Community Chat

[chrystaltree]

If the Medicare premium goes up, it's like that the COLA will be eaten up by that and beneficiaries will see a decrease in the checks.  

[Foxxee]

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@Mindy D wrote:

The Consumer Price Index for Wage Earners is focused on indicators, such as gasoline prices, which are not the main rising costs for seniors. Some have said that using the CPI-W, The Consumer Price Index for wage earners and clerical workers, to calculate COLA,  is not meeting the needs of seniors and that a different price index should be used to calculate COLA since this index does not accurately indicate rising costs for the senior population. They propose using the CPI-E, The Consumer Price Index for the elderly, for determining COLAS because consumption patterns are different for the elderly than for younger persons. The CPI-E takes healthcare costs into account. 

@Mindy D 

Glad you found that.  I remember this being discussed in the past several times, but nothing done about it.  Using the CPI-E is the way to go than how COLA is figured now.  

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[1Snickers]

@Mindy D   I misread your title. I thought you meant Coca Cola and I remember when a bottle was a nickel! 

[bathina]

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@esmerelda wrote:

Mortgage and cd rates were both closer to 17% in 1980.

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Nah. Mortgage rates were around 12%. I can't recall rates hitting 18%-19% in my lifetime. I did have a $10,000 CD back in 1980 paying nearly 19%. I was newly married and we used the interest to help pay our $250 a month rent!

[qvcaddition]

My 1st mortgage in 1961 was 3%.  The house cost 5000.00.   Our rent in San Francisco for a three bedroom, 1 bath, kitchen formal dining room was 50.00 a month.  Then we brought the house for 5000.  We had to borrow a thousand for down payment.  Oh, that is 5 thousand, not 50 thousand.  After Bart was built,  that house sold for 250,000.

when I brought my second house, I was single and 40 years old, 1976.  I paid 40.,000.  Four bedtooms, two baths.  I put the money from the sale of the first house as a payment.   Basically, it was paid in full.  I have now been in this house 43 years.  Only owner.  

[esmerelda]

@bathina Look it up. 

[bathina]

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@esmerelda wrote:

@bathina Look it up. 

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I lived it. But I'll check.

https://www.erate.com/mortgage-rates-history

Announcement Date Index Month Index Value

13-Jan-81	Dec-80	13.15
11-Dec-80	Nov-80	12.85
10-Nov-80	Oct-80	12.31
10-Oct-80	Sep-80	12
11-Sep-80	Aug-80	11.89
11-Aug-80	Jul-80	12.23
11-Jul-80	Jun-80	12.88
11-Jun-80	May-80	13.74
21-May-80	Apr-80	13.21
7-May-80	Mar-80	12.56
7-Apr-80	Feb-80	12.3
3-Apr-80	Jan-80	11.78