70's coming back ?.....

[Time2]

Pfaugh. What about the 13% I was charged in 1985?

We bought in 1984, 30 yr rates were 16-3/4%, we thought we were lucky to get a 13-3/4% 3 yr balloon mortgage.


That was the year I became a conservative. My wife and I got married in 1981, we saved from the first year, made $18k saved $6k made a couple thousand more the next two years, we had about $20k saved when we went for a state subsidized 9% mortgage. We qualified on our working income, but because we had saved the $20k (which most families with our income would not have saved) The interest from that saving put us over the qualifying amount and we did not qualify for the lower rate. I was so mad, that because, we buckled down and tried to improve our financial position we didn't get help, but If I had spent the money on beer and trinkets, "here's you mortgage!" Never wanted Government help again. It has probably cost me $60k or $80k shunning the ACA. But then for anyone with $1M, it just doesn't seem right to take that money.

 

[rk911]

I noted with dismay that so-called "prairie dresses" were back in style--ugh. Not sure if that was the late 70s or early 80s. This time around, I will pass.

i was 20, she was 19 in 1970 and just married. she had this floral green, flared bottom, sleeveless, one-piece jumpsuit that, well, um...let's just say i liked her in that very, very much.

 

[MRG]

Those high yield days were fun for some. It taught us a painful lesson and got me out of the mills into programming which was a really big deal at the right time. So in some weird sense I benefited from them.

I watched some really sad things in the mills based on the economic situation. Grown men crying because they just found out the owner reneged on a promise and they wouldn't have any Christmas money.... that happened a couple years while I was there. Those images were my extra jolt when I was tired and just wanted a night off from my grueling schedule.

 

[Montecfo]

Would not wish for that 12.5% mortgage I took out to buy my first house in 1982.

But the music was a lot better than now.

And of course that began about a 30 year bull market driven by a steady decline in rates.

Good times and more ahead

 

[ncbill]

Just to be clear, Jimmy Carter had nothing to do with the interest rates shown in the OP. Is no thread discussion safe from political sniping? This is more infectious than covid.

The rates shown in the OP were in Mexico, starting in 1982, and lasted about a decade, ending with the first peso crisis. Other Latin American countries had higher inflation and interest rates. Along with Mexico, Brazil and Argentina also had hyperinflation, debt crises, and serious economic recessions.

Works for awhile...expat keeps the equivalent of a few thousand bucks in a local account, uses the high interest paid to cover their local bills, never reports the income.

 

[GravitySucks]

Great! I can get my powder blue leisure suit out. Anyone know where I can buy one of those bright polyesther shirts? Mine all burst into flame when an ash fell on them.

As for interest rates, I'll breath easier when the 10 year is a point higher than the S&P dividend rate.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I recall my dad telling stories about how he would run all around town moving money between banks to get the best CD rates. I still have a lot of the newspaper clippings my Mom cut out for him to use when seeking out the deals. I am quite happy to scope out rates/good deals on a computer while sitting in my PJ's. Sure beats having to drive all around town!

 

[Ready]

I personally loved the 70’s. Spend most of that decade listening to KISS records on my phonograph.

And yes, I had a 14% CD back then. It was a good decade.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I recall my dad telling stories about how he would run all around town moving money between banks to get the best CD rates. I still have a lot of the newspaper clippings my Mom cut out for him to use when seeking out the deals. I am quite happy to scope out rates/good deals on a computer while sitting in my PJ's. Sure beats having to drive all around town!

Mom and Dad were blue-collar savers, and those double-digit interest rates built the foundation for a comfortable retirement. Financially it was the best time of their lives.

 

[Dtail]

Mom and Dad were blue-collar savers, and those double-digit interest rates built the foundation for a comfortable retirement. Financially it was the best time of their lives.

And that's why somewhat higher rates can be good, if your own personal inflation rate is reasonable.

 

[foxfirev5]

Reading this thread I was totally ripped off with an 18.5 % mortgage in Oct 1981. However my paltry time deposit account at the local Syracuse bank was paying 12%. Lucky for us we sold the house in 1985 and got a new 12% mortgage in IL.

On the other side my 401k, formerly a corporate Thrift savings account began to show some life and got us to today. Just buy stocks and you'll be OK was my simple mindset. I'd rather be lucky than good any day.

 

[dmpi]

Mom and Dad were blue-collar savers, and those double-digit interest rates built the foundation for a comfortable retirement. Financially it was the best time of their lives.

For retired folks the 80s double digit inflation was the best of time or the worse of times. A lot depended on if your pensions was adjusted for inflation.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

For retired folks the 80s double digit inflation was the best of time or the worse of times. A lot depended on if your pensions was adjusted for inflation.

And lucky timing. The folks retired in 1979, so they were still collecting paychecks through the '70s, living modestly and salting away any extra into CDs. After a very inflationary decade in the '70s, inflation per the CPI peaked at 13.5% in 1980, and the prime rate hit its all-time high over 20% in mid-1981.

By 1983 inflation per CPI was 3.2%. The Fed kept money tight, with the prime rate in double digits, into mid 1985 and back at 10% or more in mid-1988 to early 1990 (DW and I bought our place in July 1988 on a 9.5% 5-year balloon). For most of the '80s the CPI grew about 4% annually.

 

[JohnnyBGoode]

I know I'm late to the party here, but I think it's worth pointing out that if that blue jumpsuit was $50 in, say, 1975, it would be about $250 today.

So it may have been stylish (yikes) but certainly not cheap.

 

[EastWest Gal]

DH finally got rid of his one polyester shirt. I think it has a sunset printed on it. He still has his platform boots. A decade ago he won a karaoke contest at a local fair. White guy, white hair, did an amazing rendition of Kiss by Prince.

I miss 70s and 80s music. Not the interest rates. Finding a loan for medical school was painful.

 

[2tswhite]

We can only hope

 

[Venturer]

People in their 20’s and 30’s back then would be in their 70’s now. If those same people decide to wear polyester jumpsuits again I’m isolating at home for another year.

This made me laugh because a friend of mine actually posted a picture of himself sunday in his BRIGHT YELLOW 70's leisure suit bragging that it still fit. I told him he looked like a Pit bull wannabe! He did it as a joke, but he did wear it to church and an Easter egg hunt with his DGK's.

 

[Amethyst]

I was a teen when those suits were popular. We kids laughed at them every bit as much as anybody does now.

This made me laugh because a friend of mine actually posted a picture of himself sunday in his BRIGHT YELLOW 70's leisure suit bragging that it still fit. I told him he looked like a Pit bull wannabe! He did it as a joke, but he did wear it to church and an Easter egg hunt with his DGK's.

 

[FloridaJim57]

I think we may have to start the "save the baby polyesters" movement once again. I would hate to see thousands of them slaughtered for disco jackets and the like.

 

[KCGeezer]

Them and the endangered nauga’s.

 

[armor99]

Long sideburns, gas lines, high inflation and 12% CDs.

I'd take sideburns and 12% CDs.

I remember as a kid walking into a bank and seeing 20 yr CD 14%. I think most of us in here would gladly take that today... wow... [emoji3]

 

[Koolau]

I remember as a kid walking into a bank and seeing 20 yr CD 14%. I think most of us in here would gladly take that today... wow... [emoji3]

I recall giving heart-felt thanks at being allowed to assume a Navy guy's 10% VA mortgage as OUR mortgage when we first purchased in Hawaii in '83. We did all the paperwork by fax because the guy was on an aircraft carrier at time of sale. I remember thinking it was something close to a miracle carried out by magic. YMMV

 

[Amethyst]

In '83, I had a savings account paying 13%. I could eat out on what I was making every month! (But I didn't). And tax-exempt munis were paying a lot, too. I worked every scrap of OT I could and put all the extra pay in those.

I remember as a kid walking into a bank and seeing 20 yr CD 14%. I think most of us in here would gladly take that today... wow... [emoji3]

 

[Amethyst]

When we had a house built in 1990, the best rate we could get - with sterling credit mind you - was 10%. Then rates started falling. We refinanced at least 4 times.

I recall giving heart-felt thanks at being allowed to assume a Navy guy's 10% VA mortgage as OUR mortgage when we first purchased in Hawaii in '83. We did all the paperwork by fax because the guy was on an aircraft carrier at time of sale. I remember thinking it was something close to a miracle carried out by magic. YMMV