u/TriSherpa

Inspired by a recent post that needed more context, I looked into how spending has changed over time by age bracket. This shows average spending over time, with a simple cumulative multiplier in the legend.

As expected, 35-54 are peak spending years. There is a recent gap between the two groups there, with 35-44 falling behind suddenly. Note the divergence between 35-44 and 45-54, with the younger group under performing.

25-34 and 55-64 started in a similar place, but again we see a marked difference over time. The 25-34 group has been losing ground consistently, barely keeping up with inflation.

This does lend some support to the 'woe-is-me' mantra of younger redditors. Opportunities for <35 do look like they have dwindled and 35-44 is showing signs of stress.

Don't worry kids. You'll have money when you are older. /s

Data Source: US BLS, from Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CXUTOTALEXPLB0404M (etc)

Tools: Plotted in Google sheets. The inflation approx is blend of PCE Price index and GDP Price index. Unfortunately google tools don't make it easy to overlay recessions. Key points are late 1990, 2001, 2008 & 2009, and 2020. These are most visible in the 35-44 group.

Mount Washington, NH, is the highest peak in the North East US. Famous for the highest recorded surface windspeed, 231 mph, it offers a scenic ride to the summit — if you dare. The auto road has the steepest 5 mile segment of any paved road in the US and averages 12.1% gradient over 7.4 miles with 4,681 feet of climbing. Pjamm (pjammcycling.com) rates it as the 3rd hardest climb in the US, after Mauna Kea and Haleakala.

Once per year, runners can run to the top. Twice per year (practice day and race day) bike riders can ride to the top. This course is stupid hard. Per PJamm, 61% (4.5 miles) are at 10-15% grade and 11% (.8 miles) is 15-20%. The steepest quarter-mile is 16%, and the steepest mile is 13.8%. At the very end is a 22% ramp about 150 feet long.

The foot race was in June and the bike race was in August. Weather was similar enough (summit temp in the 40s, winds under 20 mph), that I wondered how the times compared between the cohorts. There were a similar number of racers in each group.

Note the big change in riders at the 2:00 mark and runners at 2:20. Each group has a target 'good time' objective that people were working to meet.

Average for runners: 2:08:22

Average for riders: 1:40:46

Record for runners: 56:41 (set 2004)

Record for riders: 47:19 (set 2026)

Record for cars: 5:11 (set 2026)

After 3 years in the new house, we've moved from grass to a patio, a veggie prison (keeps the deer out) and a flower garden. The left side is native plants. Now we wait for the plants to fill in.

Highlights:

— The patio took us 700+ hours. More than 120 tons of crushed stone; drainage won't be a problem. The steps are all granite. $25+k in material.

— The blueberry plants on the left side, against the ramp to the back of the garage, are in a place that you can't really see from inside the house, so we didn't want to plant anything showy. They need one or two more years before we can harvest anything.

— The deck will be redone to raise it up to a single level. Maybe with a roof.

— It doesn't look like much, bu there are more than 700 plugs of native plants. They'll look better next year.

—We own a small kubota tractor. Could not have done this by hand.

—We are losing some plants to deer. We live in the woods, so that's not surprising. Next year we expect to have to replace some things. We've fenced in the roses, but don't really want to do any more fencing.

—There are outlets near that spruce tree so we can put Christmas lights on it. There are bistro lights over the patio, but I forgot to turn them on. There are water spigots in the flower garden and at the far end of the veggie garden.

Don't let anyone tell you a project is too big or complicated for DIY. If you are methodical, you can do big things.