[ghak99]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Maybe that's it. Maybe they just don't know anything different and so can't imagine anything different. But jeez, it seems like at some point they'd start to figure out that there's a better way. I have family members who struggle to afford food and medicine, and then they'll excitedly tell me about buying a dune buggy. (True story - elderly relatives who have to be financially supported by family, and they bought a dune buggy a while back. And it's not even a working dune buggy.)

On the topic of financial literacy, I had an argument with my father last year about my car. My wife and I have one car because we live in the city and I walk everywhere. We kind of inherited a new car from my wife's father, so we ended up with two cars for a bit. I then sold one of them, and got an earful from my father about it. I swear this is a true conversation.

Father: Why'd you sell your car?
Me: We didn't need it.
Father: But you could have kept it.
Me: We didn't need it.
Father (more insistently): But you could have KEPT it.
Me: Why would I keep it? It costs money to own a car, and we weren't driving it.
Father: It doesn't cost any money to own a car.
Me: What are you talking about? Of course it costs money. You have to have insurance and license plates, and you have to pay taxes and you have to maintain it. Of course it costs money.
Father: You don't have to do any of that.
Me: What? Of course you do.
Father: Just park it. Leave it in the garage and don't drive it. Then you don't have to do any of that stuff. It doesn't cost anything.
Me: You want me to just park a car in my garage and then not be able to drive it? That makes zero sense.
Father: BUT YOU'D STILL HAVE A CAR! NOW YOU DON'T HAVE A CAR!

It's like he doesn't even understand what money is. He thinks that because he can't see a car, it completely disappeared, and he can't comprehend that I converted the depreciating car into money that I have now invested to get a return. He put me on blast, and then told other relatives that I don't respect him because I won't take his advice. Well, duh.

What you did makes perfect sense.

.... but I have multiple vehicles sitting around doing nothing, so what do I know.