bzliteyear

You're a good son SC Trojan
Patrick
03C4S
USC Buad 1986

GT3DE

where did the 20% down come from? Did it fall out of the sky?

rodsky

Don't disagree but a regular Porsche like your 964 or a 997 GT3 is not a financial "investment". In your case, for not a lot of money, you have bought priceless enjoyment. An "investment" in your life experience. As far as a financial investment, it aint one. You have spent 6 years of reg, insurance, maintenance, tires etc. Add that all up and its still money. Plus you spent money to buy the car 6 years ago. Take all that and invest it, and you would likely have around $60K - give or take (ok that's really a swag). So if you sell your 964 for less than $60K, its cost you - and counting.

Hey I just got back from a 2 week trip to Africa. Great "investment" in our families life experience. But like your 964, I have less money now vs. if I had not done it. But would I do it again vs. have that cash in the bank. Hells yeah..

Only cars that are financial investments are "art". Mac f1's etc. They are extremely rare and they are rarely driven. They are not acquired as transportation.

A GT3 should be acquired because its transportation that puts a huge smile on your face. Drive it a lot - as much as you humanly can, because more smiles and more smiles is just not worth worrying about the small opportunity cost of a little depreciation. 10K miles a year. More? Why the hell not. How many people are putting 10k miles a year on their Macca F1. I'd hazard a guess that there aren't too many with 180,000 miles.

If you have a 4.0 - now you're between a rock and a hard place. Its 250-300k. But unless you have the extreme means, do you drive it 10K miles a year and thrash it on the track? Or do you "collect it". Drive it 200 miles a year, garage queen it and detail it to death - I.e. it is turning into art. The 4.0 may become collectible. Will it be worth $1M in 15 -20 years. Maybe. Probably not. But it wont be worth a lot with 150,000 miles and modd'ed to death. Plus if its an investment you're after - take that $300K and you can turn it into $1M in 15 years more easily than buying and not driving a 4.0?

GT3DE

EXACTLY.

Invest your money FIRST. Buy your luxuries SECOND - with the profits from your investments.

aussie jimmy

hahaha! so true.
turn on, tune in, drop out.

El Matador

Lately, I've been hearing a lot of the 'house is not an asset' theory. Seems like it's being preached at the rich dad, poor dad seminars. I understand the rationale. One thing that is often overlooked is that at least in Florida, a primary residence provides is one of the most secure and legit asset protection devices out there. I don't know how to value that, but for some it could be priceless.

911Jetta

Understood, and of course the whole point of my post was the "life investment" part... (I should have been more specific )

perfectlap

I can't believe this got more laughs than my dog at the hedge fund joke.
(hedge funds as a class = horrible performance).

As for the kids, I remember being on campus and Mastercard, Visa, Discover and Amex were all parked with tables right at the entrance of the student center fishing for guppies. All these years later, as far as the fine print, I have never seen a worse deal sold to either adults or almost adults. I don't care how incompetent your RE lawyer is, even they can't whip up a worse stacking of the deck against you, provided you sign on the dotted line of course.

Randy M

The vast majority of the wealthy made their wealth through Real Estate. That is a fact. Bottom line is, if you rent you're lining the pockets of the Landlord. Renting should only be for the young when they're starting out. If you're in your thirties and still renting, you should get off your *** and buy some real estate.

GT3DE

ummm.... tell that to the millions that lost their homes in the last 6 years.

Nizer

And the roughly 10m still facing negative equity as of 2Q13.

perfectlap

What was true in the past is not what is true today or what will be true tomorrow. For starters, cost of ownership in past is not remotely close to what it has become now. People getting rich from their RE purchases was largely a function of people buying when loans were expensive/difficult to get (pre-1980's Salomon/Rainieri), which meant that home prices were much lower. That changed in a big way so people were able to bid more with borrowed money. Then local taxing authorities saw the oppourtunity to collect more if the houses were appraised at higher and higher values. So you're in a catch 22. If your house is going up in value, largely because incomes in that zip code are rising, then its a good bet that you'll be getting a 'reassesment' of your house's worth so you can start writing bigger checks to the state, even if annual % increases are capped.
If your zip code's incomes are falling, you're unlikely to see a tax increase but your house is also not going up in value to offset the mountain of interest you've paid along with the rising costs to maintain a property. For the renter, if incomes are not rising the landlord is in a pickle to find decent tennants so they can't spike their rents unless they want to start competing for quality renters (see FL rental market).

Meanwhile the renter whose just been told by his landlord that rent is going up, can always pack up and move elsewhere and avoid his housing budget eating into his investment/retirement goals: conservative estimates peg a decent retirement fund for a $50K a year earner at $1 million+ for a person expecting to live 25 years after retirement. How many people have that? Not many because they plowed nearly all of what they have into the house (aka liability). And It's a lot tougher for someone with rising ownership costs to pack up and downsize. Depending on when they purchased it may not be possible to walk without owing. RE in a high cost of ownership zip code is probably the worst financial move for a middle to upper-middle income earner. Probably one of the best for a high income earner. And by high I mean they can easily pay all their bills for a year without needing any earned income.

TRAKCAR

In Florida we only have property tax, about 1.5%-2% of the purchase price.
On your primary residence tax can only increase about 3% a year.

GT3DE

If you think getting a college education, getting a good job, buying a house, and saving for retirement is what you are supposed to do - good luck.

usctrojanGT3

He worked really hard for us to live in a decent area and I was a pain in the booty so it's my way of paying my dad back for his hard work (call it a return on his investment).