Interesting economic facts

[Deja Q]

1937:

Average annual income: $1788
Loaf of bread: $0.09 (size not indicated in chart)
Gallon of gas: $0.10
Gallon of milk: $0.50
New car: $760
New house: $4100


1941:
Annual income: $1777
Loaf of bread: $0.08
Gallon of gas: $0.12
Gallon of milk: $0.54
New car: $850
New house: $4075

1950s:
Annual income: $2992
Bread: $0.14
car: $1500
house: $14500


1979:
Salary: $7654
Bread: $0.24
milk: $1.20
gas: $0.36
home: $26600
car: $6800

2009:
Salary: $40000
Bread: $3
Gas: $2.50
Milk: $2
Home: $150,000
Car: $20,000


College tuition:


Generals:


Nobody needs to have an "A" in math to know salaries have not been keeping up with prices.

So when anybody talks about "responsible homeowners" or "saving for college", that is not realistic in today's economic reality.

Good morning. :hi:

[avaistheone1]

1. It is not possible to save for retirement either.

I don't know where your stats came from but bread was more than $0.24 in 1979, and I believe gas was more than $0.36 on average throughout the U.S.

[Deja Q]

3. A few sources...

* general google searches like "cost of ___ in 1940"
* http://www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/prices-1950.htm
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_tuition
* http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade70.html (covers other decades)
* A couple of kitchen magnets at relatives' house. (very surprising)
* other sites and google searches

Most of the values ultimately, directly and indirectly, would go back to government and census sources too.

Of course, they could be wrong too. I do recall reading somewhere that gas was $1/gl when Reagan took office.

So a grain of salt for all of this, but it does engender conversation.

[DJ13]

4. Yeah, I worked at a gas station in the late 70's

That was when the price was nearly $1 per gallon here in California.

(If not over $1, not sure.)

[hfojvt]

8. I pulled out my yearbook from 1979

It had a picture of a gas station in it. The price in the summer of 1978 - 81.9.

[hfojvt]

5. the salary looks low too

mimimum wage was about $3.25 an hour making a minimum wage worker at $6500 a year making the wage listed as too close to minimum wage to be an average. It's more believable for 1969.

But plenty of people, myself included, are saving for retirement.

Except in my case, the funny thing is that I started working part-time in 2006 because I was not confident that the financial system would survive long enough for me to retire.

[Deja Q]

7. I'll start saving for retirement the day I can trust the 401k portfolio and stock market.

[paulsby]

12. there has never been

a period in history of the US where dollar cost averaging (for example, investing a fixed amount every month) hasn't yielded positive gains over a 20 yr period. in the significant majority of same, it yielded quite good returns. in many, excellent returns.

my grandfather gave me one of the best pieces of advice ever when he told me "invest in the stock market. do it every month and start as soon as you get out of college at the latest. "

that was phenomenal advice. it's ALWAYS been good advice.

you can trust whatever you want.

fwiw, i am ALSO a day trader, but i religiously put in a set amount every month into my DCA account, and i've never regretted it

[paulsby]

10. of course it's possible to save for retirement

plenty of people do

look at the example of smoking. smoking is quite common, and (in the US) significantly more common amongst the lower two income quintiles.

a pack a day is quite common. if a person saved the money they spend on a pack of cig's, and invested for retirement, that's $1500 a yr.

google "smoking poverty" if you want the stats.

[OhioChick]

2. K&R n/t

[hfojvt]

6. where are you getting $2 milk? In Eau Claire?

I think I am paying closer to $3.

[tuvor]

9. OT: The average car was worth 89% of the average salary in 1979?

And an average house cost almost five times the average salary in the 1950s?

According to your figures, today the average car costs only 50% of the average salary, and the average house is only 3.75 times the average salary.

Not as good as 1937 or 1941, but not as bad as it has been, either.

[girl gone mad]

11. Education is a rather bubbly sector..

particularly when you consider how accessible and cheap knowledge itself has become and how flooded the marketplace is with degree holders.

[HughMoran]

13. Gas has kept pace, milk is cheaper, homes & bread are 50% more, cars are 25% more

Tuition and medical? Let's not talk about that! :puke:

[Bucky]

15. Of course the size of a loaf of bread is much larger than it was in the 30s.

Homes, too.

[voc]

14. kick nt.