Posted on 07/06/2017 12:18:39 PM PDT by yetidog
I guess it is less a matter of money than it is priorities. I did a similar analysis when I bought my first rv (used) many years ago and have returned to that analysis for each of the 10 5th wheels and travel trailers I have bought (new and used) since. Use is the key and I suppose the luxury trailers and trucks make sense if it is a desired full time (or close to it) lifestyle. I will say that unless an RV is basically your home, there is probably no worse big money purchase given depreciation alone.
I might also say that one of our best vacation trips was two weeks out west alternating tent camping and hotel stay days.
But we were a lot younger then....
“Thou shalt not covet.”
The Ten Commandments don’t say anything about my neighbor’s RV.
I subscribe to his channel. He puts out some great stuff.
Or maybe they’re just people who think hotels suck. Or travel a LOT which makes hotels very expensive. Or maybe they’re people who like spontaneous travel which doesn’t work well with hotels. Or maybe they’re just plain smarter than you and Mrs Abb.
I could have bought a really nice one when we sold our home. We were going to travel when we retired. Ended up building a smaller home and haven’t retired.
I never had any desire to possess grown up toys. Never could master the art of backing up a boat or camper and never had the strength to handle a cycle. Yet I too have always been mystified how people of seemingly modest circumstance can afford cars, children, boats, campers, jet skis, motorcycles, trucks, and vacation homes. I guess fear of toys and fear of debt kept me from taking the plunge. More power to those who can live their dreams.
“After 25 years well funded IRA/401k annual yields can be obscene.”
“Obscene” 401K yields require a very good knowledge of investing, generally more than 25 years, a capacity for risk and more than a little luck. 8% a year is more seductive than obscene.
I guess I could have articulated my meaning a little better.
It was more in the vain as Liberace once said of people making fun of him, I’m crying all the way to the bank.
My parents bought a used motor home intending to drive it around the western U.S. -— which they did. In the end it didn’t really suit them, having to find an RV park, setting everything up every night, then packing up again a day or two later, using strange bathroom facilities, etc. And it was a headache to keep running. Repairs and maintenance weren’t cheap. In the end, they sold it at a loss and were glad to be rid of it. If I were interested in driving/camping, I’d get a much smaller popup thing you could haul behind your car.
Several years ago, hubby and I went through about a week of thinking we may want an RV. No, make that about a day.
We had friends who’d rented RV’s, as groups/families, for trips and >thought< this might be fun.
I looked at him and said...wait...my idea of a vacation is NOT cooking and cleaning...which is what you pretty much have to do, while traveling/using an RV.
Our uncle and aunt have one, not sure what size....looks huge, with the double slide outs, etc....bought it brand new....only have about 3K miles on it, and now they just keep it stored in a special garage they built for it.
If you read “The Millionaire Next Door” the average millionaire in this country is self-made, and does not live an obviously wealthy lifestyle.
There are a lot of baby boom age couples who always lived below their means, stayed married, and did without a lot of luxuries so they could have a comfortable retirement.
But there are also others (usually younger couples) who spend A LOT of money on “toys” which they can’t afford and they “rent” their lifestyles and are buried in consumer debt. They live hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck—but on the surface, it looks like they have a lot and are keeping up with or are passing the Joneses.
A typical millionaire mnext door couple doesn’t have fancy RV’s, trailers, homes, boats, ATV’s and other expensive toys. What they do have are large nest eggs which generate a lot of income by the time they retire. By the time they do retire, they are often able to pay cash for just about everything.
Hubby and I are a millionaire couple next door. We inherited nothing, graduated from college with nothing but diplomas and the clothes on our backs. We never got on that “keep up with the Jones” treadmill. We live in the same very nice 2000 sq ft house in a nice neighborhood,we bought our home in 1990. Any updates/upgrades we put into our home we paid cash for, and we paid off the mortgage over 15 years ago. I drive a nicely maintained van which has 199,600 miles on it. (Yes, almost 200,000 miles on it LOL). When my van finally breaks down for good, we will pay cash for nice low mileage van. We have no recreational “toys”, have never been interested in them. We’ve seen too many of our friends who are “house and toy rich” and cash poor. We don’t want to live that way.
Our luxuries now in our “autumn years” have to do with travelling. We do a lot of travelling, and it’s so much fun being able to go pretty much wherever we want, either here in the U.S. or overseas.
“I’d do it if I could, and I’m in my 20s. But I’m single and that lifestyle looks to me like it takes some teamwork.”
You are right about that. Make sure that you marry someone who would like that lifestyle too.
Monthly payments
Perhaps. But I can say one thing for sure. I'm a loan officer for a local credit union, and have to sign off on all the loans. As a large part of our customer base are construction types, we make many loans on fifth wheel trailers. The depreciation on travel trailers is double that of trucks/cars. So you're upside down the whole time you own it. Whenever we have to repo, I cringe, because I know we have a huge write off coming.
Said another way, you'll never get what you paid for it, never. If the 'worth' you feel you get for its use outweighs the depreciation, then I say buy one.
But I ain't.
“I looked at him and said...wait...my idea of a vacation is NOT cooking and cleaning...which is what you pretty much have to do, while traveling/using an RV.”
It’s basically a car, so yes you’re “upside down” but cars aren’t investments so who cares. You’re not supposed to get what you paid for it, you’re supposed to use it.
Tangentially related to the thread, I’ve heard it said (don’t know if true) that Yeti’s target market is an 80/80/80 guy.
$80K Truck/SUV
$80K Boat
$80K SUV
And up.
There’s a lot of money out there.
It looks like a toy in somebody’s backyard.
>>my idea of a vacation is NOT cooking and cleaning.
My wife half jokingly (or less) says her idea of roughing it is staying at a hotel that doesn’t have a spa.
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