I went to see my "financial advisor" yesterday. That breaks me up. "Wealth management." Etc. I am a complete financial disaster. My broker friends want me to tell them when I am going to invest in anything. They say I'm an "indicator." I am someone who can make the markets crash just by putting money into it. I should have twice as much money as I do now. It is embarrassing. The thing is, though, I've never paid any attention. So yesterday sitting with Izzie, I used all the wrong terms, confusing "money market" with "mutual funds," etc. I just don't know the lingo. Or anything else. I got Izzie because he is new, I think, and needed clients. His office is the least desirable. He is young. But what I am doing doesn't require great insight. And now, for the first time in years, I am making interest on my money again.
That's all I'll tell you, so don't ask. I either have just enough or just too little money. That is the line I straddle. Thinking about buying new things is scary. Computers. A car. What about a big printer? When I was working, I guess I didn't care. I had an art studio for Christ's sake. Just because.
That's how I handled my money, "a small but adequate income."
But the economy is freaking me out. The price of gas is one thing, but I don't drive very far given my life's situation. But my property tax bill came a few days ago, and it has doubled. The electric and water bills at my home where I do not live have skyrocketed. And, of course, food. So now I have the Old Person's Syndrome. For instance, I made a very good beef stew on Sunday. There was a lot left over, so we ate it again on Monday night. Before the syndrome, I would have thrown the rest of it away, but nope. We had it once more last night.
Frugal me.
Organic eggs at my grocery store are $5.50. I've only eaten organic for a very long time. Now, however, I'm buying the $2.29 eggs. I'm going to start buying necessities at the Dollar Store. Of course, I wait for BOGO items now, and I may start looking at coupons. If I weren't stuck at my mother's, I'd probably be going to all those old people dinners where you are offered a golden opportunity to buy something. My mother and her friends used to go to all of them. At one point, however, one company said they couldn't come anymore. They'd had all the free meals they were going to get.
I'm not turning down the free coffee now. Maybe I'll start going to Costco and eating the samples.
Just let me pass on to you what I learned yesterday. The market on average has been earning about 3.8% so far this year. CDs are now paying 4.6%. There is no really good place to put your money if you are on a budget right now.
"So Izzie, when's the market going to come back?"
"Who knows?"
"Sure you do. As soon as he's out of office."
Izzie probably is a republican.
He did say that CD interest rates were probably going up again. Isn't that something? You can get 4.6% on your money from the same bank that will lend you money at 7%.
I was better off when I just had a paycheck every month. I can't believe how much fun I had on so very little money. But as I've reported, I used to stay in $8/night hotel rooms and ride Greyhound buses around the country. Even when I travelled, it was in countries where the dollar went very, very far. Even a poor American could live large in Mexico, Central, and South America.
But I can't sleep with bed bugs anymore. I need a good bed and a room with a view. No matter, though. Here I am, never to leave my mother's side. Think of the money she's saving me.
Still and all, though, I am fearful that the liberal press is setting "us" up for disappointment on Nov 2. There will be no reckoning, I fear. When it comes time to pull the lever and Mr and Ms America have to choose between a Nazi and a kid whose pronoun is "they" and who has suffered gluten trauma and has a peanut allergy. . . . People fear change.
I am amazed, though, at all the warnings by republicans that the U.S. could end up like France if the dems win.
"Uh, dude. . . like Jan. 6 never happened?"
What's not on the ballot, however, is climate, and I despair. That people worry more about A.I. than about climate change astounds me. I read this morning that a U.N. report shows the U.S. to be worst at meeting it's climate goals out of all developed countries. My republican friends will simply bash the U.N. as fake news. They hate the U.N.
But let's end on a happy note. One thing that tickles me is young people's love of analog, of anything pre-21st century.
Bring back the Walkman!
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