I will start by saying each to there own. But some people are just tight . They get so caught up in the money making cycle they forget to live.Im all for saving and watching your spending but some people live on baked beans,drive crappy old cars,never go on holidays and where crappy clothes all there life. FOR WHAT. So they can retire at say 50. Guess what dumb ass, half of your life is over and you have done nothing but accumulate wealth without enjoying it. And i know many people that have done this and when they do retire at 50 ,guess what. They still live like a tight ass because its all they know. What a waste of a life. So while i agree that you should save and live cheaply when you have to but get real about it. Live your life too. Your dead along time so enjoy what this modern world has to offer. Every now and then. Buy nice clothes, Go out for dinner, By a decent car at some point in your life and maybe,just maybe by a PLASMA.
Dear Devo,
You have absolutely no idea what life is about. If the '76' in your name is indicitive of the year you were born it explains a lot.
Take some time to think of what you will be remembered for when you die. 'OWNED A MERC AND AND PLASMA TV' will look great on your tombstone!! It may surprise you to know that some people in the world would love to live on baked beans and not rats. They're the ones with the crappy clothes too……..Delay buying your plasma and take a trip to Thailand or India (the list is long). It's there i learnt what people really need.OK a background of my life. I come from a very poor family. Food was scarce,Regular beatings for no reason whatsoever, new clothes never, and i cant say how much i enjoyed going to school and being hassled by everyone because of the ratty clothes i wore everyday.I loved my mum but her priorities didnt include me and my dad had a life with another family that i wasnt part of.Dont tell me about roughing it. And as for other poor people. I offered a year of my life to help others not as well off as me with no pay. Just food and accomodation.WHAT HAVE YOU DONE. Despite all i have been through and all i have seen am i bitter. Not at all. Its made me what i am today. I still love my family and i work extra hard so i or any future family i have will not have to go through the things i did.I am now succesfull in my career, a friend to everyone and hate no one, Married to my soul mate and i'm also enjoying the good things in life. I have a PLASMA, I buy new clothes,i go on holidays, i buy things for no reason, i give to the needy including my family,I give with no intention of getting it back. I have seen both sides so i am telling you. If you have the means to enjoy life through purchasing things you enjoy DO IT. My grave stone may say OWNED A PLASMA but it beats saying 10 IP,S MILLIONS IN THE BANK AND WATCHED MY ENTIRE LIFE FROM THE SIDELINES.
This post is not directed at anyone. Many need to save every penny to get ahead i understand. Just dont forget that you only have so many years on this planet and although you dont need material things to enjoy it. If you have the means i say enjoy evrything you can.
Also should add. My PPOR will be paid of within 18 months, I have a IP with more to come soon so im not wasting my money. I believe in a balance. And thats how im living my life. So now im off to dinner with my mates. Tomorrow we are going camping up the river and im going to get some fishing in too. Lifes great.
Inported a merc back in 99 from Hong Kong as an experiment cost me $10000 all up (included everything airfares,customs duty, transport ect. ) looked posh for a year then could not resist selling it as they were worth $18,000 here. Nice to drive but not very practical as a work vehicle. Good idea though if you want to make money out of a holiday.
devo76 wrote:I will start by saying each to there own. But some people are just tight . They get so caught up in the money making cycle they forget to live.Im all for saving and watching your spending but some people live on baked beans,drive crappy old cars,never go on holidays and where crappy clothes all there life. FOR WHAT. So they can retire at say 50. Guess what dumb ass, half of your life is over and you have done nothing but accumulate wealth without enjoying it. And i know many people that have done this and when they do retire at 50 ,guess what. They still live like a tight ass because its all they know. What a waste of a life. So while i agree that you should save and live cheaply when you have to but get real about it. Live your life too. Your dead along time so enjoy what this modern world has to offer. Every now and then. Buy nice clothes, Go out for dinner, By a decent car at some point in your life and maybe,just maybe by a PLASMA.Hey Devo,
I hear what you're saying, but I'm a fair bit older than you, and have seen a disproportionate number of older folk who lived life to the full, spent well and bought lots of toys, but still retired broke, on the pension and have no life quality. I agree with you that we shouldn't live on baked beans and own 3 IP's, but we all need to get more sensible about spending.
Younger people (I was one of these) tend to have the a bullet-proof mindset, think they have "plenty of time to invest later", and are generally voracious consumers; folowing whatever trend is in. Then, they get to 45 years of age, they still have the same money habits and aren't in a position to start preparing for retirement. People who are loose with money at 25 usually are the same at 45 from my experience and have higher living costs with families etc. They are now trapped.
I agree that you have to live your life, but my observation is that most of the population are mindless consumers. They spend almost all their income on doodads, and aren't too clever about how they buy them either. For example, what sensible human would queue up in the cold on the street the night before the shops open to be the first person to shell out several hundred for a WII, or an I-Phone? You can wait a few months and buy one from e-bay for 2/3's the price.
Also, ask all of your friends how many of them put aside at least 10% of their income for investing and wealth creation only. My guess is it would be less than 10% of the friends could say yes.
While you're there, ask them all how many of them are maxed-out on their credit cards. Ask how many have got more than one credit card.
The trick is to get a balance, and most people don't have it. I have learned to shop well, AND still invest a lot of our income, and live life well.
Things like cars; one of the worst financial decisions ever is for someone to buy a new car. I know you have done extremely well with your car, but that is very rare for most sheep. Even business owned leased cars is still a waste; it is still cashflow out of the business that could be used to grow the business.
The average sheep buys the new car, on finance, and after 1 year they owe more than it's worth and have high finance costs. If that same person was to buy the 18 month old version of that same car, the car is basically still new, 2/3's (or less) the price and the repayments are far less.
Now, that's not being tight. That's being financially smart. Same with any electronic product you can name. Same with golf clubs, clothes; even food. I remeber plasmas costing $10k when they first hit the shops. Now they are $2-$3k. Even cheaper on e-bay.
You can buy anything far less than retail all the time if you do it smart. This is not beign tight; this is thinking: "how can I buy this product, and still free up dollars for my wealth creation goals?"
This is how we live our life now. We have a good deal of nett worth now, a low LVR and we still do lots of travel, buy clothes etc. I don't spend money on cars. I don't have a need to try and impress anyone with my car; or anything for that matter. people only resent you for your success anyway when you display it, so why bother? I sometimes think it would be nice to own a porsche, which I can afford, but I am happy to drive a nice, but not new car and have more money for travel, golf, dinner etc. I can rent a porsche if I want to drive one.
I do all the shopping for our house, and I constantly look for the specials. I buy our water from those large dispensers in front of the super-market at 35 cents a gallon instead of the bottles of Evian at $2.00 a bottle. I don't need to do this, but we have to drink water, and if I can get it for 10 cents a 600ml bottle instead of $2.00, then my view is I have freed up another $1.90 with each one for more investing, travel, school fees, petrol in the car etc. I don't need to be seen with an Evian bottle in my hand, and if I want, I could buy one Evian bottle and repeatedly fill it with my el-cheapo water and have a double win – still be a poser with a high-end bottle of water in my hand, AND have some investing money.
To me, this is not tight. I'm still drinking perfectly good water like the Evian poser. It's maximising my discretionary income for further investing, or for purchases of products that I need, but can't control the price of such as petrol.
This is also going to get me closer to retirement at an early age so I can do anything I want whenever I want while the average sheep is still slogging away until 65, and retiring with a measly super fund and a part-pension; or worse. We all assume there will still be a pension by the time we get to your retirement age; there might not be one.
Hi LA. I always like your posts as i tend to always agree with your thinking. And i do this time as well. But you must admit that on a few of these property forums there seems to be some people missing the point completely. What many want to do is better there standard of living yet they are more than happy to lower it for the majority of there life to achieve it in there later years.Like i have said i am in the middle. I bought a plasma but only when there were cheap. I buy the odd gadget but i only have one credit card with nil owing. I think you can balance both. I admit the majority of my friends are living pay check to pay check. They will get stung in the near future.
There was this guy that worked near me for 5 years. He would come up and read our paper because he didnt want to buy his own. His clothes were old and ratty.He bought old spoiled food because it was cheaper. He was also worth millions. Well two years ago he retired to a penthouse on the top floor of a goldcoast apartment building and guess what his life is like now.
He still spends nothing and therefore does nothing,
His wife left him because of there poor standard of living
He still reads the free papers at maccas
He basically lives a lonely crap life because his saving habits have taken over his life and he cant change. He has told me of his regrets in missing his life. Now i know this is a extreme case but i see signs of this in some people and i think it is sad. Life is about balance.yep,
I have met these sorts of people; not many luckily. Can't see the forest for the trees. Waddya do?mercedes C class sedan sports pack on a -ve geared novated lease, excellent perfromance, excellent safety, osibidian black, tinted windows looks a million dollars but is actually equivalent to a german commodore but who cares.. wife has a people mover. I am only 3km to work I should ride a bike but who can be bothered having showwers and all that as although I live closest to work of all the staff I am last in and first out.
leaving Brisbane tomorrow for a driving holiday with family , 3 night Sydney, 2 nights Jindabyne, 2 nights(Christmas) Echuca, 7 nights Melbourne. just love this great country that we live in.
would you belive that it is actually more tax effective for me to get higher mileage ie burn more rubber and use more fuel hows that for ecological performance. and yes you can -ve gear the lease and also deduct expenses ie double deduction…
Hi All
Oh I love this topic, I can go on and on and on. I can talk about cars all day long. I have had this passion for cars since childhood, as I said can talk and write all day abt cars, will not deviate from the topic – I drive a subaru outback bought brand new in 2005. excellent family wagon, AWD 5 star safety rating, 5 yr unlimited Km warranty excellent resale and the list goes on.Thinking of selling it, if I get a good price. We are a family of three the car is used by my wife to to commute to and fro from work , I use my sisters cars to drive to work as of now but will have to get a new one in March as she is getting married and would like to take the car with her. This is my biggest debt so far no PI's no PPOR,My child hood dream has been to own as many cars as possible, my mother say its probably in the genes as her father 40yrs ago back in India owned abt 9 cars at one time, and all were the top ones, cadillacs, dodges, those big ones, unfortunately neither saw my grandfather nor his cars, they were sold after he died.
I dont care about Plasma tv's or LCD's nor any other kind of gadgets, I havent spent a dime on a tv in 7 yrs I have lived in Australia, yes I did buy a Sony home theatre but that was before I read " Rich Dad Poor Dad"
I keep myself updated with all the motoring news including resale values, run outs and new launches in Australia and Overseas., I keep telling myself "Stop Looking or dreaming abt cars they will not take you anywhere in life, concentrate on Real Estate Goals", but its hard very hard for me to let go. One place where i struggle is the technical part , that too under the bonnet. People from overseas call me to seek advise regarding what car to buy? I am also planning to set up website on automotive consultancy-unbiased opinion.
I have always wanted and am obsessed with the Merc, but realised its no great shakes to have a merc in ur garage, I think they are waste of money, specially the range below the S class, I have my eyes set on the S class Saloon, Range Rover Vogue and last but not least god willing Maybach, will buy once I have accomplished my Real Estate Investment goals, till then will probably live with my Subaru. BTW the Subaru has stayed with me the longest 2 yrs and 11 months, before that I had an xtrail sold it after 2 yrs.
I can keep on writting abt cars endlessly but I think I should end it here, and concentrate on my RE Goals,
Before I end, I would like to wish all PI members and their families merry christmas and a happy new year. May all your wishes come true.
Regards
Ashish.This topic is sooo interesting! We are proud of owners of three, yes three (3) cars! and they are all great, really cheap to run and all older than 20 years old. We inherited MIL's toyota starlet, I think it is a 1984, and FIL's one tone suzuki truck (1976?), and my husband's pride and joy that he bought nearly 20 years ago and fully restored over 10 years ago, in perfect condition Datsun 240Z 1973. The starlet and the truck fulfil our daily requirements of getting from A to B, but the Datsun is now apparently quite valuable and can command a real decent price if he wanted to sell it.
We have talked about buying a new car but we just don't seem motivated enough as they all still work very well and are real cheap to run.
My parents gave me a 1992 Toyota Camry with 335000 k's on the clock .
It drives like a dream and has air con…. all basses covered
I own a 1986 toyota Cresida. If the cost of repairs gets to much , then that is when you buy a newer replacement as opposed to a Brand new car which depreciates as soon as you drive it out of the show room.
In my case the previous 1986 Corona was replaced due to the engine siezing up and smoke coming out of it and was sent to the wreckers.
This is very interesting, all the talk about getting the balance right, as well as what people are driving. I drive a 2001 Triton dual cab ute. At the moment we are thinking about buying a boat for family holidays etc. It would cost somewhere between $5K and $20K ( we haven't really decided what sort of boat). If we buy a dearer boat, we will have to borrow money – but it would be more fun. It would delay our ability to buy another IP – but what about LIFE? what about having fun with the kids, getting away from the business and relaxing once in a while??? We are torn between our desire to have fun now, and our desire to build wealth for the future. Same thing with my car, which we are considering replacing before long. We live in the outback, and it is really necssary from a safety point of view to have a good reliable car. Especially when you have little kids (youngest 9 mths).
A bloke who is a bit of a tool, but thought himself a bit of a guru told me once that if you wanted to make money you had to go out and buy a real flash car (BMW out of the show room etc) – then everyone would take you seriously and the money would just flow your way…… If only that was true. Perhaps it would work if I went out and bought a 5.5m brand new half cabin boat with a 90hp motor? I could drive around Townsville with it on the trailer and park outside the real estate office – that would get their attention! I wish.
Tee hee, SHales, I think you encountered the same "guru" that I did… https://www.propertyinvesting.com/forums/community/opinionated/18815?&page=12#comment-164658
Now, regards your dilemma about whether to buy a boat now. How about HIRING a boat for family vacations? Then you get the use of the boat when you want it, without sinking capital into it and without the hassles of maintaining and mooring it. Unless you're boating nearly every weekend, boat ownership isn't generally worthwhile. To quote a discussion on another forum just this week: "there are two good days in boat ownership: the day you buy it and the day you sell it".
Best wishes,
Tracey
Tracey,
Yeah, I was sure there would have been other similar "guru" experiences, but I didn't have time to go right through the thread. I think he might have been the loser. That's the sort of thing you hear if you go to an triangle marketing scheme seminar (yep, been there, but glad to report I had the sense to quickly leave without giving any details or spending any money).As to hiring a boat, i'm a fan of that, but there are a few reasons that it doesn't quite fit. I think the compromise will be buy a cheapie, and hire a big boat on the few occassions that we want a big boat.
SAn old topic I would love to revive. How about some of you guys with appreciating assets from three years ago. Have you Improved your ride yet??
1968 Ford Fairlane $600 in 95, $16000 in 07 after $10k restoration. Very fuel efficient at 12mpg! The height of luxury as far as I am concerned.
zbfairlane wrote:An old topic I would love to revive. How about some of you guys with appreciating assets from three years ago. Have you Improved your ride yet??1968 Ford Fairlane $600 in 95, $16000 in 07 after $10k restoration. Very fuel efficient at 12mpg! The height of luxury as far as I am concerned.
No; still got the same cars.
1998 SSangyong MUSSO 4wd,
2001 Hyundai Accent.
Also have a 1996 Honda Accord while over here; will be selling that in another month or two before we head back home in April.When they die; then I'll get something.
I'm thinking about trading in the Hyundai for a 4 door oversized ute to carry around the reno stuff and still be able to drive the family around in clean and comfort.
It'll be second hand for sure.
zbfairlane wrote:An old topic I would love to revive. How about some of you guys with appreciating assets from three years ago. Have you Improved your ride yet??1968 Ford Fairlane $600 in 95, $16000 in 07 after $10k restoration. Very fuel efficient at 12mpg! The height of luxury as far as I am concerned.
As i have stated earlier, i have been lucky in this area. 2 years ago i purchased a hsv commodore for 40 grand. That car is now for sale and i expect to get over 120 grand. I was lucky to purchase befor the muscle car boom.
Stumbled across this site last night and as I’m into cars and property I thought this would be a good first thread to post in!
We tend to buy our daily drivers when they are 18 months to 2 years old and then keep them for around ten years before trading again – this strikes a good balance for us. Currently running a 2005 Mazda 6 and the family truckster is a 2001 Chrysler Voyager. We also try not to use finance unless we know we can pay it out within two years.
Like property, some cars do appreciate and I feel priveledged to own a ’59 Karmann Ghia, (driver) a ’62 vw splitscreen kombi single cab, (project) and a ’63 vw 15 window deluxe kombi microbus. (project)
The end game is for the ’62 to be my daily and trying to convince the little lady that the ’63 would be ideal for her!The above discussions on plasmas et al is interestingto me and imo it just depends where you are at and what your priorities are. We have two normal tvs and I still remember buying our first colour one from saved gold coins, all our initial furniture and wordly goods came from garage sales and it was fun struggling along as you forge ahead.
Sorry for the rant on a first post but I’m up and running…
All the best
M.
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