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Car Mission Accomplished

July 24th, 2012 at 04:57 pm

DH purchased his car last night. Please don't ask me to divulge the kind of car as it's more suitable for someone 40 years older. But despite some last-minute wrangling, we managed to escape for just over $4000. Since he only drives the car to the bus stop and on Saturday errands, I was hoping to pay less. But so many of the used cars we saw were either priced much higher and had mileage over 150K. The mechanic checked it out, and it's in very good shape. It'll need new rear struts sometime, but that can wait until fall.

I'm still trawling the house for more garage sale items, but paused to read this very depressing article (another one?) on retirement. It's here if anyone feels too cheery today: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/opinion/sunday/our-ridiculous-approach-to-retirement.html?_r=1

7 Responses to “Car Mission Accomplished”

  1. snafu Says:
    1343147325

    Done is good, one less thing to fret about. So many used cars were removed/scrapped during the Cash for Clunkers program, it made the remaining more expensive.

  2. CB in the City Says:
    1343147912

    I read that depressing article yesterday, too. Just when I was, once again, trying to forecast what my meager living in retirement will be.

    I do feel somewhat comforted that I am quite used to the frugal life and my definition of "comfortable" is probably quite different from that of most people.

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    1343147971

    Glad you got the car deal done. Now to move forward!

  4. MonkeyMama Says:
    1343161848

    Congrats on Mission Accomplished.

    Being able to live on less seems to be as good a measure as any when it comes to retirement prepararion. I keep noticing that said more and more, and *really* see it with our folks. The thing is the more you save the more you have to fall back on AND the less you need to live on. A pretty huge double whammy. In addition, if you aren't depleting your nest egg heavily and off the bat, then it will still grow substantially during your early (all?) years of retirement. I am not sure if telling people they need $2 million to retire is really useful. {Beyond scaring people to save what they should be saving in the first place}.

    Good article though - it has some great points (how hard it is to find work with age, and what a money drain the financial industry is on the unsuspecting).

  5. frugaltexan75 Says:
    1343170136

    I bet that must be a big relief to have the car search done and over with!

  6. My English Castle Says:
    1343189543

    Thanks for your cheerfulness about the car. It seemed like it shouldn't be as stressful as it was, but DH was very stressed. Tonight he's like a kid with a new toy, programming the garage door opener, trawling the manual etc. He loves it.

  7. patientsaver Says:
    1344173659

    Great article. I especially liked this part, toward the end:

    "You don’t like mandates? Get real. Just as a voluntary Social Security system would have been a disaster, a voluntary retirement account plan is a disaster.

    It is now more than 30 years since the 401(k)/Individual Retirement Account model appeared on the scene. This do-it-yourself pension system has failed. It has failed because it expects individuals without investment expertise to reap the same results as professional investors and money managers. What results would you expect if you were asked to pull your own teeth or do your own electrical wiring?"

    I too often heare people say well, if i don't have enough money to retire on, i'll just keep working. Take it from me, who's been looking since 2009...it ain't all that easy. What makes you think an employer will want to hire someone in their 60s or 70s anyway? perhaps it will happen when the current supply and demand of jobs vs. job-seekers gets up-ended. One can only hope.

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