Who makes a work truck with creature comforts?

[oosik]

We lived in AK. Sold our house - made an extremely obscene profit on the sale. It was right during the TAPS oil boom. That plus our savings and a very nice investment has allowed us to live quite well. Granted - we were very fortunate and the timing was perfect.

And NO - I have no desire to be a young person today. I'm just happy the way thing are.

The problem folks are having today - they are taking on debts at todays prices/values. In 1982 things were not so extreme. And in our case - timing was everything.

 

[gsganzer]

Fact is, as someone else noted, it's not 1970 anymore. The cost of an education has risen exponentially. Vehicles, housing, all take a much bigger chunk out of a paycheck than they did 50 years ago. I wouldn't want to be a young person trying to make it today.

Oaktree, I think you're missing a big factor. The cost of education and vehicles have risen exponentially because they COULD. The low bar of getting credit, and todays acceptability of having debt, have allowed those costs to rise at the rate they have. Financial security is not a value that's taught, learned or valued any more (at least not by most).

Not to hijack this thread, but I remember when I bought my house, the bank approved me for a mortgage of $1500/month. I made a financially responsible decision and bought a house that only had a mortgage of $725/mo.

 

[strantor]

You are right - strantor. I just can not imagine being saddled with the costs involved in a college education and then taking on a home mortgage. Top it all off by deciding the job you finally hooked deserves a BMW, Mercedes or the like. When I finished college - I had no loan to pay off. I worked HARD during the summers so that I could pay cash as I went thru college.

Young folks, today, simply have a completely different reality.

I'm retired. I retired early ( at age 42 ) because financially I could. I have no financial encumbrances other than normal monthly bills. No loans, no mortgages.

The wife and I scrimped and went thru H*ll during our working years so that retirement would be this way.

It's very sad to see the country going the way that it is.

My parents & my wife's parents, both went thru the depression. We were both well taught on the value of a dollar and to save for retirement.

I am not the stereotypical Millennial. I am 34 y/o and fairly well off for someone of my generation; especially considering I have no college degree. I've worked my tail off, built a family and a small business, and sacrificed much to be where I am, making 3x the average income for my age group. I've never owned a new vehicle in my life. The newest I've ever had was a 5 y/o Ford Focus, the flashiest was a Pontiac Firebird (when I was 20), and the nicest is the 10y/o Yukon (SLT) that I'm driving now. My only toy is my tractor, while other folks I know around my age who make half what I do, have driveways full of boats, big trucks, 4-wheelers, etc.

I work hard and forego the niceties, striving for financial independence, and it's always just out of reach; dangled in front of me. I'm no closer to it now than I was a decade ago; further behind actually, after cashing out a 401k start my business. The finish line keeps moving. These thumb rules feel like cruel taunts, but I know the reality is that they're just remnants, ghosts of a more prosperous time, and the people still offering them mean no insult, they're just living in the past. I have to consciously remind myself of that.

I gave the example of the stereotypical Millennial because that's the norm. Using myself as an example wouldn't be very relevant. I sometimes wonder if I've really got things figured out, or if the stereotypical ones are the ones with the right idea. They're actually enjoying their lives. I'm living like a pauper, striving for a goal that all the evidence points toward being unattainable. I could, maybe I should, just this once, have something nice for myself... Nah, this thread is probably a waste; I'll probably end up backing out of buying a new truck at the last minute just like I've done every time I got "serious" about getting one for the past 10 years.

 

[Industrial Toys]

People often complain that things take such a chunk out of their paycheque, but then at the same time, they often make little effort to scale down their purchases. As if there is no connection.

Or people that complain they can't get ahead, still eat out and take vacations.

 

[strantor]

Oaktree, I think you're missing a big factor. The cost of education and vehicles have risen exponentially because they COULD. The low bar of getting credit, and todays acceptability of having debt, have allowed those costs to rise at the rate they have. Financial security is not a value that's taught, learned or valued any more (at least not by most).

Not to hijack this thread, but I remember when I bought my house, the bank approved me for a mortgage of $1500/month. I made a financially responsible decision and bought a house that only had a mortgage of $725/mo.

Don't worry about high jacking the thread. My question has been answered so this discussion is free to go on whatever course the participants want to take it.

You're right about the increasing cost of things being a direct result of the availability of credit. But that's something I have no control over. If I want to save up and buy in cash I'm fighting inflation. If I decide I'm going to save up $70k to buy a new truck, by the time I have that much, a new truck will be $120k. The finish line moves further away... for something like a house or land that doesn't depreciate, it almost makes sense to buy it at any cost, and any interest rate, as soon as possible, and with as long a term as possible, as you'll be paying it off with higher-value dollars.

My point is, the increase in availability of credit (and the resultant exponential increase in the cost of things) is something that started before i was born, and now the game is rigged against me and anyone else striving to follow traditional practices of financial "prudence." Credit is the new currency and one can either fight the flow and lose, or go with it.

When I applied for my mortgage I was approved for $600k. I couldn't believe that they considered me capable of making that kind of payments. I guess I was/am, technically, but with nothing left over to eat. And i guess a lot of folks actually live that way. I chose a property that was 1/3 what I was approved for.

 

[gsganzer]

People often complain that things take such a chunk out of their paycheque, but then at the same time, they often make little effort to scale down their purchases. As if there is no connection.

Or people that complain they can't get ahead, still eat out and take vacations.

You are right on. I think everyone would be amazed at the "thousand paper cuts" that chip away at our income and savings. Entire business models are built around "fee's" and "auto-pay" that help shield the purchaser from recognizing or acknowledging the actual costs.

Look at Planet Fitness with their $10/month membership. Their business model is set up around a fee that most people would consider so inconsequential, that you'll just keep paying it for a length of time, long after you stopped going to the gym. Or how many of us have checked on one of our auto-pay accounts, only to find the payment has gone up considerably. The auto-pay concept made you take your eye off the ball and the service took advantage of it by jacking up your rate when you didn't expect it. Not to mention fee's. Look at Apple with data plans, cloud storage etc. Or look at all the fee's you pay for banking, especially if you don't maintain a certain balance, at a crappy interest rate.

There's been an active effort over the past few decades to ensure we become poor consumers.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My God, you have to check everything so carefully. On-Line company offered a refund within a day and two weeks later when I checked it had not come. Just checked on a price of a door sensor for a customer, only to find I was charged for shipping, despite having given them my customers Purolator account number and was told "'no problem". Same with getting sale prices at the checkout. Friend says he gets something FREE every week because they have a policy in many stores that if you get overcharged, it's free up to ten bucks, but they won't ever tell you that.

It's so discouraging!

GF in the 80s carried credit card balances and when I questioned it, she blurted out, that she didn't make enough! But ate out at least once a week and would go on vacation if the opportunity presented itself. She is probably still paying for those meals she ate in the 80s lol

 

[Larry Caldwell]

If carpets are the problem, tear the carpets out and replace with vinyl flooring. Cheap, quick, your dealer shop can do it.

 

[strantor]

If carpets are the problem, tear the carpets out and replace with vinyl flooring. Cheap, quick, your dealer shop can do it.

Yeah, I guess that wouldn't really be a big deal.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Having owned a bunch of Police Cars a long time ago and been keenly interestd in them, I can tell you the terrible moisture that gets trapped in the heavy insulation under the rubber. Maybe good for clean up, but bad for the floor underneith. There are too many places where water can find its way underneith. Fleets don't keep their vehicles long enough to care what's going on under the rubber mats..