Get Your Grump on Thursdays - Was (What's chapping my @ss today?)

[TMB]

It isn't Friday.

[j44ke]

My pal with cancer is dying. He has one more option - a promising immunology trial for which he has already been approved - but the insurance company and the hospital are arguing over who is going to pay for it. Meanwhile, his body is starting to break down, and any sort of treatment may already be moot. I spent all afternoon yesterday sitting with him while his wife picked up their boy from school, ran some errands for toilet paper, lightbulbs and other necessities, and other friends grocery shopped and cooked food. Then afterwards, I went to a ballet performance, and two people sitting behind me, a technology investment fund guy and his wife who worked on Wall Street, were speaking about health care in the slightly too loud voices of people who are full of their own self-worth and insecure that no one around them recognizes it. The man was saying to the woman, "I am beginning to think that health care actually requires people to be involved, that you can't really make it more efficient with programming or applications. And so we are conferencing with several other interests on developing ways to leverage that." I couldn't believe it. I felt like I was in a movie. Incredibly surreal. I wanted to punch him in the face.

[defspace]

My fitness is garbage. Last year's version of me could have ridden circles around now me. It's incredibly frustrating. Not much to do but suffer through races and keep on schedule but it's hard to stay motivated when you're only getting negative feedback.

[NYCfixie]

My experience is that everyone - everyone in the real estate business has a "we can do this at the very last nanosecond, and if that doesn't work, we can postpone it, and then deal with it at the very last nanosecond again" mentality, and they're adept at letting you feel all the anxiety about it.

Even with cash buys, no mortgage, amenable sellers and buyers, all of that, it's amazing how so many people in the business (I'm looking at YOU, title companies) won't do anything at all until the very last possible moment, and not communicate at all with you about what the hell is going on. It's like they sign some sort of weird non-communication pledge.

Exactly why my wife and I have decided to NEVER own again.

And our accountant said it best, "You purchase real estate because you want to own the place where you live and know it is a bad financial decision. It is not and will never be a good investment. The best you can hope for is to not lose to much money on a deprecating asset."

And then for good measure she added, "Please stop buying your cars, taking such good care of them, and then keeping them for so long. It is costing you a fortune. Just lease and get something new every 3 years. It will cost less and you will have a new car every three years with full service." And this she said about our last two Subarus.



So my second grump for today is: I own too many depreciating assets. (bikes are not included in this statement)

[Britishbane]

Exactly why my wife and I have decided to NEVER own again.

And our accountant said it best, "You purchase real estate because you want to own the place where you live and know it is a bad financial decision. It is not and will never be a good investment. The best you can hope for is to not lose to much money on a deprecating asset."

And then for good measure she added, "Please stop buying your cars, taking such good care of them, and then keeping them for so long. It is costing you a fortune. Just lease and get something new every 3 years. It will cost less and you will have a new car every three years with full service." And this she said about our last two Subarus.



So my second grump for today is: I own too many depreciating assets. (bikes are not included in this statement)

Forgive my ignorance, but is the bolded true? I've never run the numbers.

[monadnocky]

..And then for good measure she added, "Please stop buying your cars, taking such good care of them, and then keeping them for so long. It is costing you a fortune. Just lease and get something new every 3 years. It will cost less and you will have a new car every three years with full service." And this she said about our last two Subarus.

Don't necessarily disagree with her assessment of home ownership... but this.... um, huh?

OK, for some content: thank you, people who lived in my house before I owned it, for leaving me all sorts of interesting stuff you left behind. I'm still finding it one year later. I'm really starting to appreciate the numerous dump runs required to get rid of it, especially all the toxic waste you knowingly left behind and purposely hid so you wouldn't have to deal with it.

I mean, if you were poor and desperate I could kind of understand, but the new Porsche 911 you had parked in the driveway before you moved out and your two other houses (one on the Cape and one in the Bahamas) make you look even more like the entitled prick you were and continue to be.

(this man literally tried to sell me some of the old dimensional lumber he left behind in the basement... stuff I had to bring to the dump.)

Arsehole.

[dashDustin]

I imagine it depends on the vehicle? Blue Book on my Tacoma at the end of my lease had me pocketing $10k. That became a down payment on the purchase of a Subaru. Which was stupid.

[monadnocky]

I imagine it depends on the vehicle? Blue Book on my Tacoma at the end of my lease had me pocketing $10k. That became a down payment on the purchase of a Subaru. Which was stupid.

My 2004 Taco, despite it's rustbucket frame (a common problem with Tacos of this vintage) still blue books for a surprising amount. Tons of folks interested in these cars.
My wife's lemon 2008 Outback? not so much. What a POS.

[NYCfixie]

Forgive my ignorance, but is the bolded true? I've never run the numbers.

There are many factors with cars but we purchase extended warranties, complete all services at the dealer, wax our cars every two months, detail them every year, and really take good care of them. Looking at the costs over nine years and lots of miles, leasing three times for 36 months is less expensive. You get a new car with full service and loaners when you need them.


As for home ownership, over the past 10 years it has proven to be a terrible investment for us compared to if we had rented a similar place and put the extra money in investments. This has been the case for many many years and not just the last 10. The issue is that most Americans are terrible at saving so home ownership is seen as a good long term strategy to put money away (notice how I did not say to put as much money away as possible and make a good return on it.) Over time when you factor inflation you are lucky if you make 2% on a home.

[Matthew Strongin]

I imagine it depends on the vehicle? Blue Book on my Tacoma at the end of my lease had me pocketing $10k. That became a down payment on the purchase of a Subaru. Which was stupid.

It also depends on interest rate, lease residual values, miles driven, etc... It's definitely not that simple. I've bought cars I was leasing at the end of a term and then sold them for a "profit." I've also had leases where I was throwing away money because of a shit residual that I ignored to get a car that I wanted to drive. Any way you cut it, though, cars are an expense and shouldn't be considered in the "investment" category.

[NYCfixie]

It also depends on interest rate, lease residual values, miles driven, etc... It's definitely not that simple. I've bought cars I was leasing at the end of a term and then sold them for a "profit." I've also had leases where I was throwing away money because of a shit residual that I ignored to get a car that I wanted to drive. Any way you cut it, though, cars are an expense and shouldn't be considered in the "investment" category.

Exactly.

And the same with homes. They are a depreciating asset that you pay for three times over (assuming a 30 year mortgage). If you want to make money on a home....rent it out and become a landlord but remember to factor your time being that landlord and the opportunity cost of your time.


My grumps are over for today. Thanks for reading!

[dashDustin]

My 2004 Taco, despite it's rustbucket frame (a common problem with Tacos of this vintage) still blue books for a surprising amount. Tons of folks interested in these cars.
My wife's lemon 2008 Outback? not so much. What a POS.

Aren't those rusting frames given good money by the dealer due to the recall?

[TMB]

Forgive my ignorance, but is the bolded true? I've never run the numbers.

No. .

[monadnocky]

Aren't those rusting frames given good money by the dealer due to the recall?

Yessir.

[mainemike]

Politicians. All of them. Across the board. No exceptions.

[EricKeller]

As for home ownership, over the past 10 years it has proven to be a terrible investment for us compared to if we had rented a similar place and put the extra money in investments.

we have my mom's house listed for $35k less than she bought it for in 2010. Doesn't sound that bad, but she only paid $130k and I have spent countless hours fixing it up to a saleable condition. Of course, had she rented, the landlord would probably have nixed the idea of putting a nail or screw in every square inch of the walls. I want a time machine so I can go back and hide all the hammers

[eb125]

It's always Thursday for the guy I saw driving through the Porsche and Mercedes traffic jam in Castro Valley in his beat-to-shit 80's pickup with the bumper sticker that said "Third generation bay area native. Ask me if I'm pissed."

Ed Barlow

[Sbti]

Phone users/texters....again. I'm at Chipotle and the folks are lining up behind me. The woman in front of me is getting a couple burrito bowls to go. "What kind of meat do you want on them?", the guy asks. "Chicken on one...... and I'M STILL WAITING FOR A RESPONSE ON THE OTHER". She's staring at her phone in front of her waiting for the delicate prince or princess at home to decide on dinner. Waiting...waiting....waiting. She couldn't have got the order straight out in the van before coming in? Then SHE is getting miffed that there's on delay on the onions/peppers she wants on the first bowl. What a fucking shrimp scented douche nozzle. I suppose there's a .05% chance that she is locked in on her phone, with her peripheral vision checking her surroundings and thinking "Geez, I've got to stop being such a bitch." No, probably not. But at least the 7th place trophy winner at home got the bowl they wanted.

[Tom]

The little cat apparently is some kind of goddamn Ninja. He has taken to peeing on the couch. I bought one of those motion detector noise makers that screams at 90 decibels if I so much as breathe somewhere in the room. I set it up on the couch, figuring I'll fix his ass. I'm working from home, I've been upstairs all day. No noise from downstairs. I went down to get a cup of coffee and look in the front room. A nice warm yellow puddle right in the middle of the couch was there for me. I waved my hand in front of the noise maker. It works.

[mjbabcock]

Time for the cat to take a long walk in the short woods.