The link doesn't go anywhere for me.

@pecan 3.14159265: Try this - [blogs.consumerreports.org]

While 8 percent seems unrealistic right now, over a long time horizon, it' s not unreasonable.

Unless, of course, you believe we are in a "lost decade". In that case you'll only get that return from a ponzi scheme.

Your link is broken.

This made me kind of sad...I'm not a low-wage earner (we pull in much more than the $53k limit for joint filers) but we also aren't living it up in the penthouse suites either. We live comfortably, and modestly, and we save. Just because we've got more money than they say we should have doesn't mean we don't have problems saving. It's expensive to live where we live, and moving farther away for cheaper living expenses would be a terrible idea. In fact, in the next year we're probably going to move closer to D.C. and have to pay more money for less space, because we'll both eventually end up working downtown.

@shepd: It's pretty hard to successfully predict the future of the market.

However, it's nearly always the case that some of the largest percentage gains from the stock market are in the year or two after a huge drop.

Remember that the stock market is not the same as the U.S. economy. Some of those U.S. companies are making much of their money overseas nowadays.

Link is broken.

Try this link: [blogs.consumerreports.org]

This makes me furious. I am in college but make enough from my part time job where I can save and once again I won't get any tax credits. I missed out on the $300 stimulus because of me being a dependent and now I miss this. This screws the responsible hard workers who once again make too much or want to ensure health benefits.

@TEW: Maybe you should be thankful for the support of your family rather than being upset you missed a three hundred dollar handout.

@TEW: Yeah the thing about it is even if you're a full-time student, it doesn't mean YOU aren't the one paying all of your bills. Where's the break in that?

@pecan 3.14159265: [blogs.consumerreports.org]

@Canadian Impostor: TEW never said he/she was being supported by anyone. Many students in college can only work part-time because their schoolwork is labor intensive (anything in the sciences involving frequent lab work, for example), and do have to shoulder debts on their own.

@pecan 3.14159265:

Huh? TEW said "I missed out on the $300 stimulus because of me being a dependent"

Filing dependent status usually means in some way your financial well-being is taken care of by someone else. My boyfriend is currently going to college and working two jobs, paying for all of it himself, and he got the $300 stimulus payment. So yeah, it's not just 'being in college' that does it, because college students can get the break. It's that you're not paying enough money into the govt to warrant a tax break like that - your parents are. This applies even if you pay all your bills and you're just living with your parents, since the cost of paying rent is one of the bigger expenses.

This person is complaining about not getting free money while being dependent and only working part time. Please. Leave the stimulus payments to the REAL hard workers.

@PillowTalk: Well, the technical definition is that if 75% of your living is paid by your parent or guardian. I would say that TEW counts as a dependent because his parents provide a home for him when he returns from college, and if there are loans, the loans may be under their name but it doesn't mean he won't have to pay them when he gets out of college. I can see how not having to pay a whole lot of bills would put a damper on the whole "where's my $300?!" argument, now that you point it out.

@TEW:
Sorry I should have clarified my post. I am claimed as a dependent because I need that for my parent's health insurance. I did the math two years ago because of my grades I could go to college for next to nothing and my income is high enough where I could support myself. The reason why I am upset is I paid $800 in taxes this year and I could have pocketed that, a thousand dollars for saving, $300 for the stimulus package, and around 10 grand a year for classes. The only problem will be that I will lose my health insurance.

@pecan 3.14159265: It's a major Catch-22, really. Live in a city, and be able to find good work; but no reasonable work actually pays for living in the city.

I lived in NYC before I came down here to DC. And here in the immediate DC area... when I thought about what my fiancé and I make, combined, I was shocked at the number, because it's higher than I imagined, and yet we live comfortably in a one-bedroom apartment, are scraping together pennies to cover our share of the wedding, and I despair of ever being able to afford kids. (The co-pays for doctor visits alone would have me dirt poor halfway through a pregnancy.) And with a current 60-minute commute each way for me, and 35-40 minutes each way for him, I refuse to move even farther away -- which would barely be any cheaper. Two hours of my life is already two too many.

@johnva: Agreed.

However, eight percent real is unrealistic, imo, so the growth probably won't be quite as nice as it is made to appear.

I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind not being a full-time student. Not all students are kids living under mommy and daddy's roof. Some of us are the parents who help provide that roof.

@Etoiles: I don't mean this to sound dismissive of the issue, but it's not like NYC or the DC area are exactly average when it comes to living expenses. It's hard to have one's cake and eat it too. There are plenty of upsides to those places for those who like them, but the downside is that others see those same upsides which drives up the price of housing.

In a lot of places it is imminently possible to find jobs that pay well and are a reasonable commute from nice places to live. Whether to live in these places as opposed to NYC/DC is a lifestyle (and/or career, I suppose) choice in which all factors are unlikely to be positive.

In NYC and DC you put up with very high living expenses, in Dallas and Fort Worth we put up with tornadoes and Oklahomans.

@Yossarian: *shrug* Sometimes it's a choice, sometimes it's just a Thing. New York was a choice, not the city of my birth, so it was easy to choose to get the hell out. At this point, DC's the prevailing family compromise. (If I weren't getting married, by now I might be back in Boston where I grew up, heh. At least I know where the cheap apartments are, there. ;) )

@Etoiles: I love D.C. and Northern Virginia. I have so many fond memories of the area, and I have a real sense of home here. The problem is, living here is eating away at any home I actually have. Taxes, bills, insurance, etc. are things I have to deal with elsewhere too, but it really is a huge Catch-22. But the weather gets really nice, and more times than not, there isn't anywhere I'd rather live right now.

@TEW: Can you get health insurance through the college, or do you not want to do that because you would have to pay for it out of pocket versus your parents paying for it out of their employer?

@TEW: Why not just ask your parents for $300? They are certainly saving at least that much in taxes to list you as a dependent? Or could it be that it costs them MUCH more than $300 a year to have you on their insurance?