All Forum Posts by: Jason S.

Need more information.

1. How much money do you need to live on?
2. Investing is your only source of income?

As soon as everyone thinks there will not be another boom, as soon as everyone gives up, when no one is buying anymore but the most seasoned.... the new boom will be just around the corner.

The 40+ demographic is strange because this group has the least intuitive experience with technology and therefore are not as adaptive. The people just a few years younger had much more immersion into technology during their younger years.

I think the 40+ group will be OK. The 40 year olds of today saw the massive restructurings of the 1980's and have never expected to have a single job nor rely on Social Security etc. The 60+ group learned years ago, in the 1980's that the company is not loyal and every day you go into work and they do not lay you off, you are lucky. But many are simply not prepared for the ways in which the economy has changed.

Everything is changing rapidly and people of all ages have to change with it - that is the "harshness" of a capitalist system that so many detest yet it is at the core of why it succeeds.

In the end I believe in the capitalist / market system (even though we are not in a pure capitalistic / market system), I believe in the people, and I believe there are more boom and busts to come.

People need to take some time, shake of their depression as much as possible, and try one more time to make something happen. That is the hardest part, I know, re-encouraging yourself when you have been kicked so many times. But it is what everyone must do. Once people start again, everything will come back around.

Of course they do, believe me, I understand, the plight intimately. I grew up poor, single mom - public assistance - in fact they changed the name of the street I was raised on more than once due to the number of shootings - I understand the plight very well. In fact I spent a lot of time working with people in an area where I recently looked it up, in California, median household income, $11,000 (the stats were 2009).

But as you said, there have been poor with us forever and I was asking fundamentally, what is poor, what is middle class, how do we define it?

I also know the plight of having no job, no income etc. In fact it is the people that cannot work and are on a fixed income that I feel for the most.

But I also know that many things have changed in how you can make money. In essence, someone moved the cheese.

I also know many struggling people that will not humble themselves, as I have had to do in the past, to do work for much less pay, do work that they previously would not do etc.

This all brings me back to the question - what does middle class look like? If I knew that then I could determine how much money you really need to be middle class and then we can determine just how elusive it is.

I was not alive in the 50's and 60's but I buy houses from that era - was their life a 1000 sq ft home with little closets, no A/C, and sometimes 2 cars, 1 TV, no cell, no cable, eat at home most of the time, and on it goes. Tell me - what is/was middle class? What does it look like?

Because I know a lot of struggling people with Basic Cable on a flatscreen with high speed internet 2 cars and a lot of fast food etc which is a waste of money

It's probably a good idea to talk to local real estate experts. Comps can only tell you a partial story, call and talk to Realtors in the area - just drive around and call off local signs.

Rich - I hear what you are saying, and of course the $14T example is way off base for many reasons - I was just throwing it out there to counter some of the depression I see every day. The reality is the situation is dire for many reasons - but then again we were at the brink of worldwide collapse with the S&L debacle also - just read the economic histories.

Can the US fall from prominence - of course it can. Is it going to , probably, given its current course. The big test will be to see if the system designed by the Founding Fathers can once again, self correct itself.

Anyway, everyone should be prepared as you said.

The question is, how bad off is the guy that is underwater on his mortgage? Can he not buy the home down the street for half and default on his current home? What about renting the home down the street? Cant he then buy again in a few years?

Granted this only works if he is working. If he is not working then it is much harder.

Someone mentioned middle class. What is middle class? How do we define it? Is it the Cleavers? The Cunningham's? The Keaton's?

I think I posted that little rant because I have hit the breaking point of everyone using hearsay, cliche, and talking points instead of pure facts and reality. Not necessarily in this thread, but just in general.

Buy Gold. OK, buy gold. But should the average guy buy Gold? No, not really, unless it is a small part of their balanced portfolio. The regular man on the street, how much savings should he have?

I am not arguing the cycle. I am arguing that
'
roughly quoting...
"Americans will have to buy the poor mans gold - silver ... and in smaller units - grams, ounces, unfortunately"

That was the part that depressed me.

Americans are buying mining stocks, proxy stocks, and a million other ways to buy Gold.

But anyway - I just want to know when I should buy the puts. How far up is it going to go before the big drop?

Question - If interest rates go up, shouldn't Gold come down?

How depressing it is what you just said.

For the record, there are still millions and millions of Americans that are making very good wages. Some of whom, right or wrong, stopped paying their mortgages years ago and have been banking the money.

I know more people today with a couple hundred thousand cash and much much more on hand than I have ever before in my life, granted that is probably because I am older, but really... all of this doom and gloom is depressing...

We owe too much and we spend too much. Granted this is true. But we still only owe 100% of our GDP. They say run the country like your house - we are. Most people that make $100K have $400K or more in household long term debt. We have a $14T GDP and $14T in debt. Japan has $5T in GDP and $10T in debt. Our only problem is no one is around to support our $15T habit because the rest of the world is too small..... not because they are that great.

Sorry for the rant. And I know I will get the ire of those in this thread - but after reading the last post - I was like.... give me a break. You act like most Americans are not still rich and living the highest standard of living in the world.

Chin up my friends.

You can.

In my area Safeway delivers. In some areas ther are local small companies that will deliver. In fact, I just got a flyer not too long ago on a house up in Sacramento that mentioned a grocery/shopping delivery service.

It is out there - at least out here.

I know how hard it is for many to make money - but that is usually because the people do not know what to do or because they are not humble enough to do what needs to be done.

Sometimes it means doing things for 1/7th the amount of the money (or less) you would have made when life was going their way. But money is money - right? When that teacher or whomever is motivated enough, or poor enough, they will do whatever they can to make that money and then to get into that first investment and then to move forward from there. But it is hard, believe me I know, it is hard to be motivated, especially if they have been kicked by life too many times.

If you think I am not telling the truth, have someone similar to the teacher email me. I will show them what to do, maybe even for $3-$5 per hour from home... is money, money? Will they work for 2 months part time to make that $1,000?

What I have found though is that person oftentimes does not want to stoop down low enough to first make that $1K or $5K etc before they are allowed to play in Real Estate.

Or that person could find a deal, hand it to someone they trust, let them do it and tell them they would like to be remembered (i.e., paid) when it is finished. Or they could ask to be a very small partner on paper, or they could take a little cash upfront. The key is activity, worst case the other guy gets rich and you learn. Been there / done that. But you keep moving forward.

During this Recession I know formerly rich people living on acreage in BlackHawk doing side plumbing jobs, Formerly rich people fixing fences. I met a Doctor (from another country) working at a Postal Annex and an engineer doing electrical work on one of my fix/slip homes.

In this example Mike does have skin in the game. He owns the property. Getting a HML should not be as hard, though they may want to see he has some cash or something just to know he can pay his bills until the project is complete. They will not want to see that he is living off project money.