DISQUS

This type of reporting will become more and more important. Old media is being consolidated into a few monolithic entities with corrupting ties to companies and governments, while governments and companies are putting massive resources behind controlling information. Orwell was just a little early.

Your post was clear. At no point did I think this was a scientific sample. Nor did I assume it was anything, but a semi-educated guess.

No way this makes the majority of people become better at personal finance. The pain is still a long way off for some people. However, if this does get worse and last longer, and there are indicators the "green shoots" are dying, it has the possibility of at least teaching the generations currently alive. Though, I wouldn't bet on it.

Also, unlike you I don't have much faith in humanity, so we have a better chance than I would prefer of finding a new dark age.

@ Wealth Squad and Lynn
Gaming the system like this got us in the current mess. I'm not saying that using an LLC/S Corp is as bad as what a lot of people were doing, but it is still a form of fraud.

It's sad the bankers either don't realize this or they just turn a blind eye to the practice. We haven't learned anything.

That being said, I do agree that it is unfair many banks treat the self-employed and the employee differently concerning loans. However, as the old saying goes, "two wrongs don't make a right."

I couldn't agree more. Corporations are abusing the "Green" label and, as usual, the idiotic consumer doesn't actually try to determine if it's really green. They just buy it, as the label makes them think they are doing their part.

That being said, it isn't terrible that the awarness level has been raised and some real change has a chance of happening over the next decade. It took us a while to become voracius consumers. It will take us a while to drop back to reasonable consumers, if we actually do.

Not that you said it directly, but I agree the majority of people are not good at determining risk. However, I don't agree with:

"But you have to understand your tolerance for risk..."

I'm not disagreeing with the need to understand our tolerance, but with the idea that understanding our tolerance is very important. The idea of defining our tolerance has been preached ad nauseam, but it's useless because no one has any idea how to actually judge risk. A good example is flying vs. driving. Every bit of evidence proves that flying is safer, but large numbers of people are still scared to fly.

The risk tolerance thing is just another way for people selling financial products to ease people's fears without actually providing any real value.

Sorry, I know this was barely anything in your post, but it jumped out at me.

"Mortgage for $100,000, but the house is worth $105,000 - you aren't in debt - you have $5000 in net worth."

Quick calculations like this get us in trouble, as they aren't the true number. You would have to factor in property taxes, interest payments, interest tax deductions, potential tax on profits from the house (first timers need not worry), the cost of rent, ROI on difference in rent and mortgage payments (if any), real estate agents cut, cost of paperwork for sale, home improvement costs, etc., to get the real number.

Most people don't account for all the variables, so they don't know the true cost of anything. Some times all these variables make buying a house or getting an education the right choice. Other times, not so much.

"The US tax code favors people who earn less from income and earn more from income-generating assets - it’s that simple."

So, true. Buffett always points out that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does, because he gets all of his money from income producing investments and she gets her's from a salary.

Wow! The real estate industry has really done their job. Even after this real estate disaster, which is almost national, people are still parroting all the "approved" real estate talking points. There is no one hard and fast rule for renting or buying. It amazes me how people are willing to make the biggest purchase of their lives based on a few platitudes put forth by the very people who make money off of selling them a product. Run the real numbers and most of you would be surprised by how often renting is better financially.

Yep, many of the same issues. The decisions that always trip me up are the ones you can't find an answer to through hard analysis. I don't like making a decision without an obvious answer after I analyze the situation.

I always enjoy your articles about life. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the travel articles, just that I usually don't have much to add to those. Then again, I'm not adding much here am I.

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We are definitely experiencing a fundamental change. So much wealth had been created in our mega cities (NYC, DC, London, etc.) that living costs have gotten out of control. At some point the cheaper cities (Pittsburgh, etc.) would seem to be able to make a strong case as growth areas. In Pittsburgh $250k buys you an awesome house. In DC where I currently live $250k barely buys you a 1 bedroom condo. Plus, Pittsburgh still has a ton of good places for a cheap beer. Not so much in DC. Sure, Pittsburgh isn't as "happening" as NYC or DC, but you have a much better chance of becoming very financially stable in Pittsburgh than the mega cities. I used Pittsburgh, as I'm very familiar with the city.

This is flat out awesome. CNBC is just entertainment for 23.5 hours a day. The other .5 hours it provides a few tidbits through good interviews or guests. Of course, Larry Kudlow probably nullifies the limited amount of good information CNBC provides.

I have to disagree a little on this one. I know smart people who are risk takers and I know stupid people who aren't. Sure, intelligence isn't the end all be all of gaining wealth, but it helps. It's kind of like speed in sports. For example, the fastest guy on my college football team never started, but the next 9 fastest did. Speed isn't the ultimate determining factor on the field, but it sure helps.

Sweet. I love life changing events, as they seem to produce more in the end than merely sloging through the same routine for 10-20 years.

I look at it a bit differently. I don't think wealthy people have an obligation to help those in need. I do think wealthy people have an obligation to make society better. This maybe helping the needy, but it maybe funding college level courses at middle class high school. Those people, being middle class, aren't needy, but it may very well benefit society as a whole. Another example would be Andrew Carnegie's library system, which benefits everyone.

I also think the people that give to charities need to be far more selective. There are so many inefficient and worthless charities, that contributers need to start holding them accountable and not just automatically giving $50 every year.

Enjoyed the article. This is all so simple and easy to see, yet so hard to do. Especailly, hard to do with all the fear out there right now, though I have always found identifying what you want to be the hardest part.

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The amazing thing is that those executives who destroyed Wall Street jobs and their share of the economy are still in charge. It just shows how corrupt we have become as a nation, as the boards refuse to do their jobs.

Not shocking at all. I grew up in western Pennsylvania. Half of the western side of the state looks like that, along with good portions of Ohio. It has looked like that for 20 years...this isn't new.

Curmudgeon is dead on. The only ones left are old people and the young, with no real choices or at least believe they have no real choices.

Now with the auto industry toast, and it is, all of Ohio and Detroit will look this way. Essentially, there will be almost two entire states in this condition. This will happen in other parts of the country and eventually it will get bad enough that it will be cheaper to make stuff in the U.S. again.

The cost of labor world wide is equalizing during this depression. China and India won't be the only ones with millions of workers at subsistance wages.

I'm all for a voting test. It doesn't even have to be difficult. It can be current president, current 2 senators, find the U.S. on a globe, find the countries we are at war with on a globe (hopefully that one isn't on most tests), etc.

However, the test doesn't really do much good until the term "elite" is restored to it's proper place, which would then probably make the test unnecessary. When education and intelligence (not mutually inclusive) are looked down upon, one test can't solve anything.

One of the biggest problems we have right now is that the intelligent and stupid are grouped and seperated by society. 30 years ago intelligent people did all types of work and generally stayed close to home. Now most, but not all, intelligent people don't do construction, manufacturing, etc. These intelligent people probably provided a dissenting view in the same social class. Thus, the intelligent person's view would be more respected, as it wouldn't seem to come from an "elite."

On top of that the majority of intelligent people leave small and medium sized towns for cities. The majority of people leaving those towns for the cities are on the intelligent side of the bell curve. Thus, small town America is seeing a brain drain, so they see anyone of intelligence as an "elite."

I am by no means saying manual labor and small towns only have stupid people. I am only saying that they have fewer smart/intelligent people than they had 30-50 years ago. Thus, we get the current "elite" definition, as this group of people has less exposure to intelligent thought and feels more isolated than before.

I grew up in a family with almost all manual laborers and in a small town, so this isn't the opinion of someone who grew up "elite."

I really enjoyed this post, as I have experienced much the same situation...including the degree change to an accounting focus. Damn that profession is soul sucking boring. Luckily I'm not doing it anymore, though I'm not quite at my dream profession yet.

I couldn't disagree with Writer's Coin more. No one who actually hated their job thinks this way. I know everyone says they hate their jobs, but the majority of people don't. They hate aspects of their job or hate what happened that day on the job, but most are ok with the whole package. Of course, I think these people are lemmings, as they rarely have any great dream to follow. They might be ok with an epitaph stating, "here lies a good accountant", but I'm not. How horrible would that be?

I must admit that sounds awesome. Even sleeping on your pack at the bus station. Though, it would be more than a little out of character, I really need to take an unplanned trip like this.

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"And yes, the world is overpopulated, but it's overpopulated by dumb people. This world needs children by smart, intelligent, educated, good, honest people. And unfortunately, those intelligent, educated and good people don't want to have any children, or have one or two, instead of 15 ;o)"

I couldn't agree more, but our society isn't set up for those people (smart, educated, etc.) to have children. For instance, my sister is a special ed teacher and she knows of a fair number of families who have 4 or more children, and purposefully prevent these kids from learning, in order to have them qualify as special needs. This gets them more government money. The only way to fix this is through drastic measures that no one is willing to do.

We all might be better off if everyone had fewer kids. The recent run-up in commodity prices suggests population levels maybe too high.

Also, cost isn't the only issue. Visit China or India and then ask yourself if you need kids. Humanity is oppressive in those countries.

The reports about rebels or most cases bandits in the Darien Gap are valid. Unfortunately, every alternative seems to have some type of drawback. I guess Panama and Colombia believe in the old saying, "fences make good neighbors."

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