These are odd times when the oldies are being hailed as guru's. It is only us oldies who have been here a while who can see history repeating. Maybe even more importantly though we can see the big changes. And I see a permanent change to committing a higher percentage of income to "lifestyle" investing ie Home beautiful in a leafy suburb. This extra money is quite easy to find really. When I married I was on under 30quid a week. A new TV cost 300. That's right 10wks gross income. The fridge, washer, and every other manufactured item we bought was equally expensive. In the 60s almost every item sold by Chandlers was on HP and the rip-off interest made it worse. As a result legions of suburban families were in the debt trap without a house. Today the "$14,990 drive away, no more to pay" car is more servicable and cheaper to own and run than an old olden ever was, by a factor of at least 50% and will last twice as long.
This personal freedom has meant that we no longer need to live close to work and can choose a better suburb, and the economic freedom gives us the ability to pay for it. A severe economic downturn will only be a tempory setback in this long term trend.
