|
|
04-03-2008, 08:24 PM
|
#21
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 798
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by twaddle
I'm sorry. The truth is that I cannot afford a tinfoil hat. I have been using imported Chinese aluminum foil hats, and you're right -- the substitution just doesn't cut it.
Where your tinfoil proudly. Or sell it to me. $5? And I like your shoes too.
|
Power to the people, catchy isn't it?
I really appreciate the apology. I may be ok now. I haven't been sleeping well lately, keep feeling hot flashes on my scalp when someone turns the lights on.
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
04-03-2008, 08:28 PM
|
#22
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: near Canadian border and near Mexican border
Posts: 1,142
|
I need help. Should I buy a tinfoil hat or buy food/gas for next week? Can't do both due to inflation.
__________________
Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
|
|
|
04-03-2008, 08:32 PM
|
#23
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 798
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger
Right on power to the people!
|
I just watched the flick, I think I saw myself, the chick with the big floppy ones being pulled over the fence. We stopped the war didn't we? Surely we can do as well with this. Who's in?
|
|
|
04-03-2008, 08:35 PM
|
#24
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by RockOn
I just watched the flick, I think I saw myself, the chick with the big floppy ones being pulled over the fence. We stopped the war didn't we? Surely we can do as well with this. Who's in?
|
But secretly I believe in the CPI is that ok? And just keep track of my own spending...just our little secret... kinda like Santa
|
|
|
04-03-2008, 08:39 PM
|
#25
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 798
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger
But secretly I believe in the CPI is that ok? And just keep track of my own spending...just our little secret... kinda like Santa
|
Hate to break it to you but Santa isn't real. You just gotta grow up and face the facts. No more of those shameful fantasies......you might grow hair on your palms.
|
|
|
04-03-2008, 08:47 PM
|
#26
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 798
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by packrat44
I need help. Should I buy a tinfoil hat or buy food/gas for next week? Can't do both due to inflation.
|
That's really an easy decision. Buy the food and gas. With 91% of the population being forced to surrender their hats, you should see a little deflation on hats pretty soon.
|
|
|
04-03-2008, 09:01 PM
|
#27
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,733
|
Maybe somebody should show a plot prices of 35" TVs, Video game consoles, per minute charges for cell phones, laptop computers, video rentals, shoes. You know stuff that I buy instead of tons of tin and alumnium. Even something like gas hasn't gone up that much because I use less. 5 years ago my car got 15 MPG,now it is about 25 MPG. I drive the same but actual gas expense aren't any higher.
|
|
|
04-03-2008, 09:06 PM
|
#28
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 798
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by clifp
Maybe somebody should show a plot prices of 35" TVs, Video game consoles, per minute charges for cell phones, laptop computers, video rentals, shoes. You know stuff that I buy instead of tons of tin and alumnium. Even something like gas hasn't gone up that much because I use less. 5 years ago my car got 15 MPG,now it is about 25 MPG. I drive the same but actual gas expense aren't any higher.
|
Give it up, you are the minority, majority rules. 9%, that's a pretty poor showing. Hill does better than that. Wait to you see how much a new shiny hat is going to cost you, don't cheap out and get the substitute either. I ponied up full price for mine. Boy was that was a mistake, who recommended I get one anyway?
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 09:23 AM
|
#29
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,713
|
twaddle my COL has indeed almost doubled in nominal terms since '98. Probably would have MORE than doubled as I don't buy any of the fancy office clothes/shoes I did before.. and I maxed out long ago on purchases like appliances and other home goods. In 1998 also used to be able to save out of my yearly figure. Biggest expenses now = energy and food. Not that much room anymore for hedonic adjustment there. Clif, who cares about the price of big-screen TVs, really... come on.
I just watched an interesting lecture on consumption habits 1970-2000s; will post a new thread.
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 09:58 AM
|
#30
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,703
|
ladelfina, would you believe that your government agrees with you?
I just ran a query on the BLS data from 1998-2008 for food and energy CPI-U components. If that's all you consumed, your COL has nearly doubled:
Energy
1998: 103.7
2007: 213.385
Food and beverages
1998: 160.3
2007: 205.4
The CPI-U assumes you consume other stuff, and that other stuff tends to bring the CPI down.
__________________
Emancipated from wage-slavery since 2002
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 10:21 AM
|
#31
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,713
|
But but but.. I LBMM!! (splutter!) Fat lot of good that's done me!
I guess I SHOULD have been buying TVs every year so I could experience low inflation!!
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 11:42 AM
|
#32
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Losing my whump
Posts: 22,708
|
Shhh...I'm doing an experiment. I have a television in the oven braising in with some garlic, tomatoes and onions.
In about 4 hours I'll let you all know how it tastes.
As always when these things come up, I urge people to understand and determine their own changes to cost of living and invest accordingly. If your COL is going up 8% a year and you've invested so as to generate 5%...you're gonna be sorry in ten years. On the other hand, if your long term COL change is nearly zero and can remain there through endless changes to your buying habits, then you may not need to take as much risk as someone looking at 3%, 5% or 7% changes per year.
__________________
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful. Just another form of "buy low, sell high" for those who have trouble with things. This rule is not universal. Do not buy a 1973 Pinto because everyone else is afraid of it.
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 12:36 PM
|
#33
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 2,713
|
Right CFB.. from about 15 years ago to 5 years ago I did track expenses closely. They were not an indicator of the present state of the universe. To risk repeating the obvious, the biggest changes have come in fairly inescapable costs. Changing, or accurately projecting, buying habits only goes so far; the outside world has to play ball, too, for any set of assumptions to bear out.
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 12:45 PM
|
#34
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,490
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by RockOn
... only 7% right now and for awhile now. That is not fair.
|
exactly what would be "fair"?
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 01:08 PM
|
#35
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,703
|
I've constructed what I think is a fair inflation index. I call it the CFB index. It assumes you consume 50% bacon and 50% whiskey.
Bacon:
1998: 99.1
2007: 126.273
Whiskey:
1998: 151.5
2007: 183.048
CFB index:
1998: 125.3
2007: 154.66
CFB index is up 23% over 10 years, or about 2%/year. CFB will do fine with a 100% TIPS portfolio.
Since ladelfina consumes pure energy, her inflation rate is 8%/year. However, had she had a proper investment allocation, she would hedge her costs with something like Vanguard's energy fund, which is up 17%/year over the last 10 years.
So invest like you consume, and you should do fine.
__________________
Emancipated from wage-slavery since 2002
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 01:53 PM
|
#36
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,764
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ladelfina
twaddle my COL has indeed almost doubled in nominal terms since '98. Probably would have MORE than doubled as I don't buy any of the fancy office clothes/shoes I did before.. and I maxed out long ago on purchases like appliances and other home goods. In 1998 also used to be able to save out of my yearly figure. Biggest expenses now = energy and food. Not that much room anymore for hedonic adjustment there. Clif, who cares about the price of big-screen TVs, really... come on.
I just watched an interesting lecture on consumption habits 1970-2000s; will post a new thread.
|
If I remember correctly you live in another country Ladelfina? Is it the same COL as in the US?
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 03:08 PM
|
#37
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 433
|
I'm gonna MAKE me one of them tinfoil things.
You can't trust the commercial product. The FBI hides transmitters in'em. They steal your thoughts which are then absorbed by the nearest cellphone tower, which re-transmits 'em to that big mountain in Colorado, to be nd kept in big glass jars protected by Faraday cages made of chicken wire.
Is anyone buying this?
__________________
Consult with only myself as your adviser or representative. My thoughts should be construed as investment advice of the highest caliber. Past performance is but a pale shadow and guarantee of even greater results in the future.
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 03:11 PM
|
#38
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,085
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by barbarus
Is anyone buying this?
|
Dunno. How much?
__________________
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- George Orwell
Ezekiel 23:20
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 04:01 PM
|
#39
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Northern, Florida
Posts: 925
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by barbarus
I'm gonna MAKE me one of them tinfoil things.
You can't trust the commercial product. The FBI hides transmitters in'em. They steal your thoughts which are then absorbed by the nearest cellphone tower, which re-transmits 'em to that big mountain in Colorado, to be nd kept in big glass jars protected by Faraday cages made of chicken wire.
Is anyone buying this?
|
I'll buy it for a -2% effective interest rate . . .
__________________
Retired in 2006 at age 49.
"Who among us is smart enough to learn from the mistakes of others?" - Voltaire
|
|
|
04-04-2008, 04:04 PM
|
#40
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,490
|
real or nominal?
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Thread Tools |
|
Display Modes |
Linear Mode
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|