Buying Advice The money sense of tractor buying

[arrow]

Arrow: I'd go ahead and buy what you want if you can afford it. Age wouldn't matter to me. Heck, a 20 year old man has no assurance that he'll live to reach 21.

A wise man once told me: "It's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission." Of course, he's dead now... His wife killed him - lol

I tell my buddies (when they ask if my wife knows I'm thinking about buying another tractor), "She's on a 'Need-to-Know-Basis', and she doesn't need to know

We refinanced our house a few years ago and took $ money out so my wife could have built what she's always dreamed about - a built-in pool. She got a pool, I got a new roof for the house and garage. Sounded fair to her...

We are as close to the Beverly Hillbillies as you can get: She has a cement pond, I have a hen-hose 100' from it and 3 coon dogs in a kennel not far from there... And I need a Kubota to help keep up with out 16 acres. One tractor just ain't enough!

I better get off of this computer... I still need to mow around the pool before she gets home from work!

I feel honored Amos. A member here for 6 years with only 12 posts before you graced me with yours. Anybody that has saved his knowledge and so exclusively doled out his wisdom to this extent has got to right. I shall smite my wife and ask His forgiveness then go buy the tractor.

 

[sixdogs]

OK, since she's a bean counter, here's some fuzzy corporate math for her. Works every time if you don't flinch.

Tell her the cost of the tractor is not what you paid for it but the difference between it's resale value and the price you paid for it, less the cost of the money involved. In your case, if you pay $20,000 for a tractor and it could be resold for, say $18,000, that tractor only cost $2,000 plus the price of the money involved. if you used savings and since interest rates are zero, the tractor cost $2,000. Now, if you can do work that saves $800 a year that's a pretty good return on the money. Wow, 40% return. And since you traded a used tractor in, all the better since it's far easier to unload a newer tractor than an older one. Better for her.

As well, there's an expectation that prices will continue to rise and inflation could make your tractor rise even more in price more than it is now. Wow, this is getting better all the time. In fact, explained correctly, the tractor not only doesn't cost but it actaually pays to own it. Case closed; order the tractor and tell her you are doing it for her.

Now, the icing on the cake. If you have to take a loan, get life insurance on the note and she will be extra protected if you pass away too soon. She will have the money--more of it --as well as the tractor to sell. Go ahead, order the tractor, you are only thinking of her.

 

[Amos22]

I feel honored Amos. A member here for 6 years with only 12 posts before you graced me with yours. Anybody that has saved his knowledge and so exclusively doled out his wisdom to this extent has got to right. I shall smite my wife and ask His forgiveness then go buy the tractor.

Arrow, I hope you didn't think I was recommending Smitting your dear wife - lol

Don't do anything drastic... Maybe just tie her up and put her in the root cellar until the new tractor arrives! Put her in the loader and test it out. How big a gal is she? lol

I'll be watching for your case to come up on Judge Judy....

Heck, I may be in the adjacent room explaining to Judge Wapner why I needed a Kubota while my wife still works and I'm retired?

 

[Amos22]

OK, since she's a bean counter, here's some fuzzy corporate math for her. Works every time if you don't flinch.

Tell her the cost of the tractor is not what you paid for it but the difference between it's resale value and the price you paid for it, less the cost of the money involved. In your case, if you pay $20,000 for a tractor and it could be resold for, say $18,000, that tractor only cost $2,000 plus the price of the money involved. if you used savings and since interest rates are zero, the tractor cost $2,000. Now, if you can do work that saves $800 a year that's a pretty good return on the money. Wow, 40% return. And since you traded a used tractor in, all the better since it's far easier to unload a newer tractor than an older one. Better for her.

As well, there's an expectation that prices will continue to rise and inflation could make your tractor rise even more in price more than it is now. Wow, this is getting better all the time. In fact, explained correctly, the tractor not only doesn't cost but it actaually pays to own it. Case closed; order the tractor and tell her you are doing it for her.

Now, the icing on the cake. If you have to take a loan, get life insurance on the note and she will be extra protected if you pass away too soon. She will have the money--more of it --as well as the tractor to sell. Go ahead, order the tractor, you are only thinking of her.

Six Dogs... That argument sounds like the old lady who said "Dog Food is so Cheap, I need to go get a dog"

 

[arrow]

Six Dogs... That argument sounds like the old lady who said "Dog Food is so Cheap, I need to go get a dog"

That's exactly how they sold Encyclopedia Americana. Back in the early 50's they'd first sell you this beautiful book case for $5. Now you needed something to fill it with. A perfect fit for all 30 volumes

 

[arrow]

OK, since she's a bean counter, here's some fuzzy corporate math for her. Works every time if you don't flinch.

Tell her the cost of the tractor is not what you paid for it but the difference between it's resale value and the price you paid for it, less the cost of the money involved. In your case, if you pay $20,000 for a tractor and it could be resold for, say $18,000, that tractor only cost $2,000 plus the price of the money involved. if you used savings and since interest rates are zero, the tractor cost $2,000. Now, if you can do work that saves $800 a year that's a pretty good return on the money. Wow, 40% return. And since you traded a used tractor in, all the better since it's far easier to unload a newer tractor than an older one. Better for her.

As well, there's an expectation that prices will continue to rise and inflation could make your tractor rise even more in price more than it is now. Wow, this is getting better all the time. In fact, explained correctly, the tractor not only doesn't cost but it actaually pays to own it. Case closed; order the tractor and tell her you are doing it for her.

Now, the icing on the cake. If you have to take a loan, get life insurance on the note and she will be extra protected if you pass away too soon. She will have the money--more of it --as well as the tractor to sell. Go ahead, order the tractor, you are only thinking of her.

Good scheming there Six. You are a bit too far away however for me to come live at your place however I would be coming with a nice tractor. I should wrap this saga up by Wednesday when I go to the Mahindra dealer. Nothing relieves angina, shallow breathing and a partial stroke better than a new tractor. I'm gonna have my likeness painted on the hood just as a reminder so I can go on forever and also not even patch up the bullet holes. (I read that old adage of "never teach a woman to shoot"a bit late.) They say machinery is worth more with a story attached to it.

 

[Martian]

I'll use my latest example:

Bought land/property and plan to build a house (cabin) eventually. Currently just building a road and landing pad of sorts to get back to the property.

I upgraded from my 3120 to 110 at the expense of about $18,000 after some work on the tractor.

I have about $6k in materials for the driveway, you usually will double it for labor if hired out, but there's a lot of places I've made do without the proper gravel/drainage temporarily that a professional wouldn't allow. I talked to the local contractor and thought the drive alone would be near $15k to properly put in. Which he would have to get permits and such that I have 'forgotten'. I also have some of the drive through wetlands, which could be even more of a situation. So far I have about 150 of my own hours on it. At roughly $3.50 for an even number for diesel at .7 gallon per hour that runs me at $367.5 in fuel.

Once the drive is in I still have land to clear, drainage to be properly run, wood to be harvested and moved and the list forever goes on. Even if I get my original investment back out of the tractor, it in itself has value, which I could easily sell for $25-30k at the moment.

As far as labor goes, I like doing it so it's priceless.

---------------------------------

I'm actually saving money in this situation, but it's not the case for everyone. I doubt I've got the money out of my 5410, it's 12 years old and 730 hours. I did hay for a couple of seasons, but still bought the majority of it, I just did it because I enjoyed doing it, and I believe that is the case for the majority of us. These are just hobbies for us. A lot of what I do on my tractor is more of a want to get done, than a need to get done. If I didn't have a tractor, it could wait and even not be done. I may have 730 hours on my 5410 now, but if I was truly renting it out for when I NEEDED it, I'd likely have 150 or less. So I believe for the most part, fiscally it's not beneficial for someone to just own a tractor. However, you will find it to be very useful in aiding what you do. You don't know many people that could care less about operating one of these beasts that buy one to save some money, because for their purposes they don't like messing with stuff, but that's not the TBN culture. We can say it's saving us all this money, but that's just an excuse for us to go get a little bit of seat time.

 

[Amos22]

Martian, you truely do "need" a tractor probably more than the majority of us. And it sounds like you have your work nicely planned out.

A "non-tractor-owning" friend asks me why I cut my two feilds. Because I Like to, I tell him. There's nothing quite as theraputic as mowing on a tractor. If we were close to you, I bet you could get an army of guys to bring their tractors and help you - just because we like using them...

You probably already have one, but a log-splitter sounds like a necessity, too.
I like the ones that tilt up, so you can split wood vertically without having to lift wood up on a horizontal platform. You can roll a section under the splitter by yourself that 2 men and a boy couldn't begin to lift.

Good luck with your new cabin and projects!

 

[Amos22]

Good scheming there Six. You are a bit too far away however for me to come live at your place however I would be coming with a nice tractor. I should wrap this saga up by Wednesday when I go to the Mahindra dealer. Nothing relieves angina, shallow breathing and a partial stroke better than a new tractor. I'm gonna have my likeness painted on the hood just as a reminder so I can go on forever and also not even patch up the bullet holes. (I read that old adage of "never teach a woman to shoot"a bit late.) They say machinery is worth more with a story attached to it.

Good for you, Arrow! You deserve a new tractor! Add some pics when she arrives....

I'm not far behind you... I will be 59 1/2 in about 6 months, and can reduce my kids' inhertitance without incurring a 10 percent penalty from the good-ol' IRS. My youngest grandson (8 years old) is riding lawn mower and tractor crazy - I may just put his name on the Kubota and skip right over my two daughters

 

[sixdogs]

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They say machinery is worth more with a story attached to it.

Now that is a memorable quote.