[an]

[quote=Josh]I think Finland and S. Korea are quite different from the US. These two countries have very homogeneous populations. In the US, we have many underclass populations like Hispanics, Blacks,and American Indians. Take out the scores of these underclass students and we are quite competitive (although still not as good as Finland and S. Korea).

Social/economic mobility is amazing hard to achieved even in the US. For Blacks, you have a group of former slaves and who for years suffer from discrimination. Native Americans suffered the similar fates. For Hispanics, you have the poorest of the Mexicans and El Salvadorians coming over the fences.

I have a coworker from Vietnam who keeps saying that his family came here with nothing but now he is an Engineer and his two of his siblings are a doctor and a Pharmacist. He argues that Black people in the US at least have the language skills and if they can’t make it they must be lazy. What he simply ignored is that his father was a general in the South Vietnamese government and his mom graduated from college in Vietnam. So my point is that if you are from the upper class of a country, you bring that education/knowledge/confidence/intangible upper class life skills to the US.

It doesn’t matter how much we want to spend, it is not going to help the people in South Central LA and Compton.[/quote]
I know many Vietnamese immigrants who parents were not part of the upper class. Some where farmers, some were teachers, some were accountants, yet their kids did well in school and have good careers (ranging from engineers, to doctors, to optometrist, etc). Those parents came here with nothing but the clothes on their back and maybe a few dollar if they’re lucky. Their profession in the US is also very diverse, from hair stylist, to gardener, to electronic technician, to engineer. Few went above that in term of education, since most of them are already in their late 20s by the time they get here. They don’t have the luxury to be in school for 10+ years and rack up student loans. They have many mouths to feed (not just the mouths here in US, many send money back to Vietnam to feed their relatives). The common thread for many Vietnamese immigrants is they tell their kids to study hard and be more than what they have become. Hence, the 2nd generation are much more successful than their parents. So, just because your coworker have a dad that was a general doesn’t mean they all have parents from the upper class.

So, to say black/hispanics/native american don’t have the “education/knowledge/confidence/intangible upper class life skills to the US” is a total cop out. If you don’t compare between different races, then compare between those who wants to succeed and those who don’t care w/in the same race. Check out the KIPP charter schools: http://www.kipp.org/. [quote=KIPP]Every day, KIPP students across the nation are proving that demographics do not define destiny. Over 85 percent of our students are from low-income families and eligible for the federal free or reduced-price meals program, and 95 percent are African American or Latino. Nationally, more than 95 percent of KIPP middle school students have graduated high school, and more than 85 percent of KIPP alumni have gone on to college.[/quote]
Point is, it doesn’t matter what your parents did or does, it matters if the parents put an emphasis on education. Asians know that to advance, you need a good education and they push that upon their kids (even parents who do menial labor work).

I agree with your last statement that it doesn’t matter how much we spend, we can’t make kids who don’t want/care to succeed, succeed.

[an]

[quote=patientrenter]We won’t solve our education problems here in the US. Why? Because we are a heterogeneous society, complacent about vast segments of the population living in poverty and ignorance, and we respect doctors a lot more than teachers.[/quote]
Another interesting statistic that the segment brought up is the fact that 50% of our teachers place in the bottom 1/3 of the respective major in college. So, to expect the same kind of respect the teachers get in Finland, our teachers would have to be at the top of the respective area. The segment did say it’s harder to get into the teaching program in Finland than med school. So, only the best and brightest become teachers. Respect is earned. I’m sure our best teachers earn A LOT of respect here too.

What’s interesting about South Korea is that the government actually create a curfew to prevent people from studying too hard. Yet, people are still breaking the law to get that edge for their kids.

[an]

[quote=Diego Mamani]I see your point, AN. People should save more, but so many are buried by credit card debt and student loans… and this is by choice, I might add. If people didn’t throw their money away on silly gadgets and consumer items, they’d have a far better financial situation.

The latest TIME magazine issue has a sob story about how we’ve become a less socially mobile society. As an example, they give the case of a 24-year old schoolteacher who earns $24K a year, but has over $35K in student loans, and is therefore “forced” to live with her parents to make ends meet.

Teaching is a noble profession, but it shouldn’t be done at the expense of your financial wellbeing. In this particular case, incurring debt to pursue a teacher’s degree was a lousy investment. Had she been smarter about it, she would have gone to state college in her hometown, stayed with her parents (to save on room and board), and pursued a degree in business.

She could have zero debt, income in the $50K+ range (or substantially more), and savings. But she chose not to.[/quote]
I agree that most of the people who spend more than they bring in do so by choice. I’m just surprise so many people choose to go in debt.

WRT to the teacher story, if she really want to be a teacher, she could have easily stayed at home and go to one of the local public school, and work while she’s in college, she could have easily graduate debt free. This story reinforce the choice people make greatly affect their financial circumstances. This doesn’t mean one have to work in a profession you hate just for money. Money is not everything. However, you don’t have to get in big debt to be in the profession you love either.

[an]

[quote=XBoxBoy]Got a link to the whole show? I think the video on the link above is just a couple minute teaser.[/quote]
I can’t find any. They’re still airing the rerun right now (almost everyday). I DVR’d it. I assume they’ll put it on after they’re done with the rerun?

[an]

[quote=Diego Mamani][quote=AN]What surprises me even more is the $3662 median net worth. I have more money than that saved working during the summer in HS.[/quote] Not surprising at all. Some people have huge debts, and therefore have negative net worth. The $3.6K is only the midpoint: 50% of the people in that age group have higher net worth, and 50% have lower.[/quote]
I understand what net worth and median mean. But, I’m still surprised that many people are spending more than they make.

[an]

What surprises me even more is the $3662 median net worth. I have more money than that saved working during the summer in HS.

[an]

In 1984, the life expectancy is 71 for white men vs 75 today. How much does pension pay per year and what was the retirement age? People are living longer and longer every year.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005148.html

You’re right, $120k with pension is > than $170k w/out pension. However, what’s the ratio of people retiring with pension in 1984 vs today? I tried to find this data but can’t find anything. There are people today who retire with pension. It’s not like it’s completely disappear.

[an]

Based on the census data, CA isn’t that far off from other states. Here’s the data: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/census/historic/values.html

I think inflation in the 60s-80s affected price more than the actual state.
CA went from $15k in 1960 to $211k in 2000 while US as a while went from $11k to $119k. 14x vs 10x. Oregon actually saw a steeper rise than CA, going from $10k to $150k, that’s 15x vs 14x. Alaska saw an even steeper rise of 16x, going from $9k to $144k. Looking at this data make me doubtful that rising interest rate (due to inflation) will affect housing price inversely. Rates were in the teens in the 70s and 80s, yet look at what happen to nominal housing prices.

[an]

[quote=sdrealtor]Because it didnt! Thats the problem with relying on the information you see on some of these websites. I jsut checked the tax records for the 1999 sales price. It sold sold on 11/23/99 for $262,500. Thats less than 1/2 the most recent sales price. Mystery solved.[/quote]
Thanks for sorting it out. It’s not cheaper than 1999 price after all.

[an]

[quote=briansd1][quote=patientrenter] Home prices are a much higher multiple of the average young person’s pay than they were 40 years ago. We can’t sustain that home price pattern in the future, at least not with any fairness to the next generation of Americans.[/quote]

Except that houses have become bigger and more luxurious in the last 40 years.

Our expectations have changed.[/quote]
Wasn’t the median home size 40 years ago were around 1100-1300 sq-ft? Weren’t they 3/1 or 3/2 houses?

[an]

[quote=jstoesz]maybe I am more durable than some, but what is with Californians and weather. Every season has its highlights. Man I miss the bathwater summer lakes and the winter cross country skiing from your backdoor.

Freak…Christmas is approaching and it was 80 a couple days ago up here. I can’t get in the christmas spirit without some frigid temps…[/quote]
Maybe it’s not so much about durability but about what kind of weather you want/like. I like to snowboard, but I don’t want to go to work in the snow. I like the fact that I don’t need winter clothes and summer clothes. Year round, I don’t need to think about what to wear, I just need to pick what kind of jacket (if any) I put on top of my t-shirt and jeans when I go to work. I love it when I see my friends on FB in the east coast complain how cold it is or snowstorms while I sit in my 80 degrees weather watching the waves during Christmas. I have no problem getting into the Christmas mood in 80 degrees weather, but maybe that’s because I grew up here. I also HATE humidity. To some, SoCal weather might be boring but for me, it’s predictable and I like predictability.

[an]

[quote=jpinpb]898 Loma Valley sold for 585k, below 1999 pricing. They admittedly said it needs work, but still.[/quote]
Who said you can’t get 1999 price in Point Loma. Nice find. Now that’s what I call a darn good deal.

[an]

No :-). I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

[an]

[quote=markmax33]You can’t print anymore when you debase the currency and it becomes worthless. Austerity measures from the GOV can raise property taxes as has happened multiple times throughout history when GOVs get desperate.[/quote]
The Argentina Peso was pretty worthless and they seem to have no problem making it even more worthless. When did the government raised property taxes due to austerity?

[an]

[quote=SD Realtor]Personally I would feel very uncomfortable borrowing 75k from someone as a downpayment for a rental property. That is very nice of them. However I don’t like the way the numbers run. You have only 10k in cash? You guys make 145k which is awesome but why do you only have 10k in cash? Something is not adding up unless you have large investments somewhere else which is great if you do. Anyways, before I started making more property investments I would build up my cashpile for that rainy day in case something happened to that 145k/yr income flow. Then when I have 6 months to a years worth of savings socked away then perhaps invest. That is just me though and I am very risk averse. If you do wanna make a purchase maybe start small… you can always buy more!! Talk to a lender…[/quote]
I totally agree with this. I didn’t address this point earlier because it would go into too much detail about his personal finances. $10k is a little low to start thinking about investment property. I wouldn’t want to borrow the down payment either. If the money is a gift, then it’s a different story, but I wouldn’t do it with a loan. I would wait till I get enough down payment by myself. Keep that “line of credit” open as a emergency fund if things get tough for a lil while vs depleting it for a down payment. I would start out smaller as well. Maybe $100k-200k, or even sub-$100k.

[Author]

Posts