Young people enjoy plummeting prices on housing, investments on clarkhoward.com

Young people in their 20s and 30s are poised to take advantage of plummeting prices on housing, cars, investments and more.

Take the housing market, for example. Houses traditionally appreciated at the rate of inflation plus maybe another point per year…and that's it. But then beginning around 1998, home values could have stepped up as much per month as they historically did in a year. Now the housing boom has gone bust and the runaway prices are beginning to get under control. Suddenly, that starter home may be affordable again.

You can see the same thing in investing. All kinds of holdings are available at distress sale prices at the moment. And the younger you are, the more time you have to let your money grow.

In the '90s, people thought the market would just continually rise at a rate of 20% or more forever. That's just human nature -- we look at a trend and think it will remain constant. So today, the challenge for young people is to overcome their impulse to run away from the sinking housing and stock markets.

On the question of college expenses, Clark says you can forget about any projections you may have seen about the skyrocketing cost of college 18 years from now. Colleges will have to learn the discipline of controlling costs. Right now, so little of every dollar goes to real educational expenses.

That will change as we get away from research-based institutions and bulk up on our teaching colleges. That's precisely why Clark loves community colleges; they typically focus on teaching, not research.

What others are saying

dollar collapse
I'm wondering what clark thinks about the possability of a collapse of the us dollar. Their is currently know way the US government can pay for the entitlement programs like medicare/social security over the next 30-40 yeats. People need to wake up and start getting involved. We have a major crisis in front of us.
By william @ 01/23/09 10:42:53 AMreport abuse
Tuition costs
While I know a lot of research costs in the core sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science) are covered by Grants and similar mechanisms, I suspect the majority of other areas are not fully covered by grant money. It helps that colleges can actually make some money off of grants (in that grants typically will cover the professor's salary for the time he/she is expected to work on the project, so that means less money the university has to spend on their salary, only having to pay for the teaching time), but I suspect a lot of research in other areas is paid from tuition.
By Sam @ 01/23/09 07:12:57 AMreport abuse
Congressmen & Senator
Most people don't know that if a Congressmen or senator gets elected to just 2 terms he/she gets a lifetime pension at 100%, so how many here would like to work for about 8 years and get a lifetime pension? Not Bad huh! Where do I sign up...
By Guy @ 01/22/09 09:29:20 PMreport abuse
waste of money
Many big time 4 year colleges are about two things for a lot of the students:beer and football. No need to waste tuition money on these kids, many of whom are not cut out for college and should be in some kind of trade school.
By postprime @ 01/22/09 07:23:45 PMreport abuse
2 yr colleges
Run a hiring dept - fortune 500 company - we are becoming more and more impressed with what the community colleges are able to provide us with - also we used to do much more grants and work with universities, but we found many issues with their internal accounting and fiscal responsibility - what Brian indicates below is 100% correct
By nc steve @ 01/22/09 02:24:59 PMreport abuse
GOOD BUYS
...yes, if the young have any money.....a few would...they can buy the market cheaper...but the parents are 50% in the hole on this no bottom stock market...sure proves you can lose 60% of your life savings...just look at mutual fund tables....how long till it comes back...100 years??
By LONELY PLANET @ 01/22/09 01:41:19 PMreport abuse
controlling college costs
my wife works for the university of washington in seattle. I could write a book on some of the shenanagins that go on there when it comes to controlling expenses. Phonied up sick leave, taking off work and not reporting it as either sick leave or vacation (and this is with the tacit approval of these people's managers), spending hours a day virtually every day playing on the internet or doing other personal business from the office, and I could go on and on and on.
Most taxpayers think professors actually teach the majority of their workday. They would be wrong. In the department where my wife works, most professors teach one class (that's right, one class) for only one quarter out of the entire school year. And they squak about having to do that. My wife says there are many, many, many days a year when these professors never even show up at their office and "say" they are "working from home". It is truly a joke.
Now I am not just picking on colleges. You could look at federal, state and local government and how they spend their money as well. Most likely not much different. Spending at every level of government is totally out of control and has been for a long time.
There is little the average taxpayer can do except vote with their wallet. For me it is simple, I vote no on any proposal that raises taxes or fees and vote yes on anything that lowers taxes or fees. Across the board with no exceptions.
This is the only method taxpayers have left. Obviously to leave it to the self serving politicians and bureaucrats to do anything is just wishful thinking. When it comes to layoffs when times are lean, who goes? The people who actually do the work. Instead departments need to be merged, overlapping jobs need to be consolidated and most important, heads need to roll at the top of the food chain by this consolidation of departments.
By Brian @ 01/22/09 11:26:26 AMreport abuse
Whwre are tuition $ going?
Clark is right on concerning the community colleges. They are real bargains. It seems to me that the grads here are making more money and are more sought after in the work place by employers. I have had several managers mention to me in the last few years these community college students consistently out perform the people with four year degrees in both work habits and business knowledge. I say the government should pump more money into these schools versus the big state universitys.
By Jim @ 01/22/09 10:14:46 AMreport abuse
Where are the tuition $s going?
I always thought that research was mostly supported through grants from government and industry. Is that wrong? If it's not wrong, then the problem isn't tuition dollars going toward research, but going toward something else (landscaping, computers, etc.). I think going somewhere that is focused on teaching is great, but let's not throw research under the bus as the cause of the high cost of higher education.
By Andy @ 01/21/09 05:30:05 PMreport abuse

dollar collapse

I'm wondering what clark thinks about the possability of a collapse of the us dollar. Their is currently know way the US government can pay for the entitlement programs like medicare/social security over the next 30-40 yeats. People need to wake up and start getting involved. We have a major crisis in front of us.

By william @ 01/23/09 10:42:53 AMreport abuse

Tuition costs

While I know a lot of research costs in the core sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, and computer science) are covered by Grants and similar mechanisms, I suspect the majority of other areas are not fully covered by grant money. It helps that colleges can actually make some money off of grants (in that grants typically will cover the professor's salary for the time he/she is expected to work on the project, so that means less money the university has to spend on their salary, only having to pay for the teaching time), but I suspect a lot of research in other areas is paid from tuition.

By Sam @ 01/23/09 07:12:57 AMreport abuse

Congressmen & Senator

Most people don't know that if a Congressmen or senator gets elected to just 2 terms he/she gets a lifetime pension at 100%, so how many here would like to work for about 8 years and get a lifetime pension? Not Bad huh! Where do I sign up...

By Guy @ 01/22/09 09:29:20 PMreport abuse

waste of money

Many big time 4 year colleges are about two things for a lot of the students:beer and football. No need to waste tuition money on these kids, many of whom are not cut out for college and should be in some kind of trade school.

By postprime @ 01/22/09 07:23:45 PMreport abuse

2 yr colleges

Run a hiring dept - fortune 500 company - we are becoming more and more impressed with what the community colleges are able to provide us with - also we used to do much more grants and work with universities, but we found many issues with their internal accounting and fiscal responsibility - what Brian indicates below is 100% correct

By nc steve @ 01/22/09 02:24:59 PMreport abuse

GOOD BUYS

...yes, if the young have any money.....a few would...they can buy the market cheaper...but the parents are 50% in the hole on this no bottom stock market...sure proves you can lose 60% of your life savings...just look at mutual fund tables....how long till it comes back...100 years??

By LONELY PLANET @ 01/22/09 01:41:19 PMreport abuse

controlling college costs

my wife works for the university of washington in seattle. I could write a book on some of the shenanagins that go on there when it comes to controlling expenses. Phonied up sick leave, taking off work and not reporting it as either sick leave or vacation (and this is with the tacit approval of these people's managers), spending hours a day virtually every day playing on the internet or doing other personal business from the office, and I could go on and on and on.
Most taxpayers think professors actually teach the majority of their workday. They would be wrong. In the department where my wife works, most professors teach one class (that's right, one class) for only one quarter out of the entire school year. And they squak about having to do that. My wife says there are many, many, many days a year when these professors never even show up at their office and "say" they are "working from home". It is truly a joke.
Now I am not just picking on colleges. You could look at federal, state and local government and how they spend their money as well. Most likely not much different. Spending at every level of government is totally out of control and has been for a long time.
There is little the average taxpayer can do except vote with their wallet. For me it is simple, I vote no on any proposal that raises taxes or fees and vote yes on anything that lowers taxes or fees. Across the board with no exceptions.
This is the only method taxpayers have left. Obviously to leave it to the self serving politicians and bureaucrats to do anything is just wishful thinking. When it comes to layoffs when times are lean, who goes? The people who actually do the work. Instead departments need to be merged, overlapping jobs need to be consolidated and most important, heads need to roll at the top of the food chain by this consolidation of departments.

By Brian @ 01/22/09 11:26:26 AMreport abuse

Whwre are tuition $ going?

Clark is right on concerning the community colleges. They are real bargains. It seems to me that the grads here are making more money and are more sought after in the work place by employers. I have had several managers mention to me in the last few years these community college students consistently out perform the people with four year degrees in both work habits and business knowledge. I say the government should pump more money into these schools versus the big state universitys.

By Jim @ 01/22/09 10:14:46 AMreport abuse

Where are the tuition $s going?

I always thought that research was mostly supported through grants from government and industry. Is that wrong? If it's not wrong, then the problem isn't tuition dollars going toward research, but going toward something else (landscaping, computers, etc.). I think going somewhere that is focused on teaching is great, but let's not throw research under the bus as the cause of the high cost of higher education.

By Andy @ 01/21/09 05:30:05 PMreport abuse

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Jan 21, 2009 -- Young people enjoy plummeting prices on housing, investments

What others are saying