I was just reading the Timonium Show post, and a lot of posters were using the economy as a reason that there were fewer vendors and attendees. I may be just lucky, but being retired the economy hasn’t bothered me much. Gas is up, but I’m not driving 30 miles per day to work - so that balances out. I also save on lunches and other goodies I used to take to work. I was lucky enough to swith my funds to safe CD’s, so the stock market hasn’t botherred me either. My bank, WAMU, is on that “in trouble” list, but even that’s OK with me - have “excess” funds in another bank.
I guess the question I pose is “Are you OK with the economy, or has it impacted your hobby $?”
Watching stocks go down,but am told by the guys who have 2 million stashed away that “things will get better” I also may be dead. So it’s a wait and see game, will have to live on Old age pension UNTIL the stock market rises and makes me a millionaire, I just keep truckin’ along, and the hobby is no problem, as unlike many MR’s who never hesitate to pick up another brass loco to add to their giant collection, I managed to stay in the used equipment and train show budget, and truly enjoy the hobby regardless of the economy, Now all you guys with those golden company pensions get out there and spend.
No effect on me. Gas is lower than $3 a gallon for the first time in 5 years, my investments just went up to 8% payout, and my insurance rates went down. In fact, business is booming, and we can’t keep up with the demands. First off, I did not buy a house I could not afford at a variable interest rate, I did not buy a car I could not afford with a lease and balloon payments, I did not jack my credit cards to 95% of the limits and live off credit. So the current “crisis” is of no concern to me. Those who have real money can clean up right now by buying dirt cheap repo property, stock at 5% of last month’s value, and Brit bikes at give away prices. Sooner or later this will all blow over and life goes on as normal. Or we can wait until Obama swoops in and rescues us from our own money choices…
Those ants that were careful with money choices, made good investments and lived frugaly will take the brunt of the economic cost to “save” the grasshoppers that fiddled away the summer. Where is the justice in that? The economy is great, I for one don’t want anything to change because it will be for the worst.
I work in the Defense industry, so my job should be secure. Most of my retirement money is pretty conservative these days, and my Merrill Lynch guy advised going to all cash back when the Dow was around 12,000, so I’ve missed most of the fun over the past couple of weeks. The house is paid for, so I’ve got no mortgage to worry about. My daughter won’t need college money for another year yet, and hopefully the loans will be available again by that point.
I’m finishing up scenery on my layout now. Until said daughter heads off to school, though, I don’t have permission to expand the layout. I’ve already got way more engines and rolling stock than I can fit on my tracks, so all I’m buying is small scenery stuff.
Still, I’ve got to consider when I’ll be retiring. It’s still a few years off, but not that far. There’s no mandatory retirement age for us, so I’ll probably keep going a couple of years past 65, anyway, or maybe switch to part-time to keep some benefits and cash flow, while gaining a bit of extra time for ourselves.
To agree with Tangerine-Jack, Gas is exactly 3 dollars here. Lets hope we can keep it there for sometime. As i live only an hour away from the Springfield Trainshow in Springfield Mass, I make it there no matter what.
I hope atleast most of the vendors from last year will make an appearance at the show this January, As i have to start my HO collection [:)]
Does the economy affect me, well not really. Its more being unemployed. Thats what is making my wife and I watch what we spend. Yeah gas is high, here is southwestern pa gas is $3.29 for 87. Thats better than it was a few months ago. I have a job interview tomorrow morning and I hope to get it.
I had stocks in Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS). It was a old job of mine, and I cashed alot of it out. I watch the news and stocks alot. My wife thinks I’m crazy but at the age of 28, we might have a good look out in the next 10 or more years. All you can do, is hope it all turns around.
The only real effect it’s had on me is the price of gas. I’m pretty much homebound due to my medical problems but I like to go to the LHS once in a while. The nearest one is in Alexandria. That’s a 120 mile round trip and usually takes a bit under half a tank of gas. That’s about 9 gallons. A full tank is 21 gallons. If my math is right that works out to around 14 miles per gallon for that 9 gallons. I’d like to do better but when you’re on a fixed income (mine is under $700 a month) you can’t be too picky about what kind of car you can pick up at a great price and I’m not getting rid of it as long as I can keep it running. I got it in 99 and back then gas was just over a buck a gallon here.
I have about 3 years until retirement. My 401k has taken a hit(-4.4%), but I moved most of it to bonds/stable value funds last February. Gas is now under $3.00/gallon here in SE Minnesota, but my work drive is only 3 miles(RT) - I put more miles on going to train shows! But filling the SUV up still costs about $50 each time. The big thing for me is if the economy really tanks, there will not be orders for big computer servers, and that may force an ‘early retirement’ for me. I have been counting on the next 3 years of income to ‘feather’ my savings some more.
Retirement for me should be pretty good; I have a ‘defined’ pension, 401k, and SSAN for my basic income. I really have no big bills(house payments/cars), so the ‘trains’ are my major ‘fun’ expense.
I’m doing fine with the economy right now. I’m with Tangerine-Jack. I owe no debt to anyone except phone/internet and cable. Drive a 12 year old car, live in military housing so it’s only a 3 minute drive to work. Got 3 kids and we live on a budget. The only problem is the Atlas GP 40-2’s in Chessie paint blew the train budget up a little [:)]. Business is good right now for an Infantryman and I’ll spend at least 12 months in Afganistan. That’s when the money will pour in. I still haven’t spent all the extra money from my Iraq deployment. My LHS will be happy when I return.
The price of gas here in Iowa dipped below $2.72 a gallon. Wow, that part has been nice. My Tiaa Creff stock however has dipped a bit, but I’ve got another 18 years yet to go for retirement, so I’m not worried. When I get about 5 years out from retirement, then I’ll go extremely conservative so that if something like this does happen it won’t wipe me out. 47% of my portfolio is equity. That is considered “moderate” risk. NOW is a great time to buy. So I’m gonna ride it out.
I’ve really already purchased all the big ticket train items I’ll ever need for my 11X7 layout. Heck I’ve got enough stuff to double it now if I wanted to. 13 engines all DCC and about 5 sound. Thats plenty for this layout. I pretty much buy what I want when I want. As long as our jobs hold out, but education seems to do better in a recession as people lose their jobs, they tend to go back to school to learn a different trade. So I’m looking for growth at the local community college.
Lou,I think this bad economy applies more to the Wall Street fat cats and the fat cat bankers since everything seems to be normal in my area,crowded stores,bars and night clubs still seems to be going full force,down around Delaware,Ohio they are building a new mall and Meijer store.
I also think the News Media plays up the fear factor and hype as well which leads to unnecessary worry in most Americans.
So,for me its business as usual since I don’t play the stock market.
Do we need the economy to tell us what to do? Or do we do what we want when we’ve finished doing what we have to? One should always look at the economy at the personal level first and foremost. After food, clothing and shelter, what is left is discretionary spending. Are we holding back because the TV and radio keep crying the worst economy in the past billion years? Or did we actually find ourselves with less of that discretionary money than before? Ignor those idiots in the media. They all agreed with(names withheld so this post might stand an ice’s chance in Hades of staying put)that (more personal pronouns)were solvent and operating well two years ago and now they all proudly proclaim the recession, which hasn’t even happened yet!! Confused? Depressed? Anxious? Guess what, worrying about it doesn’t change a thing and only makes you less than happy. If we don’t have the funds, then we’ll just either enjoy what we’ve got already or go out and get the funds. That’s the ideal this country was founded on. Or we can call it a Model Railroading Crisis and beg Congress to bail us out.
Will say I’m glad I.m in a hobby such as model railroading, and can spend for the immediate want’s of track or a piece of rolling stock. Sure like not having payment on really expensive hobby things such as speed boats, giant drive around SUV’s and trailers, or extra house’s, with the thought of being a good investment at the time. The list can go on. . .
Gas is down to about $3.15 here. Diesel went from $4.09 to $3.49 in one day! Lets hope that decrease is reflected in our products and shipping costs soon. (I doubt it though) It seems like once they get people used to paying higher prices, they never come down.[xx(]
Working in new home HVAC now, I’m paying more attention to the housing market these days.
It seems like the new systems we’re installing are for truckers and Defence contractors. They seem to not be hurting for cash these days.
I definitely look for the best shipping costs as well as prices these days on my train stuff. I’m getting a lot better deals on new E Bay items these days rather than online hobby retailers.
Ordered 20 small details items for $75 and only paid $2 S&H![:)]
Some of my retirement stocks took a hit, but my broker says to keep riding with it and see what this week’s market does. If it gets TOO bad, I’ll have to transfer them to a CD, but then I’ll end up having to pay taxes on it. So yah, I’ve tightened up a bit and I’m not spending much on hobby items these days. However I went back to work as a Music Minister at my Parish (a pay-gig), so I’ll have a little ‘mad money’ coming in each month that I can put aside for the hobby. Stock-market or no, I STILL have that Sunset Z-6 on order with my LHS and I’m not passing it up! So I’ll eat Hamburger Helper for a few weeks. Big deal.
Nope, trains are not impact the ecconomy. I am more worried about how the “changes” promised from the up coming election will impact. I can’t handle more taxes either directly nor through the trickle down of taxing “THEM”.
I’m worried that the recent “rennaissance” of new products in the hobby will give way to streamlined lines (cut-back, not 1930’s) and everyone only producing their best sellers, which we already have. I’ve witnessed firsthand in my business there isn’t a lot of gray-area between “some customers” and “no customers”.
Gas has just gone below $3 here in Michigan. I’m seeing 2.89 here and there. Should drop a lot more, with the big drops in crude oil last week. Dropped $8 a barrel on Friday alone. It’s kind of funny, how all that demand from China and India, that we were told was driving up oil prices, disappeared almost overnight. Hopefully, those $200 a barrel forecasts, were just a pipedream for the oil companies.
My house and cottage are paid for. Same for both vehicles. Credit cards at zero balance. Seems model railroaders have some old fashioned values, which still apply.
I do feel they deliberately created a crisis atmosphere, in order to rush through a trillion dollar givaway package for corporate america, in the remaining months of a republican administration.
The mortgage crisis was foreseeable. Things that can’t go on forever, usually don’t! And I think it was deliberate! They kept interest rates artifically low for too long, allowing home prices to appreciate much too fast. Then they encouraged everyone to refinance, and spend the equity in their homes on a lot of consumer crap. They locked everyone into adjustable rate mortgages with big prepayment penaltys. Then it was time to spring the trap. Greenspan and the Federal Reserve began relentlessly raising interest rates at every Fed meeting, always citing the threat of inflation, and sat back to reap windfall profits. What they didn’t count on, was Joe Sixpack simply walking away from his $300,000 mortgage, on a home now worth $200,000!
A recent story on the news, said that 60% of all the people with sub-prime mortgages, had credit good enough to qualify for a conventional mortgage. My daughter is in real estate, and she told me everyone was being steered into ARMs, and she could not get people into fixed mortgages. The bankers were making much bigger fees and profits from sub prime and other funny mortgages. I really feel this was a get rich quick scheme, with plenty of blame to go around, that just fell apart, when pe
I really dont have a impact on the current budget. So the gas got expensive. Big deal We still drive to work as long as payroll exceeds the cost of gas. For example I drive 30 miles to work 4 hours at minimum wage as a crew leader in a part time job. That 4 hours net me… 20+ Dollars? Gas at 4.00 gallon at 30 miles to gallon = 8 bucks round trip. Profit 12 dollars. And no lunches, a large breakfast of eggs, meat and cheese (About 3 dollars worth) still a profit.
The company I worked for actually told me to stop working at that account because THEY cannot make a profit on 3 workers working 4 hours. They need to have enough work for at least 10 people for a 4 hour day. HOW can you provide 10 people with 4 hours of work if the business only had half that work? They are not going to pay you to stand around for 2 hours. No sir.
That gas can probably go to 7 dollars a gallon at 14 dollars a round trip per day to work (30 miles away) for 20 dollars net pay and anything higher I will have to either work 8 hours at that location OR find a location 5 miles away for 14 dollars of gas PER WEEK.
The second stragety is to find a employer engaged in a business VITAL to the local area. The Hospital is one option. No matter what happens to the economy there will always be a Hospital. If THEY close… well… things are really bad now arent they?
Funeral homes is another depression proof workplace. Not exactly a job to die for LOL. But someone is necessary to dispose of those who have passed on. South and West of me are plants in Defense work that are producting items for the War effort. They probably can provide a job if I can move near them. Because the housing market is kaput that is not a option. We are outright on the home free and clear so… we probably can do it if necessary.
You DONT want to be working in a retail mall right now. All those Shoes sit on the shelf for a long time until one customer needs help with choosing a shoe. Someone will always need a shoe and probably will go to