^This
The whole “coffee and Netflix” thing was taken out of context and laughed-down as an out-of-touch boomer meme. The original context is about the mindset of much of the millennial generation; our proclivity for debt, instant gratification and poor prioritisation of income - then tendency to play the generational victim. But yes agree with your point @2007jasdip about not over-analysing every little spend, assuming the fundamentals are already taken care of. It’s too much hassle for the mind!
It’s funny to me that here in the US the boomer generation feels superior when millennials are doing a better job saving and building net worth than they did. Get your own house in order boomer, I’ll fight tooth and nail to not give you free handouts because you weren’t responsible
Millennials Financially Better Off Than Boomers at Same Stage: Study - Newsweek.
I could imagine a main complaint of future generations being something like… “well, Bitcoin is $1.4m, and we never had the option to buy it when it was only $90k like the lucky Millennials.”
Whereas real estate is a large part of the wealth portfolio of older generations, newer gens are just simply having to find different, more modern ways of building wealth. I wouldn’t be surprised if crypto and alternative assets become the millennial version of real estate.
Every gen will have a complaint to make about previous ones and how they “had it better”, but the truth is that for as long as the world’s spinning and society is advancing, wealth is being built. People just have to adapt.
I am so curious what housing prices will look like in 30 years.
2 big things happening between now and then:
- largest generation of home owners no longer owning the homes (boomers)
- hopefully a large amount of new homes built each year
Not to be morbid, but the next 20y or so will be the largest transfer of generational wealth in history, and also the first generation in which the bulk of that money does not go towards the next generation, but instead goes towards long-term care.
I was trying to dance around that part by saying “no longer home owners” but you are spot on. So much money will go towards people in nursing homes in their 90s instead of being passed on to the next generation
Oh yeah I guess I was following that by noting fewer and fewer of the homes previously owned by boomers are to be inherited
So the boomers sell their home to fund the nursing home, next generation doesn’t inherit the home or money.
But atleast there will be more homes on the market
Owned by PE yeah
Think I need to have a chat with mum and dad…
More likely to place the home into irrevocable trust early with trusted child as trustee and hope for the 5 year look back to pass and then have government pay for it
Some fun but relevant stuff. I stumbled on this from a different thread on E4 and found it to be insightful.
Cheers!
So I’ve opened a Roth with Vanguard! Thanks for the help with that. But now I have no clue what mutual funds to invest into? I’ve been trying to research some but it’s quite overwhelming with how many there are.
Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
My personal strategy, if you’re over 20 years from retirement just do s&p500 set and forget it. Even the ivy league school fund managers have a hard time beating the s&p500 by more than a % point or 2 in the long term. So what makes me think I can trade better? My time is better spent trying to earn more money than it is trying to day trade. When I get closer to retiring, 5-10 years out, I plan on moving some money to government bonds. They provide a lower rate of return, but lower risk also. When you are older and closer to retirement, you don’t have time on your side. What I mean by that is if the market “crashes” you have less time for the compound interest to build again if you lose everything, so it’s better to have some money left in more “sure” things than start over at 0 in your 50s.
I would either buy VOO or VTSAX. They both track the broader market and have low expense ratios, so you keep more of your money.
They perform similarly, but VTSAX includes small, medium, and large cap companies. VOO is large cap only. I don’t think you can go wrong between those two imo if you’re looking at a 20+ year time horizon!
Ok I know this thread started with some Dave Ramsey talk a couple of weeks ago but ima chime in.
“Debt is dumb, cash is king.” Dave’s advice can work for everyone. There is no reason for any American to chose to go into debt aside from a mortgage. You will win with money if you follow his plan long term (barring something outside of your control screwing you over).
I used to have credit cards that I paid off every paycheck. I financed cars at very reasonable payments and paid them off early. I quit all this a few years ago and have been doing better without it. Turns out I didn’t need anything a CC enabled me to buy and there are plenty of fun cars I can afford with cash if I just set my mind to it and stay disciplined.
People can still win with money messing with these things. But even if you don’t screw yourself over, you’re better off without them.
There are so many essentials you need that you can use the credit card for, get the 2%-5% cash back, and get a free 30-60 day loan before the next statement is due. Examples include gas, groceries, and car insurance.
I get the whole argument of “I don’t have a credit card so I don’t buy stupid stuff” but you could do that on your own and only buy things that are on the list above
Do you know where that 2-5% comes from? Also, what’s the raw amount you receive from it?
The merchant is paying the 3% or so transaction fee. The rest of the cash back and logitstics of making the credit card and shipping to you is paid for by other people paying 25% interest on their balances.
We spend about $500 on groceries a month and use a 3% card meant for groceries. So $15/month cash back for just one category. I also have a 3% card for gas. And so on.
I definitely see both sides of the credit card vs. pay cash/debit.
When my brain is functioning logically, I don’t have issues overspending because of my credit cards. Full disclosure that I’m a travel points person and have 8 credit cards
I also know that if I’m hungry shopping at the grocery store, tired and on eBay, or just otherwise might not be as strict with my spending as I normally am, I likely overspend by a certain % because I’m not limited by the cash in my wallet.
Overall, it probably balances out with the travel we like to do. What makes the most sense depends on the individual, their spending habits, and various psychology things I won’t pretend to understand