Kelja was close with this issue, it's not the price going up, it's the value of the dollar going down... I don't believe it's a demand issue because there are no stations running out of gas or factories fighting over oil by-products... As long as the US Govt continues to print out tons of cash to fund expenditures without responsible appropriation then the value will continue to plummet... And I've yet to hear any candidate for president, senator, congressman, or the mainstream media voice this reason for why prices are skyrocketing... With the exception of congressman Ron Paul...
What will I do? Well with my second job I'll have to charge more for my services... What can any of us do? You just have to go out and make more dollars...
First, it's just wrong to say that you can't get rich saving--not only is it possible, it's practically inevitable if you do it long enough. It's closer to true to say "No one got rich in a hurry by saving," but even that isn't really true--if you live very frugally while earning a good income, you can put aside enough money to get rich in a hurry, without needing huge investment returns. The fact is, people get rich by saving all the time, you just mostly don't notice them, because there's no easy way to tell that they're rich.
Second, the whole notion presupposes that "getting rich" is an important goal. Getting rich has its upside, but "Living large on a small budget" can happen without getting rich--at least, without needing to get rich in a hurry.
Finally, I've actually written a post on just this topic:
This is a great post. We wish we knew about these details early on. Once we had to go through a collection agency though we had paid off one of our creditors. It was a mistake on the part of the merchant. But it was a harrowing experience for us which took weeks to be sorted out.
We cited this article in our Sunday Review #14 as one of our favorites. Keep up the excellent blogging.
Cheers,
FIRE Finance
Anyone who believes the utter lies and implausible theories of the crocumentary "Who Killed ..." deserves to get ripped into pieces (logically speaking). "The EV_1 worked too well."
Well, contrary to the lies of the film, apparently no one ever believed that nonsense. first off, the Toyota Rav4 electric, available during the same time and the Honda EV, available during 1996, both of which were cancelled, were FAR, FAR superior cars to the crappy EV-1, recently named by Time auto analysts (those are people, unlike those here, who actually understand what cars are required to do) as one of the worst cars ever built. Why you ask? Well, how about a driving range to stress out even the fainthearted - a destination radius of barely 35 miles. Trip to the beach? That's out. Trip to the doctor's? That may be too far away. Exactly how far away is his office? Or that store? Price ? $43,000, or 3 times more than the much larger, more capable Honda Civic that can go anywhere.
recharge? Oh, about 8 hours. Need to make an emergency drive? Sorry, my car's being recharged. Cheap to operate you say? How about the need for a new battery pack of 25 NiMH batteries every five years or so? It only costs $20,000, which s 4 times more than anyone would have spent on gasoline, making the EV-1 the most expensive car, per mile, on the planet. Yes, you're exactly right. The EV_1 was simply way too good. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
The writer, like many, blame Big Oil for the increasing price of their precious gas. Why not place the blame correctly.
We don't drill for oil in this country any more. A case of naive Nimby-ism with a coating of know-nothing environmentalism. Why is it OK to drill in foreign lands, many lacking even basic environmental protections, but we can't poke a few holes in the dirt off the coast in CA, FL or in the wilds of AK?
Oil is getting much harder to find and pump out. Used to be it took the energy of one barrel of oil to pump out 10 more. Now, because it's deeper, it's 1 barrel for every 3 to pump out.
The biggest causes for prices going up: Chindia (China & India) and the collapse of the Dollar.
And, please, stop hoping for a quick technological fix. You have no idea, unless you're an engineer working in the field, the difficulty of having alternative energy replace what oil can do.
As for me (since I live in CA, it's already $4 a gallon), I'll buy another Hummer when it hit's $5!
Unfortunately, there is little we can do to bring prices down. But like everyone here has suggested, you can find ways to cut down the effect of the high oil prices. For me, moving 4 miles from my job has been a blessing. Not only have I saved on money, but I have more energy after work, and I get to enjoy more time with my family. Nervetheless, I miss the good ol' days when it took about $18 to fill my car : )
Gas prices are already at $4 per barrel in a number of countries. So we should see their behaviours and reactions to get an idea of how to plan ahead. In Europe they are talking about how they will manage when gas hits the equivalent of $8 p/barrel this summer!
I tried Las Vegas. The rates shown on the summary page didn't match the rates when I clicked through. Also, a lot of the returned results were from reservetravel.com, which has terrible reviews online (including a review on ripoffreport).
As others have stated, $4 gas is here in SoCal and will likely rise to the $5 level come summer. I'm blessed with having a place w/in 7 miles of work, so I can essentially commute an entire month on 1 tank of gas. But more so, I'm cutting down on extraneous trips, walking to nearby restaurants, and when I'm driving its at reduced speed using cruise control. It is affecting my budget, but not in a major way... yet.
Once I no longer have to take my infant son to his caretaker on the way to work (my mom will be moving in with us to care for him while my husband and I work), I will probably switch to taking the local bus. It will increase my commute time by 100% or more (from 15 minutes to over 40), but I suppose the time trade off will be worth it once gas hits $100 fill ups. My husband does not have the option of public transit, and we live inside the beltway, which is a huge squeeze on us via rental prices. somehow, even though we are doing everything right by living close in, with grocery stores within a mile of the house, and working where we live (me) or against the grain with a reverse commute (him), gas is still impacting us either directly in dollars or indirectly in increased commute time ( public transpo vs. my car.)
Though my home is centrally located, the last grocery store within walking distance is closing. The middle-class infrastructure has moved to the suburbs, along with the middle class.
My workplace is 18 miles from my house. Housing is in such a slump that selling and moving closer to the job is out of the question; besides, I don't WANT to live there!
Bicycling or scootering or driving a small electric thing is out of the question: not safe on the mean streets, where bikers are routinely run down and fellow motorists are likely to shoot you.
And the bus system? Snark! I tried it: two hours and ten minutes, one way, to make a 25-minute drive! Even at $5 a gallon, I can't afford to spend almost four and a half hours in transit.
I telecommute a lot. Officially I work at home one day a week. Because my office is located far away from my boss's--way across a university campus--I am so far out of sight and mind that I can get away with not being there more often than once a week. As long as the work gets done, no one seems to care. So, I expect I will try to stay away from campus as much as I can.
If push comes to shove, I'll quit my job, take early Social Security, and move to a retirement community where costs are lower and I don't have to drive from pillar to post to get groceries, pet food, medical care, and clothing.
Our short term strategy is to consolidate trips, ride share and use the car with good mpg as much as possible. Were also cutting out optional things in our budget to make up for increases in gas & food.
Our long term strategy is to move. Were currently looking at Cincinnati-Covington area. Urban neighborhoods with everything nearby. In the process of putting in about three or more light rail stations in the areas we are looking at. The high and low temps are much more moderate than where we are now, allowing lower utility bills and more chance to bike or walk. If things work out right we could pretty much ditch our cars for most of the time.
I think the government has to step in or our economy is going to collapse. They need to seize the plans for the EV-1 on the grounds of national security. Then set up government/private sector partnership plants to put these into production. Start a program with Tesla corp to develop their car batteries on a larger cheaper scale and get these cars into production. The car companies and the oil companies refuse to evolve and they are purposely holding the entire country back to their profit and our detriment. They also need to finally start developing Amtrak like a real rail system.
I live in the UK. This weekend I filled the 50 litre tank (13.2 gallons) of my very fuel economical VW Golf TDI (90 bhp) with Diesel and it cost me £58 ($115.81). I spend this every week.
I don't remember the last time fuel was $4 a gallon (52p a litre). It is before I started driving (1996).
I live in a rural community, no close grocery stores, nothing within walking distance. Hearing people complain about gas prices while doing nothing to conserve their gas usage isn't going to get the message to the oil companies. What do they care that you can't afford the gas when they know you're just going to keep buying it. Is it really so hard to conserve it? Slowing down, combining as many errands into one as you can, not driving one day a week. How hard is that?
Well, gas here is SoFL has been pretty high compared to alot of places. It is anywhere from $3.45 to $3.70 and higher depending upon what part of are you are in. I am very lucky that the area I live in has everything I need within walking distance or under 1.5 miles. When we purchased our house over 15 yrs. ago I wanted to have everything for the "just in case factor" (car broke down, etc.) But even still, I walk or bike to get stuff unless I'm doing big shopping. We also have buses, that are ok, they could be better, but at least we have them. Other family members who moved to FL (we are all from North NJ right outside of NYC)in the northern area do not have public transportation and everything is not within walking distance.Anyway, I think people just need to plan out their driving and not make so many trips. Maybe on the way home from work run your errands since you're already out, stuff like that.
I drive around 300 miles each week to get to and from work, so if gas goes up from where it is now, to 4 bucks, that will result in a weekly increase of a little over $8. 32 dollars a month isn't going to break the bank or make me do anything drastic like move or get a new job. I'm pretty sure I can find ways in my daily routine to mitigate this increase. Plus, like Mr. Stupid above, I'll continue to invest some money in oil and gas ETFs, which if history has been any indication, will do much more than offset the minimal price increase at the pump.
This is GREAT advice and I agree that people are afraid to fail. I also like the idea that we should be learning from others and set goals for what we want to achieve.
This book reminds me of How To Think Like a Millionaire which I love and continue to read over and over because I learn something new each time.
I'll pick this up and see if it generates same or new information. I definately have plans, I just need to find someone who's been there done that to serve as mentor as I make the first few steps.
If these other sources of energy were so amazing, an oil company either would have bought it, used it, and made a ton of money over its competitors, or someone else would have bought it and made money on it. I don't think you can blame oil companies for not supporting technology that would completely undermine their whole business. Why would they do that? If these technologies are so great, someone else would have taken the risk to make money on them.
I keep crystallized lemon packets in my desk at the office for flavoring water - it's good stuff, made by TrueLemon. It also comes in orange and lime. A packet or two adds a subtle citrus taste.
I've already got a plan. Rent out our house, move back to VA, next to the metro where we were last year and then use the Flexcar whenever we need it. Everything there was for the most part within walking distance. We would save even more money with that option so if that happened, I would welcome the push to move back to VA.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned converting a car to run on used vegetable oil (usually happily donated by a greasy restaurant). Just google it on the internet - unfortunately it looks like a lot of labor, but for a very inexpensive result. Actually another risk for people like me is that the smell would constantly make me crave french fries.
Kelja was close with this issue, it's not the price going up, it's the value of the dollar going down... I don't believe it's a demand issue because there are no stations running out of gas or factories fighting over oil by-products... As long as the US Govt continues to print out tons of cash to fund expenditures without responsible appropriation then the value will continue to plummet... And I've yet to hear any candidate for president, senator, congressman, or the mainstream media voice this reason for why prices are skyrocketing... With the exception of congressman Ron Paul...
What will I do? Well with my second job I'll have to charge more for my services... What can any of us do? You just have to go out and make more dollars...
I really like kayak.com.
First, it's just wrong to say that you can't get rich saving--not only is it possible, it's practically inevitable if you do it long enough. It's closer to true to say "No one got rich in a hurry by saving," but even that isn't really true--if you live very frugally while earning a good income, you can put aside enough money to get rich in a hurry, without needing huge investment returns. The fact is, people get rich by saving all the time, you just mostly don't notice them, because there's no easy way to tell that they're rich.
Second, the whole notion presupposes that "getting rich" is an important goal. Getting rich has its upside, but "Living large on a small budget" can happen without getting rich--at least, without needing to get rich in a hurry.
Finally, I've actually written a post on just this topic:
http://www.wisebread.com/the-false-goal-of-maximizing-investment-returns
It addresses the issue you raise, in the context of making your investment portfolio meet your goals.
This is a great post. We wish we knew about these details early on. Once we had to go through a collection agency though we had paid off one of our creditors. It was a mistake on the part of the merchant. But it was a harrowing experience for us which took weeks to be sorted out.
We cited this article in our Sunday Review #14 as one of our favorites. Keep up the excellent blogging.
Cheers,
FIRE Finance
Anyone who believes the utter lies and implausible theories of the crocumentary "Who Killed ..." deserves to get ripped into pieces (logically speaking). "The EV_1 worked too well."
Well, contrary to the lies of the film, apparently no one ever believed that nonsense. first off, the Toyota Rav4 electric, available during the same time and the Honda EV, available during 1996, both of which were cancelled, were FAR, FAR superior cars to the crappy EV-1, recently named by Time auto analysts (those are people, unlike those here, who actually understand what cars are required to do) as one of the worst cars ever built. Why you ask? Well, how about a driving range to stress out even the fainthearted - a destination radius of barely 35 miles. Trip to the beach? That's out. Trip to the doctor's? That may be too far away. Exactly how far away is his office? Or that store? Price ? $43,000, or 3 times more than the much larger, more capable Honda Civic that can go anywhere.
recharge? Oh, about 8 hours. Need to make an emergency drive? Sorry, my car's being recharged. Cheap to operate you say? How about the need for a new battery pack of 25 NiMH batteries every five years or so? It only costs $20,000, which s 4 times more than anyone would have spent on gasoline, making the EV-1 the most expensive car, per mile, on the planet. Yes, you're exactly right. The EV_1 was simply way too good. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
The writer, like many, blame Big Oil for the increasing price of their precious gas. Why not place the blame correctly.
We don't drill for oil in this country any more. A case of naive Nimby-ism with a coating of know-nothing environmentalism. Why is it OK to drill in foreign lands, many lacking even basic environmental protections, but we can't poke a few holes in the dirt off the coast in CA, FL or in the wilds of AK?
Oil is getting much harder to find and pump out. Used to be it took the energy of one barrel of oil to pump out 10 more. Now, because it's deeper, it's 1 barrel for every 3 to pump out.
The biggest causes for prices going up: Chindia (China & India) and the collapse of the Dollar.
And, please, stop hoping for a quick technological fix. You have no idea, unless you're an engineer working in the field, the difficulty of having alternative energy replace what oil can do.
As for me (since I live in CA, it's already $4 a gallon), I'll buy another Hummer when it hit's $5!
Have you seen the Chevy Volt?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt
Unfortunately, there is little we can do to bring prices down. But like everyone here has suggested, you can find ways to cut down the effect of the high oil prices. For me, moving 4 miles from my job has been a blessing. Not only have I saved on money, but I have more energy after work, and I get to enjoy more time with my family. Nervetheless, I miss the good ol' days when it took about $18 to fill my car : )
Gas prices are already at $4 per barrel in a number of countries. So we should see their behaviours and reactions to get an idea of how to plan ahead. In Europe they are talking about how they will manage when gas hits the equivalent of $8 p/barrel this summer!
AndyS
www.savingtoinvest.com
I tried Las Vegas. The rates shown on the summary page didn't match the rates when I clicked through. Also, a lot of the returned results were from reservetravel.com, which has terrible reviews online (including a review on ripoffreport).
As others have stated, $4 gas is here in SoCal and will likely rise to the $5 level come summer. I'm blessed with having a place w/in 7 miles of work, so I can essentially commute an entire month on 1 tank of gas. But more so, I'm cutting down on extraneous trips, walking to nearby restaurants, and when I'm driving its at reduced speed using cruise control. It is affecting my budget, but not in a major way... yet.
Once I no longer have to take my infant son to his caretaker on the way to work (my mom will be moving in with us to care for him while my husband and I work), I will probably switch to taking the local bus. It will increase my commute time by 100% or more (from 15 minutes to over 40), but I suppose the time trade off will be worth it once gas hits $100 fill ups. My husband does not have the option of public transit, and we live inside the beltway, which is a huge squeeze on us via rental prices. somehow, even though we are doing everything right by living close in, with grocery stores within a mile of the house, and working where we live (me) or against the grain with a reverse commute (him), gas is still impacting us either directly in dollars or indirectly in increased commute time ( public transpo vs. my car.)
There will be nothing I can do.
Though my home is centrally located, the last grocery store within walking distance is closing. The middle-class infrastructure has moved to the suburbs, along with the middle class.
My workplace is 18 miles from my house. Housing is in such a slump that selling and moving closer to the job is out of the question; besides, I don't WANT to live there!
Bicycling or scootering or driving a small electric thing is out of the question: not safe on the mean streets, where bikers are routinely run down and fellow motorists are likely to shoot you.
And the bus system? Snark! I tried it: two hours and ten minutes, one way, to make a 25-minute drive! Even at $5 a gallon, I can't afford to spend almost four and a half hours in transit.
I telecommute a lot. Officially I work at home one day a week. Because my office is located far away from my boss's--way across a university campus--I am so far out of sight and mind that I can get away with not being there more often than once a week. As long as the work gets done, no one seems to care. So, I expect I will try to stay away from campus as much as I can.
If push comes to shove, I'll quit my job, take early Social Security, and move to a retirement community where costs are lower and I don't have to drive from pillar to post to get groceries, pet food, medical care, and clothing.
Our short term strategy is to consolidate trips, ride share and use the car with good mpg as much as possible. Were also cutting out optional things in our budget to make up for increases in gas & food.
Our long term strategy is to move. Were currently looking at Cincinnati-Covington area. Urban neighborhoods with everything nearby. In the process of putting in about three or more light rail stations in the areas we are looking at. The high and low temps are much more moderate than where we are now, allowing lower utility bills and more chance to bike or walk. If things work out right we could pretty much ditch our cars for most of the time.
I think the government has to step in or our economy is going to collapse. They need to seize the plans for the EV-1 on the grounds of national security. Then set up government/private sector partnership plants to put these into production. Start a program with Tesla corp to develop their car batteries on a larger cheaper scale and get these cars into production. The car companies and the oil companies refuse to evolve and they are purposely holding the entire country back to their profit and our detriment. They also need to finally start developing Amtrak like a real rail system.
I live in the UK. This weekend I filled the 50 litre tank (13.2 gallons) of my very fuel economical VW Golf TDI (90 bhp) with Diesel and it cost me £58 ($115.81). I spend this every week.
I don't remember the last time fuel was $4 a gallon (52p a litre). It is before I started driving (1996).
I'm waiting for the trucker strike.
I live in a rural community, no close grocery stores, nothing within walking distance. Hearing people complain about gas prices while doing nothing to conserve their gas usage isn't going to get the message to the oil companies. What do they care that you can't afford the gas when they know you're just going to keep buying it. Is it really so hard to conserve it? Slowing down, combining as many errands into one as you can, not driving one day a week. How hard is that?
America's downfall: self-entitled, materialistic attitudes.
Well, gas here is SoFL has been pretty high compared to alot of places. It is anywhere from $3.45 to $3.70 and higher depending upon what part of are you are in. I am very lucky that the area I live in has everything I need within walking distance or under 1.5 miles. When we purchased our house over 15 yrs. ago I wanted to have everything for the "just in case factor" (car broke down, etc.) But even still, I walk or bike to get stuff unless I'm doing big shopping. We also have buses, that are ok, they could be better, but at least we have them. Other family members who moved to FL (we are all from North NJ right outside of NYC)in the northern area do not have public transportation and everything is not within walking distance.Anyway, I think people just need to plan out their driving and not make so many trips. Maybe on the way home from work run your errands since you're already out, stuff like that.
I drive around 300 miles each week to get to and from work, so if gas goes up from where it is now, to 4 bucks, that will result in a weekly increase of a little over $8. 32 dollars a month isn't going to break the bank or make me do anything drastic like move or get a new job. I'm pretty sure I can find ways in my daily routine to mitigate this increase. Plus, like Mr. Stupid above, I'll continue to invest some money in oil and gas ETFs, which if history has been any indication, will do much more than offset the minimal price increase at the pump.
Just like Niecey Nash says on Clean House (one of my fav guilty pleasure shows), when you open up your hand to give away, its open to receive.
This is GREAT advice and I agree that people are afraid to fail. I also like the idea that we should be learning from others and set goals for what we want to achieve.
This book reminds me of How To Think Like a Millionaire which I love and continue to read over and over because I learn something new each time.
I'll pick this up and see if it generates same or new information. I definately have plans, I just need to find someone who's been there done that to serve as mentor as I make the first few steps.
What will I do if gas hits $4, or even $5 per gallon? I'll do what I've been doing for the last 2 years... buy more Exxon Mobil stock!
Mr. Stupid
http://stupidmoneyhacks.com
If these other sources of energy were so amazing, an oil company either would have bought it, used it, and made a ton of money over its competitors, or someone else would have bought it and made money on it. I don't think you can blame oil companies for not supporting technology that would completely undermine their whole business. Why would they do that? If these technologies are so great, someone else would have taken the risk to make money on them.
I keep crystallized lemon packets in my desk at the office for flavoring water - it's good stuff, made by TrueLemon. It also comes in orange and lime. A packet or two adds a subtle citrus taste.
I've already got a plan. Rent out our house, move back to VA, next to the metro where we were last year and then use the Flexcar whenever we need it. Everything there was for the most part within walking distance. We would save even more money with that option so if that happened, I would welcome the push to move back to VA.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned converting a car to run on used vegetable oil (usually happily donated by a greasy restaurant). Just google it on the internet - unfortunately it looks like a lot of labor, but for a very inexpensive result. Actually another risk for people like me is that the smell would constantly make me crave french fries.