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04-11-2009, 06:43 AM
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#1
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Denver, Colorado
Posts: 6,258
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Austere Times? Perfect
A good article with some useful links for the frugal amongst us:
In Age of Austerity, the Miserly Thrive
 Quote:
Americans’ spending is down and their personal savings are up — sharply. The savings rate in the United States, which had fallen steadily since the early 1980s, dropped to less than 1 percent in August of 2008. It has since spiked to 5 percent.
“It’s huge,” said Martha Olney, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in the Great Depression, consumerism and indebtedness. The rapid reversal is even more remarkable, she said, because in recessions consumers usually save less money. Not this time. “It implies a re-emergence of thrift as a value,” she said.
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Quote:
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Indeed, economists call it the Paradox of Thrift. While saving is desirable, if everyone does it then consumption falls, businesses fail and the economy grinds to a halt. Professor Olney, from Berkeley, said that the increased rate of savings would most likely slow down the pace of recovery but she also said that a higher savings rate was not inconsistent with a strong economy; from the 1950s to the early 1980s, the savings rate hovered around 9 percent, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
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__________________
"It's tough to make predictions, especially when it involves the future." ~Attributed to many
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." ~(perhaps by) Yogi Berra
"Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge."~ Lau tzu
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04-11-2009, 06:52 AM
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#2
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,305
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I sincerely hope this is for real, and not a fad...
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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04-11-2009, 07:39 AM
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#3
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 816
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Thanks for the link. This will be a fad for some and a lifestyle for others. We are all grown and can make our own decisions.
__________________
A todos los amantes del mundo. No importa el color de su piel, la pasion es universal.
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La tavola e il letto non hanno restrizioni.
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Any day your on this side of the grass is a good day.
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04-11-2009, 08:39 AM
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#4
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,501
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The savings rate "has since spiked to 5 percent"? Be still, my heart. 
That does not seem like very much savings. Possibly some of these savings may be for anticipated large expenditures now that credit is harder to obtain.
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
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04-11-2009, 08:49 AM
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#5
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
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I wonder if the increase in savings rate benefits banks significantly.
__________________
Al
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04-11-2009, 09:14 AM
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#6
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Want2retire
That does not seem like very much savings.
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It isn't, especially when some of us here who are saving 20%, 30%, even 50% of their after-tax income are screwing up the curve so badly. Yet it's rather amazing how, in terms of economics, what doesn't "seem" like a huge shift in the savings rate can tank the economy when it comes so suddenly and reaches critical mass. Kinda scary, really, if you think about it.
Every time I see another one of these "frugal is sexy" articles, it makes me want to market bumper stickers that say "I was a cheapskate before cheap was cool." 
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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04-11-2009, 09:36 AM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Denver, Colorado
Posts: 6,258
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Hmmmmm. The timing seems right. Of course, you would probably make a fortune and forget us little people.
__________________
"It's tough to make predictions, especially when it involves the future." ~Attributed to many
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." ~(perhaps by) Yogi Berra
"Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge."~ Lau tzu
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04-11-2009, 09:57 AM
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#8
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: NC
Posts: 21,305
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I'd buy one, with a discount... 
__________________
No one agrees with other people's opinions; they merely agree with their own opinions -- expressed by somebody else. Sydney Tremayne
Retired Jun 2011 at age 57
Target AA: 50% equity funds / 45% bonds / 5% cash
Target WR: Approx 1.5% Approx 20% SI (secure income, SS only)
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04-11-2009, 10:40 AM
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#9
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RonBoyd
Hmmmmm. The timing seems right. Of course, you would probably make a fortune and forget us little people.
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You'd know everyone who slapped it on their car is a liar, because cheapskates wouldn't spend the money for one.
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
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04-11-2009, 11:13 AM
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#10
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Denver, Colorado
Posts: 6,258
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Ah Ha! I believe you have your target sucker market nailed. Certainly seems large enough.
__________________
"It's tough to make predictions, especially when it involves the future." ~Attributed to many
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is." ~(perhaps by) Yogi Berra
"Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge."~ Lau tzu
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04-14-2009, 09:38 AM
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#11
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,346
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Can I get one for free? 
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
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04-14-2009, 12:55 PM
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#12
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 312
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Right on. Now if only the ladies I date would stop expecting me to routinely pay for $300 dinners and $25 per drink.
Me: "Hungry? I know this great little Thai place. The food is fantastic!"
Them: <long, vaguely-threatening pause> "... or we could go to <yuppie palace of financial pain for portions so small that the food inevitably arrives cold.>"
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04-14-2009, 01:19 PM
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#13
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,719
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grep
Right on. Now if only the ladies I date would stop expecting me to routinely pay for $300 dinners and $25 per drink.
Me: "Hungry? I know this great little Thai place. The food is fantastic!"
Them: <long, vaguely-threatening pause> "... or we could go to <yuppie palace of financial pain for portions so small that the food inevitably arrives cold.>"
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Agreed.  Those places are more see-and-be-seen than bastions of gastronomic delight.
__________________
He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it . . . It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. -- The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
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04-14-2009, 01:47 PM
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#14
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 12,880
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Quote:
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You'd know everyone who slapped it on their car is a liar, because cheapskates wouldn't spend the money for one.
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The authentic ones are made with magic marker and duct tape.
__________________
Al
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04-14-2009, 09:47 PM
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#15
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Oahu
Posts: 26,860
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grep
Right on. Now if only the ladies I date would stop expecting me to routinely pay for $300 dinners and $25 per drink.
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Sounds like you need to date a new set of ladies... but at least it's good to find out up front how bad the pain could be if you'd persevered.
__________________
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Co-author (with my daughter) of “Raising Your Money-Savvy Family For Next Generation Financial Independence.”
Author of the book written on E-R.org: "The Military Guide to Financial Independence and Retirement."
I don't spend much time here— please send a PM.
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04-14-2009, 09:47 PM
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#16
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,502
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They'd use the sticker to patch a hole on their pants. Nay, a real cheap skate would just use his hand to cover up the hole.
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04-14-2009, 10:17 PM
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#17
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Laurel, MD
Posts: 8,327
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TromboneAl
The authentic ones are made with magic marker and duct tape.
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And the duct tape is actually holding the bumper in place.
__________________
...with no reasonable expectation for ER, I'm just here auditing the AP class.Retired 8/1/15.
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04-14-2009, 11:03 PM
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#18
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 312
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nords
Sounds like you need to date a new set of ladies... but at least it's good to find out up front how bad the pain could be if you'd persevered.
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The "desert" that may follow can be fun. But yes, if they are not roughly compatible on the frugality scale, they don't last long.
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