CD rates, stock market, housing (buying homes) food and staples

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clemencia2us
Posts: 11403
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:21 am

Re: CD rates, stock market, housing (buying homes) food and staples

Post by clemencia2us »

HappyDaze wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 9:16 am Logics, I so agree, especially the independence and self reliance part. I remember when I was without a car not being able to drive places for work and I was always nervous about getting sent someplace where a coworker wasn't also going - and tired of asking coworkers if I could ride with them - was kind of embarrassing.
For something like that - all you would have to do is buy them lunch or offer to fill up their vehicle with gas. I am sure they would like that.
clemencia2us
Posts: 11403
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:21 am

Re: CD rates, stock market, housing (buying homes) food and staples

Post by clemencia2us »

LogicsHere wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:52 am ? I'm really very surprised that anyone here would ask such a question. One requires a bit of empathy and/or compassion.

Public transportation doesn't come cheap in NJ/NY. Bus transportation is not only expensive but difficult to use as in NJ you have to take a minimum of 2 buses to get anywhere you want to go and a round-trip could end up costing in time over 2 hours not including the time spent at the place you went to. I don't know anyone who would be happy sitting on a bus wearing a mask for over an hour each time or risking COVID.

She has nothing outside of housework in a 400 sq ft studio to keep her busy so she goes out for food, household supplies, cat food etc.2 or 3 times a week to get out of her apartment. She also has family and friends who shouldn't be the ones who always have to make the trip to see her. The doctors under her medical plan are at least 1/2 hour away which would end up being a $50+ round trip by taxi because the bus system wouldn't work to get her where she needed to be.

Also and more importantly a car means independence and self reliance. And yes, it might be a bit more expensive but how can anyone ask that of ANYONE especially when that person has already lost so much --- a husband, income reduced to less than 1/3 of what it was, her home, all her furnishings etc, forced into public housing, the ability to have her grandson over regularly. The car was the only thing she had left! I wouldn't expect that or even THINK of asking that of any person regardless of who they were as it would be a bit much don't you think unless that person could no longer safely get around by themself.
I've never been to NY but my nephew lived there for several years. He didn't have a vehicle and never said anything about having issues getting around. But then he lived in NYC - produced off Broadway plays. So maybe it was different there.

I have a friend that lived in Santa Monica and she said she never needed a car until she moved to Texas.
HappyDaze
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Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Re: CD rates, stock market, housing (buying homes) food and staples

Post by HappyDaze »

clemencia2us wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 7:22 pm I've never been to NY but my nephew lived there for several years. He didn't have a vehicle and never said anything about having issues getting around. But then he lived in NYC - produced off Broadway plays. So maybe it was different there.

I have a friend that lived in Santa Monica and she said she never needed a car until she moved to Texas.
Clem, many parts of NY are very rural, with small towns, farming communities, etc. I live in a town of less than 10,000 people and the town I grew up in,about 10 miles from here, has less than 2,000 people. Public transportation in NYC is a given - it's everywhere, very accessible and not as expensive as it is in these small towns -if it even exists at all.
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

Charles M. Schultz
clemencia2us
Posts: 11403
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:21 am

Re: CD rates, stock market, housing (buying homes) food and staples

Post by clemencia2us »

HappyDaze wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 7:33 pm Clem, many parts of NY are very rural, with small towns, farming communities, etc. I live in a town of less than 10,000 people and the town I grew up in,about 10 miles from here, has less than 2,000 people. Public transportation in NYC is a given - it's everywhere, very accessible and not as expensive as it is in these small towns -if it even exists at all.
true much harder in rural communities.

We are lucky that our congressperson set up this small transit bus. They stop at the housing units, stores, post office, city hall and take the passengers to the "big" stores in the bigger town. Big grocery store and Walmart, the hospital and other clinics.
SandiSAHM
Posts: 2260
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:46 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: CD rates, stock market, housing (buying homes) food and staples

Post by SandiSAHM »

LogicsHere wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:52 am ? I'm really very surprised that anyone here would ask such a question. One requires a bit of empathy and/or compassion.

Public transportation doesn't come cheap in NJ/NY. Bus transportation is not only expensive but difficult to use as in NJ you have to take a minimum of 2 buses to get anywhere you want to go and a round-trip could end up costing in time over 2 hours not including the time spent at the place you went to. I don't know anyone who would be happy sitting on a bus wearing a mask for over an hour each time or risking COVID.

She has nothing outside of housework in a 400 sq ft studio to keep her busy so she goes out for food, household supplies, cat food etc.2 or 3 times a week to get out of her apartment. She also has family and friends who shouldn't be the ones who always have to make the trip to see her. The doctors under her medical plan are at least 1/2 hour away which would end up being a $50+ round trip by taxi because the bus system wouldn't work to get her where she needed to be.

Also and more importantly a car means independence and self reliance. And yes, it might be a bit more expensive but how can anyone ask that of ANYONE especially when that person has already lost so much --- a husband, income reduced to less than 1/3 of what it was, her home, all her furnishings etc, forced into public housing, the ability to have her grandson over regularly. The car was the only thing she had left! I wouldn't expect that or even THINK of asking that of any person regardless of who they were as it would be a bit much don't you think unless that person could no longer safely get around by themself.
I'm sorry if the question was poorly phrased; it wasn't a lack of empathy or compassion, it was simple curiosity born of 1) being told it's cheaper to Uber than to own, by folks all in cities in the northeast and in Europe, and of a short time spent in NYC and in NJ eons ago (1988-1992) when public transportation was cheap. That, and I really had zero fun in the traffic in the area - if I had to live there I'd love to leave the driving to someone else. The friend who lived in Queens then didn't get that we 'had' to have one - but at the time, ex-H and I lived in smaller-town NC, a place just not meant for walking or bicycling anywhere. Walkability score of 24, even lower outside city limits.

My former Aunts-In-Law lived in Newark, NJ without cars - granted that was in the 1970s to 2000ish, before one moved to Tom's River and her husband bought a car; they have since switched over (health issues that impact driving) and rely completely on acquaintances who do drive and on transportation provided by some kind of van service, my former MIL, who lives in the southeast and also does not drive (her hubby passed and when she moved to be near a child she sold her car), is a little fuzzy on how they worked out the van service. The one still in Newark is in her 80s and is better with tech than I am, she has the Uber app and uses it all the time. Kind of scares me given her age, but she says she loves it, so more power to her. The older I get the less I want anything to do with a car.

If owning works better for your Sis, I hope she finds a vehicle that suits her. Maybe by the time she's ready to buy the market will have calmed down a little.
SandiSAHM
Posts: 2260
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:46 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: CD rates, stock market, housing (buying homes) food and staples

Post by SandiSAHM »

Quilter51 wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 5:25 pm I could live without a car now if I had to, and will manage when Im eighty and the kids take the keys away, lol.

But I live in a community that has a bus to go to stores, and I am less than ten minutes from ost of my day to day things (church and crafting and the square where there are restaurants) so I could take an Uber. I also live where every store delivers.

But it would not be cheaper than owning a car with full insurance, even a paid off car.
My Mom is 84 and still drives - didn't learn 'til she was in her 40s. Lives in a big military town, but works her appointments and stuff in during "light" traffic. Still scares me. Her long-term plan is to live here and have me chauffeur her (hopefully I'll still be able to drive then, when my eye doc says 'no,' I'll give it up completely). Then I guess she and I will have to Uber together!
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