Because, as a general statement, neither method is better. Each approach is better for some people and entirely wrong for others. The trick is to find the best approach for your situation.

Unfortunately there are always people who have no clue about financing who say really silly things like this:

And what precipitated this entire conversation was me bitching about how these things aren't real or come with caveats that don't apply to a lot of people.

A 30% ROI over decades is not comparable to putting money into a five year loan and living debt free imo.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with your personal plan, that's what I did, I just put my discretionary spending towards paying off the car instead of in an IRA or going over my employer matching towards my 401k but the blanket statement of "Invest! You'll have more money!" is not so simple as we are talking about a five year plan not a 10, 20, 30 or 40 year plan.

:cheers:

Did the math this morning, if I hadn't paid off my car and invested the several hundred extra per month in my 401k I'd be (very roughly) -$5k net worth right now, while those extra couple thousand might have been a couple tens of thousands of dollars in the bank when I retire if I lose my job next month I'll still own reliable economical transportation and my liquid savings will stretch much longer.

This conversation really hammered home for me how much variability there is in the risks one is willing to take, what each individual sees as their primary financial goals. I've known too many people that never got to cash out on their retirement plans, life is short, I'll take the bacon cheeseburger while I can.

:burnrubber:

If people only paid cash for cars this car would have never been produced. The demographic that its targeted toward has student loans, rent/house payment, and has probably only just started making enough money to save anything meaningful.

Can you imagine the kind of crap that would be on the roads if we all had to save and pay cash?

Actually, at least according to the marketing folks at the First 86 event in Long Beach, the audience was the "young thinkers" which was the market. The goal was to lower the average buying age of Toyota from the late 50's to somewhere in the 40s. It is not intended to be the "entry" car into the brand.

You have to look for them. The one for my credit union does. The two pieces of plastic are very different though.

There would be none on the road and very few jobs because like I said waaaaay back in the thread the auto industry would dissolve and take the entire world economy with it!

Industry would find a way, or we would do like Cuba and keep the current cars on the road for decades.


Ford originally only sold cars on a "layaway plan" because Henry Ford hated the thought of credit. GM (and GMAC) won out though because they fed the "instant gratification" needs of the American that goes all the way back to the Pilgrims and runs smack through Thomas Jefferson up to today.


You could say its on our genes here in the States.


Good article about that can be found here.


http://americanradioworks.publicradi...ndream/b1.html


In the end, its different strokes for different folks. I'm good with whatever works for the individual, just don't tell me that somehow I'm inferior because I prefer a different path.


As Woody said in Toy Story "Stop it, you zealots! "

Great article and read! It definitely has a good summary at the end:

Since neither of us carry a balance nor pay interest on the funds I see little difference. Except for the assume interest I get on the money in my interest checking account for a few extra weeks lol

I don't think anyone believes anyone else is inferior. We all agree that everyone should pick the best path for themselves.

I owe 10k or so on my BRZ. If I lose my job I can sell it or pay it off from my savings account and not touch investments. I'd sell it since I can insure two other cars for what the BRZ costs to insure :( I would likely pay it off first though to make the transaction easier ;)

It goes back to how you perceive risk. I agree in practice between us there isn't much difference on a day-to-day basis. It's the when "things go wrong" there are differences.

Very disappointed at the lack of activity in here today ;)

Anybody that pays cash is a goof!


There you go @Dave-ROR

That should get some action.

I haven't checked this thread in a long time, but yeah, I'm getting married and with that marriage comes a 5 year old child.

Since I posted this I decided to keep the car and finish paying it off. I still want a nice family car though. I'll probably pick that up when the FR-S is paid off.