the past, right?

You bought those comsumer electronics on the vacation you took into the future using the Atom-Powered Time Car your crazy old neighbor Doc Brown built out of an Edsel.

Rochester really is like something off of TV Land or out of a Pre-Crisis comic. Friendly town of 2 or so million if you count the suburbs, where you see everyone at Wegmans from the mayor to local celebrity Lou Grahm buying groceries.

 

[JamesDJarvis]

120,000 1930s SqFt house, pristing condition, 3 bed, 1 bath, finished basement, in a suburban neighborhood. Paid the going rate of 65k last year.

that'd run you about $180,000 at least near me in southern NH and just over the border into mass it'd be $300,000+

 

[JamesDJarvis]

And I don't agree with the statement that a kid costs 25k to 50k a year. There was a billboard in KC that read something like a kid costing $564 a month. That's just under 7k a year. Yea, kids aren't cheap, but they aren't outrageously expensive, either.

$25,000 to $50,000 a year per kid? Hardly. That $7,000 a year figure is a lot more accurate.

 

[Nellisir]

We just bought a new minivan. I would have prefered to buy a used one, but unfortunately there are some cars that just aren't available with the features that we wanted. My wife insisted on the navigation system and DVD player as well, so we had to get the top of the line model as well. sheesh

I know that feeling. I lucked out and found a low mileage used one with all the features we wanted while on vacation in Texas, and we went on the "Mommy financing plan", where we pay back my mother-in-law after she dies.

My wife mentioned a DVD system at one point, but I'm not paying an extra $2000 for a system when we can get a portable at Best Buy for $300.

 

[EricNoah]

There was a billboard in KC that read something like a kid costing $564 a month.

For a sec, I read that as "a billboard in KFC..." And thought, wow that's a strange place to get your statistics!

 

[der_kluge]

For a sec, I read that as "a billboard in KFC..." And thought, wow that's a strange place to get your statistics!

Haha! No, this was some billboard on the road in Kansas City. I think it was for some social services agency, or something, reminding people that shouldn't skimp on their children, or something like.

 

[Rogue765]

An addendum to my previous post: I love my wife, I love her a lot. Yea, women are really expensive, but I wouldn't want to live life without her. So, it's worth it.

I have a daughter, too. So, she'll grow up to be really expensive. And according to our last sonogram, we're having a second daughter (contrary to an earlier sonogram which indicated that it was a boy), so I'm still holding out hope. Add in a female dog, and a female cat, and I'm just screwed.

der_kluge looking at sonogram: "We're having a boy. WOO HOO!!!"

nurse: "i'm sorry mr der_kluge, that's the umbilical cord."