Gas prices and buying cards

[Seven]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

My daughter is 26 and one of her first memories is watching the towers fall on 911, coupled with the mortgage meltdown in 2008, divisive polarized politics (shame on y'all), a general lack of respect we have for each other as humans, her's was the first generation raised on social media and all it's negative influences, etc., then throw in a world wide pandemic and now a war.

We were talking about it one day and she said "My generation is tired of constantly going through life changing events, we just want some degree of normalcy in our lives". Her and her friends are a smart group of kids, they know baloney when they see or hear it, and have a real solid no nonsense middle class approach to life.

I very much feel this.

I'm 27, only a year older than your daughter. It seems like every time something settles down, or we're getting ready to do something, a world changing event happens.

Right before the pandemic occurred, I was getting my finances in order to finally purchase a home. Housing prices in New York were already high to begin with, but I was looking at a nice little Co-op for a shade over 250K. I would be able to put down enough to have an affordable mortgage, on my modest salary. I budgeted everything, and crunched the numbers and figured "well if things keep going the way they do, I can definitely buy something like this within the year"

Then Covid hits, the Real Estate boom as crushed any thought of that. The one that I was looking at? Just sold for 325K, it's absurd. I'm considering ditching the state all together, and looking for a job elsewhere because at the rate we're going I'm never going to be able to afford a house.

As for the cards? Who knows. I don't think anyone thought a global pandemic would turn cardboard into an extreme asset class, that doubled or tripled the value of certain cards in some cases.

[Touch'EmAll]

It is indeed hard out there, life sure has speedbumps.

Think about setting yourself up with work and a location to do more of what you like to do.

Just before I got into my career, I went thru a big book called "Places Rated". It went thru all the major/semi-major metro areas of the country and rated them all on many categories - schools, medical care, recreation, weather, home prices, crime, population density, etc.

For me it came down to Seattle, Portland OR, and Boise. I chose Portland - very glad I made decision. I love fishing and Oregon is quite good - trout salmon, steelhead, bass. The Deschutes River is world class and just over Mt. Hood couple hours away. The Oregon coast is also only 2 hours away, very nice.

Anyways, be smart and calculated about your life decisions, will definitely pay good dividends for the rest of your life.

[Seven]

Originally Posted by Touch'EmAll

It is indeed hard out there, life sure has speedbumps.

Think about setting yourself up with work and a location to do more of what you like to do.

Just before I got into my career, I went thru a big book called "Places Rated". It went thru all the major/semi-major metro areas of the country and rated them all on many categories - schools, medical care, recreation, weather, home prices, crime, population density, etc.

For me it came down to Seattle, Portland OR, and Boise. I chose Portland - very glad I made decision. I love fishing and Oregon is quite good - trout salmon, steelhead, bass. The Deschutes River is world class and just over Mt. Hood couple hours away. The Oregon coast is also only 2 hours away, very nice.

Anyways, be smart and calculated about your life decisions, will definitely pay good dividends for the rest of your life.

It's a tricky situation. I have older parents, who are likely to leave the state as well. They're very tired of dealing with the cold that comes with the winter months in NY. I've spoken to them about moving somewhere down south, potentially South Carolina or Florida, they seem more interested in the latter, which is fine by me.

The work situation, well I'm a teacher. Fortunately I've been smart with my money, and the paycut wouldn't matter too much, because I'd be able to afford a decent home. It's the benefits that come with the profession in NY that are hard to give up. Great health insurance and a very nice pension plan, a TDA as well.

I could fall back into my old career, as I worked in Finance for a bit before I made the switch to teaching, but to be honest, I absolutely hated that profession. So Who knows?