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Hello, I must say that I agree with you and your worry about your children having and or obtaining the means to live in NJ. My husband was born and raised in South Jersey, and unfortuneately is still here. I was born and raised, short-time in Long Island, NY, then the remainder of my life, (until early 30's) lived in PA. Only seven (7) years ago did I move to South Jersey, where I was fortunate enough to meet the man of my dreams. But let me go on the record and say that If it wasn't for meeting my husband six and a half years ago, I would of been long gone.
Well, What I always say that anywhere in the state of NJ is a wonderful place to come back to and retire; but as for the "middle-aged" and the young adults fresh out of college and/or starting their adult phase of their life, (married with children), it is an extreme struggle, unless of course you were lucky enough to be born with a "platnum spoon in the mouth."
I have a 20 yr old daughter in college and we constantly stress to her the importance of taking the time to explore life elsewhere, meet knew people, see new things, experience different cultures, (and what i mean about that is) even here in our own country, our own state, sometimes in our own county and towns there are multitudes of cultures, and "ways of life."
What the young adults need to learn, and learn up quick and a hurry, is that they should do their best to find or develop a way to start off without struggling from the start. Live below their means, work, work, work, ......save, save, save.... find new, fun, and creative exciting ways to have fun, without breaking the piggy, even if..... (and most especially) it means to get the heck out of New Jersey. It is always a place to come back to to visit, or re-locate back to, upon retirement. The last I checked NJ does not have a moat surrounding the state, with armored guards, to stop re-entry.
Hello, I must say that I agree with you and your worry about your children having and or obtaining the means to live in NJ. My husband was born and raised in South Jersey, and unfortuneately is still here. I was born and raised, short-time in Long Island, NY, then the remainder of my life, (until early 30's) lived in PA. Only seven (7) years ago did I move to South Jersey, where I was fortunate enough to meet the man of my dreams. But let me go on the record and say that If it wasn't for meeting my husband six and a half years ago, I would of been long gone.
Well, What I always say that anywhere in the state of NJ is a wonderful place to come back to and retire; but as for the "middle-aged" and the young adults fresh out of college and/or starting their adult phase of their life, (married with children), it is an extreme struggle, unless of course you were lucky enough to be born with a "platnum spoon in the mouth."
I have a 20 yr old daughter in college and we constantly stress to her the importance of taking the time to explore life elsewhere, meet knew people, see new things, experience different cultures, (and what i mean about that is) even here in our own country, our own state, sometimes in our own county and towns there are multitudes of cultures, and "ways of life."
What the young adults need to learn, and learn up quick and a hurry, is that they should do their best to find or develop a way to start off without struggling from the start. Live below their means, work, work, work, ......save, save, save.... find new, fun, and creative exciting ways to have fun, without breaking the piggy, even if..... (and most especially) it means to get the heck out of New Jersey. It is always a place to come back to to visit, or re-locate back to, upon retirement. The last I checked NJ does not have a moat surrounding the state, with armored guards, to stop re-entry.
I'm 33 and I know people from TX, FL, North Carolina that moved out of their parents house and were on their own at 20 and partially paid their own college education. They couldn't understand why at 25 I was still living at home. The cost to rent an apartment here was around 1000-1200. While their cost of an apt was 400ish. There is no way to be on your own at 20 in NJ unless you inherit a lot of money or have 2+ roomates. Even then you need a bigger place to rent (2-3 bedroom which costs more) In 10 years those numbers will double and then what? My kids would be home till they are well into their professional careers at 29-30 years old before they can be on their own. The NJ gov't has no fiscal responsibility and don't have plans of changing except for worker furloughs. They keep spending tax payers money. Now that property values are dropping property taxes revenue will drop as well so that means more taxes to make up for the shortfall. Companies are laying people off left and right so the income tax drops and to make up for the short fall... more taxes. NJ is doomed and I don't want my kids trapped at home like I was. Whats worse was I had no healthcare so every time I got sick was a massive bite out of my savings plus or I took off from work and lost pay. I looked into buying private insurance but it was 300+ a month from Horizon BCBS. This I never understood as I was born and raised in the US and I had no health insurance coverage and every item I had to pay for out of pocket while meanwhile illegals can come to the US and have children and somehow they get full coverage. Before you say BS; my inlaws are from Trinidad and they are undocumented and pay no taxes and get paid under the table. Well the wife got pregnant and just like that they got free healthcare in NYC... wtf?!?!? Also my car insurance was sky high as I was young still and had 2 points.
I watch that reality show about couples buying their first homes and my blood starts boiling as they are twenty somethings that are out in VA, TX, FL CO buying houses while Im stuck in NJ getting ripped off left and right. They pay 150-200k for nice starter homes while here in NJ all you can get is homes in the hood; or over 100 years old or tiny condos where you are packed in like sardines and have a 3000k property tax when you don't even own any land. I wish I could turn the clock back and have left NJ but I never ventured out to explore the world and NJ was all I knew. Plus my mom was rooted here and didn't want to leave her friends so I stuck around here. I don't want my kids stuck the same way because I planted my roots here. Now that I'm married and we have 2 incomes so its a bit more manageable. Once my wife is done with school I'm outa here.
Now that property values are dropping property taxes revenue will drop as well so that means more taxes to make up for the shortfall. Companies are laying people off left and right so the income tax drops and to make up for the short fall... more taxes.
or, more subtle ways to get money out of us -- increased police enforcement of arcane laws... increased fees...
but, OTOH, hasn't it always been expensive to live in NJ ?
my dad worked 12 hour days in an embroidery factory, and yet his wages were somehow enough to keep mom at home and raise 3 kids (I didn't have many things at all, but I made it OK)...
as for college, my grades were good enough to get financial aid -- until Reagan got elected, and he decided that my parents owning a modest home meant that I didn't need any financial aid (student loan time)
is there waste in NJ gov't ? sure.
but there are alot of people in NJ, and they all demand services, which have to be paid for somehow.
as it's often stated, the biggest reasons for high taxes in NJ:
1. home rule
2. excessively high salaries/benefits for teachers/police
3. doube- and triple-dipping (e.g. mayors who are also state senators, school superintendents, etc.)
or, more subtle ways to get money out of us -- increased police enforcement of arcane laws... increased fees...
but, OTOH, hasn't it always been expensive to live in NJ ?
my dad worked 12 hour days in an embroidery factory, and yet his wages were somehow enough to keep mom at home and raise 3 kids (I didn't have many things at all, but I made it OK)...
as for college, my grades were good enough to get financial aid -- until Reagan got elected, and he decided that my parents owning a modest home meant that I didn't need any financial aid (student loan time)
is there waste in NJ gov't ? sure.
but there are alot of people in NJ, and they all demand services, which have to be paid for somehow.
as it's often stated, the biggest reasons for high taxes in NJ:
1. home rule
2. excessively high salaries/benefits for teachers/police
3. doube- and triple-dipping (e.g. mayors who are also state senators, school superintendents, etc.)
No it hasn't, my parents moved to west windsor in 1990 and the home was for around 300k and it stayed like that until 2001 when for reasons nobody knows it started skyrocketing up until 2006 when the homes in that area went for 600k. I don't see anyone's salary jumping to accomodate it. Property taxes also skyrocketed and are now around 15000k/yr in 2006 I'm not sure what it is now. I don't think so, PA is a larger state than NJ how come NJ has more government?
what NJ DOES seem to have is an excessive amount of whiners.
Whiners ? Complainers ? So.....to keep the peace we should all sit here with a smile on our face while those we elected continue to crap on us......where would we have been in 1776 with that type of logic ? Just because your content to allow this state to continue to empty your wallet is no reason to belittle those who feel they are being taken advantage of for speaking up.....and it certainly won't help reduce the tax burden on our children.
dude, do you realize that posting that graph proves my point that NJ has never been inexpensive to live in...?
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