Posted on 12/31/2008 4:39:24 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
People Pulling Up to Pawnshops Today Are Driving Cadillacs and BMWs
Well-to-Do Turn to Last-Resort Lenders; Putting Up Diamonds, Dumpsters as Collateral
By GARY FIELDS
PHILADELPHIA -- At Society Hill Loan, a pawnshop in a middle-class neighborhood here, a steady rain fell outside as a fashionably dressed young man parked his Cadillac Escalade outside. Looking around warily, he came in to speak with Nat Leonard, co-owner of the store. [Nat Leonard]
The visitor was a 29-year-old engineer who was laid off earlier this year from one of the local chemical companies. Since then, he's been cleaning planes at the airport for less than half the salary he was earning a year ago.
Now he needs a $2,500 loan on his watch -- a Movado Fiero with a diamond bezel -- to pay his mortgage note.
"I want to help," said Mr. Leonard. But unlike Rolex and a few other brands, "there's no market" for Movado in his pawn universe.
The young man, who didn't wish to give his name, left the store disappointed. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do," he said.
Typically, pawnshop customers have a household income of about $29,000, according to Dave Adelman, president of the 2,400-member National Pawnbrokers Association. But operators around the country say they are seeing a surge in new activity fueled in part by a different clientele: middle- and upper-middle-class customers facing ravaged stock portfolios, tightened bank credit and unexpected layoffs. In areas dogged by high unemployment and foreclosure rates, the pawn business is especially robust.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Ping!
It's a shame he wasn't raised (or didn't learn) to put something aside for a rainy day. The escalade and movado could have carried his mortgage note for several months if he'd put that money aside and decided on a Timex and Corolla.
Been that way for as long as I can remember. You also see them at the supermarket checkout handing the cashier their Food Stamps benefit cards.
Did any of these young winners ever think of saving for a rainy day.
Lesson learned, hopefully.
Oops! Replied too quickly. I read only the part about pulling up to the pawnshop in a Caddy or BMW.
“Save for a rainy day.” It was wise then, and it’s wise now.
You got in before me! :-)
Time to dip into my MM acct. and stand outside a pawn shop. It worked very well for me at auto dealerships in NYC in the 60s and 70s. Out bidding the dealership on trade-ins and subsequently re-selling them was quite profitable.
He’s 29, what’s to worry about?
Yeah, but how many high-maintenance anorexic supermodels are ya gonna attract with a Timex and a Corolla?
True. I hope that those on this site who are still young enough will take note. Save, save, save, and put the saviings in a safe place. Our privately owned local bank is in good shape because they never borrowed from outside the community. They operate on local funds. These are the banks that will weather the storm, just as they did in the 30s (at least the ones who escaped Bonny & Clyde). We feel fairly confident in the safety of our savings. Another thing that is going to become evident is that those with good community support systems will fare better. City dwellers will suffer more. And everyone.......pray for our country.
Apparently not. My daughter entered the work force this year. We have taught her to save as much as possible. She is shocked to see how others don't save anything.
The other people spend, spend, spend and spend some more - all on "junk". They have to "Keep up with the Jones".
Sadly, he probably didn't own the watch outright either (maybe still paying it off on his credit card). So many are leveraged to the hilt and leave themselves absolutely no room to absorb one of life's "bumps in the road".
Sell the car and buy something cheaper.
Its not how much you earn, but how much you can save!!
I remember I was running a business back then and I had stopped by her office to have lunch in their lunchroom. I stopped by her office and asked her to make this deposit at the bank in the building since she would be passing it on her way to lunch. She took one look at the bunch of checks totalling over $250k and asked how much she can take for her salary as a co-director, to which I said no more than 1/4 of the amount.
I muse at that incident every now and again since for all the big buck$$ I had earned I had saved only a small percentage whereas for her job and the peanuts she was being paid she ammased a tidy sum in savings.
Its a real dumb deal you're in if you are earning a MILLION per year but you are spending 110% of it.
A jewelry store will pay a far higher premium that which is at par with the market at the date of selling.
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