I see Lexus and BMW SUVs in the farm parking lot. I am impressed... momentarily.
Yes, there's a bubble. UNLESS: people have all these oodles of cash. They're superlative savers or they have lots of money through inheritance or good jobs or they're self-employed.
Median house price in my city: $405000
Median family income: $54,223
Median net worth: $69,400 (35-44 y.o.)
Median net worth: $226,100 (univ. degree)
Median net worth: $140,700 (white)
Median net worth: $67,200 (wage slave)
Median net worth: $94,800 (West)
Median net worth: $184,400 (homeowner)
Numbers from Survey of Consumer Finances Bulleti: Recent Changes in U.S. Family Finances: Evidence from the 2001 and 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances
http://www.federalreserve.gov/Pubs/oss/oss2/2004/bull0206.pdf
Self-employed seems to be the way to go.
I should come up with some businesses. I suppose they're counting home equity as part of net worth.
If I were to count home equity as net worth is in the six figures, despite not being Republican, a business owner, or from even middle-class parents, nor ever having hit the stock options lottery.
If I didn't count it, I'd still be in the six figures. I should thank my blessings and keep on track with my goals. Writing down the goals would be a help.
I shouldn't feel awful about driving around in a dirty 10-year-old car, or wearing cheap clothes. I do feel awful about the disorganization and clutter in my home, my car, my life. I need some help with this.
Well-meaning people try to stoke my schadenfreude: "You don't know how financed to the hilt those people are." True -- I know nothing about them other than they licensed their luxury vehicles in Washington state, and they're white (from the patron demographic scan at the farm store).
Can you imagine someone leasing or financing a Hummer, BMW, Lexus, Lincoln Navigator, Escalade, or Mercedes-Benz SUV? Or using zero to ten percent and an 5/1 ARM to finance a McMansion one hour or more away from work? Isn't that sad? It's like one pathetic "look at me" lie, like my car and cheap clothes are a pathetic "don't look at me" lie.
According to the most recent figures from the Federal Reserve Board, consumer debt hit $1.98 trillion in October 2003, up from $1.5 trillion three years ago. This figure, representing credit card and car loan debt, but excluding mortgages, translates into approximately $18,700 per US household.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G19/Current/ -- Check out the latest Consumer Credit stats. Autos are being financed at terms beyond five years (with the exception of 1Q2005 and 2Q2005), and the loan-to-value ratio is 91. A record amount of over $25,000 is the amount financed.
Oh, and do I believe the cash-out refis for vacations, luxury vehicles and plasma HD televisions myth? No. Maybe 16% of cash-out refis do this. More than twice that percentage use the equity for home remodeling, or sending Tyler or Ashley off to university.
Oh check this out for a laugh. You know about red states and blue states? That's all a myth. America is the RED NATION.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territori...
I like how there was a 188.2% increase in debt under Ronald Reagan. The US govt debt went from $930.2 billion to $3,233.3 from 1980 to 1990.
I should chart my net worth and spending month to month. Quicken? Graph paper?