Investing megathread extravaganza

[DaFace]

A place to talk about investing stuff.

[eDave]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

What's your theory? I don't follow the trends, but my initial thought is that we have record numbers of people retiring, and that's usually the buyer. What's replacing RV demand for them?

I wonder if perhaps we have more retirees without pensions, which could stifle demand. And maybe interests are changing, but I don't really know.

Just my gut. At 53, I am (and know plenty of others), that are thinking and planning for that more, and none of them plan on hitting the open road.

Regardless of the cheap oil, gas is still pretty expensive and those ****ers eat a lot of gas. It's why my dad parked his, then sold it.

Crunch the numbers though. There's the real answer.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by eDave

Just my gut. At 53, I am (and know plenty of others), that are thinking and planning for that more, and none of them plan on hitting the open road.

Regardless of the cheap oil, gas is still pretty expensive and those ****ers eat a lot of gas. It's why my dad parked his, then sold it.

Crunch the numbers though. There's the real answer.

I'll admit that RVs seem to make no sense financially. But I'm not sure they ever have. I've run the numbers casually, and I think they're neutral at best compared to staying in a hotel. I presume that people buy them so they can sleep in their own bed and fix their own meals and pump their own human wastes.

[TrebMaxx]

To me RV's are something you rent. I am planning a few trips when I retire in about 4 years. I also plan to do a few excursions on houseboats that you can rent.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I'll admit that RVs seem to make no sense financially. But I'm not sure they ever have. I've run the numbers casually, and I think they're neutral at best compared to staying in a hotel. I presume that people buy them so they can sleep in their own bed and fix their own meals and pump their own human wastes.

I totally agree. My partner had and still has a huge RV. He says they're nothing but a money pit.

[Monty]

Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin

I totally agree. My partner had and still has a huge RV. He says they're nothing but a money pit.

Define huge RV. I haven't shared much about my situation, but I've been in a fifth wheel full time for just over 5 years and would completely disagree with that statement, but there are other considerations. The first, we have no brick and mortar home any longer, but save almost $10K a year in property taxes. Secondly, staying somewhere for a month at a time and getting the monthly rate vs the nightly rate is a no brainer IMO. This also reduces the gas bill to the same amount as when we commuted back and forth for work. The overall investment is a smaller home and it's paid off and paid for itself as well. I thought I was crazy when I started this new life, but in looking back, wouldn't have it any other way.

Oh, since this is an investment thread, I'll also add that the SaaS (ITSM) investments like ServiceNow have paid off nicely over the last 2 years. OKTA is an Identity Access Management solution that's doing well too. I bought that earlier this year and it's nearly doubled so far. Have a look.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Monty

Define huge RV. I haven't shared much about my situation, but I've been in a fifth wheel full time for just over 5 years and would completely disagree with that statement, but there are other considerations. The first, we have no brick and mortar home any longer, but save almost $10K a year in property taxes. Secondly, staying somewhere for a month at a time and getting the monthly rate vs the nightly rate is a no brainer IMO. This also reduces the gas bill to the same amount as when we commuted back and forth for work. The overall investment is a smaller home and it's paid off and paid for itself as well. I thought I was crazy when I started this new life, but in looking back, wouldn't have it any other way.

Oh, since this is an investment thread, I'll also add that the SaaS (ITSM) investments like ServiceNow have paid off nicely over the last 2 years. OKTA is an Identity Access Management solution that's doing well too. I bought that earlier this year and it's nearly doubled so far. Have a look.

So you're living life on the road? Tell me more. I think that would be a great way to retire, but my wife rolls her eyes any time I mention it.

Do you have a general budget? I presume that you're only paying for hook-up utilities and internet in terms of housing? What's your monthly gasoline cost? (If you don't mind sharing.)

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Originally Posted by Monty

Define huge RV.

Really, Really Big.

[Monty]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

So you're living life on the road? Tell me more. I think that would be a great way to retire, but my wife rolls her eyes any time I mention it.

Do you have a general budget? I presume that you're only paying for hook-up utilities and internet in terms of housing? What's your monthly gasoline cost? (If you don't mind sharing.)

Well, kinda on the road. We usually stay in one location for 2-3 months depending on the seasons. I was offered a work from home position about 4 years ago and decided that "home" could be elsewhere as I was wanting to get back to the Rockies and the Black Hills again. We sold our house, most of our belongings and put the rest in storage. We had a budget, but I was always going over by eating out too much, but nothing too excessive. I have a dually that is diesel, so those costs averaged about $180 month. As i worked from home and we took our Goldwing with us, I usually drove that to keep things in line wrt diesel costs. Monthly lot rents vary greatly, but we averaged about $500/month with electricity costs of around $75. Right now, it's $375/month and our electric bill was $68. Water/Sewer is generally included in the lot rent. Internet is via the Verizon Jetpack and I get 15GB/month high speed and then it's throttled after that to 600 MBps. As long as I didn't watch much Netflix on my connection, it was fine. I use Directv and had a Winegard dish installed on the roof, so only need to turn it on and off and it will automatically find the satellites at any location as long as there are no trees in the way. There is a lot of maintenance, but it's really simple compared to the house, so most of the work I do myself. Had a couple of issues with our bedroom slide and called in a guy to do that, but everything else I did myself. This isn't for everyone and it's really important that your spouse is fully supportive and committed. I was very lucky in that regard.

[Monty]

Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin

Really, Really Big.

Yeah, no way would I sink that much money into a motorhome, hence the reason we did the fifth wheel. More space and freedom and it's something I can work on without bringing in the experts. There's so many things that can and will go wrong.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Originally Posted by Monty

Yeah, no way would I sink that much money into a motorhome, hence the reason we did the fifth wheel. More space and freedom and it's something I can work on without bringing in the experts. There's so many things that can and will go wrong.

Yeah, it's a motorhome, probably well over 100K and he just uses it for travel away from his home. He's about 75 years old , retired pharmacist so money isn't a big deal i don't think.

[Monty]

Originally Posted by Hog's Gone Fishin

Yeah, it's a motorhome, probably well over 100K and he just uses it for travel away from his home. He's about 75 years old , retired pharmacist so money isn't a big deal i don't think.

Good for him. It’s his $$ so his choice. 👍

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Monty

Well, kinda on the road. We usually stay in one location for 2-3 months depending on the seasons. I was offered a work from home position about 4 years ago and decided that "home" could be elsewhere as I was wanting to get back to the Rockies and the Black Hills again. We sold our house, most of our belongings and put the rest in storage. We had a budget, but I was always going over by eating out too much, but nothing too excessive. I have a dually that is diesel, so those costs averaged about $180 month. As i worked from home and we took our Goldwing with us, I usually drove that to keep things in line wrt diesel costs. Monthly lot rents vary greatly, but we averaged about $500/month with electricity costs of around $75. Right now, it's $375/month and our electric bill was $68. Water/Sewer is generally included in the lot rent. Internet is via the Verizon Jetpack and I get 15GB/month high speed and then it's throttled after that to 600 MBps. As long as I didn't watch much Netflix on my connection, it was fine. I use Directv and had a Winegard dish installed on the roof, so only need to turn it on and off and it will automatically find the satellites at any location as long as there are no trees in the way. There is a lot of maintenance, but it's really simple compared to the house, so most of the work I do myself. Had a couple of issues with our bedroom slide and called in a guy to do that, but everything else I did myself. This isn't for everyone and it's really important that your spouse is fully supportive and committed. I was very lucky in that regard.

That's really cool. Now that my house is paid off, though, I think my costs aren't any higher than that. Maybe they are if you amortize in the occasional big project like painting. But I don't get to change my view at will, either.

[scho63]

Originally Posted by eDave

I personally think the RV era is ending. Maybe you'll see some consolidation that might help your stocks (maybe that's already happening). Just my best guess here.

Oil prices won't dictate sales much. To volatile.

RVs are the biggest scam and worse than buying a boat. The luxury ones are like $5000 or more a square foot. They depreciate like crazy and they are hogs for maintenance.
Yet there are millions who buy them around the World.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by scho63

RVs are the biggest scam and worse than buying a boat. The luxury ones are like $5000 or more a square foot. They depreciate like crazy and they are hogs for maintenance.
Yet there are millions who buy them around the World.

Everybody I know that buys them gives no ****s.

[Monty]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

That's really cool. Now that my house is paid off, though, I think my costs aren't any higher than that. Maybe they are if you amortize in the occasional big project like painting. But I don't get to change my view at will, either.

Well, unless you take a slow boat to China, right? That was cool as hell and I have much respect for you embarking on that journey. That's living IMO.

But yeah, having a different view once in a while is its' own reward. I spent 20+ years doing cube life and it's a welcome change.