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No one has mentioned the elephant in the room yet. The amount you end up paying with a 20 year loan is crazy. Look at the difference in say 5 years verses 10 years and then 20 years.  I got debt free maybe 10 years ago and it took 2 years but Wow it feels like freedom. Know when I buy I look at 0% interest or very short payoff.
 
KC24 said:
No one has mentioned the elephant in the room yet. The amount you end up paying with a 20 year loan is crazy. Look at the difference in say 5 years verses 10 years and then 20 years.  I got debt free maybe 10 years ago and it took 2 years but Wow it feels like freedom. Know when I buy I look at 0% interest or very short payoff.
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If you have a 20 year loan, you are not required (at least in my case) to take 20 years to pay it.  It could be a 15 year, or in my case, a 5 year (planned).


I applaud those of you on the forum that are (retired and) debt free.  In my case, I bought a home 3 years ago, and a boat, and a car, and a car, an another car, plus student loans...  Crazy thing is, I can afford it.


Paying cash for everything is great (although I would have to look further in the tax implications of paying off the mortgage early), but not everybody is in the same boat.  But perhaps this forum would be a lot lonelier if they only allowed cash for boat purchases.
 
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Spoiledrotten said:
I don't believe our memories would be any sweeter with a huge and expensive boat. Our little boat is working out just fine. I know it won't impress people with the big boats, but we didn't buy it for anyone but us.
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Yup, that's why they make big and small, expensive and not so much. Everybody's constitution and situation is different. IMO, the day you start purchasing something for someone else's rather than your needs, is the day you fall into the "keeping up with the Jones" trap. I believe part of the secret of happiness is to be thankful for what YOU have! First world problems... :)
 
Words well spoken, Michiman! 
 
I like to use other peoples money when you can get 0% financing.
 
We just did a 15 year loan with a 4.49% interest rate with no money down. Plan to throw a little extra at it here and there to try to get it paid off sooner. The finance guy was a bit surprised that they did it with no money down. He was like " I rarely if ever see that".  Sold our old boat so going to use that to make the payments for a while but still even with that the payment are just above 200$ so it really is not a big deal. Still though you think about 15 years that is a long time to pay on something. Kind of scary in a way. The waiting for it though is the hard part. Hopefully get it by the end of the week.
 
Steve21slx said:
We just did a 15 year loan with a 4.49% interest rate with no money down. Plan to throw a little extra at it here and there to try to get it paid off sooner. The finance guy was a bit surprised that they did it with no money down. He was like " I rarely if ever see that".  Sold our old boat so going to use that to make the payments for a while but still even with that the payment are just above 200$ so it really is not a big deal. Still though you think about 15 years that is a long time to pay on something. Kind of scary in a way. The waiting for it though is the hard part. Hopefully get it by the end of the week.
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You probably know more than I do about loans, but when you make extra payments, if you don't tell them to apply it to the principle, they will just apply it to the load, and we all know those first few years, the payments are going mostly to the interest, so they get their money first. Just a thought.
 
Trust me I didn't buy the biggest or most expensive. If I wanted to keep up with the Jones I would have bought the $130K Wakeboard boat. I bought a boat that would be reliable with a warranty that would be comfortable for my wife and I and our 7 kids. Yes I financed for 15 years and plan to pay-off in 10 or less. I guess by the majority here I should have waited till I was 55+ and my kids were grown and gone. Well it's hard enough to keep them around as teens with their busy social lives but it's easier with the boat.
 
Believe me, they go away, but they come back.  :)
 
Spoiledrotten said:
You probably know more than I do about loans, but when you make extra payments, if you don't tell them to apply it to the principle, they will just apply it to the load, and we all know those first few years, the payments are going mostly to the interest, so they get their money first. Just a thought.
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Yep that is the plan and the payment is small enough to allow that. We could never afford it when my kids were younger due to my wife losing her job so now my oldest is gone and my youngest is in college and now it is parent time. I spent the last few years rebuilding our credit and it has worked out for us. I plan to make this boat last into retirement and hopefully have it paid off by then. Some say to us that it's a toy and you don't need a toy but my father in law saved his whole life and for what to die a year before retiring to never enjoy it. Screw that going to enjoy life now while i still can because you never know when that time will come.
 
Landscaper2009 said:
Trust me I didn't buy the biggest or most expensive. If I wanted to keep up with the Jones I would have bought the $130K Wakeboard boat. I bought a boat that would be reliable with a warranty that would be comfortable for my wife and I and our 7 kids. Yes I financed for 15 years and plan to pay-off in 10 or less. I guess by the majority here I should have waited till I was 55+ and my kids were grown and gone. Well it's hard enough to keep them around as teens with their busy social lives but it's easier with the boat.
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Nope, you know what you can afford and if you can, why wait till the kids are gone? We have a blast having our kids along, so I really don't think that was your point. No need to defend yourself for buying a boat and financing it, at least IMO. 
 
You certainly don't need to feel like you have to defend your actions at all. My ex-father n law, couldn't wait to get to retire and hunt and fish all the time. He developed cancer, and died at 61.5 years. I surely wasn't ragging anyone, just telling my side. I've got a daughter that's starting her first year in college this fall, I didn't wait until retirement, either. We bought our 33' fiver in 2005, so we aren't waiting until we're too old to enjoy. You only go around once. We just started planning earlier than some, but later than others. And we sure don't make as much as many of you guys with high dollar boats.  We just po southerners. :)   Cheers!
 
As long as nobody comes to me for help making their payments I don't care who financed for how long or paid cash!!!!
 
if you calculate the loan payoff after every two years for fifteen years and then plot what the boat will be worth on the same graph, you will find yourself upside down for nearly the entire loan. If you want to trade, the trade in value will be less than you owe. If you HAVE to sell, you will have to payoff the bank after you sell just to be able to sell.


What you can afford is what you can pay cash for, especially when its a toy.
 
guardrail22 said:
if you calculate the loan payoff after every two years for fifteen years and then plot what the boat will be worth on the same graph, you will find yourself upside down for nearly the entire loan. If you want to trade, the trade in value will be less than you owe. If you HAVE to sell, you will have to payoff the bank after you sell just to be able to sell.


What you can afford is what you can pay cash for, especially when its a toy.
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Bingo!!


Being upside down on a depreciating asset is financial suicide,


Its bad enough to pay for new purchase but then to have to pay for the sold/traded asset that someone else is enjoying...OMG


5 yrs max or until warrantee runs out IMO
 
I hope i didn't offend anyone, I was sharing my life experience and hopefully passing along some wisdom what little I have to give. I did get debt free other than the home but it freed me up enough I could finally afford some thing enjoyable instead of a credit card. I have less than a year left at a low interest rate. :D  
 
There really is no correct answer concerning this.  When I was an asst golf pro, one of the pros that I worked for borrowed money to vacation all Winter (Club was in the North).  He then paid back the loan the next year, but had to borrow money the following Winter.  Well, he died of cancer in his early 50's, but did spend his Winters in Florida.


I think everyone has to determine what is best for them.
 
If the money is cheap (low rate), it actually makes more sense to finance than to use your own money.  I would never pull 60k out of the stock market to purchase something if I can get a 3% or so loan.  You would actually be losing money.  Even the multi millionaires know this.
 
Landscaper2009 said:
Trust me I didn't buy the biggest or most expensive. If I wanted to keep up with the Jones I would have bought the $130K Wakeboard boat. I bought a boat that would be reliable with a warranty that would be comfortable for my wife and I and our 7 kids. Yes I financed for 15 years and plan to pay-off in 10 or less. I guess by the majority here I should have waited till I was 55+ and my kids were grown and gone. Well it's hard enough to keep them around as teens with their busy social lives but it's easier with the boat.
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I agree about the boat and kids. And hopefully they find friends that like to go out with you on the boat. We were lucky with that happening. But I don't understand why anyone would want to buy a boat that puts you in debt under water financially. Bennington makes boats that can fit just about any budget. Or you just buy a used Bennington, because the last a long time! Just my 2 cents.
 
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