Author Topic: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage  (Read 4992 times)

Cheryl

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Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« on: May 18, 2015, 12:22:35 PM »
I teach high school math in a small school.  Today I had a 16 year old boy talking about his $50,000 truck he's about to get.  His parents are paying for a third, and he's paying the rest with money "from a friend" - don't ask me what that means, I couldn't get a straight answer about it.  Anyway, I got into how he really really does not need a brand new $50,000 truck.  He countered with enthusiastic descriptions of how incredibly awesome and powerful this truck is.  I asked when he was ever possibly going to need to haul that much.  Really, how often does his dad's truck get used?

Well, he tell me, they use it to get things into storage.  Rented storage space, where they keep their old furniture.  Don't worry, the furniture's only temporary while they do some repairs to the second house they rent!  Just as I start to feel a glimmer of hope he says that the storage is really for all their Christmas stuff.  They couldn't fit it all, especially the giant tree, in the attic without the attic being totally cluttered, and they need the giant tree because their living room has such a high ceiling.

At which point we both gave up.

MgoSam

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2015, 12:25:10 PM »
Man, storage units likely are a good investment opportunity. I need to research in how to do so.

Alternatepriorities

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2015, 02:22:50 PM »
My finance's started teaching high school math and science at a remote boarding school in Alaska last fall. Compounding interest came up in one of her classes. She explained how borrowing and paying interest on purchases make them cost more. Then she explained how her fiancé could quit his job and move to the middle of nowhere because he always spent less than he made and people were paying him to use his money. Her students wanted to know why "no one ever taught us about this before". We put together a FI club for the spring semester hoping to share mustachian ideas with students before they made the kind of mistakes this kid is making. Of the 200 students, 4 joined us and 2 of those actually engaged. Maybe full financial independence would have been more impressive than my "financially flexible" status. Maybe it's just really hard to overcome the inertia of years of tv advertisements.

Bob W

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2015, 02:27:29 PM »
My finance's started teaching high school math and science at a remote boarding school in Alaska last fall. Compounding interest came up in one of her classes. She explained how borrowing and paying interest on purchases make them cost more. Then she explained how her fiancé could quit his job and move to the middle of nowhere because he always spent less than he made and people were paying him to use his money. Her students wanted to know why "no one ever taught us about this before". We put together a FI club for the spring semester hoping to share mustachian ideas with students before they made the kind of mistakes this kid is making. Of the 200 students, 4 joined us and 2 of those actually engaged. Maybe full financial independence would have been more impressive than my "financially flexible" status. Maybe it's just really hard to overcome the inertia of years of tv advertisements.

How sad is that --- Maybe you should rename the group the "Millionaire Club?"

Sibley

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2015, 02:34:00 PM »
There are two types of situations where storage units make sense to me.

1. Summer storage for college students. Seriously, brilliant idea. Someone mentioned it to my mom and we did that every year.
2. Temporary storage because you got dumped with a bunch of stuff for some reason (death in the family, etc) or are in the process of moving. You just need somewhere to keep everything while you go through it or until the move is done.

Otherwise, you probably have too much stuff.

zephyr911

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2015, 02:56:47 PM »
Man, storage units likely are a good investment opportunity. I need to research in how to do so.
You would think that, but we actually looked hard at buying one. The guy sent us his financials and everything, and as far as we could tell, it didn't gross any higher than a multi-family rental but was far more labor-intensive because of the number of accounts. It was under $200K and we couldn't justify it.

MgoSam

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #6 on: May 18, 2015, 03:11:05 PM »
Man, storage units likely are a good investment opportunity. I need to research in how to do so.
You would think that, but we actually looked hard at buying one. The guy sent us his financials and everything, and as far as we could tell, it didn't gross any higher than a multi-family rental but was far more labor-intensive because of the number of accounts. It was under $200K and we couldn't justify it.

Thanks! I did some digging and couldn't find anything that would make sense from a purely financial perspective. I looked at some REITs, and saw a few that were paying a 3.5% annual dividend, but decided to stick with my REIT.

Alternatepriorities

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2015, 03:19:47 PM »
How sad is that --- Maybe you should rename the group the "Millionaire Club?"

I was kind of disappointed with the results as well. We did include the word "Badassity" on our club poster, which created some initial interest. Most students vanished when they discovered badassity includes math... We'll probably do it again next year though even if it only helps a couple of kids.

Cheryl

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2015, 09:38:16 PM »
Yeah, finances is a had things to teach in a high school setting.  It's hard to build a curriculum for since it's more about the philosophy than the details, and it's only applicable to FUTURE them, who of course will work hard and not have a Starbucks habit, totally.  I actually found this blog TRYING to teach that class -not to this kid, though, he's in good old Algebra 2.  All I could do was tell him that ten years from now, when he's drowning in debt and a financial mess, I want him to remember me warning him right now and not say none of his teachers ever told him that sort of spending was a bad idea.

Elderwood17

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #9 on: May 19, 2015, 01:37:54 PM »
My finance's started teaching high school math and science at a remote boarding school in Alaska last fall. Compounding interest came up in one of her classes. She explained how borrowing and paying interest on purchases make them cost more. Then she explained how her fiancé could quit his job and move to the middle of nowhere because he always spent less than he made and people were paying him to use his money. Her students wanted to know why "no one ever taught us about this before". We put together a FI club for the spring semester hoping to share mustachian ideas with students before they made the kind of mistakes this kid is making. Of the 200 students, 4 joined us and 2 of those actually engaged. Maybe full financial independence would have been more impressive than my "financially flexible" status. Maybe it's just really hard to overcome the inertia of years of tv advertisements.

How sad is that --- Maybe you should rename the group the "Millionaire Club?"

Try renaming it and see what happens!

MsPeacock

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #10 on: May 19, 2015, 04:08:12 PM »
Man, storage units likely are a good investment opportunity. I need to research in how to do so.
You would think that, but we actually looked hard at buying one. The guy sent us his financials and everything, and as far as we could tell, it didn't gross any higher than a multi-family rental but was far more labor-intensive because of the number of accounts. It was under $200K and we couldn't justify it.

Thanks! I did some digging and couldn't find anything that would make sense from a purely financial perspective. I looked at some REITs, and saw a few that were paying a 3.5% annual dividend, but decided to stick with my REIT.

My guess is that a lot of units are abandoned or stop paying rent - and then you are stuck having to clear out the stuff (or sell it or whatever). And you have to cover security and personnel.

However, they look super cheap to build - maybe build one and sell it off and let someone else deal w/ running it. They seem to be little more than modular buildings and garage doors.

acroy

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Re: Need a truck to get the Christmas tree from storage
« Reply #11 on: May 19, 2015, 04:16:01 PM »
Man, storage units likely are a good investment opportunity. I need to research in how to do so.
I think their time has passed, with the boomers retiring and downsizing. I could be wrong.
Now; buy a big vacant lot in an area just outside richy-rich-ville and advertise it as 'Boat, Auto, and RV storage'. BOOM! No investment but rock surface and chainlink fence. I know several folks who have made small fortunes doing this and they are not selling.