Product Purchases and the Economy
Autor: Abigail Smith • September 23, 2015 • Term Paper • 763 Words (4 Pages) • 1,110 Views
Product Purchases and the Economy
ECO/372
August 26, 2015
John Bland
Product Purchases and the Economy
Shopping for a large item that you have been wanting can be fun and exciting. It can be a little frightening as well. There is a lot of time and research that needs to be done before buying.
When making a big item purchase, there are several things to consider. You need to ask yourself is it something that you can fit in your budget. If either you or your spouse lost your job can you still make the payments? Is the economy in a good position to be making a large purchase? Will it be used enough to justify spending the money to purchase it?
My husband and I are thinking of buying a camper so we can take our children on camping trips and vacations. One of the things we looked at is the current unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is described as the total percentage of people who are unemployed and are actively looking for a paid job (Business Dictionary, 2015). The current rate is 5.3. It is down from 6.2 last year (United States Department of Labor 2015). This is a good indicator that the job market is growing. Another thing that we looked at was what the interest rate would be for us to purchase a camper. Interest rate is a percentage of money that is borrowed that is paid to the borrower (Moffatt, 2015). Your interest rate is affected by your credit rating. If you have a high credit rating, your interest rate will be lower than if you have a low credit rating. Inflation affects the interest rate as well. If inflation is really high, the interest rates will be higher than you normally pay (Moffatt, 2015).
The economy has been good for the demand and supply for campers. The sales have been up. In 2013, 321,127 campers were shipped out to be sold. That is 12.4% over 2012. In 2014, shipments were up by 11.1 % when 356,735 campers were shipped (RVIA, 2015). The price of a camper has increased in the past two years. Due to so many people buying campers the demand is up which is driving the price up.
Because the prices have gone up, we have decided that we cannot afford to buy the most expensive
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