You represent a perspective that is lost on too many people today. My house is of a later vintage, built in 1987, bought by us in 1988 from original owner, for $116K (Piedmont, NC). It had 2200 square feet of heated space (now, with half of basement finished, a little over 2500 squre feet). We took out a 15 year fixed rate loan, refinanced once with another 15 year loan and paid it off early, a few years ago.
We have resisted the urge (not really THAT much of an urge) to “upgrade” to a more expensive home, and we don’t regret it at all. Our income has grown pretty well over the years, but we are just putting money away, and raising boy/girl twins, now almost 16 years old, waiting for college expenses to hit. We will weather that storm and then perhaps slow down a bit. I am 50, wife is 46. We don’t have expensive tastes. We save for things we want rather than buy on credit. We usually buy one step below “cutting edge” technology on things, saving good money there (and “cutting edge” is often not cutting edge any more by the time you get the item home).
I fear for our kids, who I hope have been watching how we live and will emulate it. They are savers, not spenders, and that makes us proud.
I admire your spirit and your perspective. I wish more would see its wisdom. Some may, soon, by choice or otherwise.
By Alistair Barr, MarketWatch
Last update: 5:33 p.m. EST Nov. 29, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Florida halted withdrawals from a $15 billion local-government fund Thursday after concerns over losses related to subprime mortgages prompted investors to pull roughly $10 billion out of the fund in recent weeks.
The State Board of Administration met earlier Thursday and voted to immediately freeze withdrawals, spokesman Michael McCauley said.
The decision shows how far this year's subprime-fueled credit crisis has spread. Florida's Local Government Investment Pool, which had more than $27 billion in assets at the end of September, is like a money-market fund that's supposed to invest in ultrasafe assets to provide participants with a secure place to stash spare cash. But even these types of funds have been hit by the widening crunch.
"It's spreading into areas that people didn't expect and this is a good example," Richard Larkin, a municipal bond expert at JB Hanauer & Co., said.
There will likely be more state funds in similar predicaments because they use similar investment guidelines, Larkin and others said.