What are your economic cues?

My sister bought a house and SUV in 1999.

My sister bought a house and SUV in 2006.

My sister bought a house and SUV 11 months ago.

I AM NOT JOKING

It is like when it gets good enough for my sister to spend money it all goes to shit.

The price of a good cut of beef. I have seen if go from $5 – to $80. for a small beef roast. It was however an immaculate piece of beef. I should have bought it.

Our economy is in boom-bust cycles. Like @johnpowell‘s sister people spend when things appear good but that’s the exact opposite of what they should be doing. That’s the time to save and the time to spend is when everything goes to shit. The last two times that new housing construction was going like gangbusters here everything tanked a couple years later. They are throwing up houses left and right as we speak. My biggest cue is when people spend beyond their means without thinking twice on a large scale. This is happening now so…. I think housing is in a bubble again but not as bad as 2004–2008 when all the crazy loan people were running amok unchecked. People are running credit card balances they can’t afford, healthcare is skyrocketing and student loan debt can only be described as insanity. We have a loose cannon in office messing with trade….. all I can say is a big downturn seems probable.
Another cue is what can be found 2nd hand. Right now the wife and I are just racking up at estate and yard sales, craigslist, flea markets and thrift stores. When that starts to dry up and there is an increased number of people out junking who don’t just do it for fun I know things are getting bad for people and we’re on the cusp of hard times.

The price of a grilled cheese sandwich. One of the leading unsung economic indicators.

I’ve been noticing lots of adverts for schemes that pay your funeral costs recently.

Is that somehow an economic tell for You?

These schemes are aimed at people who have little or no savings or assets and their numbers seem to be increasing.

Okay, I get you.

When a graduating High school class of students came into the store and bragged that a major Credit card company set them up for their own credit cards! They were trying out the cards in the store I was working in at that time racking up whatever they wanted…a free for all!
Fast forward two years later and these Graduating students were in debt up to there ears
( fancy cars,toys,trips etc) and as they could not land the jobs that they thought that they would get…they took menial jobs such as dish washing etc to pay off their debts as soon as possible.
Fast forward another two years and they are still in debt with bigger purchases as youth are seen in today’s commercials with brand new cars and fancy trips and Townhouses or houses that they are now locked into for the next 40 years. They are locked into the system that hooked them into a lifelong debt cycle with high interest rates.
The odd one had been bailed out by his rich parents and got onto a suitable budget plan.
It is a bad day when Credit card companies have to scour schools for clients.

They were doing that forty years ago. I was sent bunches of cards when I started college. I threw every single one away.

I have good news. My sisters husband was laid off today. He kinda sort of works for Intel. Union Pipefitter.

They just bought a massive house 11 months ago. The house is so big they walled off doors so they wouldn’t need to heat/cool the unused parts of the house. They paid 450K for it. Now it is worth about 590K.

They are going to sell the monstrosity and rent a place. My sister might finally not end up underwater on a house she bought.

A pipefitter can afford a ½ million dollar house??? I know trades make a fair amount of money but that seems like it would take the majority of the income to pay the mortgage.

@johnpowell…..she sold each house before getting the next one, right? Or does she have 3 houses???