Economic impact on you?

[jamie2112]

It it killing me and my family..Well its getting ready to....

 

[rnatalli]

No real impact. My wife got a promotion earlier this year and I'm expecting one by the end of the year. We always live very conservatively compared to our income and have loads going to retirement and savings. It would take a far larger hit than this for us to notice.

 

[Audioholics]

We haven't been affected yet, but we continue to eliminate debt and prepare for rough roads.

 

[Exit]

Watch for large capital gains in declining stock funds.

I had some of my college savings in mutual funds and I thought I should tip you off to something kind of unexpected. Stock funds have been going down in value all year. I got a statement from one of my funds saying that I have $10,000 in capital gains which would be a big hit tax time. I sold out the entire fund for a $10,000 loss. This turned out to be fortunate in a couple of ways. I got the money out before the much more drastic market decline and I now have balanced out the capital gain with a capital loss so I don’t have to pay extra taxes in the first quarter of next year. I would urge everyone to closely look at their mutual fund statements to see if the same thing has happened to you. It seems odd to have capital gains while your mutual fund nosedives in value, but it is happening. You still have a couple of months to offset any capital gains with capital losses if coughing up an extra tax payment is not acceptable to you.

 

[itschris]

The road to recession is a self-fullfilling prophecy to a great degree. The more the talking heads talk aboiut how bad the economy is, the more the politicians bash the economy for pure political gain, the more is affects the attitudes of the everyday individual. People get used to and eventually accept the idea of just about anything if goes on long enough or you beat the drum loud enough. Gas prices is one exampls. We've paid $4/gallon for so long that when it drops 25 cents, we're all thankful. But really, we're talking about $5 give or take for a tankfull. Is that gonna make or break anyone?

This idea that economy is horrible is 50/50 true vs panic. How many of us still have the same job making the same paycheck each month? I'd say most and I think that's true of a significant chunk of people out there given salaried vs alternative compensation studies. Now why should I be suddenly spending less? I'm not making less, neither is my wife. What's really changed? Sure, the worst could happen and we could lose our jobs, but is not going to dinner a few times in the meantime reallly going to make a difference in the grand scheme of things? No... of course not.

But as long the media is the mouthpiece of political fodder and as long as certain political agendas are based solely around victimization as opposed to personal responsibility, redistribution vs growth, then we will drive ourselves right into what we don't want... like a moth to a flame.

 

[rnatalli]

I had some of my college savings in mutual funds and I thought I should tip you off to something kind of unexpected. Stock funds have been going down in value all year. I got a statement from one of my funds saying that I have $10,000 in capital gains which would be a big hit tax time. I sold out the entire fund for a $10,000 loss. This turned out to be fortunate in a couple of ways. I got the money out before the much more drastic market decline and I now have balanced out the capital gain with a capital loss so I don’t have to pay extra taxes in the first quarter of next year. I would urge everyone to closely look at their mutual fund statements to see if the same thing has happened to you. It seems odd to have capital gains while your mutual fund nosedives in value, but it is happening. You still have a couple of months to offset any capital gains with capital losses if coughing up an extra tax payment is not acceptable to you.

This and similar practices are common come end of the calendar year. You just have to be careful as there are rules as to what you can rebuy and when.

 

[jinjuku]

The road to recession is a self-fullfilling prophecy to a great degree.

How many of us still have the same job making the same paycheck each month? I'd say most and I think that's true of a significant chunk of people out there given salaried vs alternative compensation studies.

Chris,

There are a lot of people out there right this minute where it isn't a self fulfilling prophecy. They are out of a job and don't really have time to get on an enthusiast board like this (a hobby that isn't necessarily cheap) and participate in this thread.

I have 5 customers in the last 4 months go belly up. This is unprecedented given the last 6 years I have been doing this. That means less money from lease contracts that they signed, less money from credit processing residuals, less money from eft processing etc, etc...

Enough of this happens and it will make a significant dent in what I can afford. I am modest in my spending to boot, so not a good thing.

So we are concentrating on outright sales vs lease/financing options for right now.

 

[jinjuku]

We haven't been affected yet, but we continue to eliminate debt and prepare for rough roads.

Preaching to the choir. Zero CC debt, zero car debt, zero revolving loan debt. The only debt we have is my wife's student loans. She did Undergrad/Masters/Ph.D and all we incurred was $25K. The normal Ph.D in her field is around $80-100K.

We are looking in locations were we can buy a nice house on one income with plenty down. Believe me: I plan on negotiating HARD. Even to the point of being a prick.

 

[Exit]

Gas Cost Impact on the Family Budget

It was suggested that five dollars a tank is not much extra gas money. I guess it depends on your budget and perspective. I thought I would provide this analysis of my gas costs because I have the data while many people may find gathering the data a great annoyance. I actually have my family log all the data (miles driven, gallons of gas put in, cost per gallon, miles per gallon, etc.) on our four cars so I can analyze it. My dad was an engineer and he had us do this since we first started driving. His purpose was more to see if a drop in MPG was indicating engine problems, like fouled spark plugs. I use the data to project next year’s gasoline budget. I thought you might like to see an example, as shown below.

SUBROUTINE: MILEAGE DRIVEN, GASOLINE USE
AND COST PROJECTOR
$/gal
INPUTS IN YELLOW $2.80
mi driven mpg city gal/year $/year $/week $/mth
Corolla 9,550 30 318 $891 $17 $74
Nova 5,547 24 231 $648 $12 $54
Echo 4,680 29 161 $452 $8 $38
Mazda 3i 3,554 25 142 $398 $7 $33
Yearly 23,331 27 853 $2,389 z $2,389
Monthly 1,944 z 71 z $199 $199
Weekly 449 z 16 z $44 $44
z z z z $2,388
cross check

SUBROUTINE: MILEAGE DRIVEN, GASOLINE USE
AND COST PROJECTOR
$/gal
INPUTS IN YELLOW $3.80
mi driven mpg city gal/year $/year $/week $/mth
Corolla 9,550 30 318 $1,210 $22 $101
Nova 5,547 24 231 $879 $16 $73
Echo 4,680 29 161 $613 $11 $51
Mazda 3i 3,554 25 142 $540 $10 $45
Yearly 23,331 27 853 $3,242 z $3,242
Monthly 1,944 z 71 z $270 $270
Weekly 449 z 16 z $60 $60
z z z z $3,241
cross check

I have got a fairly efficient fleet of vehicles now so if your measured MPG or driving distances are different, your costs will be different. What these two charts show is that if gas currently at $2.80 a gallon ($2389/yr) were to go back to $3.80 a gallon ($3,242), then I would have to pay an additional $853 dollars a year. I got rid of a Buick Park Avenue and added a Corolla and a Mazda 3i, so our average fuel economy is pretty good, and the impact is tolerable for us. The spreadsheet grids, spacing, shading and colors did not transfer into the forum so it is cryptic but the data is all there. The spreadsheet is pretty simple to set up if you want to see the impact of higher gas costs on your family budget. I suspect most people are not concerned enough about the gas prices to set a calculator like this up, but maybe it will be useful for a few. Hope it is interesting to some.

 

[MidnightSensi]

History isn't on our side though. Technological innovation got us through our last slumps, while other countries couldn't keep up. We don't have that anymore.

I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel for a long time.

Someone gave me negative rep for this.



Second time I have gotten negative rep here. Am I really that offensive? It's just an opinion.

 

[jinjuku]

Someone gave me negative rep for this.



Second time I have gotten negative rep here. Am I really that offensive? It's just an opinion.

I don't see why someone would get their nose in a snit over your post either.

One of the arguments to be made is that economies and ergo markets are based on oil. That markets are carbon based and carbon driven. That as access to easy carbon based fuels dries up and cost more that markets are not going to be able to transition easily nor quickly.

 

[MidnightSensi]

Thanks Aberkowitz!

I don't see why someone would get their nose in a snit over your post either.

One of the arguments to be made is that economies and ergo markets are based on oil. That markets are carbon based and carbon driven. That as access to easy carbon based fuels dries up and cost more that markets are not going to be able to transition easily nor quickly.

Nod. What I meant is that the last boom was because of the Internet, which we were largely on the forefront of. We don't seem to be on the forefront of green technology, which, as far as I know, is the next thing to make money off of.

I think we really like this idea of optimism in America, and I like it too ... but I don't believe our nation is going to be what it was before. There is a world wide middle class rising, which was at one point said to be disappearing. It isn't though, really the middle class is seperating from the poor. Like this forgotten group that just isn't newsworthy with the economy being such a popular topic. The poor aren't economically important, so they are forgotten. I believe crime is going to rise because of this. Hard drug use too, with alcohol abuse rising with as the socially acceptable escape, like Scottland did.

We are also starting to become okay with socialism. Which could be argued one way or another, but the fact is that we are closer to socialist government now than ever. By some definitions, we alreay are... only without the benefits.

Technology is what I believe will be our economy savior, but I'm not completely confident we will be able to develop it. Our previous economic rises have been due to massive cheap sources of energy (wood, originally, then coal, then fossil fuels).

We are a very, very new America.

 

[itschris]

Chris,

There are a lot of people out there right this minute where it isn't a self fulfilling prophecy. They are out of a job and don't really have time to get on an enthusiast board like this (a hobby that isn't necessarily cheap) and participate in this thread.

I have 5 customers in the last 4 months go belly up. This is unprecedented given the last 6 years I have been doing this. That means less money from lease contracts that they signed, less money from credit processing residuals, less money from eft processing etc, etc...

Enough of this happens and it will make a significant dent in what I can afford. I am modest in my spending to boot, so not a good thing.

So we are concentrating on outright sales vs lease/financing options for right now.

My point was quite clear... not all.. but a good chunk was caused by the panic mindset. Most households have not seen a change in their income as evidenced by the most current IRS stats. True, if you have an independent business, then yes, there is a very good chance... especially if you rely on discretionary spending from your cunsumer base... that you will see a dip. My point was that the severity of it is large exacerbated by the needless panic of the consumer.

I just got back from a roundtable economic discussion. Outside part of some outside staff were talking and the only lady said, "Well I'm not buying anything this Christmas. I can't afford it." Her friend or coworker I guess asked her why... her response... "well the economy is just so bad rignt now."

I and a few others butted into their conversation and I asked her point blank why she suddenly "could not afford to buy presents" and asked her if she could've afforded them 6 months ago. I followed up by asking her what has changed in her financial life to make her not able to afford to buy presents. To paraphrase a very long, painful conversation... the bottom line? NOTHING!

She's making the same amount of money she always had, hasn't had any significant increase in expenses nor emergencies. She just "felt" that the economy was "so bad right now" that it had somehow affected her ability to spend the very same amount of money she used to.

That I'm afraid is the prevailing mindset. If you beat the drum liong enough, people will listen, concern, discomfort, insecurity will set in and an dramatica accelleration of the contraction ensues.

I don't for one minute think it's not happening. I know things are getting tough for a lot of folks, but it's the reasoning behind it that frustrates me because most just don't have the time and energy to fully understand and digest what's going on. They rely on the media for guidance and if you turn to that, all you will see is the rampant sensationalism that has become the current methodology behind reporting and conveying of "the story." Today, media is little more then celebrity and political agenda. Everyone seems so worried about the church and state arguement, yet no one seems at all concerned behind the politically driven media and the deep interwoven relationships the top execs have with our political parties. If anything really scares me, it's that. Everyone gets bent like a handlebar because someone has a scupture of the ten commandments in public foyer of some government building. That's somehow offensive, yet having entire media networks serve as mouthpieces for political parties is seemingly okay.

 

[MidnightSensi]

Huh? There are a surprising amount of people that have posted in this thread about being laid off, layoffs at their work, or just overall feeling the heat.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I don't even know how much gas cost, I charge it all to my company

Well, we ALL are affected by the high price of gasoline. I know it has been coming down, but it still is expensive. Lets not forget that. One thing I have noticed is that people seem to have plenty of money to spend. Perhaps, it is getting closer to the holiday shopping season or the awesome weather we have had here as of late. I really don't know, but I am quite hopeful we will have a good X-mas shopping season or otherwise my hours will be cut back yet again. As such, still on the fence about ordering a BR player. I plan to wait it out a bit longer. In the mean time, pay off my new Ascends. Lets just say I am getting closer.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[haraldo]

Huh? There are a surprising amount of people that have posted in this thread about being laid off, layoffs at their work, or just overall feeling the heat.

Law of attraction.... anyone?
Basically you are attracting what you're focusing on and thinking of....

So if focus is negative on layoffs and things being bad, that's probably what you're going to get.... However... I think it's surprising how much good things a positive mindset may bring... So even in very bad times, there are many good things to focus at and look at.

I would say, life is incredibly good ))))

 

[haraldo]

Well, we ALL are affected by the high price of gasoline. I know it has been coming down, but it still is expensive.

Wow....... Do you know that you have the privilege of having the cheapest gas prices in the world, still you think it's expensive

Like you pay half the price for gas compared to the rest of the civilized world

If the gas prices in the US were three times what they are now, yes then it would be expensive.....

 

[speakerman39]

I don't even know how much gas cost, I charge it all to my company

Geez Greg, I wish I had that problem.......LOL!!!!! Just wished I could do the same.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[speakerman39]

Wow....... Do you know that you have the privilege of having the cheapest gas prices in the world, still you think it's expensive

Like you pay half the price for gas compared to the rest of the civilized world

If the gas prices in the US were three times what they are now, yes then it would be expensive.....

Well, lets see. I get paid, go to the gas pump, and then to the grocery store. By the time I get home, I really don't have much money left. Then, I notice I really didn't get much to eat either. So, then why do you suppose that is? I guess the high cost of gas have nothing to do with me paying more for milk and bread....eh? My point is that the price of gasoline affects everything. So, to me it is expensive as I do NOT earn much money. Those with better jobs are better able to absorb those higher costs whereas people like me do good to more or less survive.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[yettitheman]

The best one, in my opinion, is being a computer lab moderator ... because you basically just sit there and get paid to do your homework and add paper once in a while. Just about every school has tons of these jobs. It's like a study hall you get paid for. I used to bid for the stupidist labs that no one used, so most of the time I would sit there and no one would be in there. I got a lot of school work done doing this. You just want to be a dumb employee so they don't put you in the busy labs because the pay was the same regardless. I pretended not to know much about computers and such, so they used me in the lighter load labs that were more conductive for getting work done.

Hey, that's basically my job right now!
Although, they get me doing some interesting things. I fix laptops, printers, run Network and Phone cable across the campus, work on the domain from time to time, hardware upgrades, some other crap here and there. But, most of the time I read Audioholics or my VW Forums.
Not to mention, I get free computer swag from time to time!