Wow..... the distrust of people is palpable....... But that is the great thing about democracy; whe can have diverging opinions and listen to them in an orderly and civil manner.
Of course I do, I'm a poser, not an idiot My main point of that post was to combat the blanket "you should never finance anything but a principle residence." That's ridiculous in my opinion. I'[m not saying everyone should finance a Ferrari, most shouldn't, but for the majority of the population that don't keep their cars running in their garages, a reliable car is the difference between them getting to work and back and being homeless.Makes sense to finance a good car that will be reliable. Most of this can be qualified as "don't be an idiot". Probably not a great idea to go finance a $300k car that will be worth $150k in a year.
I’ve got to say I agree Drew, but we’re probably in the minority. All of my cars, including 4 Ferraris, were bought with cash. I even paid cash for a second home that I rent out. And I paid off my primary home in 12 years just to get out of debt. There’s something’s to be said about living debt-free and not paying all that interest to the banks (and sleeping well at night). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What would have happened to the money you spent on the second house, if you invested it in the stock market and financed the mortgage at 3% on a 15 year fixed rate loan. Heck, when I took finance in college it was all about decisions and math. I never care how people spend their money and waiting for something you can easily afford now, may be silly. Is leasing silly also? It's a form of renting a car for a period of time and most folks who own a business do it as a write off against profits.
I did a lot of stupid things when I was young and I am just trying to share some of the wisdom that I learned from it all. I would certainly be much better off if I wasn't such an out of control spender when I was young. A lot of 'if only'.
I do see both points as I too, in my younger days got in a bit of trouble with debt, Financing my Ferrari that has already depreciated when I basically have no other notable debt other than a mortgage and a few small things doesn't bother me because I wasn't a moron about it. On the other hand, to dwhite's post, there are plenty of good reasons to not get rid of liquid assets just to "pay cash" for something that could have been financed without tying up money that could have been better used elsewhere. I have a 401k, I invest, I have a bit in savings, I have high limit credit cards with low or no balances for last resort emergencies, I am (loosely) following Dave Ramsey's teachings...so no, the fact that I (partially) financed my Ferrari that I could sell for what I have in it, if not a few bucks more, doesn't bother me, especially since it's the only "major" debt I have besides mortgage.
I share a few cars with my best friend and it works out great. One is an old BMW 2002 we restored together, and the other 2 are track cars/race cars. Basically we fairly evenly split costs and when work needs to be done or something breaks we fix them together. It becomes a good time instead of a chore. I will say it could only work if you have a very good relationship and trust each other implicitly. There are only so many people I know like that.
All good until it gets wrecked. I have seen about 10 of these rentals get destroyed.... and guess what insurance will not pay!
Sorry, but this is a very poor comparison. The stock market and real estate are complete opposites; one is an unknown outcome while the other is a guarantee. The difference is whether you want to make money (with a high risk of losing) quickly, or have a safe longterm investment that will without a doubt be lucrative. I am speaking from experience. As an owner of 4 properties over 19 years, each property's value has at least doubled. Had I invested in the stock market, would I have been able to say the same thing?
Who said it took the entire 19 years? I bought my first 19 years ago, and my 4th 6 years ago. I also said "at least doubled", which means it was more than double. And, that excludes the rent I've been collecting, mortgage free, all these years.
That's great. I don't know what type of property you own, where and their value. Not a huge fan of RE and I have a rental property. Just like cars they are not very liquid and are subject to numerous unexpected expenses including being vacant. You say rent collected as if it's not offset by expenses and is pure untaxable income. Maybe where you live, not where I live. Who manages these properties, who pays the taxes, insurance, mait. I was in RE as a profession for several years and worked in Title Insurance. I saw folks lose huge amounts of $$$. RE is not an absolute either or everyone would own it and every REIT would be a wonderful investment.
I manage all 4 myself. You are correct, there are expenses, however I have no mortgage on any of them so I am making a very handsome return on them. And, I've been very lucky as none have ever been vacant and none of the tenants' have ever not paid each month. They are all residential properties.