These posts all have the same issue, they completely don't understand how people lived. They see tv and the brady bunch all flying to hawaii and think everyone did that. I'm 51 and in my childhood eating out was rare, nobody flew anywhere on vacation and people drive the same cars for so long it's how you knew who was coming down the road. The only people I knew who "lived like rock stars" were single males who had no kids and had the boss job at the factory.
I agree on everything except for the age of the cars, the average age of which has been continually increasing and has never been higher. For passenger vehicles on the road, it’s currently 14.5 years and for light trucks, it’s 11.9. By 1990, a 1975 model would’ve been a rusted out piece of shit. I still can’t get over the notion of 100k miles as being some sort of red line beyond which there exists a no man’s land filled with breakdowns and expensive repair bills. Meanwhile, everybody else is out here not batting an eye at used cars w 80k miles.
But to your original point, interest rates in the 80’s were bananas. Imagine buying a house at 17%.
I bought my first house in 1982 at $77k with a 16% mortgage and $1050/mnth payment including taxes and insurance. I was making $12/hr, wife was making like $5-$6. So $2700/mnth gross
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u/big-williestyle 18h ago edited 18h ago
These posts all have the same issue, they completely don't understand how people lived. They see tv and the brady bunch all flying to hawaii and think everyone did that. I'm 51 and in my childhood eating out was rare, nobody flew anywhere on vacation and people drive the same cars for so long it's how you knew who was coming down the road. The only people I knew who "lived like rock stars" were single males who had no kids and had the boss job at the factory.