Cost of living crisis

[RenegadeFurther 2,393]

Eurozone inflation is now at something like 8.1%

 

Inflation in Germany at a 50 year high.

 

Strikes now in the UK (rail) and Belgium over cost of living.

 

Macron losing his majority (mostly of cost of living).

 

How are people here coping with the ridiculous high inflation?

[GaryC 365]

Welcome to what was pretty normal until the mid 1990s.  Hands up those who remember 16.5% mortgage interest rates in the UK - me, me, me!!!

 

[fraufruit 41,947]

Less lobster.

[kiplette 8,676]

19 minutes ago, GaryC said:

Welcome to what was pretty normal until the mid 1990s.

 

Yup. This is what I remember from being a kid and my parents talking...

[Chelski 1,439]

9 hours ago, RenegadeFurther said:

How are people here coping with the ridiculous high inflation?

 

 

I'm doing fine. As a self-employed plumber in Germany I use all my experience from England to help...

 

Me: "Hello! Need a sink unblocked?"

 

He: (Shows me the minor problem).

 

Me: (Whistling through my teeth): "It's a major job mate. Your end pipe has come away from the gapper joint and it's obvious its flooding the foundations. When was the house built?"

 

He: "I dunno. 1949?"

 

Me: "Well that's your first problem there mate. Shoddy workmanship after WW2 and basically your house is on the verge of collapsing."

 

He: "Oh my God! I'm working from home because of Covid. My kids are here! What should I do? How much will it cost?"

 

Me: (Whistling through my teeth): "You seem like a nice caring father. So I'll keep it as cheap as possible. As long as I can access the parapex and solidify the emots... maybe 4 grand."

 

He: "I don't have that sort of cash at home!"

 

Me (pulls out my credit card reader).

 

(Deal done)

 

Me (serious tone): "It's gonna be dangerous work when I dig deeper, and the house might collapse, so maybe take the kids out for the day? To keep them safe? Come back in 8 hours."

 

He (stunned): "You're brilliant! Thank you for caring! Thank you so much for everthing!" 

 

(Manly bromance hug)

 

He then leaves. I wait 30mins then raid his fridge and check out his porn stash in the bedroom. Then I kip for 7 hours on his sofa.

 

When I wake up, I spend the next minute rubbing dirt from the garden on my face, clothes and hands.

 

And then, and only then, do I fit the €0.28 rubber washer, which was all he needed in the first place.

 

 

 

[yourkeau 7,719]

On 6/20/2022, 1:13:31, RenegadeFurther said:

How are people here coping with the ridiculous high inflation?

They grow up. 

 

 

[Chelski 1,439]

5 hours ago, yourkeau said:

They grow up. 

 

Or pretend to be a plumber. Literally.

[emkay 10,158]

Both my parents are very frugal so I learned to be too. Saving was just normal from when I started working at 16. Sadly much less so now since moving to Germany. 
 

Now that my daughter has flown the nest and manages her own household finances, she often comments that it’s a shame that schools don’t teach basic finance. Sadly, she’s not yet quite grasped the concept of saving!

[Gambatte 897]

2 hours ago, emkay said:

it’s a shame that schools don’t teach basic finance.

 

Jain.

Sure it would be good but ...

My12yr old  daugther is in 6th grade, gymnasium, and nobody at school has ever even taught her WWII.  Like Germany was not affected by WWII...

Schools barely teach elementary arithmetic.

In any case, finance maybe okish, but teaching children how to save or to be frugal should not be a task for the schools

[emkay 10,158]

57 minutes ago, Gambatte said:

 

Jain.

Sure it would be good but ...

My12yr old  daugther is in 6th grade, gymnasium, and nobody at school has ever even taught her WWII.  Like Germany was not affected by WWII...

Schools barely teach elementary arithmetic.

In any case, finance maybe okish, but teaching children how to save or to be frugal should not be a task for the schools

I think that WWII education might be further than 6th grade. My daughter’s education on WWII came some years later at Gymnasium and  included brutal facts. I doubt this part of history will be missing from your children‘s Gymnasium education.

 

Teaching finance isn’t about frugality nor saving. Though that could help too. Just the basic concepts of taxation, interest rates (loans and savings), budgeting, inflation, KK, contract terms etc. etc. Of course, family can/should teach kids. Health, nutrition and cooking lessons would help too.  

[Tap 8,460]

11 minutes ago, emkay said:

I think that WWII education might be further than 6th grade. My daughter’s education on WWII came some years later at Gymnasium and  included brutal facts. I doubt this part of history will be missing from your children‘s Gymnasium education.

 

Teaching finance isn’t about frugality nor saving. Though that could help too. Just the basic concepts of taxation, interest rates (loans and savings), budgeting, inflation, KK, etc. etc. Of course, family can/should teach kids. Health, nutrition and cooking lessons would help too.  

 

I agree with emkay, 6th grade is 11/12 years of age, WWII will be dealt with later on in school.  However, teaching finance and how basic taxation works, etc., should be done in school, especially as a lot of parents don't understand it themselves, because they weren't taught it.

 

My Mother was a teacher in Ireland, she taught physically and mentally disabled children and she taught them the basics.  She often had arguments with the Department of Education over this. To them, maths, English, Irish and religion were more important and she should concentrate on them, but she saw it differently.  She taught each child how to read a pay slip, the difference between gross and net income, what taxes and social welfare payments they should expect, so that these children could, hopefully, go out into the world and know what to expect.

 

[Gambatte 897]

I see it different.

 

A person will never be able to understand taxation, debts, investment, if he's not good enough at language or basic arithmetic.

 

And, IMH, language and math are hugely undertaught. Yet I don't hear many parents complaining on this. Yet some parents do complain about pupils not being taught finance etc.

[Tap 8,460]

All of these subjects are important and need to be taught, but I also believe that we need to prepare young people for the world outside and make some space for "basic" finance.  I'm not talking high level accountancy and economics, although I covered them in school and they have served me well.

 

 

[dstanners 1,529]

5 hours ago, emkay said:

it’s a shame that schools don’t teach basic finance

Couldn't agree more. There are too many families with too poor a grasp on basic finance to leave this to parents. Indeed, leaving this to parents is likely to cause financial inequality to increase: financially literate parents teach those skills to their kids, whilst children whose parents don't have that experience miss out at best, or more likely repeat the errors.

 

In addition to just "being frugal" (which is not to belittle that concept by the way), I think it is sensible and not hugely difficult to teach other finance issues based on real life examples school children could understand: what their phone contracts actually cost - i.e. that a "free" handset is actually expensive, when it is tied into a 36 month contract. The advertised finance deal on a cool-looking TV, means that in five years they'll still be paying X for the TV. Will it still look like such good value/cool in 5 years and do 5 year old TVs look cool to them today? 

 

I've met so many adults who are in a poor financial situation because long term deals which seemed "affordable" when advertised as a weekly amount, turn to be crippling if they have any financial changes several years into the contract. 

 

[fraufruit 41,947]

11 minutes ago, dstanners said:

The advertised finance deal on a cool-looking TV, means that in five years they'll still be paying X for the TV. Will it still look like such good value/cool in 5 years and do 5 year old TVs look cool to them today? 

 

Not to mention "rental" TVs and furnishings like they have in the U.S. for people who would sit on the floor otherwise.

[Gambatte 897]

I very strongly disagree.

 

The shame is not that school don't teach finances. The shame is that, whoever the culprit, people turns into adult without learning math. If you manage math, finance is easy. If you're useless at math, no hope at finances and probably you will never be well off.

[Gambatte 897]

26 minutes ago, dstanners said:

I've met so many adults who are in a poor financial situation because long term deals which seemed "affordable" when advertised as a weekly amount, turn to be crippling if they have any financial changes several years into the contract. 

Come on, but this is not down to finance, this is down to being able to do elementary arithmetic...

[fraufruit 41,947]

15 minutes ago, Gambatte said:

I very strongly disagree.

 

The shame is not that school don't teach finances. The shame is that, whoever the culprit, people turns into adult without learning math. If you manage math, finance is easy. If you're useless at math, no hope at finances and probably you will never be well off.

 

I knew math but nobody ever taught me how to balance a checkbook. Those were the necessary skills when I was on my own and working. I struggled until I got it. Taking out loans, forget it. It isn't just simple math.

 

When I was in apprentice school for carpentry, I learned trig. One week, our teacher told us all to bring in our tax forms and he taught us how to do them. It was just something he was interested in and wanted to help us. Otherwise, I would have continued paying a tax preparer. (He taught us how to write off all of our tools, work clothes, steel toed boots, etc.)

[dstanners 1,529]

8 minutes ago, Gambatte said:

this is down to elementary arithmetic...

It is "elementary" insofar as it is straightforward, but these sorts of things are not being covered at elementary school maths lessons (at least not in the UK or Germany). The content of those lessons doesn't seem to have changed significantly since my time at school, but the marketing of financial options for buying goods and services has changed massively.

There are too many people making such poor financial decisions for this to be unrelated. The basic maths lessons at schools (again, I can only speak from experience in the UK and Germany) does not equip children for key financial decisions in real life.

 

[Gambatte 897]

If you are decent enough at math, you can easily work out all the equations for loan repayment etc etc. Very easily. Only need pen and paper. Without anyone ever teaching you 'finance'. I did it (in fact, I did it using ONLY math I learnt before Abi) and I bet everything that many others did it too.