Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I am learning and early in my retirement. Since staying in the same place, and only 10 months in, trying to figure out HOW to keep us safe. We had to support both our widowed mothers in their later years....NEVER regret spending a penny on either of them, but we both vowed that the greatest gift we could EVER give our kids was remaining totally self sufficient!
Explore CCRC's. Continuing Care Retirement Communities. I understand your goal and it is admirable. We don't want to be a financial burden on my kids or the state.
But then, if everyone did live in Indianapolis, you'd be experiencing Demand-pull Inflation and paying much higher prices than you reported.
Prices vary greatly across the US, as does Cost-of-Living and Living Standard.
No, not anecdotal evidence. 1.99 a gallon for milk has been pretty standard in Indy for a while as someone somewhere has milk on sale for 1.99 give or take. Sure I can go to bj's wholesale here in fl and get 1.99 milk but publix and Walmart, not a chance. Half gallon maybe on sale. Meat prices are generally a dollar cheaper per pound between Indy and the sun coast and fruits/veggies are cheaper as well. Outside of Chicago, the mw should all align pretty equally when it comes to prices. Lack of competition driving up prices but more fl road vendors to offset cost when paying cash if you utilize them.
If you're making minimum wage, you're not shopping for organics and natural foods - you're just trying to have enough to eat.
Not necessarily, but probably. Some on minimum+ wage still strive to eat at a high quality level. To be noted, however, is that at least where I live WF and other organic markets are not a whole lot less cost in terms of the basics like fish, chicken, meat, etc. I often get wild salmon at WF cheaper than at a regular supermarket. Supermarket prices are starting to meet and eclipse the alternative places. I amend my point to say that wherever you shop, see how much you can possibly buy that equals one hour's wage of $10 or $12.
You do not seem to get it is NOT gas that I am complaining about....I GET that gas has gone down!!!!! It is the cost of OTHER requirements in this neck of the woods that don't seem to be giving ANYONE here a break!!!!!
Gas is an elective expense beyond getting to the grocery store and doctor, etc. You can control it by simply not driving as much.
Our utilities, homeowner insurance, property tax, and yes food are always going up in the Northeast anyway. Nothing ever "goes down" as some suggest. Nothing. Those on a different utilities system in another part of the state here had their electric bill go up, all at once, 33% last spring. You read that right. Yes there were spin-reasons. Public outcry and it was adjusted downward, not by a whole lot.
So price of gas is not an indicator. It'll probably be back up there anyway, before long. Games they play. I've heard some observe that the price of gas usually goes way down in the year before a presidential election. I'll check that out.
Just to clear the air, we are NOT minimum wage, make high 6 figures a year....but that does NOT mean that we are willing to throw money away and not worry about how to make our money work for US and ensure that what we have saved/have is there for us to enjoy or leave to our heirs vs just throw away. Sometimes those making the MOST are the ones that are MOST on the lookout for how to save, cut corners and ensure that we maintain. We CHOOSE to live the way we do, so we can have what we need when we need it and do what we want when we want to!
I HONESTLY believe that our "retirement income on pension and SS" will be something a lot of folks dream about, but that does NOT mean we are willing to be wasteful!!!! The ability to dontate to others in need, to continue with donating to charities that we feel worthy and to travel when/where we want to means we will be WATCHFUL of every penny and where it goes, especially needlessly.
I can tell you where I don't live: I don't live in a fantasy world where the cost of living has gone up 7.7% this year. In fact, both my homeowner insurance and my auto insurance (two separate companies) premiums decreased hundreds of dollars each on my latest renewal. (Although truth be told, it's still pretty high here compared to most of the rest of the country.) My property taxes are going down slightly as well. My electric company (the only utility I pay) did not raise the cost per kilowatt hour, so there's no increase there. The grocery stores here have weekly BOGO and other sales that I take advantage of, so I don't really see much of an overall increase in my personal grocery expenditures. And we haven't even touched upon how much gas prices have dropped this year.
Maybe you're right; maybe you should move to where I live.
A few people I know that usually make smart moves are in cash or cash equivalents right now. The really smart ones moved it back in the summer. I didn't, but I am more conservative and didn't take the beating that some more aggressive investors did and I let it ride while it came half way back up (so far).
Just to clear the air, we are NOT minimum wage, make high 6 figures a year....but that does NOT mean that we are willing to throw money away and not worry about how to make our money work for US and ensure that what we have saved/have is there for us to enjoy or leave to our heirs vs just throw away. Sometimes those making the MOST are the ones that are MOST on the lookout for how to save, cut corners and ensure that we maintain. We CHOOSE to live the way we do, so we can have what we need when we need it and do what we want when we want to!
I HONESTLY believe that our "retirement income on pension and SS" will be something a lot of folks dream about, but that does NOT mean we are willing to be wasteful!!!! The ability to dontate to others in need, to continue with donating to charities that we feel worthy and to travel when/where we want to means we will be WATCHFUL of every penny and where it goes, especially needlessly.
If you are in the high six figures (what are you making? $500k+/year), what does a dozen eggs that was once $3 going up 7% do to you? They're now $.21 more - the horror!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.