11 Once-Affordable Things That Are Now Just a Pipe Dream (Unless You’re Rich)
It’s no secret that “doing life” is incredibly expensive these days. So when a Redditor posed the question, “What was affordable 50 years ago that now only the rich can buy?,” users flooded the thread with answers.
Of course, “rich” is subjective, and some of the answers — like groceries — are generally accessible to most income levels, despite becoming more pricey. But we pulled out a handful of items that have definitely turned into a luxury in the past few decades, from ski vacations to a plate of lobster.
1. A Summer House
“A house” was arguably the most popular answer to this thread’s question, but we found this specific answer — “a summer house” —a little more interesting.
“I know many families that have an old house on a lake that they go to in the summers. It’s been passed down for a couple generations. Nobody in the current generation could afford one but some how a family with a single income bought it 50 years ago and the man’s wife and wife and kids would spend the whole summer there and he would go up on weekends.” – u/spidereater
2. Natural Fiber Clothing
“Feels impossible to find anything affordable that has mostly cotton.” – u/l_ally
“100% wool coats don’t exist except in high end retailers, at least where I live.” – u/gepinniw
3. A Ski Vacation
“Skiing was never for the poor, but god d**n it’s expensive now.” – u/malevolentarcher123
“Depending on planning, you could fly from the US to France to ski for a few days and it would be cheaper than keeping it domestic.” – u/[deleted]
4. Concert Tickets
“I dug out a ticket stub to a Weezer show from ’97 (Pinkerton tour, around the height of their popularity)… $28 for floor tickets, fees included.
I just bought tickets to seem them in May (Blue Album reply, definitely not at the height of their popularity)… $120 for nosebleed seats + $45 fees.
I’m paying 490% more to see them play the same songs I heard them play 27 years ago, for worse seats.” – u/fulthrottlejazzhands
5. Disney
Both Disneyland and Disney World cost a pretty penny today, especially once everything is tallied up.
“I don’t think that it’s the price of the ticket that makes it unaffordable. Even at $150 it’s still accessible to most. It’s the price of everything else that makes it unaffordable. Parking, food, travel, time off work, and pretty much all basic needs have gone up in cost too much to make it affordable.” – u/JJiggy13
6. Lobster
“Much of the old cheap lobster was canned, bits of shell and all, and sold similar to canned tuna. These days, lobsters are harder to catch due to overfishing, have to be transported while alive, and need to be cooked specially. The lobster you’d eat 200 years ago was not prepared as fancily as lobster today.” – u/Romanticon
7. Horses
“In the old days the poor had horses the rich had cars, now everyone has cars and the rich have the horses.” – u/biztravellerUK
8. Major Sporting Events
“A ticket to the Super Bowl.” – u/Wolfman1961
Super Bowl ticket prices are ridiculous, with an average price of over $12,000 in 2024.
9. Single Engine Airplanes
“Single engine aircraft use to be surprisingly affordable. Almost every ranch here in the middle of nowhere had one for parts/grocery trips to town in the 50s and 60s.” – u/bn_freak
10. A Small Farm
“Certainly not cheap, but with a some saving, a middle-class person used to be able to afford one. Now, enough acreage to really do much other than garden and run a few chickens is too expensive for the average middle-class person.” – u/amishcatholic
11. Sports Cars
“In the ’60s, if you wanted a Shelby GT500, you could save your pennies with any normal decent job and obtain one relatively fast with reasonable planning. That’s a pipe dream in the current economy.” – u/CB-Style