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Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

221–230 of 478 posts

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are interest rates high enough again to make laddering worth it?

Was offered 1% for 11 month deposit yesterday. Much better than last year's 0.25%, but still, what, 1/8 of US inflation?!

Even less worth it when Alliant is paying 1% for a bog-standard saving account: https://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/high-yield-savings

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#222
> Scar Consumption for Life

Sounds like a good thing in a world where we over-consume almost everything?

I can't agree with some of the commentary in this thread about risk, drive and early poverty. Some of the wealthiest people started out dirt poor. They didn't like it and resolved to become rich. Plenty more started out spoiled rotten and grew up to be lazy minded with mediocre life outcomes.

"Brewster's Millions" is still a great film on this theme of growing a healthy relationship with money.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#223
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I often link to these articles. Especially the second one is exactly what you are asking about: • 5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor, May 27, 2011: https://www.cracked.com/blog/5-things-nobody-tells-you-about... • The 5 Stupidest Habits You Develop Growing Up Poor, January 19, 2012: https://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-deve... • 4 Things Politicians Will Never Understand About Poor People,…

There were many brilliant Cracked articles in their day.

Was this formerly a good site? I remember running into cracked periodically in the last few years and it always looked like the absolute worst of clickbait spam, but these articles are rather decent

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus where do you live? I moved from San Diego to Raleigh, didn't get a pay adjustment and even that place wouldn't be anywhere near that cost here.

I'm looking at moving to a significantly nicer [edit: than where I am now, that is], coastal region with excellent schools and within occasional-but-not-daily commute distance of two top-tier US cities, including by rail (some of you may be be able to guess the area, at this point), and the housing prices (4-bedroom with some land, even) are surprisingly affordable. Nothing like that, certainly. Houses within daily c…

This is what I mean when I say "kicked out." You're forced to move away from everything and everyone you know.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#225
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll never have another credit card. Frequent flyer miles, what are those? The whole industry can go fuck themselves.

If you're able to live without the credit aspects of the credit card, why not take the 1-2% discount on nearly everything consumable that you buy? If you pay it off every month, credit cards have a negative cost (to you) and a fair amount of convenience (for renting cars, hotels, booking flights, etc).

Not everyone can do it - it can be like asking an alcoholic why they don't go to the bar anymore, because the walk and the beer has health benefits.

Sometimes you have to identify your weakness and ruthlessly cut them out of your life.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The generation of the Great Depression didn't have ubiquitous forms of usury. With credit cards, personal loans and student loans, I imagine the future stinginess of Millennials will be short lived.

They still had installment plans for buying appliances and repossessions. I'm pretty sure usurious loans have existed since money was invented.

Yep, various holy books talk about usury and they're quite old.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're able to live without the credit aspects of the credit card, why not take the 1-2% discount on nearly everything consumable that you buy? If you pay it off every month, credit cards have a negative cost (to you) and a fair amount of convenience (for renting cars, hotels, booking flights, etc).

That 1-2% is what they pay you for all your data. Credit cards are a key component of data brokers.

The 1-2% is what they pay you for helping strong-arm the merchant into giving them 3%.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#228
post #123

Is it fair to conclude that fossil fuel price shocks are good for the planet? If everyone experiences them early then we will all reduce our carbon footprint for life and slow global warming?

what if i told you a lot of fossil fuels go into producing electric cars, which then drives up the price of them making them out of reach for the avg person

I'm sorry, but are you saying that the high price of EVs is due to fossil fuel prices? EVs were far out of reach of the average person well before fuel prices ticked up. They're priced high because they're based on relatively new technology and processes.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#229
post #206

Being poor in general, during your childhood, scars you for life. It makes you penny wise and pound foolish, adverse to taking risks in your career and investments, can destroy your confidence in yourself, while always having to look over your shoulder monetarily speaking. Habits that even after you remove poverty from your live, you still feel the the anxiety and triggers in your head.

My wife grew up very close to the poverty line, with her parents always just about to lose the house. And she has this anxiety. (Edit: to be clear, she's a successful civil engineer, considered one of the best in her field locally and makes great money- she has nothing to worry about.) In order to help with it, we have a bank account that our bills come out of that has a little more than 6 months worth of all our bil…

> It's not logical or financially wise I'm taken aback by this statement. I am in an incredibly similar situation to your wife in terms of growing up and being successful today, and I do this. Granted, I think I'm at 3.5 months, but the point stands.

Sure, the money isn't generating more wealth, but that amount is finite. It's a cushion that should effectively indefinitely and every dollar beyond is vigorously invested. And, should something happen to employment, you use it as a buffer (assuming no severance) and replenish as soon as you're employed again.

I have a friend who helped me get where I am. He makes even more than I do, but financially, I'm more well off than he is because he thinks that every single dollar needs invested -- to the point that despite making the top 2-3% of income for our entire region, he regularly is paying off revolving credit card interest because he isn't equipped to pay a $500 unexpected expense.

Sure, if you invest every single dollar, it's always earning 7-10% on average. But if you have to then pay 20%+ APR on credit cards because you can't handle unexpected expenses, it begs the question whether you're really getting ahead.

Re: Price shocks in formative years scar consumption for life

#230
post #206

Being poor in general, during your childhood, scars you for life. It makes you penny wise and pound foolish, adverse to taking risks in your career and investments, can destroy your confidence in yourself, while always having to look over your shoulder monetarily speaking. Habits that even after you remove poverty from your live, you still feel the the anxiety and triggers in your head.

My wife grew up very close to the poverty line, with her parents always just about to lose the house. And she has this anxiety. (Edit: to be clear, she's a successful civil engineer, considered one of the best in her field locally and makes great money- she has nothing to worry about.) In order to help with it, we have a bank account that our bills come out of that has a little more than 6 months worth of all our bil…

Having a solid emergency fund is actually pretty wise. Maybe split some of that into something low risk like I-bonds. My wife has similar anxiety, and it took years of financial education to get her comfortable with the idea that we only need a month of backup, and can float the rest on CC until we liquidate other assets.
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