This morning’s RGJ reports that “Foreclosure-related activity in Washoe County fell to 10,984 filings overall in 2010, down by less than 1 percent from 11,023 in 2009, according to national foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac.”
It’s good to see the filings leveling off, but as the story points out foreclosure-related filings still remain abnormally high. Case in point: Washoe County saw more distressed filings in December 2010 than in all of 2006.
See the RGJ piece, Washoe foreclosure activity down slightly in 2010, for the story.
| 2010 | 10,984 |
| 2009 | 11,023 |
| 2008 | 6,790 |
| 2007 | 2,685 |
| 2006 | 593 |
Source: RealtyTrac Note: “foreclosure-related filings” include: notices of default; notices of sales; and trustee sales.
Move to Reno?
I agree Zen with your analysis. Promote inflation while limiting cost of living increases in the entitlement programs.
MikeZ
Unfortunately if you are nearing retirement age with fixed income or have substantial savings, it will eventually wipe that out.
Help me understand your math … why would inflation wipe out savings?
I’m talking about properly-invested savings, not those buried in the backyard or stuffed into a mattress.
bob_c
Aw crap, my son graduates from college this semester. Think he can refuse diploma
and apply for civil servant jobs in Reno?
Newell
ok bob c we get it. You don’t have to say the same thing 7 consecutive comments in a row. I would think your son should do the honorable thing and decline to graduate after having been educated the past several years by those pension grabbing overpaid greedy college professors.
Zen
Help me understand your math … why would inflation wipe out savings?
I’m talking about properly-invested savings, not those buried in the backyard or stuffed into a mattress.
Really, what is “properly-invested” mean Mike? A few years ago that might have meant real estate and the stock market. A few years before that it meant tech stocks. Now it must be precious metals and other commodities. Next month it will be stocks again, and hey the real estate prices are sure looking good, too bad their still heading south. Make sure you watch out for those bonds. I know, I know, I know, just diversify and ride the waves. Buy low and sell high. Buy when there is blood in the streets. Buy on the rumor, sell on the news. Bulls make money, bears make money, and pigs get slaughtered. Bla Bla Bla, the reality is that the game is fixed and most of us aren’t invited to the celebration party.
My only point in my original statement that you wanted help understanding, is that if you are nearing retirement and have fixed income and/or have substantial savings, which most people have conservatively invested as they near retirement, you are probably going to loose the inflation game. At least most of the people in this situation will. I’m sure there will be some winners too. There always are when gambling. But hey, if your savings are “properly-invested”, you’ll get to pay Uncle Sam a substantial portion of your investments once you cash in, which will help pay down our national debt. So thanks for that.
Carlo
Here we go again with conversation. I know several people in retirement who would love some inflation. They are not going to be buying a house, because they have one that is paid for. They are not going to be buying a new car or a 60″ big screen tv. The rising price of groceries and sneakers will be more than offset by their getting 5% on their CDs instead of the 0.5% they are getting now. Say they have saved well and now have $500,000 in cash they do not want to put in the stock market. At 0.5%, they earn today $250 on their $500,000. At 5%, they earn 25,000 on their $500,000. Ain’t no way they are going to spend $24,750 a year more on inflation riddled groceries.
These folks will WELCOME some inflation.
CrawfordTX
Very good point. A big increase in inflation will be accompanied by a big increase in interest rates. Retired people are not borrowers, they are savers. And for the most part they are not big spenders. They simply don’t buy that much stuff. Rising prices in real estate and automobiles and the cost of hotel rooms in Paris is not of much concern to them. Rising interest returns on cash savings more than offsets the rising cost of the few things they buy.
The notion that inflation destroys retirement is a marketing tactic employed by the financial industry to scare people in their 30s and 40s and 50s into buying their products. We’ve all seen the mutual fund industry graphs showing how even a modest rate of inflation erodes buying power over a 30 year period. And this is true. But 70 year old retired people don’t care about what their buying power is going to be in 30 years. They would, however, really like to make a decent return on their cash now.
Now, if you are talking about a retired person whose only sorce of income is his $895 a month social security check, then yes that person is going to get hurt by inflation. But most retired people with some savings will gladly trade some inflation for increased returns on those savings.
Zen
I’m sorry, but you guys need a history lesson and I’m not going to spend the time to give it. Google it yourselves. Historically inflation increases are not good for inflation, especially on the way up. The interest increases lag the inflation. On the way down it can be profitable, because you can lock into long term bonds at high interest rates while inflation rates decrease. By that time, any money you have today will already be substantially wiped out. You will have to play catch up. The problem is that these things take years and years to pan out and are as predictable as the stock market so good luck with picking the highs and lows. The other problem is that even if you are able to “win” the game and outpace the inflation with “proper” investments, ultimately Uncle Sam swoops in and takes a big chunk. In fact in regular savings accounts, like you are talking about, they help themselves annually.
Some Guy
You are exactly right bob_c. Trying to compare the points that you are making to roads and water is absurd. Nobody on this sight is denying the fact that there are some things that a government should provide, but the corruption and the out of control spending must be stopped.
And fencesitter, even if bob_c wanted to acquire his own water he would most likely be unable to due to the fact that one must obtain water “rights” from the government.
Zen
Historically inflation increases are not good for inflation…
oops, I meant to say: Historically inflation increases are not good for SAVINGS…
MikeZ
Zen, I’ll just say that I disagree with your conclusions. I don’t think inflation is necessarily bad for savings, unless they’re left idle or mismanaged.
Thank you for explaining yourself.
Move to Reno?
Isn’t it true that the Fed can hold interest rates down even if modest inflation of 3 to 4% takes place? The US gov’t is running a trillion dollar deficit a year. If it can deflate the currency ( inflate prices) while reducing the standard of living by not giving cost of living increases to the entitlement people, wouldn’t the deficit eventually disappear?
One of the reason I bought now was because my cash was earning zilch. Better to own real assets when the currency is being devalued.
Zen
That is right Move to Reno. They can, and I believe are, in the beginning stages of exactly what you are talking about. So far they have been able to hold down interest rates, but that won’t last forever. If nobody will buy their bonds, they will be forced to increase interest rates to make them more attractive. Currently, the Fed is buying the Treasuries bonds, which is how the government actually creates new money and also holds the interest rates down. But eventually, the government will either be forced to raise interest rates, or will do it willingly to fight off too much inflation. If I’m wrong about that and they can hold down interest rates and let inflation take place, as you suggest, it will be a blood bath for retirees. Either way the goal is the same, effectively wipe out the debt by deflating the currency with a bunch of new dollars. This will also make all of the current public payroll and benefits affordable again. Their is one big chink in the armor to all of this, which is the new house of representatives that seems to be bent on eliminating the deficit and reducing the debt. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.