"sorry had to comment again, with this process of thought, one will be stuck on the couch crunching ###s, until its to late,,life depreciates"
Ok, I'll bite this time. This "process of thought" took me maybe two hours. Anyone who would spend $100K without spending two hours to evaluate whether it really is worthwhile to them either has too much money or is a fool, or both.
That two hours saved me from spending WAY too much money on something that won't make much of a difference in how often I get off the couch. Since I am feeling slightly insulted and seem to have some time on my hands... I already have a Land Cruiser kitted out for overland travel - it has spent a year in Australia and seven years in Africa and is now being prepped for Alaska to Argentina. I also have a Tacoma for US travel and it has seen pretty much every single National Park on the West Coast, and a significant number of the National Forests and a healthy dose of BLM lands. Just to add some more color (and brag a bit), my almost-4 year old has crawled in the sands of the Kalahari, took some of his first assisted steps on a glacier in Iceland, has napped under a mesquite tree on the White Rim Trail, has bathed in the hot springs of the Black Rock Desert, and just last weekend hiked 4 miles by himself on a backpacking trip in the North Cascades. All without a Sportsmobile! Sitting on the couch isn't something I am particularly worried about.
You know what I _do_ worry about? Working too hard. Spending too much money on s&*t I don't need and then having to work too long to pay off those debts. That Sportsmobile might mean another year or two of work to pay off. You are absolutely right that life depreciates - but for many of us, a Sportsmobile is not the answer to that depreciation. The marginal benefit that a Sportsmobile provides over my existing camping setup simply isn't worth it TO ME. For lots of other folks, it is well worth it. Awesome, congratulations, have at it, explore, enjoy, see you out there. But for those of us with either limited resources or who like to be careful with how and where we spend our money, I offered some numbers.
Interestingly, around the time I posed these numbers, I emailed the guy whose Sportsmobile I was considering buying and told him the TCO numbers had scared me away. His answer: "I don't blame you. This is part of our reasoning on selling it as well but not something I would tell prospective buyers. It doesn't make sense to us to have a third vehicle sitting a lot of the time costing that much $$. Sure we really enjoy it when we do use it but in reality we can do the same things with a tent and car and the kids would be just as happy. Hence why we will be selling the van and upsizing our space with a small travel trailer but seriously downsizing the cost."
So I posted those TCO numbers for those who DO care about such tradeoffs. Ok, back to work, I have some new skis I need to pay off
Ok, I'll bite this time. This "process of thought" took me maybe two hours. Anyone who would spend $100K without spending two hours to evaluate whether it really is worthwhile to them either has too much money or is a fool, or both.
That two hours saved me from spending WAY too much money on something that won't make much of a difference in how often I get off the couch. Since I am feeling slightly insulted and seem to have some time on my hands... I already have a Land Cruiser kitted out for overland travel - it has spent a year in Australia and seven years in Africa and is now being prepped for Alaska to Argentina. I also have a Tacoma for US travel and it has seen pretty much every single National Park on the West Coast, and a significant number of the National Forests and a healthy dose of BLM lands. Just to add some more color (and brag a bit), my almost-4 year old has crawled in the sands of the Kalahari, took some of his first assisted steps on a glacier in Iceland, has napped under a mesquite tree on the White Rim Trail, has bathed in the hot springs of the Black Rock Desert, and just last weekend hiked 4 miles by himself on a backpacking trip in the North Cascades. All without a Sportsmobile! Sitting on the couch isn't something I am particularly worried about.
You know what I _do_ worry about? Working too hard. Spending too much money on s&*t I don't need and then having to work too long to pay off those debts. That Sportsmobile might mean another year or two of work to pay off. You are absolutely right that life depreciates - but for many of us, a Sportsmobile is not the answer to that depreciation. The marginal benefit that a Sportsmobile provides over my existing camping setup simply isn't worth it TO ME. For lots of other folks, it is well worth it. Awesome, congratulations, have at it, explore, enjoy, see you out there. But for those of us with either limited resources or who like to be careful with how and where we spend our money, I offered some numbers.
Interestingly, around the time I posed these numbers, I emailed the guy whose Sportsmobile I was considering buying and told him the TCO numbers had scared me away. His answer: "I don't blame you. This is part of our reasoning on selling it as well but not something I would tell prospective buyers. It doesn't make sense to us to have a third vehicle sitting a lot of the time costing that much $$. Sure we really enjoy it when we do use it but in reality we can do the same things with a tent and car and the kids would be just as happy. Hence why we will be selling the van and upsizing our space with a small travel trailer but seriously downsizing the cost."
So I posted those TCO numbers for those who DO care about such tradeoffs. Ok, back to work, I have some new skis I need to pay off
