How Are You Handling the Economy?

[quote name='speedracer']I'm just sayin, even losing 15% (a reasonably possible prospect) on a $250,000 house (a very reasonable sum in any larg-ish city in America) between now and the time the market turns is a whopping $37,000. I get what you're saying about throwing money out the window paying rent, but the scenario presented above is less like throwing it out a window and more like agreeing to go $37k in debt to the bank with literally no return.

Just sayin.[/quote]
Haha, ya I suppose that would be a big difference, my house cost a whoopin' 70k so I really don't think it would sell for less than that, so I really have no loss on this one. But at a $250,000, I would have to consider alot more.
 
[quote name='speedracer']I'm just sayin, even losing 15% (a reasonably possible prospect) on a $250,000 house (a very reasonable sum in any larg-ish city in America) between now and the time the market turns is a whopping $37,000. I get what you're saying about throwing money out the window paying rent, but the scenario presented above is less like throwing it out a window and more like agreeing to go $37k in debt to the bank with literally no return.

Just sayin.[/quote]

It also depends on how you plan on living in the place. 1 year from now, it might have dropped $40K, but 5-10 years it will be back up again.
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']but 5-10 years it will be back up again.[/QUOTE]
Nothing in this world is for sure except death and taxes.
 
Another major advantage for buying rather than renting is that the interest on mortgage payments are also tax deductible. The federal government essentially subsidizes homeownership.
 
[quote name='javeryh']Any tax rebate goes straight to savings or the kids' college funds.[/quote]

If I get one, straight to books. Which sucks because they fucking bookstore rips everyone off coming and going.

Anyway, I need a summer job , but mc jobs are always available so I'm really not that worried.
 
[quote name='Jkmetal']If I get one, straight to books. Which sucks because they fucking bookstore rips everyone off coming and going.

Anyway, I need a summer job , but mc jobs are always available so I'm really not that worried.[/quote]

After first quarter freshman year, I always buy my books online from half.com or amazon. LOADS more cheaper, plus the sellers are oftentimes fellow college students, so it feel nice helpin' out!

I haven't felt the economy crisis yet, but that's probably 'cause I'm a dependent college student. Do have federal work-study and been working part-time at various retail stores, but my parents pay for the majority of my school expenses.

After I graduate though, that's a COMPLETELY different story. Gonna have a ton of loans to pay off for the rest of my life. Hopefully I'll snag a great job as an artist....hahahaha... :(

EDIT: Also, how exactly does that 'tax cut bonus' work? Just fill out forms for my tax return, and get more money back?
 
No crisis here. I'm a dependent college student paying for college through scholarships. I'm not that worried, but I'm still going to start saving as soon as I have a real income.

I haven't seen any signs of a recession in the economy (not locally at least). There has always been a standing population of homeless people in our area and you periodically hear about layoffs at some of the bigger companies, but other than that, jobs are pretty abundant if you know where to look (or if you know the right people).

I'd be worried about the economy if I thought there was anything I could do about it. I'm just gonna do whatever I can to help out my friends if they hit hard times.
 
As a student, it hasn't affected me at all. I probably purchase more games and stuff then I used too. I know I'll pay for it when I have to start paying back my student loans, but my part-time job buys me stocks for x amount of hours I work, so when I graduate and retire from my current job, I have a considerable amount of money to pay off a good chunk of my loans and start off job hunting wherever I want to.
 
Upstate NY is dying. I have a four year degree from a respectable NY school, and yet I make $7.75 an hour without benefits writing for a local paper. I can only hope that other parts of the country are doing better.
 
California is quite expensive at this time. I can't even afford a run down home in shady neighborhoods ($350K - $650K). Nice neighborhoods ($700K - several millions) are pretty much out of the question now. With no current house in my possession, I don't really have anything that I can sell to come up with a nice downpayment. All I can reasonably afford are small apartments.

But, the housing market is on the down turn. Sales volume is way down, foreclosures are up, and prices should fall down as a result. Plus, my salary will ramp up over the next several years... So I'll be able to snatch up something eventually; but, by then I'll be in my 30s.

Apparantly, during ~ 8 yrs of post- high school education I've amassed ~ $100K in debt in addition to my degrees. Good times. Guess I'll have to marry rich... :D
 
[quote name='BigT']Apparantly, during ~ 8 yrs of post- high school education I've amassed ~ $100K in debt in addition to my degrees. Good times. Guess I'll have to marry rich... :D[/QUOTE]

I hear you. I've done that in my 11 years, too.
 
Our family is doing okay, largely because woman in family thankfully ignored fact they were told to be woman in this world they needed to pop out some kids. My youngest sister is doing well on her own with her first house, tips are going be rough as is food and gas but again no kid to worry about is helping alot at this point. Same with my brother and his wife, they pretty much guessed this was going happen few years back and seem to be rewarded for proper thinking. Could get alot worse but I think putting an actual potential child's welfare first before their own personal wants has made a big difference so far.
 
I plan on investing in the current house...mostly exterior improvements.
I had opportunities to purchase another house but I cannot take the risk.
Another 600K-650K is way too much.

I finished grad school with a debt load of tad under 20K...so I am fortunate in that case (relatively).
 
The housing market is really slowing down around here, which is great for me. Lot's of foreclosures, short sales, and the like are going on.

I guess people who put 0% down on houses have nothing to lose except for their credit rating, so they're just walking away from their growing mortgage payments. Eventually this should drop the prices to reasonable levels...
 
I always buy old editions of books whenever possible. I saved hundreds of dollars like that.

I go to school and work part time for $7.50/hr. I'm 18 and living at home so all my income is expendable though I save a lot. I really hope I can get at least a decent job soon so I can look into moving out. Love the fam but want to be on my own.

My parents spend less and save a little less but they still save a huge portion of their income. My dad is pretty frugal and saves wherever he can. He keeps the heat low, he gets angry if you leave too many lights on etc. (all our neighbors use a lot of electricity it seems) He urges short showers etc. He's still doing well though.
 
It's been kind of crazy for me. My girlfriend (live-in) got laid off in October of last year from Countrywide. Then I got laid of in February when work slowed down at the engineering firm I was at. To top it off I found out that I'm gonna be a dad.

So it been a crazy begining of the year.
 
I'm 10k~ in debt and I'm graduating in Fall. Another $4000 if I go for my Masters. I think I'll go for it- that way you guys will have to call me master.
 
A BA and a JD put me about 60k in the hole. And to think, most other Western Democracies actually pay for their citizenry's education.

It's like they think having a lot of educated professionals is beneficial to their country or something. What fools.
 
[quote name='pittpizza']A BA and a JD put me about 60k in the hole. And to think, most other Western Democracies actually pay for their citizenry's education.

It's like they think having a lot of education professionals is beneficial to their country or something. What fools.[/QUOTE]

Educated professionals yes. More lawyers, no (just kidding).

I'm just waiting for the stock market to bottom out before I jump in. I've been fortunate in the sense that this economic downturn occurred just when I finally got a real job tripling my previous salary.
 
[quote name='Dori-dori']After first quarter freshman year, I always buy my books online from half.com or amazon. LOADS more cheaper, plus the sellers are oftentimes fellow college students, so it feel nice helpin' out!

I haven't felt the economy crisis yet, but that's probably 'cause I'm a dependent college student. Do have federal work-study and been working part-time at various retail stores, but my parents pay for the majority of my school expenses.

After I graduate though, that's a COMPLETELY different story. Gonna have a ton of loans to pay off for the rest of my life. Hopefully I'll snag a great job as an artist....hahahaha... :(

EDIT: Also, how exactly does that 'tax cut bonus' work? Just fill out forms for my tax return, and get more money back?[/QUOTE]

I bought as many books as possible online, and it still came out to like $400 for a QUARTER, since my accounting book was a brand-new edition with no used copies available and a new price of $175, and then there's also the "course packet" bullshit that can't be resold.
 
It's all these fucking professors **coughMYKEcough** trying to make sure their book sales are up by forcing every single student to buy a brand new edition every single year, when the only fucking thing that changed is that they added one G-ddamn paragraph or rearranged the index. $$$CHA CHING!$$$$

Heaven help someone who goes to Med or Law school. Ugh.

I hate the college book racket and highly recommend getting around it any way possible (share books, etc.).

Actually a good buddy of mine tried to make a book trading/selling site for our university. It was a great idea but didn't pan out.
 
[quote name='pittpizza']It's all these fucking professors **coughMYKEcough** trying to make sure their book sales are up by forcing every single student to buy a brand new edition every single year, when the only fucking thing that changed is that they added one G-ddamn paragraph or rearranged the index. $$$CHA CHING!$$$$

Heaven help someone who goes to Med or Law school. Ugh.

I hate the college book racket and highly recommend getting around it any way possible (share books, etc.).

Actually a good buddy of mine tried to make a book trading/selling site for our university. It was a great idea but didn't pan out.[/quote]

You get screwed by professors changing to new books every few semesters.

Otherwise, half.com is a bargain if not a decent supplier.
 
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