controversial opinion: money & finances edition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People, please stop engaging the bizarrely angry and enraged pro-leasing poster. He derails so many threads on this forum. Just treat him like a troll and ignore.

NP, but the pro-leasing guy is closer to being correct than the anti-leasing guy, and is being less obnoxious as well.

+1 the pro lease poster does not assign any moral value to leasing as the anti leasing guy does

Not true. He treats anyone who doesn’t lease as a moron. Leasing doesn’t bother me, but there is nothing wrong with choosing not to lease.

And the anti leasing guy treats everyone with the utmost respect, right?

Well then let’s ignore him too, ok? Neither are adding any value.

[Anonymous]

You can make a lot of money doing mlm’s. I know because I am a successful network marketer .

[Anonymous]

College (especially the 50k a year colleges most here aim for) isn't the best option for most people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College (especially the 50k a year colleges most here aim for) isn't the best option for most people

+1. One of the better state schools is more than sufficient for even most “smart kids.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People (other than business owners) who lease cars like to waste money

Not really. Or at all.

People who buy new cars outright pay the lease too. Only for them it's called depreciation and comes out of their net worth instead of their income. Leasers pay the depreciation too and have the benefit of tens of thousands of dollars being tied up in a depreciating, non productive asset.

There are a lot of people, here especially who really have no clue about finance (you included)

Your math falls apart once I own the vehicle outright and you're still paying for a car you'll never own.

Hint: your asset has lost half of it's value and will continue to lose value until its only value is as scrap metal. Not paying it as a lease so all right though

Strange place for an eyeroll, given that you don't even have an asset in this scenario. But sure, feel superior to PP because the depreciating asset that they own is losing value, while the depreciating asset that you rent is also losing value. Makes sense.

Nope, wrong again

I invested the price of pp's car. Worth 4 times that now.

So the cost of your lease is ... free? Yes, that's probably a good deal. It's also a lie, but okay. You're not just spending the money PP spend on his car, you continue to spend it when PP's loan is paid off and you're on to your next lease.

OK, I'll explain very slowly for you

PP has $50,000. PP brought a car with it. 10 years later it's worth $20,000 (a charitable amount). $30,000 loss
I had $50,000. I invested it. 10 years later it has grown to $103,052. Lease payments $65,000. I'm ahead $37,000.


I'll continue to be ahead of PP forever because I chose to take advantage of compounding and because I bothered to look at opportunity costs instead of parroting advice from a personal finance book from 30 year ago that was written for people with 1/10 of my income.

You can't "take advantage of compounding" by putting $50k in the market and immediately, and monthly, drawing down from it. Also you don't get to credit yourself the value of ten years of compounding on $50k and then take imaginary lease payments out of the backend like you drove the car for free for a decade while compounding gains and can then pay out of capital gains after you've made 10 years of gains.

In the more traditional scenario, PP makes payments for 4 years, and then has 6 years to invest more than you're investing because their car payment has ended and *you're still making lease payments.* Meanwhile you have the option to invest the delta between a lease and car payment, which gives you more money for the market than PP in the first 4 years and significantly less money than PP to invest in the next 6 years.

I didn't draw from the investment I paid it out of my income. Maybe in your "traditional scenario" (no one I know takes it) may have a few thousand more dollars, would it realllly be worth it though? Especially if you are a high income earner the difference is academic anyway

The point just sailed way over your head and the funny part is you stent even aware that you have been left in the dust.

I think the point flew over your head, not PP's. If you're changing cars every 3 years, it is better to lease. If you're keeping cars for 10+ years it's better to buy. Seeing as how PP has hundreds of thousands of dollars just lying around I doubt he would be interested anyway.

[Anonymous]

^^^^ugh. No one cares except you and the person arguing with you. Let. It. Go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College (especially the 50k a year colleges most here aim for) isn't the best option for most people

+1. One of the better state schools is more than sufficient for even most “smart kids.”

And not everyone is Harvard material. Or even GMU material

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College (especially the 50k a year colleges most here aim for) isn't the best option for most people

+1
And there's nothing wrong with learning a trade. A plumber I know charges hundreds of dollars to change faucets and installs toilets, is booked solid and makes a great living working 4 days a week by choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College (especially the 50k a year colleges most here aim for) isn't the best option for most people

+1
And there's nothing wrong with learning a trade. A plumber I know charges hundreds of dollars to change faucets and installs toilets, is booked solid and makes a great living working 4 days a week by choice.

Once you're in a job, your college really does not matter. Really.

There are people in fortune 500 companies earning 7 figures who graduated from non flagship state schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College (especially the 50k a year colleges most here aim for) isn't the best option for most people

+1
And there's nothing wrong with learning a trade. A plumber I know charges hundreds of dollars to change faucets and installs toilets, is booked solid and makes a great living working 4 days a week by choice.

Once you're in a job, your college really does not matter. Really.

There are people in fortune 500 companies earning 7 figures who graduated from non flagship state schools.

And people like me on target to make 310k this year who disnt even graduate from college. I have soft skills that I got at birth that cant be taught.

[Anonymous]

My not so controversial opinions:

Expensive private colleges aren't worth it unless you get substantial aid or can easily afford it. I say this as a double Ivy grad. Your kid is better off going to a good state school and putting the differential into a retirement account and not touching it until he/she retires 50 years later. Or use it to help buy a house.

Better to save as much as you can while still living a reasonably comfortable life. No need to penny pinch, but build up the net worth as quickly as you can. Having six months' savings in the bank is a nice weight off the shoulders. Even better is having five years' living expenses saved. You feel very free.

Always have your long term savings plans and objectives factor in at least one long period of unemployment. Something will come up. It may not be unemployment, but something damn expensive will still come up. I've had $45,000 worth of dental bills in the last year alone through no fault of my own. Damn genetics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College (especially the 50k a year colleges most here aim for) isn't the best option for most people

+1
And there's nothing wrong with learning a trade. A plumber I know charges hundreds of dollars to change faucets and installs toilets, is booked solid and makes a great living working 4 days a week by choice.

Once you're in a job, your college really does not matter. Really.

There are people in fortune 500 companies earning 7 figures who graduated from non flagship state schools.

And people like me on target to make 310k this year who disnt even graduate from college. I have soft skills that I got at birth that cant be taught.

Honestly being able to communicate well is more important than any qualification

- took 6 years to graduate, make 500K in sales

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My not so controversial opinions:

Expensive private colleges aren't worth it unless you get substantial aid or can easily afford it. I say this as a double Ivy grad. Your kid is better off going to a good state school and putting the differential into a retirement account and not touching it until he/she retires 50 years later. Or use it to help buy a house.

Better to save as much as you can while still living a reasonably comfortable life. No need to penny pinch, but build up the net worth as quickly as you can. Having six months' savings in the bank is a nice weight off the shoulders. Even better is having five years' living expenses saved. You feel very free.

Always have your long term savings plans and objectives factor in at least one long period of unemployment. Something will come up. It may not be unemployment, but something damn expensive will still come up. I've had $45,000 worth of dental bills in the last year alone through no fault of my own. Damn genetics.

So, the lesson for kids here is- become a dentist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My not so controversial opinions:

Expensive private colleges aren't worth it unless you get substantial aid or can easily afford it. I say this as a double Ivy grad. Your kid is better off going to a good state school and putting the differential into a retirement account and not touching it until he/she retires 50 years later. Or use it to help buy a house.

Better to save as much as you can while still living a reasonably comfortable life. No need to penny pinch, but build up the net worth as quickly as you can. Having six months' savings in the bank is a nice weight off the shoulders. Even better is having five years' living expenses saved. You feel very free.

Always have your long term savings plans and objectives factor in at least one long period of unemployment. Something will come up. It may not be unemployment, but something damn expensive will still come up. I've had $45,000 worth of dental bills in the last year alone through no fault of my own. Damn genetics.

More nuance to the expensive private college thing. First, for kids wanting to go into certain fields, the connections they build at even strong regional private schools are worth it. Vandy, Rice, USC, etc. Second, I think most kids eventually going to competitive graduate programs that are driven by standardized tests are better off killing it at a lower ranked school and saving the money for their graduate degree (law and medicine, in particular).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone who is not a moron knows that if you can pay in cash you do. A house, a car, whatever.

Those who argue otherwise are still trying to make it rich. Those who have know otherwise.

Curious PP, what is your income?

Zero debt. 300k HHI. Net worth 7.5 million.

How impressive


~ 3.8M HHI , 38 M net worth 15 M debt

Looks like you're a bit of your league

NP here. You seem nice.

Not that we had any doubt, considering the current inhabitant of the White House, but thank you for reconfirming that money cannot, in fact, buy class.

Well, you started it

And considering you make only a 4% return, I wouldn't consider you financially savvy either.

Dude who are you talking to? Just go away.