| Message |
The house, part I agree with, I don't agree with the new car part tho. New cars are the single worst investment, even though cars are NOT an investment in general, they ONLY depreciate, unless they are rolling art, like a classic. as far as the new car thing goes: What I mean is, you work so hard for the money it takes to buy a new car, compared to a used one in good condition. And generally speaking, no matter what, no matter HOW much you spend in repair bills on a good used car, and how much you think you saved buying a new car with a warranty, it is NEVER as much as you spend, when all is said and done, on a new car. New cars make no sense at all. case in point: My convertible Z was likely $35K or more in 1993. I bought it used, and still in totally decent condition for $7400. That's almost 5x less in price. Now, is the car 5X less in quality? no. Subjectively speaking, it's at least 80-90% as good a car as it was new. In actual repair bills it has cost me about $400. So, buy new houses, maybe, but don't buy new cars, if you can avoid it. Of course, almost no one plunks down $35K cash for a new car, so comparing it to a down payment on a house is a stretch, but... if you do have 10-15K loose change and still rent, and are ready to pull the trigger on spending a wad like that all at once, then you need your head examined, I think... You should be thinking about saving a bit more and buying a house. I have two houses, and even still-- spending more on the car is starting really not making sense anymore. I;'d rather own more houses. I've dumped at least 10K into my car all year long, (mostly stuff you can't see at all) and it has become completely unreasonable. At this point, I am taking a breather and deciding whether I am so nuts about Zs, that I will continue to spend unreasonably and fully restore the body and roof, or not. In any case, to answer the "investment" question, I only consider whether I can afford to do it, and whether it'll be fun for me, not whether I can get my money back for it. (and whether it's starting to exceed the price of whatever my next "dream car" is, used) _MWS
Crash Test Dummy(tm)
"taking it on the chin so you don't have to..." |
 |
