America’s favorite family outings are increasingly out of reach

I agree with this however my job has kind of shaped my thinking with regards to savings. We have a few assisted living facilities in the area. The expensive ones are not where I want myself or my family to end up let alone the lower end ones. I worry more about my wife than myself because one way or another I know I will not end up in one. I have seen enough in those places to know that I'd rather miss out on some of life than end up there.

 

Capitalism.

 

Really don’t think I said that but ok.

 

i agree. I did have a fair amount of foresight, I did much of my traveling in my 20’s, I took a job with an airline and saw much of the world. Specifically took care of most of my international goals, because I knew the domestic ones would be easier as I got older. I knock off one of my domestic trips every few years, and have most of those done now.
My goal is to scale back on my savings rate when I get to a suitable number (and I was starting to get close before the downturn but now am further out).
But I’ve just never been a spender, so I figured why not turn that into a positive? Just musing on whether I will be able to turn off the switch when the time comes. But self awareness is the first step . But even today, I could take a trip somewhere and not fret over what I spent. It’s the small wasteful things that drive me crazy.

 

We didn't have much money when I was growing up (traditional homemaker, one income, 4 kids) so for vacations we'd just pile into this huge station wagon and explore Old (60 years ago) Florida. Crandon Park Zoo, Wikiwatchee Springs (sp?) Lion Country Safari, etc. No Disney World yet. Fortunately, Florida's an interesting state, lots to do, lots of natural beauty. I only left the state once, until I was 21.

 

Well I grew up in FL, the son of a single mom on welfare, so no vacations ever for us. I couldn't wait for school to start in Sept to end the boredom.
Even my middle class friends rarely left town for vacations. I never knew anyone that had vacationed out of the country. The love affair that some have with the good old days of the 50s, 60s is simply revisionist history in my book.

On the other hand, as soon as I had a job and a couple of bucks post college I traveled every chance I got. Been very fortunate.
One of the disappointments of recent retirement has been the lack of travel options due to covid and what a hastle travel has become. Lot of great options in the US and beyond tho. I'm ready to hit the road again.

 

Yep, US is an awesome place to explore.

 

A better gauge to compare against is wage inflation.

The first two, and perhaps the third get to income inequality. The reason baseball tickets are higher is primarily due to higher player salaries, but the facilities etc are also higher. To a degree same with movies.

What isn’t mentioned is there are alternatives. People have access to all kinds of movies at home and affordable 72 inch screens. The types of things you listed are now premium expenses.

People could choose to go to a cheap minor league game, but they don’t. There are probably cheap theaters, but when people go out now they want a premium experience. Disney world is quite a bit bigger experience than it was when it started.

Part of Disney is just pricing sophistication and elasticity. People would have hundreds or thousands of dollars in travel costs to go to Disney or Orlando. It was kind of stupid that the actual attractions were only capturing a small fraction of the travel expenditure.

 

Rob Manfred called out by advocacy group after 'rejecting premise' that minor leaguers aren't paid living wage

Speaking of minor leagues, the players probably cant afford a family night out at a baseball game either

 

I've been super tempted to buy deep water access for like $180k. Haven't pulled the trigger yet.

 

While sad in a sense, it is a choice those players made. There is not a huge demand to see minor leaguers play, so the main purpose is to have them as a development pool for major leaguers. It is a market determined rate.

 

The only sticking point in your plan is that you aren't always in control. Its like Forrest Gump and that box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get.

 

Oh I know and it has become more and more apparent recently. The false sense of invincibility wears with every year and every time someone my age or younger passes. Tomorrow is not promised.

 

Seems indicative of the overall problem that the alternatives to say going to an MLB game or the "luxury" experiences only get by on cheap labor themselves, the kind which makes people unable to afford the other stuff.

 

Was just going to ask a similar question. Is the real problem a combination of both rising prices and that the current generation has no concept of what is affordable? In an "ideal" market, the current rise in prices would chase off more people than Disney would likely be able to stomach and they'd have to reduce them back some to maximize profitability.

I'm in the "save everything I can" bucket. @homer, my wife and I are similar to you. We like to geocache as well which gives us exercise, outdoor time, and still adds fun to the experience.

 

These posts in comparison struck me. One laments that the past wasn't as good as we remember it to be due to their socioeconomic limitations but the other describes a single income household, and a homemaker with 4 kids. I grew up in the exact same situation as the latter and while we never vacationed as a family, we never had to want for food or clothing and enjoyed a day trip to a theme park with our church group almost once a year.

Is that even possible anymore without government assistance? I can't imagine 4 kids on a single income unless I was making well over 6 figures and my father wasn't making that. I'm guessing that may correlate to the explosion in executive compensation maybe?

 

My dad was an accountant and had a good, stable job. What made the trips possible, I suspect, was heavy subsidizing by my grandmother, a widow with nothing better to spend her money on than her only daughter and grandkids. Nana was decades ahead of her time, as an executive at the City Electric plant.

My past was flat-out magical, even without Disney. My Magic Kingdom was the streets and beaches of Key West, and I would have been happy if we'd never crossed the Stock Island bridge.

 

People could choose to go to minor league games but mostly they don’t. They want to see the “real thing”. They will pay a lot more to see and be associated with those that are a little bit better.

Sports and entertainers are professions where a relatively few are in extreme high demand, but demand beyond the very top is almost zero. In most professions to be in the top 2500 means you are in demand. Not so much in pro sports.

 

Mine too even if I didn't get to go to on trips or have the latest and greatest toys or clothes like so many of the wealthy kids I grew up with. I had no grandparents around to subsidize my upbringing but the point I was making is that I don't think I could have anything close to the life I had if my parents raised 4 kids today on my father's income. We did fine back then though.

 

Don’t wait.
Can’t take it with you….