Are you better off than you where 2 years ago?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good steak is nearly $20 a pound now — it used to be around $10. We can’t even enjoy a simple nice meal anymore. Having kids feels financially impossible, and even with a bachelor’s degree, it’s hard to get ahead. I’m not saving anything at this point.

Much better

Inflation has been stabilized. With Biden it just was never ending

Energy costs are cheaper

My child has a real job in IT with health care because h1b was severely limited

Wages are up for low Wage workers because the overwhelming immigration was stopped

DEI was stopped allowing career growth based on merit , allowing my son to get a better job

I love how they can’t decide whether minimum wage growth was good or bad and whether it influenced the economy. Apparently it was a bad thing under Biden (alleged “forced minimum wage increases” ) causing inflation, but a good thing under Trump (alleged H1B restrictions), increasing affordability.

[Anonymous]

My w2 income is hardly up at all.

My investment income has grown about 50%, assests (physical and financial) are up about 50%. That's likely due to the dollar being worth less, meaning that both physical assests and stocks haven't really changed in their true value. I'm a dividend growth investor, so it snowballs overtime and the snowball is really picking up motion.

[Anonymous]

No. My federal job has become a nightmare. And I’m completely priced out of the housing market. Wish I’d been able to buy a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My w2 income is hardly up at all.

My investment income has grown about 50%, assests (physical and financial) are up about 50%. That's likely due to the dollar being worth less, meaning that both physical assests and stocks haven't really changed in their true value. I'm a dividend growth investor, so it snowballs overtime and the snowball is really picking up motion.

Stick w it. Our dividends this year were $120,000. I can remember back when less than $10,000. Snowball is correct. Stay the course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good steak is nearly $20 a pound now — it used to be around $10. We can’t even enjoy a simple nice meal anymore. Having kids feels financially impossible, and even with a bachelor’s degree, it’s hard to get ahead. I’m not saving anything at this point.

So, take a break from beef. Watch for sales. Pork is cheap. Chicken is affordable. Be creative. But, I don't know where you shop, but i can purchase steak for well under $15/lb. Except for tenderloin and that type of cut.
But, I can pick up sirloin at a reasonable price.


Of course, I grew up in a frugal household where steak was a treat--not a staple.
Beef prices will go down in a year or so. There was some disease a couple of years ago that required killing cattle. It will come back.

This. Americans need to stop shoving globs of beef down their throats anyway. Very unhealthy and treating the ensuing health issues is quite expensive. In some cultures meat is more or less a side or topping, and the people aren’t the size of blue whales. When traveling abroad, you can easily tell who the Americans are simply by their girth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My w2 income is hardly up at all.

My investment income has grown about 50%, assests (physical and financial) are up about 50%. That's likely due to the dollar being worth less, meaning that both physical assests and stocks haven't really changed in their true value. I'm a dividend growth investor, so it snowballs overtime and the snowball is really picking up motion.

How can your investment income and investment assets both grow 50% in one year ? Never heard of that, unless starting from a really low base on investment income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Much better

Inflation has been stabilized. With Biden it just was never ending

Energy costs are cheaper

My child has a real job in IT with health care because h1b was severely limited

Wages are up for low Wage workers because the overwhelming immigration was stopped

DEI was stopped allowing career growth based on merit , allowing my son to get a better job

Where are you that your energy costs are cheaper? What are your local utilities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A good steak is nearly $20 a pound now — it used to be around $10. We can’t even enjoy a simple nice meal anymore. Having kids feels financially impossible, and even with a bachelor’s degree, it’s hard to get ahead. I’m not saving anything at this point.

Trump claimed in SOTU that beef prices had started to come down. So I looked it up--not store prices but market indices and government data. Absolutely not true. according to the St. Louis Fed, ground beef from $5.55 at start of presidency to 6.75 in January. I'd seen a source yesterday for the current price and can't find it now, but Trade Economics shows a 7.6% increase in wholesale beef prices since Jan 31.

I know DCUM scorns fruit juice but I crave orange juice in the winter and just can't bring myself to spend the money anymore. My breakfast rolled oats were the same price at a natural foods store for years and went up 50% a year ago. My electric rates went up 11%--they wanted 19%, were allowed to impose a provisional 11% before the rate increase was actually improved, so I've been paying the higher rate for more than a year. And my house has electric heat and is old. I get by because I'm alone, retired, and have simple wants, but I think I bought ground beef just twice, maybe three times, in the last year (3 lb tubes I repackaged). Once in awhile a steak when they mark it down as it gets close to the sell by date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good steak is nearly $20 a pound now — it used to be around $10. We can’t even enjoy a simple nice meal anymore. Having kids feels financially impossible, and even with a bachelor’s degree, it’s hard to get ahead. I’m not saving anything at this point.

So, take a break from beef. Watch for sales. Pork is cheap. Chicken is affordable. Be creative. But, I don't know where you shop, but i can purchase steak for well under $15/lb. Except for tenderloin and that type of cut.
But, I can pick up sirloin at a reasonable price.


Of course, I grew up in a frugal household where steak was a treat--not a staple.
Beef prices will go down in a year or so. There was some disease a couple of years ago that required killing cattle. It will come back.

This. Americans need to stop shoving globs of beef down their throats anyway. Very unhealthy and treating the ensuing health issues is quite expensive. In some cultures meat is more or less a side or topping, and the people aren’t the size of blue whales. When traveling abroad, you can easily tell who the Americans are simply by their girth.

People consumed more beef decades ago and were slimmer.
As to the other PP--it wasn't disease (that was eggs). It was drought, high feed costs (when you could find hay at all), low beef prices, so herds were culled. But the most you can expect with beef is for prices to level off.

[Anonymous]

Yeah a lot but not bc of political stuff

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Much better

Inflation has been stabilized. With Biden it just was never ending

Energy costs are cheaper

My child has a real job in IT with health care because h1b was severely limited

Wages are up for low Wage workers because the overwhelming immigration was stopped

DEI was stopped allowing career growth based on merit , allowing my son to get a better job

Where are you that your energy costs are cheaper? What are your local utilities?

+1 Even with solar our energy costs have doubled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good steak is nearly $20 a pound now — it used to be around $10. We can’t even enjoy a simple nice meal anymore. Having kids feels financially impossible, and even with a bachelor’s degree, it’s hard to get ahead. I’m not saving anything at this point.

Much better

Inflation has been stabilized. With Biden it just was never ending

Energy costs are cheaper

My child has a real job in IT with health care because h1b was severely limited

Wages are up for low Wage workers because the overwhelming immigration was stopped

DEI was stopped allowing career growth based on merit , allowing my son to get a better job

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Seriously, a most pathetic list of lying bot BS and yet also hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good steak is nearly $20 a pound now — it used to be around $10. We can’t even enjoy a simple nice meal anymore. Having kids feels financially impossible, and even with a bachelor’s degree, it’s hard to get ahead. I’m not saving anything at this point.

Fast food became a luxury under Biden

Mostly the forced minimum wage but also money printing on steroids

Can you point me to the law Biden signed that increased the federal minimum wage? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good steak is nearly $20 a pound now — it used to be around $10. We can’t even enjoy a simple nice meal anymore. Having kids feels financially impossible, and even with a bachelor’s degree, it’s hard to get ahead. I’m not saving anything at this point.

So, take a break from beef. Watch for sales. Pork is cheap. Chicken is affordable. Be creative. But, I don't know where you shop, but i can purchase steak for well under $15/lb. Except for tenderloin and that type of cut.
But, I can pick up sirloin at a reasonable price.


Of course, I grew up in a frugal household where steak was a treat--not a staple.
Beef prices will go down in a year or so. There was some disease a couple of years ago that required killing cattle. It will come back.

This. Americans need to stop shoving globs of beef down their throats anyway. Very unhealthy and treating the ensuing health issues is quite expensive. In some cultures meat is more or less a side or topping, and the people aren’t the size of blue whales. When traveling abroad, you can easily tell who the Americans are simply by their girth.

Americans were healthier 50 years ago when they ate more red meat, butter, and drank more milk delivered from the milkman.

If anything, the reduction of red meat has led to obesity as carbohydrates have run amuk as the diet staple

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A good steak is nearly $20 a pound now — it used to be around $10. We can’t even enjoy a simple nice meal anymore. Having kids feels financially impossible, and even with a bachelor’s degree, it’s hard to get ahead. I’m not saving anything at this point.

So, take a break from beef. Watch for sales. Pork is cheap. Chicken is affordable. Be creative. But, I don't know where you shop, but i can purchase steak for well under $15/lb. Except for tenderloin and that type of cut.
But, I can pick up sirloin at a reasonable price.


Of course, I grew up in a frugal household where steak was a treat--not a staple.
Beef prices will go down in a year or so. There was some disease a couple of years ago that required killing cattle. It will come back.

This. Americans need to stop shoving globs of beef down their throats anyway. Very unhealthy and treating the ensuing health issues is quite expensive. In some cultures meat is more or less a side or topping, and the people aren’t the size of blue whales. When traveling abroad, you can easily tell who the Americans are simply by their girth.

Americans were healthier 50 years ago when they ate more red meat, butter, and drank more milk delivered from the milkman.

If anything, the reduction of red meat has led to obesity as carbohydrates have run amuk as the diet staple

Americans were not healthier 50 years ago. They died 10 years younger on average, mostly from chronic diseases.