General Investing and Economics Discussion - No Politics

GTpdm

Helluva Engineer
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1,965
Location
Atlanta GA
Went to buy a second car yesterday. Only three new cars on the lot. Lots of good used cars on the market but many commanding the price of new cars. Car prices were up 10% in April, another 8.5% in May, and another 10.5% in June. One car we looked at went up $3000 in two days.
I can second that. I had my car serviced at the dealership today. Three new cars on the entire lot…
 

Deleted member 2897

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I can second that. I had my car serviced at the dealership today. Three new cars on the entire lot…

At the end of the main road that our neighborhood is on, there is a boat dealer/service shop. They usually have 20-25 boats there. Its been empty for a long time - we thought they closed. A friend knows a guy who works there - he said they just can't get any supply so they just sell off of youtube and brochures when people come in and then order boats...which he says totally sucks because most people want to see them if they're going to buy new.
 

RonJohn

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,980
Went to buy a second car yesterday. Only three new cars on the lot. Lots of good used cars on the market but many commanding the price of new cars. Car prices were up 10% in April, another 8.5% in May, and another 10.5% in June. One car we looked at went up $3000 in two days.
Not endorsing Kia, nor endorsing Carvana. I simply wanted to share this link. This is a one year old car with 28k miles selling on Carvana for $42,990. The listing includes the original window sticker. The original MSRP for the car was $35,245.


This won't last forever, but it will probably take several months to a year after new car supplies are back up for the market pressure to drive the prices back down.
 

Technut1990

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
960
Not endorsing Kia, nor endorsing Carvana. I simply wanted to share this link. This is a one year old car with 28k miles selling on Carvana for $42,990. The listing includes the original window sticker. The original MSRP for the car was $35,245.


This won't last forever, but it will probably take several months to a year after new car supplies are back up for the market pressure to drive the prices back down.

man do I know all about this. Stepdaughter is pushing 16 now and of course wants a car. In her delusional state she sent me a text asking was it possible for her to get a 2021 King Ranch ? After falling out of my chair I replied “that’s a $80,000 truck, I don’t think so”. Her response ? Follow up text on a used $ 40,000 F 150. I told her to bring it down about $ 30,000 more. Sad part is that when I started looking for used cars I couldn’t find anything she would be safe in for less than $ 24,000.

Ridiculous!
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
Not endorsing Kia, nor endorsing Carvana. I simply wanted to share this link. This is a one year old car with 28k miles selling on Carvana for $42,990. The listing includes the original window sticker. The original MSRP for the car was $35,245.


This won't last forever, but it will probably take several months to a year after new car supplies are back up for the market pressure to drive the prices back down.

Thats hilariously silly. And the fact people are paying those numbers is even more silly.
 

slugboy

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
11,469
I moved the immigration posts to their own thread—they didn’t flow with the investing discussion. I think if you were participating that you should have a link to the discussion in the notification?
 

John

Peacekeeper
Staff member
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2,414
It looks like you or somebody removed my post about access to the political threads. Why not just respond to my inquiry?
There are only 4 folks banned from the political topics forum not "most of us."

Please drop this topic, you were banned due to being unable to follow the rules which were clearly defined. It's okay if you disagree with how political discussions are moderated here and if it bugs you that much your participation here is 100% voluntary and always has been.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
10,711
Not endorsing Kia, nor endorsing Carvana. I simply wanted to share this link. This is a one year old car with 28k miles selling on Carvana for $42,990. The listing includes the original window sticker. The original MSRP for the car was $35,245.


This won't last forever, but it will probably take several months to a year after new car supplies are back up for the market pressure to drive the prices back down.
This phenomenon is interesting. There are some used Subarus that are selling for more than when they were new.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
Messages
10,711
$400k/year income, $8 million saved, no debt. Can I retire early? 🤣🤣🤣🤣. Where do they find these people?

Kind of like those old House Hunter TV shows where the newly married couple want to buy their first home but are “limited” by their budget to $800,000.
 

RonJohn

Helluva Engineer
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4,980
$400k/year income, $8 million saved, no debt. Can I retire early? 🤣🤣🤣🤣. Where do they find these people?

I once worked at a factory that the owner later sold for $40million. While there, the owner was working until 2 or 3 AM, and back at 6 AM while he and his sales team were trying to land another client. A mechanic made the statement to me that he would not work that hard if he had as much money as the owner. I told the mechanic that one of those things probably has something to do with the other. I didn't specify whether the owner had that much money because he worked so hard or if the mechanic didn't have as much because he didn't work as hard.

In this case, I don't think it is laughable that they are concerned. You don't typically get to $6 million in non-retirement savings without planning and executing. Now, they are looking at a possibility of a future with less certainty in their planning. In the question, they say that they estimate their yearly expenses to be in the $100k-$150k range. You should be able to generate that easily with $6 million. They are uncertain about health insurance, primarily because their current health plan is very good. I personally know a few people in their early to mid-50s who have said they would retire right now if it wasn't for potential medical expenses.

I would say for this couple, they should be able to retire now easily. However, I would suggest that they see a financial planner, and probably that they visit more than one. Go through their assets, their projected expenses, their goals, their health, etc. If they want to live on $100k a year and get a decent health care insurance plan, they are set. If they have a goal of owning a house in West Palm Beach on the sand, and $8 million net worth won't cut it.
 

LibertyTurns

Banned
Messages
6,216
$400k/year income, $8 million saved, no debt. Can I retire early? 🤣🤣🤣🤣. Where do they find these people?

It’s all relative but if you’re in your late 50’s and have more than $3.5M in fairly liquid assets retiring should not be an issue as long as your expenses don’t exceed about $200k/yr.

It’s not all that uncommon to reach that goal.
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
I once worked at a factory that the owner later sold for $40million. While there, the owner was working until 2 or 3 AM, and back at 6 AM while he and his sales team were trying to land another client. A mechanic made the statement to me that he would not work that hard if he had as much money as the owner. I told the mechanic that one of those things probably has something to do with the other. I didn't specify whether the owner had that much money because he worked so hard or if the mechanic didn't have as much because he didn't work as hard.

In this case, I don't think it is laughable that they are concerned. You don't typically get to $6 million in non-retirement savings without planning and executing. Now, they are looking at a possibility of a future with less certainty in their planning. In the question, they say that they estimate their yearly expenses to be in the $100k-$150k range. You should be able to generate that easily with $6 million. They are uncertain about health insurance, primarily because their current health plan is very good. I personally know a few people in their early to mid-50s who have said they would retire right now if it wasn't for potential medical expenses.

I would say for this couple, they should be able to retire now easily. However, I would suggest that they see a financial planner, and probably that they visit more than one. Go through their assets, their projected expenses, their goals, their health, etc. If they want to live on $100k a year and get a decent health care insurance plan, they are set. If they have a goal of owning a house in West Palm Beach on the sand, and $8 million net worth won't cut it.

Well to be clear, they have $8m from which to generate passive income. And their house is fully paid for, so their net worth is likely closer to $9 million including their home. All they need is government T-bills to cover their living expenses. There are also annual out of pocket limits on healthcare expenditures, by law. So I'm not sure what they're worried about. Its likely irrational paranoia, based on the fact they don't appear to waste money today.
 

Northeast Stinger

Helluva Engineer
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10,711
Years ago I signed up with a financial planner. It enabled me to retire early.

We live modestly but everything is paid for and we have zero debt. When we buy a car we pay cash. We have a five figure annual budget just for travel. Good health insurance. I can work whenever I want, if I want to. Mostly I like pursuing creative projects and volunteering.

I feel very fortunate.
 

RonJohn

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,980
Well to be clear, they have $8m from which to generate passive income. And their house is fully paid for, so their net worth is likely closer to $9 million including their home. All they need is government T-bills to cover their living expenses. There are also annual out of pocket limits on healthcare expenditures, by law. So I'm not sure what they're worried about. Its likely irrational paranoia, based on the fact they don't appear to waste money today.
A lot of my reaction is based on speculation, so I could be very wrong. Based on where they are financially, they probably know within $10-$20 how much they spend on groceries power month. They probably have a very tight budget a know where they dollar goes. (Tight as in strict, not necessarily thrifty). They are probably not sure how different their spending will be after they quit working. Will they travel more? Will they eat out more? Etc. If they sit down with a financial advisor who can help with experience about how habits change during retirement and with health care costs, they could come up with a budget that they are comfortable with. It doesn't matter if that budget is $75k or $300k per year. They could see in planning that they can handle it and still have their net worth grow.

I am reading between the lines a lot, but I think it is more of a transition from total awareness and control of their financial situation to something unknown than it is a question about whether am $8 million net worth is enough to retire.
 

Deleted member 2897

Guest
Years ago I signed up with a financial planner. It enabled me to retire early.

We live modestly but everything is paid for and we have zero debt. When we buy a car we pay cash. We have a five figure annual budget just for travel. Good health insurance. I can work whenever I want, if I want to. Mostly I like pursuing creative projects and volunteering.

I feel very fortunate.

This is ****ing awesome and fires me up. Yes you are very fortunate, but as you laid out, it was not left to chance and did not happen by chance.
 

Techster

Helluva Engineer
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18,211
This phenomenon is interesting. There are some used Subarus that are selling for more than when they were new.

I rewarded myself early this year with one of my "dream" cars I've always wanted. I traded in a fully paid off vehicle I bought in 2019...and they gave me the same amount I paid for when I bought it in 2019 even though there was 18K miles on it. They ended up selling that car for $5800 more than the trade in value they gave me.

The vehicle I bought is now selling for over $10-25K more now than when I bought it...depending on the area of the country. Car prices are absolutely insane right now, and I would never have "rewarded" myself if I was trying to buy now. For 99% of the vehicles out there, they're a depreciating asset so it's big ticket item the buyer has to understand they're never going to get the value back. Until this year happened...
 
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