life of andyman

This semester, while I’m at IU, I am auditing a class. It’s “Personal Finance” because I thought it might teach me some useful things to do with money that I don’t currently have.

It has taught me some useful things already! Or at least they’re fun things. Here’s my favorites:

1. In 1950, a loaf of bread cost 20 cents. If we do a straight, non-complicated comparison of that to the 2 or 3 dollars we spend on bread now, then we can do an extrapolation to find out what bread may roughly cost in 2050.

   Here’s some projected math for 2050.
   Gallon of milk = $9.22
   Gallon of Gas = $45.00
   Loaf of Bread = $24.75
   An average car = $184,000
   An average house = $2.4 Million
   Our Life Expectancy = 98 years!

   Crazy! So, we’re talking about how much money we may need for retirement, and given that inflation changes all the prices, you might need much more than a million dollars. In 50 years, millionaires won’t be so impressive. And another thing we’ve discussed is that crazy life expectancy. Because we’re living so much longer, we either have to work longer, like until we’re 70+, or, if we retire at 65 still, be retired for 35 years!

2. The “Personal Finance, 8th Edition” book for the class cost $129 at TIS new, and $109 used. I saw that an instantly said, “What? No Effing Way I’m paying that much,” and left. Then, the next week, I found the 7th edition of the book for 10 dollars, shipping included. As I looked at nearly every one of the 60-70 people in the class with the real book, two things came to mind. Concerning those students: Suckers! Concerning the textbook publisher: Fear.
3. As the economy gets better, there is a lower rate of people going to college. As the economy gets worse, more people go to college.
4. The average rate of inflation for the last 60 years is 2.5%. The average rate of inflation the last 20 years is 3.5%. The average rate of inflation for the costs of higher education is 6%.
5. My current Net Worth (haha) is ~$155. This means that all my income minus all my liabilities (bills, rent, living expenses) leaves with an extra $155 each month.
6. Because of the baby boomers, over the next 40 years, it is expected that $20 Trillion dollars will be passed down in inheritance from one generation to the next.
7. The average american income tax rate is 19%.
8. The IRS does this strange cyclical tax thing with the estate tax that I don’t understand. Estate tax is the money you have left over when you die–before you can pass it down to kids or family, they tax it. Because of the strange changing tax rate, if you die 2010 and want to give a million dollars to your family, you pay Zero taxes on your estate, and can give it all away. But, if you die in 2011, the cycle has begun anew, and you pay a 55% tax on that money, so your kids only get 450,000 of that million. So, tell your grandparents not to die in 2011.

That’s about it for the personal finance class. I will say it’s really interesting that my grades really, truly do not matter, as I’m auditing the class. So, on the next exam, I’m going to try, for the first time in my life, doing absolutely no preparation beforehand, to see how well I can do. My guess is B or C.

I found a place to live on 1510 E. Atwater. I was crazy lucky to get such a good location, considering I was looking for the place after the IU semester had already begun. It’s just behind Mother Bear’s and Dragon Express–really good location! I have one room and I share kitchen, bathroom, etc. with a few other people.

One of the people I share the house with is a 30-something guy named Cliff. He says he has a masters degree, a law degree, and is working on his Ph.D. in Sociology. I believe that he really is, yet I find it very very strange that with those qualifications he is currently working at Steak n’ Shake. He also says he owns 31,000 comic books that he keeps at his mother’s house, including, I think he said, the entire (?) X-Men series starting in the 1960’s.

Morgan and I have finally begun watching Arrested Development and we’re almost done with the first season. It’s both hilariuos and genius. My favorite character is George-Michael, the son. Morgan’s favorite character is Buster. What’s yours?

I’m very, very excited about the possibility of a job at Finelight! I really, really hope they call me back as ever since I’ve lived in Bloomington I would walk past their place on the corner of the square and think, “Man, I’d love to work there…” I had a phone interview last Friday that was 2 hours long, and was told I would be contacted after a week or so. Actually, funny story, the phone interview was so long that my cell phone died towards the end, and I had to embarrasedly call them back after I’d plugged it in. Anyway, please pray for me even if you don’t pray; it’s an incredible opportunity, and the job is for proofreading/editing, so you know I’d be good at it.

That’s all for now. Things are going good for me in Bloomington so far. I’m enjoying it quite a lot. Also, you should all consider reading books by Robert A. Heinlein…in the past 6 months I think he has become my favorite sci-fi author ever, which, since I read a lot of sci-fi, is pretty impressive.