Tell us something we don’t know.

[MossRoad]

Sounds like us (52 years this year). The key thing you said was "We live below our means." which most people don't do today.
When I hear about high "median home" prices research and you see this...but in my 20s I'd be looking at something like the old house like the second picture with a few acres. As long as it's structurally sound, roof doesn't leak it could be rewired, new plumbing, kitchen, windows, etc. which is what I did over time as I got money. I could add an addition, nice driveway...all that stuff.
I think lots of young people want to start off new and fairly large...maybe they don't know how to repair things.View attachment 859289View attachment 859290

Yep.

We live in an older home in a lower middle class neighborhood.
The home is only valued at around $124K.
It's warm, dry, functions, and looks pretty nice. We keep improving it every year. Has a little over an acre. We also have 20 acres out in the country.
We've been here for 28 years.
We both have worked full-time since before we were married.
We worked part-time jobs, too, before we had kids. Sometimes we had 5 job between us.
We make average wages and have been debt free since 1995.

 

[MossRoad]

...
Information is always a good thing to have.

Yep. I'm not sure why people aren't sure how a net worth statement works and why they won't do it.

"you subtract your total liabilities from your total assets"

In simple terms, if you sold everything you own and then paid off all your debts, how much would you have left over.

In more complex terms, it'll also show you where all of your worth is: house, land, cars, other property, cash, investments, etc.

So if your net worth is, say, a million bucks and your house is worth $990,000, you're on shaky ground, in my opinion.

If your net worth is, again, say, a million bucks, and your house is worth $250,000, you probably have a much better outlook and less stress in your life....

Unless you have a big boat.

 

[MossRoad]

Seriously?

Yeah, seriously. Stock market tanked in 2019, we lost around 30% of value, but we kept buying shares as usual, so we got many more shares at lower prices. Stock market rebounded and since the start of 2021 we got our value back to pre-2019 levels and have now gained about 23% on top of that.

 

[dstig1]

Good luck with trying that, here! We can't even keep people from trying to use the emergency shoulder lane, whenever traffic slows down.

Makes sense as shown...but...what do they do when there are 3 lanes? 4?

 

[JPRambo]

Like these? I have 5 in numerical sequence

 

[MossRoad]

Good luck with trying that, here! We can't even keep people from trying to use the emergency shoulder lane, whenever traffic slows down.

Heck, we can't even zipper merge. That would take cooperation.

 

[WinterDeere]

Makes sense as shown...but...what do they do when there are 3 lanes? 4?

They're German... they have rules for that!

Seriously, I lived and worked in Germany on and off for most of my 20's, and have been sent back a few times since. On average, they are such rule followers, that it just about breaks their mind when someone even suggests not following a law. I remember one conversation with a former East German, where I was driving on the autobahn, and wanted to pass someone on the right. The conversation went something like this:

him: "slow down, you can't pass him on the right"
me: "but he's going slow and hanging in the left lane"
him: "yes, but you cannot pass him on the right"
me: "what happens if I do?"
him: "you cannot"
me: "yes, I can"
him: "no, it is illegal here"
me: "watch me"

It went on like that, I won't bore you with the details, but I learned that the fine for this was about $700 in 1998 dollars.

I also once spent about ten minutes standing by a busy intersection in Italy, with a German as my companion, in which not a single Italian driver was stopping when the lights changed. It took me at least three changes of the light to convince that damn German that they will stop, if we just start walking out into traffic when the light is in our favor. After we finally got across, he just looked at me and said, "this is no kind of place for a German."

 

[ultrarunner]

They must have order except in a que where Germans will skirt right past you if you are not fast enough...

Seen it happen many times where Americans will politely que and wait often socializing and not pushing for every inch...

I've also found Americans abroad tend to be kinder on things such as buses and trains but maybe because on holiday...

More than one occasion I have given up my seat or helped a mom with a stroller board...

Always thanked saying I must be a foreigner...

I asked before some if my engineering colleagues who were quite matter of fact in saying they paid for a seat on the bus so why would they give it up... very cut and dry logic if one can make generalizations...

 

[MossRoad]

When I was a teenager we got new neighbors who moved here directly from Germany for his work. They were probably the same age as my parents. Never said anything other than hello. Kept the yard up nice. That's about it. Until....

(I've told this story before)
One day I heard a knock at our door. The guy is standing there in his trousers and white t-shirt, covered in debris, sweating and looking extremely distressed. He asked if my father was home and could we please help him. Apparently, he had backed his little Snapper lawn mower too close to the escarpment edge that was in our back yards, and had tumbled down the hill about 80'. YIKES!

So we got another neighbor man and went to the edge of the hill and looked... YIKES! again. Apparently he'd gone all the way down with it, and survived with just bruises and scratches.

After making sure he was OK, the 4 of use went down the steps, bushwhacked over to the mower, picked it up and carried it out and up. He thanked us profusely.

After that day, he always stopped and talked to me for a few minutes, and his wife made us a really big, round, dark, heavy loaf of very tasty bread! She called me over to the fence and gave it to me, then confessed that she had been teaching my dog to speak German for the past couple years when no one was looking. They became great friends and neighbors.

 

[Grumpycat]

My Chase ATM dispenses anything over $200 with a $100 bill.

Luckily the liquor store/smoke shop has no problem accepting it, unlike my local rural Dollar General.

My credit union's ATMs have an option to select what denominations one wants.