Fancy Car Or Expensive Holiday

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11 Responses

  1. Nice article RTW.

    For me, a car is always about getting you from point A to point B safely and comfortably. A second hand car worth $11K-$14K can do that amazingly well. Yet people spend $75K+ on them! You could have an incredible round-the-world trip for that. Most of the time you’re sat inside your car and you don’t even see the thing.

    Plus what’s the point on being able to go 200+KM/H when the fastest you’re allowed to go is 110km on a motorway. Why not just rent out an INCREDIBLE car and go racing with it at a race track, how much would that cost? $1k? $5k? Even at $5k a pop you could do 2 race track trips a year, for 10 years for the difference between a second hand Mazda 3 and a $110k car..you’d have a very memorable experience every time too.

    I’d choose a great holiday and a second hand car over a great car and a ‘okay’ holiday. It sounds like you really want to go on a holiday though, maybe you should become a holiday-reviewer as a job lol.

    Tristan

    • tom says:

      You got me – I want a holiday 🙂 It has been over a year due to work, but I plan to keep my 2016 goals! (I will make sure to review it when done too)

  2. Jef says:

    Nice Tom! These are the sorts of conversations that financial planners should be having rather than whether to invest in CBA or NAB 🙂
    I’m definitely guilty of spending too much on holidays i.e. Europe this year will be about 10K although as you say life is for living & sure I could cut it back to 6K, I’m actively looking for ways to increase and make my income as residual which should then mean I can invest and compound..

    Holidays are definitely worth it, to me the question is what will make you happier? I gain very little happiness out of a car and see it as an A to B proposition..

    Having said this it’s really up to the individual

    Where do you plan on taking your holiday btw? 🙂

    • tom says:

      Unknown currently, but probably local-ish. I ran a twitter poll, but that didn’t end well (https://twitter.com/RememberToWater/status/693700730796900352). I will probably go with NZ. It has all sort of amazing things, and is close enough so that the flights are not too expensive, but would love to go to Fiji too.

      • Jef says:

        Okay cool, shame about the Twitter poll, can’t check it here on the office computers however can highly recommend NZ, went there in 2013.. flights are cheap although it’s on par with the cost of things in Australia..

        Considered South East Asia? I know that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea though

        • tom says:

          Have a bunch of friends who went to various places in Asia. I would love to go to Japan. I should add that to the list.

          • Jef says:

            Yeah a lot of people I know have been to or are going to Japan, was there myself back in 2007 after finishing high school.. Loved the place 🙂
            Looking forward to hearing more about the travel plans 🙂

  3. I agree that a holiday every now and then is a good thing.
    I see no need to spend too much. For hotels, the “budget friendly” family accomodation will suffice. So long as the hotel room is clean and the bed is comfortable. After all, when one is asleep it matters not whether one is in a budget room or a 5 star room. Same goes for when one is absent from the room.

    • tom says:

      As long as you get a good nights sleep – I agree. I have stayed in 2 places where I didn’t, and on those occasions I defiantly wished I was staying somewhere else.

      One exception I have is a cruise ship. Where if you want to be alone and have a view your options can be more limited.

  4. Enzo says:

    Hi, interesting post. You’ll find that a lot of exotic cars with low kilometres keep their value pretty well. For example a Ferrari 458 that is 4 years old still has a value of around $475k AUD. In 2013 they were $525k. Since 2013 Ferrari include 7 years of maintenance with their cars making them retain their value.
    Yes, you can always find a cheaper grey imports but my research shows you are better off with an official import.
    This topic is quite close to my heart and I write about it here.(http://www.fundmyferrari.com/first-steps/).

    • Tom says:

      Thanks for the comment Enzo. The same friend who asked me about not including cars also happens to like (but not quite collect) old cars, and when I say old cars, I probably mean “classic” ones that he sells later after enjoying driving them, for either the same price he bought them for, or more in some cases. So there defiantly are exceptions (not knowing much about Ferrari’s I cant comment there), but the main intended target were cares like a Lexus SUV, or a BMW X series. Cars that are luxury/expensive but do not have a limited supply. Although even with that depreciation, if you value the car more than the money (or income it can produce/missed other opportunities) then go for it. People don’t live life in Excel (at least not all the time).

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