our financial situation as a culture
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| Sun, 03-05-2006 - 4:20pm |
Hi all.
I visit here sometimes but don't usually have time to post. But right now I don't feel like grading papers so I thought I would . . .
I've been thinking recently about how being in debt is the new norm. And most companies no longer have pensions, but people are not planning for retirement. Now bankruptcy laws are tougher . . . are we going to have some kind of financial crisis where people realize how bad it is getting?
So I guess the question is, what are our goals after we get out of debt? How much will we all be saving for retirement? What kind of an account or investments will you have? It's so far away that I can't really imagine it, although I am putting $350/mo. in my 403B account.
I feel like once we get our heads above water then we should just relax and do all the fun things we denied ourselves, but then again, I think that's how this whole mess starts. We graduate and we think that we deserve a nice apartment and new car and expensive vacations, etc. I am glad that Oprah and others are focusing on this issue, but it seems like it is too late for so many people.
I don't want to point fingers, but I think that credit cards are a huge part of the problem. Buy now, pay later! It just doesn't make any sense.
What about teaching your children about money . . . what are your plans? We don't have any children as of yet, but I think my parents did a good job. My dad gave me an allowance (my age) weekly, but I had to ask for it on Saturday or I didn't get it. They would give me money for Christmas and my birthday too, but other than that, I either had to work or keep my spending low. It seems like a lot of parents just give their kids money when they ask. I think it's a good idea to make it a set amount and make the kid budget within that. My dad also put me in charge of some money I inherited at a young age. Of course, all I did was ask the financial advisor what he thought I should do, but since I had "in charge" of it since I was a child, I wanted to see it grow. I didn't want to run out and blow it all on a car when I turned 18 or 21 or whatever the age was when I assumed total control of it.
In bad news, last year our condo was assessed at 27% higher than the other identical units in our building (the assessor had seen a work permit for our address, but it was just to restore the kitchen to its previous condition after a fire, not to make it nicer). We appealed and it was reduced to just 4% higher (which still wasn't fair), but the woman was obviously a looney. She was very emotional and irrational and basically threatened to raise it this year if she lost the appeal. And guess what, this year it is 27% higher than everybody else's again, as if we had no grounds for winning the appeal. This equals $500 a year MORE in taxes than our neighbors in identical units, many of whom have redone their kitchens but who didn't need work permits. So we will appeal it again of course, but I can't help but worry that the stupid woman has a vendetta against us now or something. Plus we won't hear about our appeal until after taxes are due, so we'll have to come up with the extra money anyway. And to top it all off, our assessment has gone up 132% since 2004. It will still be an 82% increase in two years if we are reduced to where everyone else is, which just plain hurts.

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Lurker popping in to mention that Girl Scouts has all age levels. Not as many girls are in Scouts in the middle and high school years, but there are still some! My now 19yo dd was active all the way through high school. Just wanted to mention that plus I also think your idea would work well for Scouts. There is probably some interest project that the girls can earn that would tie in with what you have in mind.
(To the CLs,
Danni, thank you for the link!!!
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