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Maxprop

"Charlie Morgan" wrote in message
...
On 21 Mar 2007 13:04:09 -0700, lid (Jonathan Ganz)
wrote:

In article ,
Don White wrote:

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
...
The average idiot buys a boat for say 100K and finances it for ten
years.
He fits it out and keeps it in a slip. The fitting out costs 20K, the
slip
costs 5K per year, the insurance costs 1K a year. Haulout for bottom
paint
1K a year. Fuel 1/2K a year.

After ten years the idiot has spent 250K paying back the loan, 20K
fitting
out, 50K slip fee, 10K insurance, 10K haulout, 5K fuel, oil, filters,
etc.

345K invested in a 100K boat that perhaps can be sold in ten years for
75K. Net loss of 270K. You pay 27 thousand dollars a year to use your
boat
a dozen or so weekends a year. Stupid, just plain stupid!

Think about it.

Wilbur Hubbard

It's probably all relative...
That so called "average idiot" is probably hauling in well over 6 figures
a
year.
Is it any worse that a washed up retiree pulling in 20K per year on a
Post
Office pension and spending $5K per year on an ugly yellow boat with
purple
interior?
Both are probably spending the same percentage of their discretionary
income
on boating.

I guess I'm not the average idiot, darn it. I paid cash for my Sabre;
thus, no
financing. The upkeep, upgrades, fees, etc. are deductible business
expenses, and I get to go sailing.

My 21 year old boat would sell for about the same as it sold for new.
Cash,
however is not the only measure of value. Sure I've spent thousands every
year
on upkeep, upgrades and marina fees. So what? I've been taking huge
amounts of
value out in the form of enjoyment that more than covers it.

If you bought a car for $25k, drove it for 20 years and sold it for 25k,
would
you consider it a loss because you spent all that money on oil changes,
tires,
and brake jobs? I sure wouldn't. The use I got out of it for those 20
years has
value.

Absolutely. My father was fond of saying: "This isn't a dress rehearsal."
His point being that one lives life or one does not. You can't take your
money with you, and I sure as hell have no great desire to pass it one to my
kid and screw her up.

Max