Does anyone else see an economic crash coming?

[Magpie]

I don't know how long it will last, but it is coming. The Greater Depression.

Maybe we are in it and we don't realise? Depressions will look 'different' as society changes perhaps? It used to be obvious when people were poor; now its easier to cover it up. At least here anyway.

 

[zoomzoom]

How does the average person get $100K to invest in a mutual fund?

The average person doesn't start with $100K.
I know we're all getting old but if you start early, with only a nominal amount, it adds up over the years.

Here's a hypothetical example. Start with $1000 and assume an annual return of 15%. That return is doable but obviously variable year-over-year.

Left column is year, right column is dollar value after the return and the return is rolled back in for the subsequent year.
In 4 years, your money almost doubles.
In 26 years, your $1000 is worth over $100,000.
In 30 years, you have almost a quarter million.

1​	1150​
2​	1380​
3​	1656​
4​	1987​
5​	2385​
6​	2862​
7​	3434​
8​	4121​
9​	4945​
10​	5934​
11​	7120​
12​	8545​
13​	10254​
14​	12304​
15​	14765​
16​	17718​
17​	21262​
18​	25514​
19​	30617​
20​	36740​
21​	44088​
22​	52906​
23​	63487​
24​	76184​
25​	91421​
26​	109706​
27​	131647​
28​	157976​
29​	189571​
30​	227486​

​

 

[Quark]

Maybe we are in it and we don't realise? Depressions will look 'different' as society changes perhaps? It used to be obvious when people were poor; now its easier to cover it up. At least here anyway.

We are in a depression. And when the music stops there are not going to be enough chairs and the empire collapses and everything with it.

 

[Quark]

I once explained Credit Cards to someone like this. It's like having a rich uncle & you get to decide if he is going to leave you money or leave you bills to pay. Properly used, credit cards are great. Improperly used & they will ruin you (like your friend). I look at them as saving me time & money. I save time by charging everything I buy, no writing of a bunch of checks, No running to the bank for money, just charge it. By doing that I save my time & I get to use someone else's money for around 30 days for FREE. A short term loan that I don't pay interest on. And as the cherry on top I make (rewards credit card) for every dollar I spend I get a penny back. A penny isn't much BUT if it's on every single dollar you spend it adds up. I literally have no reoccurring bills that don't go on my credit card & I write one check a month to pay it off.

So why do cc companies pay 1% back? It's simple, some people can not handle cc's wisely. They do exactly what your friend did. And those people pay a LOT of interest over their lifetimes. If a person falls into that category they should never ever use credit cards.

I found that if I carry cash I will spend it. Two bucks for a coke, hey I'm thirsty & how about a candy bar to go with it? Five bucks gone for nothing of value. I just realized that I "blew" cash when I carried it so for 30 year I almost never had more than 3 dollars in my wallet. Now days it doesn't matter that much so I might have a 20 in there.

There are no free lunches. You are paying one way or another.