Less expensive than ever!

[brett]

When I first started in the IT business (1980) monochrome monitors (attached keyboards) were selling for $2500. plus.

My most recent buy, two years ago, , a 27 inch hp flat screen monitor cost me $165. USD. Keybord (MS) from Amazon was $17 USD. I TB hard drive $42.

 

[Car-Guy]

I was just telling my kids that we have a lot more storage and capabilities on our $50 cell phones than the $1000+ computers in the 90's. My 1st computer had a 200mhz processor and 200mb hdd.

You young guys....


Early 80's


Not counting my Commodore/VIC 20, my first "real" computer was a ATT 6300 and it didn't have a HD... It came with dual 3.5' 360KB floppies, 640k ram, a monochrome monitor and a 8mhz 8086 processor... Still cost 2k.... A few years later I installed a hard card (20meg) and upgraded to a color CGA monitor....That was another $700+. Added a 1200bps modem for another $150 to call into Bulletin Boards Systems (BBS). No Internet back then......

Hey it was faster than using an abacus and Big Chief tablet.


NOW--- and countless computers later,


as an example.


Bought a 2TB external HD last year for ~$75. (And I may have over paid on that)

 

[Montecfo]

What do you mean by that?

Capability upgrades: just the idea that today's product an upgrade compared to products from even a few years ago.

Cars get safer all the time and have improved electronics and data availability, even relatively cheap ones.

Smartphones can make sure you know how to get to your meeting with mapping apps.

Internet access is faster and more reliable.

In many but not all cases, newer is better

 

[brett]

I told my son that my first sale in the IT business was a 4K memory board for an NCR Century mainframe computer.

Programing was tight in those days!

 

[Chuckanut]

That's great about your insurance but I didn't include that because what the government is doing is charging some people more to give others a discounted rate, it's like me saying food is so inexpensive I only pay $20 a month using these food stamps.

That could be said about the cash-back I earn on my credit card. Others pay for it via the outrageous interest rates they pay on their unpaid balances every month. Then again, they do that voluntarily. No 'Gubmint' rule forces them to spend more than they can afford, and pay 18% interest for the privilege.

 

[Fermion]

On the electronics side of things, it is interesting that the satisfaction with the size/quality/speed grows almost exactly with the increase in same.

For example, I was SO happy to get a 386SX computer and play the Kings Quest series on a VGA monitor, after having a 8088XT with a 5-1/4 floppy drive and playing Bard's Tale.

At the time I had the 8088XT I could do everything I needed on it and everything required of me, but by the time I got the 386SX I was not happy with the 8088.

Today, who would be happy with the speed/capacity of a 386SX?

Electronics need their own category in inflation...they are outside everything else.

 

[jim584672]

I remember I spent around $1,250 for a Headstart 286 (with turbo button!) with EGA monitor, adjusted dollars would probably be like $3K today .

 

[athena53]

- Clothes are really cheap these days. I used to sew and make all my own clothes but that is pretty expensive to do these days. Costco usually has a big assortment of jeans, tops, jackets and sweaters for $10 - $20, sometimes less at end of season closeouts.

Clothes and, to some extent, electronics, are examples of "you get what you pay for". Cheaper materials, manufactured in countries less diligent about pollution and worker safety, thrown way too soon into landfills where synthetic materials don't biodegrade and some of the chemicals in electronics pollute the groundwater (typically in developing countries that accept our waste). Things fall apart faster and new ones are cheap so- why not? I'd like to see some things made to last longer and be repairable and I'd be willing to pay more.

Telecommunications- absolutely. I remember my first "brick" cell phone- I really had to be diligent to keep it under $100/month and that was 1995. And I practically giggle when I switch out my SIM card to one I buy somewhere in Europe and it's up and running.

 

[cbo111]

In 1975 I would pay about $2 for a can of tennis balls. Today (45+years later) a can of balls is about $2.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Clothes and, to some extent, electronics, are examples of "you get what you pay for". Cheaper materials, manufactured in countries less diligent about pollution and worker safety, thrown way too soon into landfills where synthetic materials don't biodegrade and some of the chemicals in electronics pollute the groundwater (typically in developing countries that accept our waste). Things fall apart faster and new ones are cheap so- why not? I'd like to see some things made to last longer and be repairable and I'd be willing to pay more.

I do agree with you on that front. Do you have any brands you recommend that are more environmentally friendly? When I went to replace underpants I had for years, I have been trying different brands but none seem to be as well made as the ones I used to have, and their useful life doesn't seem nearly as long.

I do try to have a somewhat of a capsule wardrobe to try to not add to the landfills. We have some friends who seem to have a new outfit every time we see them. I have read that the average American buys 68 items of clothing a year, most of which are seldom worn.

 

[MRG]

I told my son that my first sale in the IT business was a 4K memory board for an NCR Century mainframe computer.

Programing was tight in those days!

For a while I worked on mainframe assembly code that read billions of records every day and also compressed/expanded them. I counted instructions, there were some privileges taken because of certain things MVS did or didn't do. When I was developing the data compression algorithms I received a call from the capacity guy; "every byte you can't compress is a million dollars in disk to store it". Today it's about $47.50 for SDD.

 

[ER2B]

Yes it's less expensive than ever. I used to have to pay someone for simple work on my car or around the house. YouTube made it possible to DIY.

 

[Markola]

Markola
Will you share the name of the online course on travel points . Sounds interesting.

I’m going to start with this free one, because I like their podcast:

https://travel.choosefi.com/

Also, listening to episodes 9 and 311 will explain their approach pretty well and frame things up simply before you dive into the course.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

You young guys....


Early 80's

You're a computer spring chicken yourself. The first "pc" I worked on was an Altair 8800: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800 but before that while in high school I used to go with my brother to work once in a while when he worked weekends (system operator) and learned JCL on an IBM 360.

 

[Sunset]

......

You can get cell phone service with unlimited calls & text plus a bit of data for $5 per month (Hello Mobile). ....

Are you using the "hello mobile" and how do you find it ?

I looked and it appears to use T-mobile network, so just wondering if the $5/mo really works

 

[brucethebroker]

You may not be on an ACA plan, but many forum members here are (check the number of threads on the topic), and none that I have read about are on food stamps. Since your audience for this thread is presumably forum members here, I think many have benefited from affordable health care costs with the ACA. Those with MAGIs below 400% of poverty level may receive tax credits. Before the ACA many of us could not obtain health insurances as seniors at any price.

Now many more people at higher income levels qualify, up to almost $300K MAGI, assuming $25K premium costs for a senior couple. From what I have read, this would be over 98.5% of households now qualifying. "The American Rescue Plan bolsters the availability of premium tax credits (PTCs) for millions of lower- and middle-income people and families. First, individuals whose income is above 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) are eligible for PTCs for the first time. There is no upper income limit on PTCs, meaning that all middle- and upper-income individuals who purchase their own coverage can access PTCs if their premiums exceed 8.5 percent of their overall household income." https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210316.222833/full/

And, for many early retirees, it was not the subsidies that mattered with ACA as much as the accessibility. Many of us have pre-existing conditions and could not retire before Medicare age (65) because we would have not had coverage available, or in our case, would have been forced into a state sponsored health "pool" for hard to insure folks. In our state, the premiums were 4x what healthy folks were charged. ACA changed the conversation when it came to early retirement for many of us. PS, Medicare is ALSO subsidized by those not on it, those still paying FICA taxes........

 

[teetee]

Are you using the "hello mobile" and how do you find it ?

I looked and it appears to use T-mobile network, so just wondering if the $5/mo really works

5/mo is on the Hello Mobile website. It is their regular price just needs to list all their plans.

The only thing that is unattractive is they charge hotspot feature separately for $15/mo.

 

[SmallCityDave]

Are you using the "hello mobile" and how do you find it ?

I looked and it appears to use T-mobile network, so just wondering if the $5/mo really works

It was recommended on this forum by triangle.


I did try it and I was pleasantly surprised unfortunately there are a few dead spots in my city, missing a call can cost me thousands so I went back to TotalWireless but I will keep looking.

 

[athena53]

I do agree with you on that front. Do you have any brands you recommend that are more environmentally friendly? When I went to replace underpants I had for years, I have been trying different brands but none seem to be as well made as the ones I used to have, and their useful life doesn't seem nearly as long.

Karen Kane and Amour Vert are really good for women's clothing- most made in the US, all sustainably. Sorry- can't hep on the underwear and I'll need to replace some of mine soon.

Back to the OT- another tech memory. In 1984 all we had were dot-matrix printers so if you wanted to produce a graph in color you needed a plotter. It was the size of a small table and had pens in niches at the side. You wrote a program to tell the plotter what points to draw and away it went, periodically going back to switch pens. People would stare at it, mesmerized.

It cost $7,500. Boss had quite a time taking management into it.

 

[Jerry1]

Not sure they will be as low cost as they were before the pandemic started, but not that the mask mandates seem to be going away, there’s all kinds of sales on masks. I use masks for when a mow due to allergies and I got a really good deal on some KN95 masks. They’re a bit overkill for allergy protection, but the better fit helps control fogging of my safety glasses.

 

[SmallCityDave]

You may not be on an ACA plan, but many forum members here are (check the number of threads on the topic), and none that I have read about are on food stamps. Since your audience for this thread is presumably forum members here, I think many have benefited from affordable health care costs with the ACA. Those with MAGIs below 400% of poverty level may receive tax credits. Before the ACA many of us could not obtain health insurances as seniors at any price.

Now many more people at higher income levels qualify, up to almost $300K MAGI, assuming $25K premium costs for a senior couple. From what I have read, this would be over 98.5% of households now qualifying. "The American Rescue Plan bolsters the availability of premium tax credits (PTCs) for millions of lower- and middle-income people and families. First, individuals whose income is above 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) are eligible for PTCs for the first time. There is no upper income limit on PTCs, meaning that all middle- and upper-income individuals who purchase their own coverage can access PTCs if their premiums exceed 8.5 percent of their overall household income." https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20210316.222833/full/

Once again the reason I didn't mention the ACA is because the government picks winners and losers we may have the same plan but pay much different premiums. I also didn't mention that my rent is only $200 per month since I have section 8 housing.


I'm not saying what you said is wrong or inappropriate but I did say why I didn't include it.

 

[SmallCityDave]

That could be said about the cash-back I earn on my credit card. Others pay for it via the outrageous interest rates they pay on their unpaid balances every month. Then again, they do that voluntarily. No 'Gubmint' rule forces them to spend more than they can afford, and pay 18% interest for the privilege.

Agreed!

 

[MichaelB]

That could be said about the cash-back I earn on my credit card. Others pay for it via the outrageous interest rates they pay on their unpaid balances every month. Then again, they do that voluntarily. No 'Gubmint' rule forces them to spend more than they can afford, and pay 18% interest for the privilege.

More likely the money to pay your cash back comes from the very high fees bank cc issuers collect from merchants. In that case the cash back is financed by people with no credit card who pay the same price, only in cash, and receive no cash back.

 

[Scuba]

That's great about your insurance but I didn't include that because what the government is doing is charging some people more to give others a discounted rate, it's like me saying food is so inexpensive I only pay $20 a month using these food stamps.

Yep. Our health insurance cost has more than doubled in 4 years. Huge premium, high deductibles and OOP max, but a lot of choice which is why we keep it. And we are fortunate not to have any chronic conditions.

 

[Aerides]

I do agree with you on that front. Do you have any brands you recommend that are more environmentally friendly?

Eileen Fisher is making a lot of inroads in this area. They have a "renew" program where they take back worn clothes and make them into new items. They have a whole sustainability program and include human impacts in their sourcing. Of course many of their items are kinda frumpy, or very expensive, but they do have some good staples and some more stylish pieces.