PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT . . .
■ home sellers offering buyers a 24-hour sleep-over “test drive” before they commit
■ the “simplicity” movement: “More Fun, Less Stuff” and “More of
What Matters”
GIVING TIME, NOT MONEY
In ten years, the number of U.S. nonprofits is up 75%, to over 1 million (half are tiny, with budgets under $25,000)—evidence that many Americans are choosing lesser-known, local charities o ver big names. Some donors “give” skills or services, tutoring the children of prison inmates or starting car pools for intoxicated teens.
A PENNY SAVED . . . Youngsters are being taught the value of a dollar with tools ranging from piggy banks to video games. “We pass values of religion, love of country, and family to our children. We need to do the same with money values,” says Jason Alderman, director of Practical Money Skills for Life.
MORE DEBT THAN EVER
Canadian families now have an average net worth of $148,350, up 23% from 1999, but their total debt grew almost 38% in the same period, to $44,500 per family. “There has been a huge watershed shift from earlier attitudes that debt is a social stigma. For this generation, credit is seen as an entitlement,” says Robert Manning, Ph.D., a consumer finance expert and author of Credit Card Nation. Expect to see “serial bankruptcies,” with people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s going broke.
WHERE INTEREST IS RISING
■ early-20th-century teddy bears that were made in the U. S.A.
■ 1970s furniture: simple, modern-looking sofas, coffee ta- bles, and lamps
■ memorabilia from ocean liners of the 1890s to 1950s: boarding cards, menus, flatware, ashtrays, lighters, and ice buckets
■ automobile maps bought at gas stations during the 1930s and ’40s
■ department store displays, vintage advertising signs, and original packaging
■ stamps, coins, and comic books in mint condition
References:
Archives