What makes more sense...driving a long paid for old truck, or making huge payments??

[not2old]

I have a guy hounding me to invest with him. Metals and currency markets. I don't dare. But I am tempted. Sounds too much like a ponsie scheme. But the guy says, when things are hot in the market, the people that do well are already out.

So, at least I still have my (mostly) reliable old truck. Better a bird in the hand, as they say.

I agree. If you are a trained fire fighter, it's probably OK to play with fire, but if you don't know what you are doing, you will eventually get burned.

 

[Deere Dude]

$56K in a SP500 fund in 2008 would be about $106K today.
S&P 5 Dividend Reinvestment and Periodic Investment Calculator - DQYDJ

I had $106k in 2005 and then it went to $56k in 2008 and now it is up to $106k again. If I had a pile of money I don't think I would dump it in the market today. When you think it's a no-brainer then it's time to rethink it and maybe get out. When everything looks like it can't get any worse, then get brave. But that seems counter intuitive, at least to me.

 

[ovrszd]

I've got 110K in the markets. Have drawn $800 a month out since 2011. Still have 110K in the markets.

 

[MossRoad]

I had $106k in 2005 and then it went to $56k in 2008 and now it is up to $106k again. If I had a pile of money I don't think I would dump it in the market today. When you think it's a no-brainer then it's time to rethink it and maybe get out. When everything looks like it can't get any worse, then get brave. But that seems counter intuitive, at least to me.

Without getting into specifics, we lost 30% of our investment value in 2008, stayed the course, kept investing in the same funds throughout the turmoil, got back to the pre-2008 level in 2010 and doubled it by 2012. You have to have a plan and stick with it. There are ups and downs, but it averages ups in the long run.

The people that lost big are the ones that got rattled, sold at a loss thinking they didn't want to lose more, then stayed out of it until the market looked like it was climbing for a long time. What they did was sold at a low price, locking in their losses, didn't buy anything when the prices were low, locking in a missed opportunity, then waited until the upswing was well under way and got in when prices were already high again, missing out on the big gain.

There are many free financial advisers out there. All of them said to stay the course in 2008. All of them. Why didn't people listen?

We don't own individual stocks or bonds. All we own are shares in mutual funds in our 401K plans, ROTH IRA plans, and 529 college savings plans. They have all done really well for us. Our employers use Fidelity and they offer free planning advice. Its been good for us for the past 25+ years.

 

[MossRoad]

I've got 110K in the markets. Have drawn $800 a month out since 2011. Still have 110K in the markets.

And there you go! :thumbsup:

 

[two_bit_score]

Without getting into specifics, we lost 30% of our investment value in 2008, stayed the course, kept investing in the same funds throughout the turmoil, got back to the pre-2008 level in 2010 and doubled it by 2012. You have to have a plan and stick with it. There are ups and downs, but it averages ups in the long run.

The people that lost big are the ones that got rattled, sold at a loss thinking they didn't want to lose more, then stayed out of it until the market looked like it was climbing for a long time. What they did was sold at a low price, locking in their losses, didn't buy anything when the prices were low, locking in a missed opportunity, then waited until the upswing was well under way and got in when prices were already high again, missing out on the big gain.

There are many free financial advisers out there. All of them said to stay the course in 2008. All of them. Why didn't people listen?

We don't own individual stocks or bonds. All we own are shares in mutual funds in our 401K plans, ROTH IRA plans, and 529 college savings plans. They have all done really well for us. Our employers use Fidelity and they offer free planning advice. Its been good for us for the past 25+ years.

There you go! You are exactly right! The stock market is a long term investment with long term benefits. Everyone should do it that way with money they can invest long term.

It's not the way to finance a car or truck for most people.

There is a good way for using normal savings to finance vehicles without paying cash and still keeping your cash invested in short term investments. It's not flashy and with today's ultra low rates it's not it seems little more than a wash but it has benefits.


TBS

 

[Egon]

Long Term? Anyone want some Bre-X stock?

 

[vsteel]

I am still driving my 1991 GMC Sonoma that I bought new in the fall of 1990. It has 198K miles on it without a rebuild, 4.3 V6, manual transmission, and still running good. I have thought about this as well but I can't buy a direct replacement for that pickup, that and the fact I have only replaced wear items and things like the water pump and alternator. Original clutch if you can believe that. I don't know of anyone selling a 4x4 short box standard cab pickup. I don't need to haul much in it as I have another fullsized pickup, I use it more like a car with good ground clearance for snow. I just feel the new pickups are really setup to option the heck out of a person and make you pay way too much.

I will probably keep driving my little pickup until something happens to the frame or there are just too many repairs that I don't want to deal with. One nice thing is if it fell apart like the car at the end of the Blues Brothers, I can't be mad, it doesn't owe me anything.