Was working at a bank at the time. The Prime Rate was above 18% for months and topped at 21%!
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Back then, I seem to recall, you could get 10% on the then-new money market accounts at a bank.
I could have bought a 4 story Victorian, overlooking Port Townsend Bay with views of Puget Sound, the Cascades and Olympic Mountains for $1,500. A few years later, it sold for $1 million.
1981 - I was 30. Working at a hospital in Baltimore County.
$20.00 an hour - I was doing ok.
Got married that year.