
U.S. Family net worth plummets 40% - iProject
http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/11/news/economy/fed-family-net-worth/index.htm?iid=Lead
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alecco
Story already at the frontpage:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4096362>

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excuse-me
Your parents bought their house for $10K in the 70s.

In 2007 it was worth $400K, now it's worth $200K - your parents have just lost
$200,000 !

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mattm
I don't think houses were as little as $10k in the 70s. Maybe for
grandparents, not parents.

I hate it how people use absolute numbers when comparing house values now to
the past as it completely distorts the changes.

For example, a house worth $40k in 1970 and $300k today sounds like a good
return, right? However, that would not even be a 5% "ROI" compounded over that
period. When you take into account maintenance, property taxes and other home
ownership costs, it's probably not even above the inflation rate.

Yet, when you look at the numbers on paper and see a nearly 8x increase, many
people think "Wow, what a great investment."

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GBond
I would argue the expectation of a home to give "a good return" is the core of
the problem.

