I thought they were stupid, now I was the idiot, learned a lesson!

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So I thought all my coworkers were dumb as hell back in 2019/early 2020 using their stimulus money to buy a new car! I was always jokingly bitching at them as to "you're the fault all the dealer lots are empty" "you all are blowing your money on cars instead of survival food" this was before the microchip shortage. Looking back, I would have bought a car as well! I did profit heavily from the "V-curve" but still amazes me that if I had bought a car back then, I could flip it and make so much profit that capital gains taxes would be paid.

Sometimes traditional wisdom just does not work!...now I'm shopping for a new car at 2x the price, (edit - mod)!
 
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So I thought all my coworkers were dumb as hell back in 2019/early 2020 using their stimulus money to buy a new car! I was always jokingly bitching at them as to "you're the fault all the dealer lots are empty" "you all are blowing your money on cars instead of survival food" this was before the microchip shortage. Looking back, I would have bought a car as well! I did profit heavily from the "V-curve" but still amazes me that if I had bought a car back then, I could flip it and make so much profit that capital gains taxes would be paid.

Sometimes traditional wisdom just does not work!...now I'm shopping for a new car at 2x the price, (edit - mod)!
Not the best time to buy a car, unless you absolutely have too.
 
I'm not sure there is a lesson here. Spending money you don't have is hardly ever the smartest move. They were just lucky.

I bought a Tesla Model 3 last summer and last month was offered $8,000 (in cash) more than I paid for it. I bought at the right time. I was just lucky.
 
I'm not sure there is a lesson here. Spending money you don't have is hardly ever the smartest move. They were just lucky.

I bought a Tesla Model 3 last summer and last month was offered $8,000 (in cash) more than I paid for it. I bought at the right time. I was just lucky.
The only problem there is if you sell it do you have something else reliable to drive....
 
I hear you. I did buy one back then, but really wanted two cars—been regretting since.

But I don’t think the value is there right now. Somewhat hopeful that the repos might drive the prices down… but not really, since that would mean worse things going on.
 
This crazy market was also a result of some factors that couldn't be anticipated. I do get a bit surprised/irritated by home selling realtors talking the 'big increases in offers over listed price' they are getting for homes ignoring the other side of the coin where the seller is mostly also a buyer of another home at an inflated price. I guess we aren't supposed to notice.
 
The only problem there is if you sell it do you have something else reliable to drive....
We do actually. Our second car is a 2007 Honda Accord EX-L 4 door sedan V6, 6MT with 180,000 Km (112,000 miles). Bought it new and it's in excellent condition.

We'll probably pass it on to our grandson eventually. It would be good for him to learn to drive a completely manual car. Manual transmission, no back up camera, no GPS, no automatic braking, no lane control etc. If you can drive that well, you can drive pretty much any car.
 
I got lucky and bought a '22 Forester in the Model (Limited) and color I wanted. $1000 under MSRP. Key is that dealerships that sell the most cars get more.
 
I'm not sure there is a lesson here. Spending money you don't have is hardly ever the smartest move. They were just lucky.

I bought a Tesla Model 3 last summer and last month was offered $8,000 (in cash) more than I paid for it. I bought at the right time. I was just lucky.
Normally cars aren't seen as an investment. But it's like any investment, some do go up more in value than others. Cars just happened to be one, normally they just go down in value instead of up.
 
This crazy market was also a result of some factors that couldn't be anticipated. I do get a bit surprised/irritated by home selling realtors talking the 'big increases in offers over listed price' they are getting for homes ignoring the other side of the coin where the seller is mostly also a buyer of another home at an inflated price. I guess we aren't supposed to notice.
Have seriously considered selling and then renting.
Yes, rents will be high, but not locked into an overpriced replacement home. Not ready to find my retirement place yet, but our 4 bedroom home is a bit too much for our empty nesting needs.
Plus, we might want to get rid of any available bedrooms in case someone wants to return to the nest.
 
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