TODAY'S ECONOMY

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
21

I’m OK with things so far. We budget everything, so my hobby spending is OK too.

I’m 65 and retired.

We have felt no need to keep up with the Jones’s during our years together so we have not spent money for things that we didn’t need.

Our house is paid for, our truck (which we no longer drive due to high gas) is paid for, our Honda Hybrid - which gets upwards of 54 mpg on the highway - is paid for. (The 320 mile trip to Timonium and back cost me $17.00 in gas.)

Zero balance on our credit cards. We do use them for grocery shopping and hobby shopping.

I do have some stocks in two Electric companies and some stock that I received when John Hancock did a change in how they did business sometime back, and they are in the tank right now, but I am sticking it out. They don’t affect our income.

I will be in trouble if the government goes under because I get military retirement and social security.

One more thing about the so called housing crises: They ain’t making land any more, so the prices will go back up. Maybe not as fast as some would like though.

22

Lou asked: "I guess the question I pose is “Are you OK with the economy, or has it impacted your hobby $?”

First a big THANKS to people who so far have kept politics out of this thread.

Answering the second part of the question: No, my model railroad budget remains the same.

The first part. Here things are still OK. There are houses being built on our road. Another example, my friend, the Tow Boat captain, says he’s seen no impact in the number of barges he shoves through the waterways.

I keep things in perspective and look at the long term. The country has always had the budniess cycle. In that regard, we’ve done better in the past approximately 25 years than in prior periods in our history. There were only 2 short recessions from the mid 1980’s thru the middle of 2008. I recall the period close to 1980 when we had double digit unemployemnt, double digit inflation, and double digit interest rates. Things, overall, are not bad considering that.

In good times, all of us should have been saving for the “rainy day”.

Keep your chin up. Ride it out. Enjoy your model railroads. It’s great to be able to tune out the world with the World’s Greatest Hobby"

Have Fun

Now some humor:

____________________________________________________________-

NEW STOCK MARKET TERMS

 

CEO --Chief Embezzlement Officer.

CFO-- Corporate Fraud Officer.

BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor to 

Mistake himself for a financial genius.

BEAR MARKET -- A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.

VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower.

P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.

BROKER -- What my broker has made me.

STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell.
23

As others have stated, I’m retired, house is paid for, no credit card debt, etc., etc. I just bought a new car at the end of June. It shouldl be paid off in about 2 years. I have all the engines and cars I need but I still buy occsionally. My 401(k) took a hit but not as bad as some. So, yeah, I’m in good shape right now and will spend what I want on my trains.

On a positive note, inflation in the third quarter was up so my SS check should increase somewhat after the first of the year.

Tom

24

Well, I for one am depressed :frowning: We’re retired and have invested conservatively, have everything paid off
(house, boat, 13’ trailer) and so far our income hasn’t taken a huge hit due to monthly income from municipal bonds and other investments, BUT what concerns us is that the usual rules/laws of economics are all topsy turvey now. When stocks tank, bonds (as diversification of assets) are supposed to rise in value.
That is not happening now. The value of bonds has also fallen.

The thing that is causing me to pull back on hobby spending right now is the unknown factors/things that
have not happened before. Our economy for better or worse is global and unless the European countries/banks can agree to some kind of uniform agreement that jives with the U.S.'s bail out “plan”
we very seriously-potentially face some of the key ingredients that ensured the Great Depression of the 1930’s. (When each country would take an isolationist stance, protecting their own banks and not worrying about what other failures other nations banks experienced. In this sense even 80 years ago, the economy was much more globally based than people realize.)

Whether or not FDIC is truly solvent is also a concern. Remember when triple A bonds were insurance
against risky investment?

The only political area I’ll “stick one foot into” is that I desire to have a President (whatever candidate you support) who can at least complete an intelligent sentence and can describe in some detail what specific steps he/she would take to solve problems rather than spout merely emotional rhetoric with no substance and will regulate rather than deregulate the crooks and not trample all over the constitution.

So, yes, the economy is definitely affecting my hobby purchases. I recently purchased just about
everything I need to get backdrop/bench work, track built and laid, just before the “crash”.
We saw this sub prime thing developing over 4 yrs. time and isolated ourselves

25

As one of the fully retired, with an adequate cash flow from our rich Uncle (military retirement plus SS) and some odd gravy from interest-bearing accounts and an annuity, I can spend whatever I wish on hobby supplies. The only thing is, I don’t really need much.

I DO use credit cards - one for general expenses and one for, “I want that, NOW,” purchases. Both get paid off at the end of each cycle. I haven’t paid credit card interest in years.

I DO have a mortgage - 30 year fixed, at a reasonable rate that is well within my budget. It’s amazing what you can do if you have a nice big cash downpayment. (Not to mention that the house was briefly worth twice what we bought it for in 2003, and is still worth 160% of purchase price according to the county assessor.)

The two Toyotas are paid for, thank you. With regular maintenance and a little luck, they will probably outlive me.

As for my credit score, if it was any higher it would require oxygen, or a pressurized cabin.

All of which was a result of living within my income, not trying to impress the neighbors and waiting until the top of the line latest and greatest became a clearance sale bargain.

The best part? I can enjoy my trains, my other interests and my life without losing any sleep over how it’s going to get paid for. What, me worry?

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

26

I’m with most of you on here. House fully paid for, car bought for cash, one credit card (paid off fully monthly), and no other debt. Buy most of my model rairoad stuff on Ebay - mainly non-runners, but have the equipment to repair them, so sitting pretty, relatively. Be careful now, and you’ll reap the benefit later.

Dennis

27

Last night I saw gas at $2.39 a gallon here in Oklahoma. I think that individuals are making hay out of the economy the same way that they do every four years. There is a certain outcome that individuals in the media favor and the free market is not it. It is far easier to make new out of government actions than to actually report what is happening in the world.

The housing mortgage resale market is a mess right now and given time it will right itself unless the government gets more into the mess it created by forcing banks to make subprime loans.

Markets go up and they go down. When we try to prevent the down side we can only delay it and when it does finally occur it will be far worse than it we had let the economy go through its natural up and down cycles. The best thing we can do is live beneath our means and save money in the good times and be more conservtive in our spending during the no so good times. This current market is impacting wall street and the media right now. Most of main street is scared but generally not directly impacted. If we panic and pull back our spending and sell our stocks then the real impact will be felt.

The American people have a great work ethic and remain the most productive workers in the world. Things will be challenging in the months ahead but if we focus on doing our respective jobs to the best of our abilty the market challenges will dissapait. No one can solve this problem through govenment internvetion, bailout, private leverage, ect. We can only solve it by doing our jobs to the best of our ability, living within our means, saving money, and observing our our circumstances instead of listening to the media or politicians regardless of party.

I have cut back my spending some but it has more to do with amasing far more equipment than I need and not havng anywhere to run it. I have a few things on order and I look forward to their delivery later this year. I am optomistic t

28

I just this afternoon emailed my Senator–I reside in the worst gerrymandered congressional district in the United States and since I ain’t a “minority” nor a democrat it ain’t gonna do me no good to email my representative–staking my claim for $75,000.00 of “bailout” money–I know! they call it “Economic Stabilization Funds” but labeling horse-you-know-what meadow muffins don’t change the smell any. In return I promised to never pay it back which will be the eventual outcome of all this; I did, however, promise that I would not accept any “Golden Parachutes” and would not take any $400,000.00 retreats at a So. Cal resort. I pointed out that my financial distress was, like those distressed banks, caused by gross mismanagement but I was able to do it with far less resources than they were.

When I receive my check and I am shed of a house payment and a car payment and credit card bills and with the IRS off my back for past due taxes I should have close to $10,000.00 annually for my train budget. I think we are living in great economic times!!!

29

And you have Socialized Medicine to boot. Aren’t you lucky! I am fearful of what this country is going to look like on November the 5th instant and I suspect that we, too, are going to have the Albatross of Socialized Medicine draped around our neck in the not-too-distant future! And all this is going to be done with tax cuts for 95% of our population–and Uncle will give us a train budget to boot! Aren’t we lucky?

30

If you will all pardon an observation… It seems like most of you folks that aren’t being affected are retired and living off of work pensions and wise investments from back when those things were available. (and maybe SS to boot.)
I fear to think how the 20-30 year olds on this forum would answer this same question 40 years from now since they’re going to grow old with no company sponsored pensions and probably no SS.

(Just an observation…)

31

I like socialized medicine. If it wasn’t for socialized medicine I wouldn’t be sitting here and replying to your comment. [:)]

32

I for one could care less about medicines. Im old school. If something breaks, fix it and give me a bottle of pain meds. Otherwise if something really bad, just hospice thank you. Ive already used my 9 lives out there on the big road.

Im not going to make the spouse sink what little life insurance there is into a mountain of last ditch hospital billing or worse … ineffective nursing homes that basically takes away everything you have including the power to choose, make decisions etc. None of that for me, I go out on my terms.

I dont mind going to the Doctor for some boo boo and fixing it for a few dollars in billing or perhaps adjusting a problem to improve quality of life for a few thousand dollars. But that is where I draw the line.

33

And just whom would that be? Wall Street itself has almost nothing to do with the recent situation. All they do is provide a forum for others to buy and sell stocks that other people tell them to. I THINK you mean the investment bankers and investment firms.

34

Ya know, the bad rap (and there ARE some problems) that socialized medicine gets are very minor compared to the ease that you can lose your house if you have a catastrophic health issue and your insurance company decides not to pay up due to some fine print leagalize b.s.

I have many many Canadian friends and they have had such issues and in spite of small annoyances, they
are VERY happy with their socialized health care system. They NEVER EVER have to worry about losing their home and livelihoods to $5-10 per aspirin charges and the the “consultant fees” that ANY doctor who swings around your hospital room door jamb and inquires politely, (“How’re you feeling today?”) like in the U.S. AND
never (in spite of media statements) have had to forestall critical surgeries due to waiting periods.

I always hear it said that we should feel lucky that our gas prices are only what they are because in
Europe it’s been over $5 per gallon for years. Yeah, BUT no one ever seems to say that those extra
fuel taxes are paying for their free (ok, literally low cost) health care at the pump! What do WE get
at the pump besides screwed?

Whatever your feelings about Michael Moore (and yes, I agree some of his practices are questionable)
if you haven’t seen the film “Sicko” you should, just to see how health care in France and England aren’t the put you in the poor house issue it is in our country. It’s shameful. One of the richest, most civilized countries on the planet
and when my Dad and Mom died, the phone book thick billing packet had about twenty thousand dollars
worth of billing on EACH and EVERY page.

Have you had a car insurer argue payinig damages on your car? Try the joy of that with cancer care!

Sorry, but I will always completely disagree that private insurance is the way to go, from sorry experience.

/>I am not a liberal or a conservative. (Well maybe a reformed Conservative). I vote for specific issues and the

35

Heartland Division CB&Q wrote:

“First a big THANKS to people who so far have kept politics out of this thread.”

Everyone has an opinion, and I would defend to the death everyone’s right to express that opinion whether I happened to agree with it or not. That being said, there were 12 posts following the one quoted. In the last 7 of those, the word “train” was mentioned no more than twice. That being the case, it would be MY opinion that it is now time to get back to railroad related topics, whatever they might be.

Regards

36

Thread topic is Economics.

I will defend Medicine’s impact on Economics here. My spouse was a cancer survivor… ok we both are survivors. During the height of her Chemo at the VA, we were provided booster shots to support her vitamins during the Chemo week and 8 days after each treatment. We were told on the way out the door never to let those prefilled needles thaw out above 55 degrees F because they cost roughly 18 thousand dollars each to dear old Uncle Sam.

Without those shots I dont think my spouse would be with us today. But if Spouse were not part of the VA and had to get those in the private sector by ourselves with our tiny insurance… we would have done without the shots.

Economics. Pay for the shots and lose all you own including house once the Billing comes in or… take the shots because you are covered through the Government from Prior Military Service.

Because Im just a private citizen and if faced with the Chemo, I would not do it. There are obscene amounts of money that can be billed to me should I elect to do it. Im sure that some individuals have not taken the time to sit down and think for a moment if they should get into a bad wreck on the freeway going to work… and find themselves in the Trauma Care costing tens of thousands of dollars each week with a future still to be determined… if that person survives.

Nope, sorry. I feel that our Medical System is out of balance and possibly out of touch with the real world financial ability of anyone making 30 thousand dollars or less per year to pay.

That is why I take a strong position on life and death. When it’s time, it’s time. And the Spouse will be taken care of without worry for basic needs for a very long time. To me that would make me very happy indeed.

37

The cars and trucks are paid for. The house has a ways to go on a 30yr fixed. I know if the assesor ups the value any more I’m going to tell him to write me a check. [:(!]. While many people are happy gas prices have dropped, fuel has not followed. I’m still baffled why fuel is almost $1 more a gal than gas. The fact that I pay $30-$40 a day in fuel has definately took a chunk out of the hobby fund. I’ll get by though. A little ingenuity and creativity and the layout WILL progress. Alot of people have gotten used to just buying finished products, and there is alot of products.

Something to think about; If an insurance company can deny a claim for a pre-existing condition, can the previous insurer be billed? I might actually be in this predicament. Even though I was never “un-insured”, I’m sure my injury happened at exactly midnight, so neither is responsible. [sigh]

38

I was out at the Wheaton train show today and attendance was pretty good. This is the second time I’ve made the trek to attend this show. I bought a nmumber of things and would have bought more, had I been able to find them. No, the economy has not made any dents in my hobby spending, just the value of my portfolio.

I’ll withhold sharing any political opinions. Hopefully others can show such restrain.

39

I have 25 more years before I retire. That means I am now buying 401k shares at bargain basement prices.

My wife and I don’t go out to eat unless we have a buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) coupon. Both our cars are paid for. We have no debt. We live on a budget. We shop for household goods and clothes at garage sales. Just yesterday I found 2 Ralph Lauren Polo shirts for $1 each and a used Linksys wireless router that still works fine for $5. We found several large bags of Miracle Gro and fertilizer for $2 each. They will come in handy since we recently sodded our front yard. If only I could find train stuff bargains at yard sales. Gasoline is now around $2.80 where I live.

My hobby budget has actually increased this year. So far I’ve been to the National Narrow Gauge Convention and plan to attend the Craftsman Structure Show next month. I’ve already purchased one of the limited edition big kits released each year by each of the big name kit makers (FSM, SRM, etc.).

So, the bad economy has not hurt my hobby nor my lifestyle. For the first time in about a year I began to look for some bargains on kits on eBay (Campbell, FSM, SRM, Sierra West, etc.) considering some folks may be trying to raise some extra cash by selling their train stuff on eBay.

Jaime

40

The economy is in bad shape, no doubt about it, (you must have been born and rased in a cave if you thinks it’s in good shape) and yes it have afected me because every thing has went through the roof on pice.