Keith Smith via PLUG-discuss said on Mon, 12 Dec 2022 17:55:05 -0700

>I agree, with one addition.  In the 70's and 80's my pay lagged 20% to 
>30% behind inflation. What might have been decent pay was mediocre...

I think that's because you were a kid in the 1970's, probably with less
professional jobs because of your age. My memory is I kept up with
inflation both as a corrosion engineer and as an audio technician,
although of course the move to audio technician came with a serious pay
cut (and a much better life and career path).

One thing though: Throughout most of the 1970's I had no car, hence no
gasoline and no purchasing of a car. Gas, oil, maintenance, repairs,
insurance, traffic tickets, and amortized purchase price add up to a
heck of a lot.

If you move to a city with great public transportation like Chicago,
give up your car, and use an old, beat up bicycle for shopping trips, I
think you can save $20K of post-tax income yearly, and do a lot to
shield yourself from the worst of inflation.

Chicago has pretty high rents (and a good job market), so you might
want to move to a less expensive city. In Urbana Illinois you can buy a
decent house for $100-$150K, it's small and flat so you can easily
ride your bicycle all over the place. You're near University of
Illinois, so healthcare is plentiful. Don't pay more than $150K for a
house because Illinois has obscenely high property taxes. 

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Autumn 2022 featured book: Thriving in Tough Times
http://www.troubleshooters.com/bookstore/thrive.htm
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