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haha, reminds me of the saying "50% of people are below average"
so 50% of households make $75,000 or more.
It's not so much what one makes, but what the local cost of living is. All else equal, 75K will go a LOT further in West Virginia, Arkansas, or Mississippi than in New York City, San Francisco, or Alaska/Hawaii.
When you are from Appalachia like I am, and you visit there routinely like I do you see the reality of what most Americans deal with in their lives. Way more people in this country are like that then are like us. The median income in the US is $37,500 a year, so $300 a month is 10% of the average gross monthly income in the US.
Here's another chart again from Statista (like I said, not fly by night). 50% iof households in the US don't make $75,000:
$300 a month is an amount of money of consequence for a family probably up until $150,000 a year in income, if not more depending on where they live and the size of their family, so that is nearly 80% oif families.
Yes, agreed. We are all kind of in a bubble, most of us have means. Some here have TONS of money. And I know. I really feel for people with little to no means, standing at the bus stop as I whiz by in a nice car. It about breaks my heart when I see a person in their late 70s working retail..... They're at Walmart, plenty of them. I could not imagine at that age waiting on a Wal Mart paycheck.
and more importantly, the chart DOESN'T SAY "fuel economy is the #1 concern'", it says that a bigger percentage of people rated it as 'especially important' vs other factors, and even then only 56% rated it especially important which means 44% didn't rate is as especially important.
56% of people is a majority of people...and its the factor that people rated as being especially important the most. Unquestionably this data shows that for a majority of car buyers fuel economy is very important.
i've had plenty of experiences and travel, and i've spent plenty on 'stuff'. both are of value to me. certainly some experiences are unforgettable, but certain stuff has enriched my life over and over. so i don't see it as an either / or.
I said if you have to choose between the two. Not that you must choose between the two. If you have to choose between buying stuff and paying for experiences, my advice would be to pay for the experiences. Luckily I and many of us here don't have to choose.
1) not everyone has the time or resources to go all the places they'd like to, and some travel video on youtube can give a real taste of a place, especially since so many vloggers take the video exactly as they experience it, not some slick packaged piece. so sure if you want to see the great wall of china, and can do it, go for it, but for someone who will never be able to go, watching videos of it is better than nothing.
Better than nothing, but not as good as going for real.
3) many virtual experiences are BETTER than the real thing. no lines to wait in, no bad weather if not interested in that, no going to a place and there's no northern lights you were desperate to see, and vantage points you CANNOT experience, like from drones for example.
I don't agree. I like real stuff and want to experience things myself for real.
not if you fall off the mountain, get eaten by a bear, or attacked by ants, etc. LOL
Things worth doing have risks.
who are you kidding that you don't have an experience every time you drive that s580?
Not a life changing experience no, its a nice thing that I enjoy but if having it meant I couldn't take my kids on vacation etc I would choose taking my kids on vacation.
glad it's meaningful for you, but i can honestly say that pretty much all concerts i've been to have been a let down. i also found out recently that even the revered don henley from the eagles has been lip synching for years so that 'perfect' concert i went to was fake. and live theater does nothing for me.
yeah, coughing, bad breath, other 'emissions', covid, being kicked from behind, all wonderful experiences.
Lets be honest, you're an extremely cynical person...I would suggest to others that they resist being cynical like that.
good for you, but doesn't mean only your way is 'right'.
I stand by the advice that choosing life experiences over material things is the better choice.
sure but again, not everyone can afford to do that. plus you go to the ultimate fake experience (disney) every year. but i won't say i feel sorry for you.
If you can afford it, you should do it.
As for Disney, Disney is not fake. You feel that way because you don't have any children. Taking my children to Disney and experiencing that joy with them and through them and spending that time and making those memories with them is as real as life gets my friend. WAY more important than a car that will be enjoyed for a few years and then be discarded.
Originally Posted by bitkahuna
haha, reminds me of the saying "50% of people are below average"
so 50% of households make $75,000 or more.
Right, it’s the median...but even to hosueholds who make more than $75k a year $300 a month is still not a trivial amount of money. I make many times that a year and I really thought long and hard before I spent $360 a month more for my S580. I sell people 7 figure homes for a living who make lots and lots of money, and $300 a month matters to them too. That’s why people care about fuel economy.
Took the words right out of my mouth. Let's add a good V8 that we don't care doesn't do 0-60 in 3.5 seconds to round it out.
LS430 is like a fancy bordello inside with all the wood and leather hahaha. There's chrome in there too. It is just such an old car now, but man they did them right.
56% of people is a majority of people...and its the factor that people rated as being especially important the most. Unquestionably this data shows that for a majority of car buyers fuel economy is very important.
re: bold - very important to them sure, but it doesn't mean it's the #1 priority.
Lets be honest, you're an extremely cynical person...
let's be honest, you're very opinionated and i am actually very optimistic about many things. you see cynicism, i see realism.
I stand by the advice that choosing life experiences over material things is the better choice.
i just don't see the two as comparable or to be equated. most people don't have the means for fancy trips, fancy restaurants, etc. as we know, most people just get by and buy stuff they need or want and the want stuff doesn't cost the equivalent of most 'experiences' if you mean travel, etc.
but as i said, i do value experiences and going outside my comfort zone. i skydived in the canadian rockies. i've gotten deliberately lost hiking in the austrian alps. i did the olympic bobsled run at whistler. i've done scuba diving at night in the ocean with 4 foot long turtles 'flying' overhead. so many other things too long to mention that were memorable. but i like my stuff very much too and wouldn't trade one for the other ha. but i'm not loaded so compromises must be made.
re: bold - very important to them sure, but it doesn't mean it's the #1 priority.
let's be honest, you're very opinionated and i am actually very optimistic about many things. you see cynicism, i see realism.
i just don't see the two as comparable or to be equated. most people don't have the means for fancy trips, fancy restaurants, etc. as we know, most people just get by and buy stuff they need or want and the want stuff doesn't cost the equivalent of most 'experiences' if you mean travel, etc.
but as i said, i do value experiences and going outside my comfort zone. i skydived in the canadian rockies. i've gotten deliberately lost hiking in the austrian alps. i did the olympic bobsled run at whistler. i've done scuba diving at night in the ocean with 4 foot long turtles 'flying' overhead. so many other things too long to mention that were memorable. but i like my stuff very much too and wouldn't trade one for the other ha. but i'm not loaded so compromises must be made.
Have you experienced Alligator dodging? Pictures and the internet just couldn’t live up to the real thing.
Someone gets it.
Not everyone cares about the latest and greatest, very low on my list of priorities. Lol
Anytime!! I mean, I like a new S-Class and Lexus, lol. The list has shrunk by 90% though lol basically,
I do like some new tech... capless filler might be the best thing on the Yukon. Ambient lighting is awesome. I was wrong about these new transmissions, that said, the old ones were great too. I love getting in the Mercedes and having a 2nd gear wind to 75MPH.
It's really a significant difference, the feel of having a 5 speed automatic and then one with double the gears.
I grew up in a rural area and during the summers in college I would go back home and work at one of the local gas stations.
We had a LOT of people that would come in and prepay for $10 or $20 of gas at a time. Certainly not enough to fill a tank, and you could see looking at them that they were struggling financially. This was early 2010's so gas prices were in the $4+ range. They were basically putting 3-5 gallons of gas in.
Things haven't gotten any better since then in terms of COL(well gas is technically below $4/gallon, so that's better I guess). $2-300 a month is absolutely significant to most people. I can afford it easily but I still got pissed at my insurance agent when my premium jumped 40% this year.
I have a friend who drives a 2nd gen prius. Gets good fuel economy. And he still watches his driving because gas is expensive and he has essentially no discretionary income.
Anytime!! I mean, I like a new S-Class and Lexus, lol. The list has shrunk by 90% though lol basically,
I do like some new tech... capless filler might be the best thing on the Yukon. Ambient lighting is awesome. I was wrong about these new transmissions, that said, the old ones were great too. I love getting in the Mercedes and having a 2nd gear wind to 75MPH.
It's really a significant difference, the feel of having a 5 speed automatic and then one with double the gears.
The capless filler on my Fusion and F-150 spoiled me for 10 years. It felt awkward the first time I put gas in the BMW and realized it has a cap.
I can't understand that trend with people my age, it's just throwing money away vs at least trying to buy things that will retain something.....or buying actual assets etc. I guess they just can't afford nice enough stuff to think it's worth buying much or something, that or they live in such a painfully average place/conditions they want to escape? I've gotten way way way more enjoyment out of my cars than the equivalent vacations would have given me.
You can’t understand it but it’s reality with many younger people like yourself. Almost every young person I work with have been to many more different countries than I have. It is also way cheaper when you are young without kids so that helps them.
My parents didn’t have a lot of money and we could never take overseas vacations like i do. I went to Disney once when i was a kid and my kids have gone every year for the last 10-12 years.
To me it’s a balance now vs. when I was younger and my mentality was exactly like yours. I wanted more “stuff” that I enjoyed like cars which were important to me and if you flip that diagram of what is important to a car buyer today, that would be me but I probably should have been more balanced.
I’m trying to show a balance with my kids and we are in Italy now and it seems ridiculous to spend what I am spending on this trip. It’s more than the $30k car I’m going to lease for my son but I’m at the point where I’m making up for some lost ground. I also am about principles too though and when my daughter’s friend had an extra ticket to an Olivia Rodrigo concert for $1,000 I said no much to her disappointment because to me that price was ridiculous and I don’t believe in paying more just because I can. If she wants to go we can try and get tickets when they go on sale vs the secondary market.
As you get older “stuff” may not matter as much and you may balance out but that chart above is probably pretty representative of the general public these days. Heck there are many kids out there today that couldn’t care less about getting their license and just don’t care at all about cars.
let's be honest, you're very opinionated and i am actually very optimistic about many things. you see cynicism, i see realism.
I am for sure, as are you. You have described yourself to me as cynical though. Most people who are cynical think they are being realists, because their outlook on what is "real" is pretty negative.
I just don't see the two as comparable or to be equated. most people don't have the means for fancy trips, fancy restaurants, etc. as we know, most people just get by and buy stuff they need or want and the want stuff doesn't cost the equivalent of most 'experiences' if you mean travel, etc.
I'm not the one who equated them...thats what I was replying to. Striker said people his age spend money on experiences and not things (well he responded to that statement) and said he didn't understand why they did that when experiences have no value to him vs a tangible thing. Thats what I responded to by saying "if you have to chooce between experiences and stuff, you should choose experiences". You actually agree with me, you're just trying to argue with me lol
but as i said, i do value experiences and going outside my comfort zone. i skydived in the canadian rockies. i've gotten deliberately lost hiking in the austrian alps. i did the olympic bobsled run at whistler. i've done scuba diving at night in the ocean with 4 foot long turtles 'flying' overhead. so many other things too long to mention that were memorable. but i like my stuff very much too and wouldn't trade one for the other ha. but i'm not loaded so compromises must be made.
Again, nobody is saying you should compromise...I was saying If you have to choose between the two, you should choose experiences. I don't think thats a controversial statement and most people with life experience that I have known would give the same advice.
I’m trying to show a balance with my kids and we are in Italy now and it seems ridiculous to spend what I am spending on this trip. It’s more than the $30k car I’m going to lease for my son but I’m at the point where I’m making up for some lost ground. I also am about principles too though and when my daughter’s friend had an extra ticket to an Olivia Rodrigo concert for $1,000 I said no much to her disappointment because to me that price was ridiculous and I don’t believe in paying more just because I can. If she wants to go we can try and get tickets when they go on sale vs the secondary market.
Take the trip and don't worry about it. What a great experience to have with your kids while they want to and can go on a trip like that with you. That trip will mean much more to you and your family than that $30,000 possibly could.
07-30-24, 08:43 PM
