What did a kilt cost in 1960, 1970, 1980 etc?

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Let's face it, Alan, there aren't any pockets in a shroud. I realised that a while back and if I wasn't going to get the pleasure from the money, somebody else sure as hell would. This life isn't just a rehearsal so make the most of it because you can be sure if you don't someone else will even if they just p**s it up against the wall.

Absolutely bang on message! If all you do is save for that rainy day, the only thing you can count is that they'll be passing out free umbrellas at your funeral.

[Jack Daw]

Absolutely bang on message! If all you do is save for that rainy day, the only thing you can count is that they'll be passing out free umbrellas at your funeral.

Go to the nursing home and see how those on Medicaid are living.

[Alan H]

Go to the nursing home and see how those on Medicaid are living.

I'll share a little detail of my private life.

My father in law has Parkinsons disease. He's had it for several years and is now pretty much confined to a wheelchair. I won't go into details, but he needs 24/7 care to do the simplest thing, like visit the bathroom. He's living in a pretty nice, but hardly sumptuous care home, which is a GREAT deal, and the monthly cost is $3,000 a month. That's $36,000 a year. This does not cover the cost of his medications, or the visits to the neurologist etc. etc. I'm going to guess that his annual cost for basic housing, food, doctor expenses and so on is around $45,000 or $50,000 a year.

This is CHEAP, out here. Dirt cheap. 24/7 care cost for living in a facility with nursing care round the clock is more like $5,000 a month, or $60,000 a year. Add in all that "other" stuff like doctors visits and it's probably $70,000 a year, and just in case you haven't visited a facility like that recently I STRONGLY recommend that you go walk into one and think about YOUR future..

Dad will likely live for another 3-4 years in this condition. If the annual cost is $50,000, then Dad had better have a drop-dead minimum of $200,000 to "make it", and Dad has already lived out 18 years of retirement.

Remember, you have to have a million dollars saved up to generate $50,000 a year annual income for an extended (say from age 65 to 85) retirement. $50,000 might sound like a lot right now (or it might not) but how will it sound, say in 2025 or 2045?
Even if you don't live on interest alone and you spend down your nest egg at the rate of $20,000 a year for those 20 years, you're going to need that million bucks at age 65 to have an income of $65,000 a year at age 85, 'cause if you're flat-broke at 85, and DANG...you live until you're 90, well.... Health care costs and nursing costs are skyrocketing.

AND....every dollar you save when you're 25 has that much longer to earn interest.

Sticking your head in the sand will not make these economic realities go away, eh?

While I agree that there ain't no point in living only for tomorrow, and that you can't take it with you, and that you COULD step in front of a bus and die tomorrow, the sobering realities of economics suggest that prudent folks might want to prepare for living into their 80's and 90's. If you DON"T prepare for that....and this goes ten times over for those of us who don't have kids.....your last years might be pretty freakin' GRIM.

And that needs to be balanced against how much you need/want that $600 kilt. Do you really want it? Are you saving for the future and still have some income left over? Then cool, get the kilt.

[Alan H]

Let's face it, Alan, there aren't any pockets in a shroud. I realised that a while back and if I wasn't going to get the pleasure from the money, somebody else sure as hell would. This life isn't just a rehearsal so make the most of it because you can be sure if you don't someone else will even if they just p**s it up against the wall.

I tend to think like this. Fortunately for me, the Cloaked in Midnight Joan does not. Because of her planning we will now enjoy a reasonably well-off retirement barring economic collapse of the Western World. We have no children to count on when we get old. Nobody is going to keep an eye on us when our health starts to go. And so it behooves us to save thoughtfully for the future.

Does that mean I can't have any fun now? Hardly. I own nine kilts. I made four of them. That was fun! I have a sailboat, and believe me that costs money. I'm going to sail that boat, solo to Hawaii. That trip is going to cost me something on the order of twelve thousand dollars. $12,000. But do I have to have the newest set of racing sails, every year? No. It's just a matter of priorities, sensibility and limits, and each person sets their own.

[Alan H]

*bump*

Just 'cause I enjoyed both the kilt discussion and the fish and chips discussion but the kingpin of them all was the image of Pleater as a young lass, rebuilding a BSA "A" in her dining room!

[pdcorlis]

*bump*

Just 'cause I enjoyed both the kilt discussion and the fish and chips discussion but the kingpin of them all was the image of Pleater as a young lass, rebuilding a BSA "A" in her dining room!

Oh how I'd love to see a photo of that!

[jhockin]

I bought my first kilt from a Scottish shop, in Vancouver, (BC) in sept 1970; a 13 oz in MAcNaughton dress tartan. They measured me with a lenght of string, and sent he order to a kiltmaker in Scotland ( can't recall which one). It cost me a total of ( if memory serves) around $300 (CAD). One of my newphews now wears has it, and wears it ( my middle-age spread).

By the way, the Canadian dollar was worth about 10 cents more, than the US$, in the mid '50's, as I clearly recall the "DefinDollars" , that the Fereal Liberals producved, during an election campaign, that had a 'tear-off' section "worth" 10 cents.

[Jaggy thistle]

My first new kilt cost £40 in 1960 Istill wear it and it still fits! Last new kilt in 2004 was £ 350 though I think it is better quality