Love, Money + Real Estate #009
Valentine's Day, Inflation, Superbowl Stats + Housing News
Greetings:
We’ve got football and Valentine’s Day coming up Sunday and Monday. Let’s start with Love.
Be Mine?
Apparently, love lasts longer if you live in Wisconsin, South Dakota, Iowa, New Hampshire or Montana according to Point2Homes. The company found that these states had the highest duration of marriage (21+ years). In order, the states with the top “marriage scores” are South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, New Jersey, Montana and Utah.
Which states have the highest divorce rates? Nevada (no surprise, since they have the highest number of weddings per 1,000 people, although it would be interesting to see how many get divorced the morning after), Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Oklahoma and New Mexico.
Some states attract couples, like Hawaii, which also ranks #2 on the Point2Homes’ wellbeing index. No surprise there.
According to LendingTree, Buffalo, N.Y. , Cleveland, and Louisville, Ky., are the best city for singles. San Jose, San Francisco, and Seattle are the least friendly for singles. Perhaps because you need about 3 to 4 incomes to live there.
Most popular candy for Valentine’s Day? M&M’s led the way in 20 states, while Skittles came in second in 17 states. Personally, I prefer a chocolate heart, or perhaps just eating handfuls of Nestle chocolate chips out of the bag.
Trying to get some perspective with your most-loved one? Consider dropping in on one of Airbnb’s most-liked homes on their Instagram. Including this place in Hildale, Utah. Feels like a great spot for a Valentine’s Day getaway.
The New Sandwich Generations
My mother-in-law fell this week and broke her femur. She’s 79, and her daughters rushed in to provide care, research rehab facilities, find a place for her new cat to live (temporarily) and figure out some next steps.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have family living nearby who are willing and able to help out with caregiving. And those who are doing the caregiving are often “of a certain age” themselves.
According to the AARP’s Caregiving in the U.S. 2020 report, 19% of caregivers are 65 or older, and 7% are 75+. The Wall Street Journal covered this issue in a discussion of how today’s seniors may well be caring for their elder parents or other relatives as they deal with their own health and financial issues in retirement. Today’s 75-year old might have a 95- to 100-year old mother or father, who might live several states away.
What happens if the caregiver gets sick or becomes incapacitated but the centenarian is going strong? So many people I know have relatives in their 90s or early 100s. My friend Bobbie’s mom is 96 and still driving (though the whole family wishes she wouldn’t).
Stretching out life means several new sandwich generations, including Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964), Gen-X (born 1965-1980) and, yes, the Silent Generation (born 1925-1945), might still be caring for older and younger family members. Multi-generational households are all the rage, as younger families try to solve a tough two-fer: skyrocketing home prices and needing help to care for their kids. Here are some suggestions on ways to build a multi-generational home.
Crypto On My Mind…
Does anyone else remember when news was news and not a naked sales opportunity?
Binance announced a $200 million investment this week in the SPAC that owns traditional and digital publications, including Forbes. Zhao Changpeng, the Bitcoin billionaire behind crypto platform Binance, is currently the 12th richest person in the world, with a fortune exceeding $86 billion. Zhao said Forbes would remain mostly independent. His goal is to get more people to understand the world of crypto while preparing for a “Web3,” underpinned by crypto and blockchain.
Meanwhile, a reader objected to including learning about crypto in my list of money and credit resolutions for 2022.
Hard to make everyone happy.
Hot Reads from ThinkGlink.com, BestMoneyMoves.com and LawProblems.com
On a personal note…
Last week, I attended my first rock concert in probably 25 years. Elton John is probably in his third, fourth or perhaps even fifth farewell tour. There’s a lesson in that, I think.
Here’s hoping you enjoy the Superbowl (I’m rooting for the Bengals because it means so much to my brother-in-law and my nieces). Wishing you a lovely Valentine’s Day.
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