[T3] Whats is a Type 3 worth?

[Jim Adney]

On 22 Feb 2012 at 15:11, Keith Park wrote:

> To think of what the average person spends on a new car every few years
> and how long most of us get out of our daily drivers is amazing, you
> can really save A LOT by maintaining and keeping a quality car over
> the long run.

I wholeheartedly agree. Buying a new car every few years is the most 
expensive way of approaching this problem. Learning to fix your own 
car is the least expensive, but you have to be willing to spend the 
time on the learning curve. There's a tradeoff there.

We bought a new Jetta wagon a couple years ago. By my standards, it 
cost a LOT, but it's a diesel and we hope the extra we spent to get 
the diesel engine will pay off over the years. Our last daily driver 
lasted 14 years. We tend to hold on to our cars as long as we 
possibly can.

I've spend quite a bit of time looking into the economics of wealth 
lately. Wealth is assets minus debt. The raw numbers are available 
out there if you're willing to search for them. Here are some 
interesting facts about US wealth.

The median (50% of the population above, 50% below) wealth in the US 
is about $60,000 per person. So that's about 4 of the high end Type 
3s mentioned earlier.

The mean/average wealth (total wealth divided by population) in the 
US is $180,000 - $200,000 per person. This number changes rapidly as 
the total US wealth changes with the economy. The low end was at the 
bottom of the recession and the high number is approximate for today. 
Of course population increases, too, so that has its own effect.

As you can see, that takes a lot more of those $14,000 Type 3s to 
achieve.

Keep in mind that these are all per person, so a family needs some 
multiple of these numbers. These numbers also ignore the age factor: 
young people haven't had a chance to accumulate any assets and the 
very old tend to deplete their accumulated assets in their final 
years. Since I'm recently retired, I figure I'm near my wealth peak.

The difference between the median and the mean is due to the wealthy 
at the high end who push the mean/average up. There ARE people with 
negative wealth (more debts than assets) but they are more than 
balanced by people at the high end.

In my world, adding Everett's 2 zeros would make me more wealthy than 
I'd ever expect. Adding 3 zeros might have it's appeal, but it seems 
pretty extreme.   ;-)

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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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