{"id":83958,"date":"2024-07-13T01:00:51","date_gmt":"2024-07-13T08:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=83958"},"modified":"2024-08-07T14:39:29","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T21:39:29","slug":"black-coffee-13-july-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id83958-black-coffee-13-july-2024.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Something Borrowed, Something Blue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n

I hope everybody had an enjoyable week. Without further ado, let’s get right to this week’s commentary …<\/p>\n

The ideal marriage is between a blind wife and a deaf husband. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Michel de Montaigne<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to you and here\u2019s to me, I hope we never disagree. But if, perchance, we ever do, then here\u2019s to me, to hell with you.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

– Anonymous<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? \u00a0The average wedding cost now more than $35,000. Obviously, that’s a huge<\/strong><\/em> expenditure for most young people who are just starting out. So in an effort to keep wedding costs as low as possible, many couples are jumping on the latest hot trend known as \u201cmicro-weddings<\/a>\u201d – that is, matrimony events with no more than 50 guests. Makes sense. And for those looking to cut costs even further, there is the so-called \u201cminimony” that is usually attended by no more than ten<\/strong><\/em> people. Surprised? Well … you really shouldn’t be.<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Not surprisingly, the average number of people that couple’s invite to their wedding has been declining since 2006, when the typical guest list was about 184 people. However, the steady increase in wedding prices over that time is a big reason why ceremonies with 25 to 50 guests now take up about 15% of the market<\/a>, while weddings with less than 25 guests make up roughly 2% of the market. Just keep in mind that those numbers don’t<\/strong><\/em> include dogs …<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Stop us if you heard this<\/strong><\/em> before: Housing sales may be slowing down, but the cost of buying a new home just hit another all-time high<\/a>. In fact, the price of the median US home soared to $397,954 in June – that\u2019s 5% more than the same time last year. It also marks the highest level on record. It also means that, the monthly mortgage payment at that price, when accounting for the 6.86% median interest rate for a 30-year mortgage, is $2749. Ouch.<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Of course, interest rates are prices too. We all know that retail stores already have the highest APRs – and those rates have been climbing steadily – but Macy\u2019s has taken rates to new heights. In fact, they just sent letters to their cardholders announcing the rate on their Macy’s card is jumping to 34.49%<\/a> – for “money” conjured out of thin air, no less. For a consumer who only makes the minimum payment on a $1000 purchase, it would take almost five years and cost $1047 in interest charges to retire the debt. What a scam. It makes you wonder if, rather than the Big Apple, Macy’s actually started in Nigeria … or Washington DC:<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> In other news, we see that our home state – otherwise known as the people\u2019s socialist paradise of California – things have gotten bad that delivery drivers are being accompanied by armed guards while out making deliveries. As Zero Hedge<\/em> notes, \u201cThat means that somewhere, in a board room, it likely made more financial sense<\/a> to pay for all new security staff than it did to continue to allow drivers to get robbed (and inventory lost).\u201d Crazy isn\u2019t it? Rather than utopia, that sounds more like something from inside the dystopian rabbit hole. As for the drivers, well …<\/p>\n