Suckers that waste their money on non-gun stuff...

[redneck2]

In a way I find this thread amusing. Absolute total wastes of money are cigarettes, booze, gambling, and particularly drugs. All can ruin your life.

The number one, bar none, absolute most foolish thing you can waste money on (for the average person) is automobiles. My wife has a friend that bought a Lincoln Navigator 4 years ago for 58k. Got 11 mpg. Traded it in two weeks ago and got 10k. Cost 12k a year to own that pig. Hope it was worth $1,000 a month (plus interest) for the memories.

I listen to Dave Ramsey on radio. He says paying interest is "stupid tax". You get yourself buried in high interest credit cards and home equity loans and you'll be paying interest forever.

Readers here should remember that not everyone is at the same point in life. 30 years ago I didn't have two nickles to rub together. Now I could write a check for a $1,000 gun and not miss it. I drive a 1999 Cherokee that has 210,000 miles. Could I get another? In a heartbeat. The same reason I can is the reason I don't. Keeps the money in my pocket.

 

[lionking]

redneck2,Im guilty as charged as for cigarettes,I still smoke.In a sense I understand what you are saying about cars but then again they have become almost a basic necessity,in this day and age hauling your guns on a public bus might bring upon the wrath of a SWAT team upon 'ya lol!
All cars will depreciate in value,though I hate to say but most American cars plumit in value except maybe JEEP as compared to foreign cars.
I work for Volkswagon-Honda,VW had quality issues for a while along with BMW due to parts manufactoring,but Honda and Toyota are built good and retain a decent resale value.I just bought a Honda Element and love it.
I gotta wonder though,being in a large metropolis like I am why people who never go off road buy a 4-wheel SUV though.
Then again most of us all have the government happily wasting plenty of OUR money away.

As far as credit card and equity loans,personally I just took a equity loan to pay off the credit card,got that Honda,bought a Winchester 1886 45-70,did some fix ups on my house.Now the house is for sale,Ill will pay EVERYTHING I owe off,then will go to where I have a house all paid for...then its time to hit the CMP LOL!

 

[redneck2]

First, you need to understand that money is just filthy paper. People want money because it either represents security or "stuff". Even if you take your money and put it in a mattress, it still loses value every day (inflation).

You work to make money to spend. Something like food is an absolute waste because it is totally consumed and has no residual value, but it's obviously a necessity of life. Your choices are going to a fine dining restaurant and spending $100 on a meal for two, or going to Aldi's and getting enough things to prepare a meal for $2.

You can choose a really nice used car for $8,000 or spend $38,000 on a new one and eat 30k of depreciation. They both get you there, but the $8,000 lacks the "Oooohhh...Aaahhh factor", and the $600 a month payments.

You make your choices on how you want to dispose of your filthy paper. I have a safe full of guns that are worth considerably more than I paid. I have fishing gear that will never be worth what I paid.

 

[lionking]

yep I agree redneck2,which is why my Element I bought used,but found one "like new" with little mileage.Saved me $6000.This is the first car I have evered owned thats made in the decade 2000,and the first one where I wasnt in a situation where "have $2000, what junker can I find?".It feels good.
And speaking of feels good,Im always rushing around,wind up hitting the McDonalds or Chinese buffet 3 times a week for fast cheap lunches so when ever I splurge on a "nice "restaurant the real food just mentally makes my day not to mention my stomach...I want my baby back ribs!

 

[Justin]

Could I get another? In a heartbeat. The same reason I can is the reason I don't. Keeps the money in my pocket.

It has been my general observation that most rich people have money because they don't spend it foolishly.

 

[leadcounsel]

For those of you that recycle goods, buying and selling, check out this website.

www.craigslist.org

There is a link to every major city and trades are generally done face to face.

I've bought and sold used goods here OFTEN and it's a great resource.

Even though firearms are technically prohibited, I've made several great local buys on guns and ammo. My best are a full size 1911 A1 that I received in exchange for a washer and dryer (shoots great too and was in great condition) and a Remington 870 12 gauge in near new condition for $110!

Aside from firearms you can buy and sell nearly anything else, and often there are great freebys.

 

[Mauserguy]

If buying a $400.00 Coach purse makes somebody happy, that's their business, and I don't mind.

I do think that failing to shop around it just plain stupid, and I disrespect people who spend money just to make themselves feel like they are rich, racking up all kinds of credit card debt. That's what I like about guns. I can go to a gun show and shop for a good deal, I can shop on the internet, and when it is all said and done, I have a good that will last generations.
Mauserguy

 

[eab]

Its your money, how you spend it is your choice. Do you really NEED more then one maybe two guns? No. Do I really need a nice computer, mp3 player, car, nice stuff to wear, jewlery for my girl?

What you need: God, Water, Food, Shelter. In that order, everything else is just extra.
I remember when I was growing up, my parents were poor. I really didn't know it though. We got by and now we are considerably better off. Last year I could only wish about guns, and gear, and other stuff. Yet I worked my tail off that summer so I could pay for school. Now I have a ROTC scholarship and can afford a fewer of the nicer things. (plus I don't have to work my self to death.)

 

[evan price]

I recycle anything made of metal, right now I get $100/ton for sheetmetal type stuff (Spray cans, appliances, dented bumpers, rusted out lawn mowers, etc) and $165/ton for heavy stuff (Pipe, brake rotors, plate steel, auto rims, etc). My wife says I am crazy but all the Wolf steel ammo casings go in the sheet metal barrel with the hairspray aerosol cans, dog food cans and dead flashlight batteries. Cleaned out the neighbor's garage, they brought in a 20-yd dumpster and filled it!

But I took two trailer loads of steel, rusted out kerosene heaters (That had been in good shape before they were left sitting in the back yard in the rain all year)old appliances, lawn furniture, mowers, etc and made $100.

Plus got a 2 year old weed whacker with accessory click link (that ran fine last year they just lost the gas cap & now won't start after being left outside all winter) a Poulan chain saw (Ran fine last year, gas cap was lost & chain is off), and a 18-HP Briggs twin cylinder powered 42" lawn tractor that was left outside for two years and now won't start. Plus two electric weed whackers that both work, one a Black & Decker twin string that is in 100% working condition even has a full line head. Plus about 300# of aluminum window frames, lawn furniture & misc, and a 5-gal bucket full of old copper plumbing parts & bare copper grounding wire. Plus two 5-gallon kerosene cans, one of them almost full of K1 Kerosene.
All dumpster bound. The gas powered lawn tools will probably be running fine with a little tinkering.
I know this family doesn't have a lot of money and really can't afford new stuff so it was so surprising ot me that they just left what they did have laying in the yard to rust away. I'll never understand. But yes, it's their money.

 

[Ryder]

Hope it was worth $1,000 a month (plus interest) for the memories.

It probably was worth it to her redneck2. Like you said, it's just filthy paper (when was the last time you actually saw a used 20 though?) and memories do have value. We can't take anything with us in the end. I personally feel if I don't use my money I might as well have never had it in the first place.

I think I've got enough guns. They span a wide range of calibers and styles. Can't think of a realistic job that my guns can't accomodate. Maybe I've just been shooting so long it's lost a certain amount of fun factor though?

I just bought high dollar car. It's already given me fantastic memories that will last a lifetime. You are mistaken in saying it's no better at getting from point A to point B than an $8k fixer-upper. Heck, I didn't even register my bike this Summer and I've rode those for 30 years. Well there's that fun factor thing rearing it's ugly head again

Fun equals happiness. Who doesn't like being happy? Some people pay a lot to be entertained by others (doesn't do much for me). We all pay a lot to entertain others (I like a little of that). Then there are those (me for example) who pay a lot to entertain themselves. As for women....Well they have every right to be happy too. I'm all for whatever pleases them because there's a whole lot of fun factor for me in being around happy women.

 

[Autolycus]

What is the difference between a Les Baer 1911 and a Hi-Point? Both shoot bullets.
You only have 2 hands what do you need more than 2 handguns for?


Let her spend her money how she will and you spend it how you will.

 

[hm]

Want: something you wanna have

Need: something you gotta have

I look at it this way...my wife WANTS a nice Coach leather purse, but she NEEDS a bag-type object to carry her stuff...could be a paper bag.

I WANT a pimped-out full-auto assault rifle, but all I NEED to defend my family/country is a simple SKS.

Fortunately, the wife has her Coach bag (have you SEEN how much those dang things are?!?!?....yikes!!!!)...and I have a reasonably respectable gun collection (sans the auto rifle...oh well).

 

[DRZinn]

A Coach bag is like a $2000 1911 that looks like a Les Baer but shoots and lasts like a Hi-Point. That's why it's a stupid purchase. If a $500 Coach bag were really 20 times better than a $25 leather purse, it might be a different story.

 

[FIRE COP]

my other vice

Hand made...hand rolled...cigars..I smoke one a day...not in my house...not in my vehicle...my choice I am single...I am free...do not compromise...semper fi...Guns first...ammo second ....cigars...women...other stuff...just somewhere down the list....

 

[Jesse H]

My wife has two Louis Vuitton purses. She LOVES them to death. Were they worth it? To me - hell no. To her, well they make her happy and she enjoys them. Who's to say what something is worth to someone else?

My girlfriend also loves LV purses...and shoes (what girl doesn't love shoes)? She tells me each pair of shoes and purse match and accessorize for different outfits. I tell her each gun and holster also matches and acessorizes for different outfits.

 

[ceetee]

I've got the topper.

A good friend of mine just rented a handbag... yes, rented. For $100 per week. Rented it to see if she likes it. If she does, she pays the full price. If she doesn't, she sends it back.

Full price for this particular handbag? Five grand.

This particular chickie has disposable income out the wazoo, and can well afford the cost. Personally, I think she's downright foolish to pay that much for a pound of plastic and leather, and I told her so. It's her money, though. She comes from a world apart from mine. She'll never understand how I'd rather replace a wall switch than call an electrician, and I'll never understand how she can have a $50,000 sports car sitting in a garage a couple thousand miles away that she never sees...

She's a really decent human being, though, and I like her for who she is. It's a big world, gents, and it takes all kinds to fill it.

 

[Lonestar]

A Coach bag is like a $2000 1911 that looks like a Les Baer but shoots and lasts like a Hi-Point. That's why it's a stupid purchase. If a $500 Coach bag were really 20 times better than a $25 leather purse, it might be a different story.

I think the big thing here is buying what you like and not above your means. I have seen some guys act and spend crazier at gun shows then some women in a mall with shoes and purses. Honestly I got "hooked" on the gun buying kick for a while then I stopped, looked at the multiple firearms and said "I'm the only one shooting here, do I need all this (I think I had to 15 handguns and 5 shotguns)" I have seen guys go into debt with their gun buying habits just like people with gambling, and shopping addictions. The good news is unlike handbags, there is a market for used guns. you can sell them and get at least half of your money back.

 

[redneck2]

Dude...I've got over 50 guns. Thing is, I could sell them for considerably more than I paid. I make killer money, but I buy guns cheap...as in WAY cheap. If they're not cheap, I don't buy them. There are millions of guns in the US. I don't fall in love with any particular one.

That's the whole point. You don't your money when you sell...you make your money when you buy. If you buy right, it's almost always worth more than you paid.

That's the reason cars are such a god awful waste of money. They're virtually never worth more than you paid. Purses are worth 1/100th of what you paid. Clothes aren't even worth scrap.

If the intrensic value to you is worth the loss, then have at it. Just remember, the money is gone forever if it has no residual value.

 

[Gordon]

I could not afford a BMW or Mercedes beacause I bought all those European black rifles in the late 80s.

 

[cz75bdneos22]

it's not how you spend money that matters, but how you spend your life...

 

[gezzer]

$160 for a day at the range?

I shoot 3 times a year with my son at NFA shoots. That covers about 2-3 hrs of each 2 days of shooting in ammo only, never mind range cost, food, drinks, gas and lodging.

The original question is very naive and insulting

 

[RangerHAAF]

My father is a doctor and for the last 15+ years he has spent $500-600.00 dollars per month to lease Cadillac DeVilles that he never drives. He does contract work and his employment contract mandates for him an apartment to live in for the week and a rented car. The rented car is often a Chevy Impala or some other equivalent vehicle that he drives home to park behind the Cadillac.

The dealer loves to see him coming because not many of his customers bring back trade ins on a 3 year leased luxury car with only about 15-18,000 miles(max) on it.

Am I crazy or does this arrangement make any financial sense to anyone? He says that about 80-90% of the payments can be written off in taxes but I'd keep the cash in hand vs a tax break.