A sobering thought (Page 2): I'm older than you, and I remember the MGA costing about $2,500, which was out of my reach when I was in high school. : ) I got a new 1965 Ford Galaxy 427...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

whfowle wrote:

When I graduated from high school in 1964, I was l... (show quote)

I'm older than you, and I remember the MGA costing about $2,500, which was out of my reach when I was in high school. : ) I got a new 1965 Ford Galaxy 427 for about $3,200.

Canisdirus

jiminnee wrote:

Let's say you have some money but nowhere near one million. What are the guidelines for "poor"?

It's a big variable...and depends on what country you reside in.
A general definition off the top of my head would be...you can only afford the very basics...no frills.
You would not have a lot left over in your take home pay after taxes to pay for extras.

Compare England to the US...and England is very poor on average.
Their left over take home pay puts them behind Mississippi...our poorest state.

Living poor in the US is living middle class pretty much everywhere else.

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

I'm working on making my second million dollars - I gave up on making the first million.

badapple Loc: Twin Lake, Michigan

jiminnee wrote:

Let's say you have some money but nowhere near one million. What are the guidelines for "poor"?

My guideline for being poor is living alone without friends. I’m not poor.

fourlocks Loc: Londonderry, NH

scallihan wrote:

I have a bit less than $1 M net worth, and only income is SS $2k/month. I do not live extravagantly (not in my genes), but I live comfortably - can't complain. Healthy (so far), no mortgage, no car payment, no debt. In Portland! Can't do that in Los Angeles or New York City.

Between my non-liquid assets, retirement portfolio and bank accounts I'm worth a little over a million dollars but I live modestly in a small New Hampshire ranch and consider myself middle class at best. Around here, anyone owning their own home is already "worth" half a million so it doesn't take much to be a millionaire any more. I wonder how many millionaires we have in the U.S. these days.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

boberic wrote:

For those who have a net worth of 1 million dollars or more. A sobering thought. It would take about 8 million bucks in todays dollars to equal the buying power of about 1 million of 1950 dollars. Although 1 million is still a lot if you have it you aint wealthy.

"Wealthy" is a comparative term. My sister, just celebrated her 75th birthday. Due to a few unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, she has managed to save $29000 in her only bank account. She owns no property and still has a few payments to make on her 2014 Honda CRV. She has a a few additional dollars of income from walking dogs. She lives on that and social security. Try telling her she would not be wealthy if she had $1,000,000!!
Mark

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

EdJ0307 wrote:

I'm working on making my second million dollars - I gave up on making the first million.

👍😆

Stan

Dannj

markngolf wrote:

"Wealthy" is a comparative term. My sist... (show quote)

Excellent point, Mark. Perspective matters.

pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

SteveR wrote:

Remember when Keds were 3 bucks?

Yes, my first pair of Red Ball Keds made my feet fly!

DavidPhares Loc: Chandler, Arizona

scallihan wrote:

I have a bit less than $1 M net worth, and only income is SS $2k/month. I do not live extravagantly (not in my genes), but I live comfortably - can't complain. Healthy (so far), no mortgage, no car payment, no debt. In Portland! Can't do that in Los Angeles or New York City.

That is the secret: Get Out of Debt. We, too, paid off the house, the cars, and we pay off the credit cards every month. We do have a decent fixed income, but when you are not making house and car payments, it is pretty nice. We have even saved up enough to pay cash for our next two vehicles.

Scallihan, you are wise! 😃

Wuligal Loc: Slippery Rock, Pa.

There's two ways to do it: you pay the bank to use their money or you get the bank to pay you for using your money. The latter is a lot more fun.

Effate Loc: El Dorado Hills, Ca.

Canisdirus wrote:

You are forgetting the other side of the equation.

The average annual salary in the United States in 1950 was $3,210.

What’s sad is we give millions of Americans more than that annual salary each month to not work.

markngolf Loc: Bridgewater, NJ

jerryc41 wrote:

I'm older than you, and I remember the MGA costing about $2,500, which was out of my reach when I was in high school. : ) I got a new 1965 Ford Galaxy 427 for about $3,200.

My first car, in 58’ was a 49 Plymouth. My Mom helped me and bought it for $200. Thanks, Mom.

I began my teaching career in 1960 after being discharged from the US Army. Starting salary with a BA was $3300 a year. I was given 2 yrs on the salary guide so I started at $3700. Eventually, over many years of matriculation in night school, I had an MA + 60 additional credits. Other than a PHD, I was at the top of the salary guide and in 1997 I was earning $81000. It only took 37 years to achieve that. For many years I worked 2 and 3 jobs to pay the bills, send my kids to college and have a little left over. My summer job in 61’ was in a deli for 90 cents an hour. I worked 6 days a week, 12 hours a day.

However, I loved teaching and would do it all over again. BTW: my required hours of work (to achieve my desired standard)was never less than 6o hours a week.

Bottom line - I was happy.
Mark

martom

I asked my dad many years ago how he cooped with inflation. He told me he multiplied by ten the prices he remembered paying for items to estimate the current price. For example shoes he use to pay $5.00 for would be $50.00, and a suit that cost him $30.00 would be about $300.00. That was many years ago, and now that I am 88 years old I find the same ratio applies. I recently bought a small rubber bushing repair part that I thought would cost about $0.35, and had to pay over $3.00. When I got married in 1956, one dollar would buy what it takes $9.72 to buy today. However, as a recent engineering graduate I only made $6,000/year. I hope I am around to see what the next ten years brings.

fantom Loc: Colorado

scallihan wrote:

I have a bit less than $1 M net worth, and only income is SS $2k/month. I do not live extravagantly (not in my genes), but I live comfortably - can't complain. Healthy (so far), no mortgage, no car payment, no debt. In Portland! Can't do that in Los Angeles or New York City.

Also, don't forget that "The nineties are alive in Portland...Portland...Portland."