Had a talk with my dad about inflation that got me thinking

I was visiting my dad last weekend and he pulled out his old checkbook from 1992 to show me what he paid for our family minivan back then. It was $14,500 brand new. I told him my used 2018 sedan cost me $16,000 last year and he just laughed and shook his head. That conversation made me realize how differently we see money. He grew up when a dollar went way further and a house cost $80,000. I grew up thinking a $16,000 used car was a deal. Anyone else notice a huge gap in how older relatives talk about spending?

3 comments

3 Comments

martin.riley1mo ago

Ask him what he thinks rent should be? Because that’s the real gap I notice. My dad talks about paying $300 a month for an apartment in the 80s like it was normal. Meanwhile I’m paying $1,200 for a studio and he thinks I’m getting ripped off. But he also says things like “just buy a house” like it’s that simple. The math doesn’t work the same anymore. Wages haven’t kept up with any of this. So yeah, the cost of a minivan is one thing, but the whole system has shifted underneath us.

the_hayden1mo ago

And it's not just rent or houses either. I see it everywhere now. The little things used to be cheap enough that they didn't matter, but now they add up to a second rent payment. Like my grocery bill for the same stuff has doubled in four years. My car insurance went up 60% for no reason they can actually explain. It's like the whole baseline for surviving moved up, but nobody told the wages to follow. The old rules don't apply, and people who made it under the old system just can't see the new one. It's like we're playing a different game than they did.

grant4781mo ago

Saving $300 a month might not even cover minivan insurance now, @the_hayden.