What is an investment?

A college education is an investment
A savings acount is an investment
Saving for your own house is an investment
Setting apart a % of your earnings for your retirement is an investment (SS will not last forever you know?)
Helping out your parents (who were probably not as lucky as you are) is a better than an investment.

A new Maxima (in PR) is about 30,000
A used Maxima like mine was 16,000 (only three years of use)
Now after two years my Maxima is probably 10,000 or even less

A new computer can cost 1,500
Next year it will be 800
Three years 200 (if someone would buy it)

My father's house (4r/2b) 30 years ago was 36,000
A new house (comparable) 5 years ago was 120,000
A new house today is 200,000

Get the idea?

If at 17 I knew what I know now... I'd probably own a 300,000 house and a 2002 Nissan Maxima SE.

 

In what state is a regular house only $200,000???

Here in the greater Seattle area, it's $500,000 for a fairly simple 3 bedroom with no yard.

IanS

 

I feel the same way. Now that I think about it, I feel that I should have just kept my '89 'Stang GT and kept that running. Instead, I purchased a $23K car, put about $10K in maintanance and mods into it, only to see it worth about $4500 four years later.

 

Before I start, my disclaimer is that most of you have heard a variation of this before.

This really is not an issue about investments. As MaxW. stated correctly, a home is a very good investment. We could go on and on and sound like old financial analyst here.

I believe the point the young man was trying to make in the very beginning was mostly trying to vent. That's natural and very healthy. You younger guys have to understand that your parents are NOT trying to keep you from having nice things or having fun. They are trying to teach you valuable lessons that later in life become second nature to you (when all of us were little we loved to eat with our hands, it was easier and more fun, now we eat with utensils and know why). That was a crude example but you guys get the pic. My point is this: Parents are trying to make sure not that you do whatever you want all the time, but trying to make sure you do the smart thing more times than not.

Which leads me back to my original post. If you talk to your parents and show them that you are responsible enought to do both enjoy a hobby (which means not only enjoy but also afford on your own) and also make sound decisions about money (saving and spending wisely), your parents will be a whole lot more supportive of your hobby. Don't expect this to work on the first try. If you stay talking instead of fighting and show them that you are smart enough to do both, eventually your parents will come around and accept and even support your hobby. That kind of skill costs a lot money to learn to do in the "real world", get it while you can for free.

 

Here in GA for one. GreenSE is in Puerto Rico, but the same still applies. It's all about location. In downtown Atlanta, an acre of property can go for as much as $1M, just for raw land (if there were any). In the burbs, it's completely different. I finance homes everyday from as low $100k to as much as $4M. All depends on location.

 

In Puerto Rico (PR) you can get an average house for 200,000 and live like a millionare in a resort for 500,000.

Ahh, Puerto Rico, Isla del Encanto
If curiosity ticks, click the following link
http://www.puertoricowow.com/index.asp

Come visit Puerto Rico, you might want to move here. It would be fun if a great group of maximaniacs could meet in the beach, next to the ricey hyundays with their blinkers on

 

My parents just sold our old house (5 BR, 3 Bath, bit more than 2800 SQ ft and 3/4 acre yard) for 170k...they bought it twelve years ago for 112k...nothing compared to our new house

i live in TN btw

 

Like I said, I wasnt talking about SAVINGS ACCOUNTS OF ANY KIND. Or College education.

A house? I meant AVERAGE CONSUMER things, like little **** you buy here and there, a car, a video game, a stupid fubu jacket.

I dont mean $200,000 purchases!

Ofcourse if I was 17 and buying a house instead of **** for my car I would understand which one of those was an "investment" and which one of those was "a money wasting toy".

I know I'm wasting my money. But if I saved everything I ever had, I would be living in a room with 4 white walls and nothing but a toilet and maybe the local free newspaper. Most likely I would have killed myself 2 or so years ago.

I tried saving. But see the thing is, when you're young, its hard to save when you earn ALMOST NOTHING.

Maybe I'll take my own and most of yours' advice when I actually get a job that pays me enough to pay my bills AND HAVE SOMETHING LEFT OVER! I bet some of you guys didnt think of that. I'm earning almost nothing and I still get through life somehow (mostly thanks to my parents for providing food and shelter). Everything else I pay for myself. Do you really think I have ANY money left over for savings once I pay off my car...my bills....my college classes....my college books...?

I hate *****ing so Ill stop now.

 

I'm not gonna preach to you anymore I promise. I just want to know who is that in the sig pic?