Cars don't have to be expensive, if you make then your slave, rather than slave for them. My cars are worth about what I have spent on them, while in the same period my ladies new cars have cost well over $50,000 in depreciation, & tens of thousands in dealer servicing. Her cars have spent more time off the road waiting for warranty replacement parts, than have my old things.

Learning a little about cars can be valuable. Oh & who is the "silly old fool" you, your daughter or me?

Paul yes mate well,aware, and it has always been true
We went hungry often
Found single mums, time and again, living in caravans and not being paid, [traffic controllers] as yet another contractor went broke
But started up the next day, under another name
Special hell waits for those engineers who took lucrative redundancy pack then started such labour hire firms working for? their old bosses
One even came back, yes true, as a contractor doing the job he was paid to leave.

Finance & economic "experts" only know one method, manipulation !
A single mother with two kids would definitely out-perform the "experts" in matters of managing money !
The only reason why big business & the experts manage to survive is because of the uneven tax rules. Give an ordinary blue collar worker the same tax rate as a company or an organisation & they'd put the "professional experts" to shame.

Dear Hasbeen,

«Low interest rates are pretty bad for retirees»

This is short-sighted: low interest rates reduce inflation and inflation is a retiree's worst peril.

Yes, when inflation rages, a shrewd young energetic person can vigilantly research the markets to find the best investments and beat the noxious combination of inflation and tax over the nominal "profit", but the elderly ought not be expected to bother with all that, they should just be able to enjoy their savings peacefully and not even fill tax-returns for just wanting to keep what they already have.

yuyutsu not sure that is true
In fact not really sure if high or low is better
But after reading international investor advice we MAY be headed for a brief recession?
If so what comes after
After things settle down again and interest rates, as they always will, rise
Some will be hurt surely
Buy when prices are low, interest too, and surely if rates rise but prices do not?

Dear Belly,

High inflation is probably "good" for sophisticated/informed investors, because they also get high interest. It is also "good" for government because they collect much "income"-tax over no real income.
However, the average elderly person with savings is not up to it, so they lose and as a double-whammy they then need to fill in tax-returns and/or manipulate their superannuation, which is difficult for frail old people. Life should not be a rat-race, constantly chasing the wind just to keep what you already earned.

Well some people feel helpless so they allow others to manage their savings, but in most cases, sadly, they are ripped off by those they trust.

As for a recession, it is indeed likely soon, mainly because of the Trump/China affair. Before the elections I expected a serious deep one, but now I think that it will only be shallow and short-lived. Still, I think that interest-rates and inflation will then remain positive but low for a few more years, which is good.