When I was a kid and a couple married, they saved and saved until they could actually afford a little house. We reckoned 2.5 times your salary minus debt (who had credit cards?) After all, there was insurance, the utility bills, a few sticks of furniture, maybe a fence in the yard if children were in the offing, and always save a little for a rainy day. Friends would come over on a designated Saturday, bring their kids to play in the yard, and they'd help you paint, fix the small plumbing problem, do a little re-wiring and you'd do the same for them. Even if you wanted to buy a home large enough to grow into, banks were so strict on their lending practices you couldn't over buy. Foreclosures occurred when a factory town somewhere out in the middle of Unheardofville shut down the main and perhaps only source of income. When someone purchased one of those foreclosed homes, you generally walked into years of equity. Forget that today. You're lucky if you pay "market value," whatever that has come to mean. People used to have goals - college for the kids, retirement, the odd vacation usually spent at a retired in-or-out-law's home in a neighboring state perhaps.
Twenty-five years ago, it was very common for your Dad to go to work and your Mom stayed home, even if there was only one child. If your Mom got a little part-time job while you and your siblings were at school, that money was gravy. Workers got perks called raises and sometimes a bonus annually, and not just a turkey. Inflation has deflated the housing balloon.
In 2009 we just about have to have dual income households. Since child labor laws have eclipsed the Dickensian England, there's no one else to help with the slack if Mom and Dad both lose their jobs. What does that mean for families now - something's got to give if everything is being thrown on the mortgage such as your retirement. Our parents retired on a decent monthly income that were the benefit of putting in your thirty years. A matching program made retirement idyllic, but if you didn't have that, you still had your pension. Persons did not live or borrow against the equity in their homes.
I'm not touching healthcare with a ten foot pole today, don't get me started.
There's No Place Like Home!
"To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like Home."
Melody by Henry Bishop
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