[Mjxhnapi]

WASHINGTON - The net worth of U.S. households climbed to a record high in the final quarter of last year, boosted mostly by gains on stocks, the
Federal Reserve reported Thursday.

Net worth — the difference between households' total assets, such as houses and bank accounts, and their total liabilities, such as mortgages and credit card debt, totaled $55.6 trillion in the October-to-December quarter.

That marked a 2.5 percent growth rate from the third quarter, the previous quarterly record high. Stocks gains helped fuel the increase in net worth, although real-estate gains played a role, too.

Net worth of U.S. households skyrockets - Yahoo! News It must be that "worst economy since the Great Depression" we keep hearing about.

[RooldpalApata]

Negative savings rate could bring recession -- economists - Dec. 21, 2006

[RooldpalApata]

Point is for every story you post like that I can counter with something along the opposite line.

[SypeKifef]

yes its kinda cool.. my parents bought thier house 4 yrs ago, now it almost doubled in value. they essentially paid half price for a house. its still going up in value but not as fast as it was before.. damn it was crazy. i say they should sell thier house and buy a new one.. and keep doing it over and over.. soon they would be millionares living in some huge mansion.

[SmuffNuSMaxqh]

In the last six years, my annual income has almost quadrupled. Prior to that, I was in the military, which only ever saw very modest pay increases. My wife, though, saw here annual income more than triple between 1991 and 2000.

We bought our house, about 20 miles outside of San Diego, in 1999 for $198,500.00. It appraises now at $545,000.00.

I don't know, nor do I really care, why that all happened, but I'm glad it did...

[SypeKifef]

do you think this means that in the future people who dont have houses could never afford them tho?

[Kokomoxcvcv]

do you think this means that in the future people who dont have houses could never afford them tho?

definitely

[SmuffNuSMaxqh]

definitely

I disagree.

If you want something, you set the goal, and you work towards it. If you don't reach that goal, be prepared to take the lion's share of the blame yourself...

[Kokomoxcvcv]

$500,000 houses are out of reach for most Americans.

[SmuffNuSMaxqh]

$500,000 houses are out of reach for most Americans.

Well, perhaps most Americans need to strap in, buckle up, and work harder.

Sorry, but I refuse to lay the blame anywhere else than on the person who wants something, but isn't willing to work hard enough to get it...

[Alliopeti]

$500,000 houses are out of reach for most Americans.

They'll come down once the market slows.
Even though a home appraises at $500,000 doesn't mean it will sell for that.

Two years ago a friend purchased a home that was appraised at $250,000 (which is damn high for the area).....He paid $130,000 for it.

[Kokomoxcvcv]

Well, perhaps most Americans need to strap in, buckle up, and work harder.

Sorry, but I refuse to lay the blame anywhere else than on the person who wants something, but isn't willing to work hard enough to get it...

Most people work their asses off but don't get paid enough to buy a house.

[Alliopeti]

Well, perhaps most Americans need to strap in, buckle up, and work harder.

Sorry, but I refuse to lay the blame anywhere else than on the person who wants something, but isn't willing to work hard enough to get it...

AMEN to that.

Too many people these days want everything too fast and not to work for it.
18-25 year olds bitch because they can't make ends meet so they stay home or where ever, but they are driving new vehicles, tallking on cell phones, listening to Ipods and spending 100's of dollars on games and stuff.
Hell, I wish I had 1/3 of the stuff at 18 that these kids have today.

[Peterli]

do you think this means that in the future people who dont have houses could never afford them tho?

That's absurd. If "no one" could afford them, then the people selling them would reduce the price until "someone" could. For every house, there's a buyer and a seller - you would never have a situation where "no one" could afford them.

And, FWIW, I'm 26, single, and looking to buy a place in the $250K - $300K range this summer. Something tells me that half a million is not out of the reach of an alarming set of families in the US. And, what I'm discovering is that my area is very much a buyer's market right now. The appreciation of houses has very much cooled off, and a lot of them have been on the market for a while with sellers reluctantly cutting prices.

That market will always correct itself - if home values start to sky-rocket, then people who got in will make a pretty penny... unless they wait too long and the prices begin to fall because they're over-inflated.

[SmuffNuSMaxqh]

Most people work their asses off but don't get paid enough to buy a house.

I used to have a job which would not have permitted me to buy an expensive house.

Know what I did?

I got a better paying job.

While I paid less than $200K for my house eight years ago, I could, if I had to, afford to pay for a $500K house now.

If someone is unable to buy a house, the only issue isn't the price of the house. Another very big issue is what they're able to pay, based on the job they have and the pay they earn.

If they're not earning enough, they need to get a better job...

[Peterli]

Most people work their asses off but don't get paid enough to buy a house.

From what I've observed in life, most people don't "work their asses" off. Furthermore, most people don't put themselves in a position to better their situation. My ex works as a server, and I watched her hang out with an awful lot of "lifers" that would work their 10 hour shifts, bitch about how horrible they had it, and then go out to dinner/drinks every night and spend most of what they had earned. When people like that would bitch in front of me about how they could never "get ahead" in spite of all of their "hard work", it would take some restraint not to roll my eyes at them.

[Peterli]

Point is for every story you post like that I can counter with something along the opposite line.

Which basically transcends your partisan aim and tells us that, more often than not, economic prognosticators are a dime a dozen.

[SmuffNuSMaxqh]

AMEN to that.

Too many people these days want everything too fast and not to work for it.
18-25 year olds bitch because they can't make ends meet so they stay home or where ever, but they are driving new vehicles, tallking on cell phones, listening to Ipods and spending 100's of dollars on games and stuff.
Hell, I wish I had 1/3 of the stuff at 18 that these kids have today.

I hear ya'. I was 37 when I bought my house; my first. I know 20-somethings who flip out because they can't find a house they can afford, in a neighborhood worthy of their new BMW...

[Peterli]

yes its kinda cool.. my parents bought thier house 4 yrs ago, now it almost doubled in value. they essentially paid half price for a house. its still going up in value but not as fast as it was before.. damn it was crazy. i say they should sell thier house and buy a new one.. and keep doing it over and over.. soon they would be millionares living in some huge mansion.

Yeah, until the market cools off, they're having trouble making their mortgage payments, and their appraisals are going down. If you're going to earn your fortune in real-estate, it isn't going to be by riding bubbles until after they burst. I would suggest going about it by keeping their previous place, saving up another down-payment on a new one, and renting the first one out to cover the mortgage. Do that a few times, and you have a boatload of assets, rather than one giant one that could significantly fluctuate in value.

[SypeKifef]

i am just wondering, if housing value almost doubles in four years, and income is now where near following the same pattern, then would that mean eventually more people will end up in apartments.. i think that is a reasonable thought. but also housing is going up because more people are buying.. so i bet that once the houses become to expensive.. less people will buy.. and eventually things will go back to normal.. right? so probably we should all sell our houses and buy them again when they are cheap.. heh.

obviously i know nothing about markets economy and whatever.. i just kinda guess.