Did I mention that I like to be able to say "It's mine"?
Well, there is that painful three month period that I do have to keep a car financed in order to get several thousands off. Then it isn't mine, and as much as I hate owing anybody anything, I do. Plus it does cost me $200-$300 in interest.
You may see that as blowing money. I see it as saving money.
Basically, if I can't afford to buy it, I don't. And that includes the house. In a sense, what I can't afford is to pay interest.
Nothing wrong with that strategy because it avoids you going into debt like an average American.
Same strategy as my parents had or still have a bit... well my dad moreso runs the finances, but my mom is also very smart when it comes to spending money.
However that changed when I was able to start working leases on vehicles for them.
From 1992 when they got married until 2017 they had maybe gone through maybe 15-16 cars, from 2017-2020 they have gone through approximately 15-16 cars, while often not even paying much after positive equity or selling a lease transfer.
Again it really depends on you and your business, he is able to write 3-4 vehicles off at a time and she is able to write one vehicle off at a time, so essentially this is the real motivating factor for them, give money to the government or spend money on themselves.
If you start to acknowledge that nothing is truly yours you will start to appreciate things more in my opinion, houses, cars, jewelry, etc etc all have a finite time, so all you really can do is enjoy them and move on.
The exact reason why when he builds his new home every 8-10 years he designs them to his liking but also stay very neutral and make sure the house is not abnormal in any sense.
Essentially it works like this, leasing allows them to put their money to good use in the markets vs spending on a depreciating asset.
Take a $100,000 car for example
After 3 years it's worth $60,000
On a 3 year lease you only spent $30,000
Having that $100,000 invested in the market to find After 3 years your portfolio grows to something like $125,000.
So person A who bought the car, has $0 and a depreciating asset worth $60,000
Person B has $125,000 but no car, subtract the $30,000 from the $125k and you get $95,000
So now Person B can still continue to grow that money and the ability to rid himself of the depreciating asset.
$25,000 after 3 years is conservative considering investing in stocks like tesla, apple, netflix, nvdia, etc etc can probably net you $50k after splits, etc etc
There are different schools of thought but for me this one seems the best course.
At the end of the day for me it's about avoiding burdensome debt, and having your money create more money.