Saving Money as Prices Increase

[lman]

And so it starts.

Goldman Sachs plans to cut thousands of workers. Here are the other major US companies that have made cuts in 2022, from Amazon to Twitter.

Goldman Sachs has become the latest major company with plans to slash its headcount as business growth slows and costs increase.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Jstpssng]

Hamburger, fries and large iced tea are ten bucks here now.
I go wow a lot...

at a time my retirement account is down almost 20 percent this year. 18. A correction for sure.
So my mental fun money has pretty much disappeared. Small trips, enjoy photography which doesn't cost anything anymore once you have the camera.
need to find some hobbies that don't cost much.

I help mow the large graveyard at our 400 year old church twice a month, and three cans of gas doing that is really adding up. Need to keep track of it better since it's charity; gas is no longer
an "incidental". It's a lot of money now.

I’m sorry to hear that. You had a pretty good thread a while back about your traveling, and at one time you were talking about going on another.

 

[newbury]

at a time my retirement account is down almost 20 percent this year. 18. A correction for sure.
So my mental fun money has pretty much disappeared. Small trips, enjoy photography which doesn't cost anything anymore once you have the camera.
need to find some hobbies that don't cost much.

But how much is it up from say when you joined TBN?
The NASDAQ was at about 4,000, now its at about 12,000.

 

[Jstpssng]

But how much is it up from say when you joined TBN?
The NASDAQ was at about 4,000, now its at about 12,000.

That's a sore spot with me. While the market was roaring, I somehow put some of my 401k into a nonperforming fund, so that all the profits from the other funds I was in were sucked in by that black hole. When I finally realized it and adjusted, the stock market started heading south. I didn't realize that my meager savings could have such a detrimental affect on the world.

 

[WM75Guy]

The recent drop in the stock market has resulted in loss of value of investments. One example is I started a 401K in 2018 with the new company that bought us out. On a cost basis with my contributions, company match, and dividends it should have $46,000 in it. Current value is $33,000. This year alone has a negative 30% rate of return. This is with mutual funds that have a historic 15%-20% 5yr and 10yr rate of return. May have to reconsider my retirement date which was coming up fast.

 

[SouthernSky]

My current employer Fidelity 401k account was doing good last year with mostly stocks. Around January I got a wild hair that the market was going to change so I changed to 50% bonds, 50% stocks.

Apparently that wasn’t a big enough move. I’ve lost 34% YTD. If I move everything now into a stable fund, it will reduce further losses but there is little chance to regain what I’ve already lost, about five years worth of gains.

Same thing with my Vanguard, LPL, and ETrade Roths. They have all taken a dump.

 

[Oaktree]

Sorry to be a contrarian, but I don't think future mechanics will have an easy time of it. I think it might be death by a thousand cuts. My '92 had two computers on it (ECU, and ABS), plus a stereo, and everything else was a switch, a few wires, connectors and bulbs (not counting body parts or engine parts). The dash was mechanical, tach & speedo. A car today can have over thirty computers, not to mention all of the custom gizmos for windows, air flow...
.....

I have a car that if the infotainment unit freezes or dies, the vehicle will not function (supposedly to prevent radio thefts, but I am not buying that. I think it is to prevent aftermarket upgrades.)

No argument there. Independent mechanics have a hard enough time of it now, let alone if/when EVs become mainstream. You'll be completely at the mercy of the dealer then.
For a while, the increased computerization of vehicles was a good thing...they ran better and cleaner than in the old days without being needlessly complicated. And don't even get me started on the telematics that most vehicles have these days.

I don't own anything new enough to have "infotainment" systems in them, I kind of dread the day I'll need to get one.

 

[Oaktree]

The automotive related chip shortage was brought about by the automakers themselves with their lowest bid, JIT philosophy. You cannot have it both ways, timely delivery and dirt cheap too.

I would have thought they had learned with the air bag fiasco and Takata, but they didn't.

I retired from the automotive sector and take my word for it, all automakers want it as cheap as possible and as fast as possible so they can make maximum profit per unit sold.

With present supply chain economics, that don't play well today and they are finding that out, the hard way.

I maintained production line equipment in the 80s. Those were the days when everyone believed that the Japanese way was the way to go, and that included JIT. And it does work great until it doesn't.
The automotive chip shortage was more of a perfect storm...a whole bunch of things coming together.

My current employer Fidelity 401k account was doing good last year with mostly stocks. Around January I got a wild hair that the market was going to change so I changed to 50% bonds, 50% stocks.

Apparently that wasn’t a big enough move. I’ve lost 34% YTD. If I move everything now into a stable fund, it will reduce further losses but there is little chance to regain what I’ve already lost, about five years worth of gains.

Same thing with my Vanguard, LPL, and ETrade Roths. They have all taken a dump.

Mine isn't down quite as much as yours, but this year there haven't been any safe harbors. Usually bonds go up when stocks go down (and vice versa), but both are down this year. With inflation pushing 10%, even stuffing it in the mattress is a losing game.

And so it starts.

Goldman Sachs plans to cut thousands of workers. Here are the other major US companies that have made cuts in 2022, from Amazon to Twitter.

Goldman Sachs has become the latest major company with plans to slash its headcount as business growth slows and costs increase.

www.businessinsider.com

Many of those were bubbles just waiting to burst. Pelotron was a fad, cryptocurrencies were never a safe bet and today's real estate prices are unsustainable.
Let's hope that solid companies that actually produce a necessary product bounce back.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

The recent drop in the stock market has resulted in loss of value of investments. One example is I started a 401K in 2018 with the new company that bought us out. On a cost basis with my contributions, company match, and dividends it should have $46,000 in it. Current value is $33,000. This year alone has a negative 30% rate of return. This is with mutual funds that have a historic 15%-20% 5yr and 10yr rate of return. May have to reconsider my retirement date which was coming up fast.

Just because you retire, it doesn't mean you have to use that money, unless you have to use that money...
Give it time to rebound if you can...

 

[newbury]

I maintained production line equipment in the 80s. Those were the days when everyone believed that the Japanese way was the way to go, and that included JIT. And it does work great until it doesn't.
The automotive chip shortage was more of a perfect storm...a whole bunch of things coming together.

You ain't seen nothing yet.
Chipmakers brace for more trouble as Russia limits exports of rare gases