The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: BTDretire on September 23, 2020, 06:44:52 PM
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Todays market watch article.
"Americans’ love affair with pickup trucks might be derailing their retirement plans"
Just a couple of lines from the article,
"The debt was manageable pre-pandemic, she said."
“She deferred lease payments on her Infiniti QX60 for three months and started paying again with unemployment benefits. Her husband traded in his Ford F-150 in August for a lower-cost car and reduced his original monthly payment of $820 by about $100.
OMG, he went from a vehicle payment of $820 a month to $720 a month. What a sacrifice! How many want to bet he went deeper in debt to do that?
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-love-affair-with-pickup-trucks-might-be-derailing-their-retirement-plans-2020-09-23?siteid=bulletrss
MOD- Please remove, I see it is a duplicate.
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Before the lockdown, a guy at my office bought a $60k truck. He traded in a year old Chevrolet Suburban. He cannot fit the new truck into his garage. He immediately got a lift on the truck. The lift cost $17,000. The lift alone.
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Yeah, but now he can go on the awesome 4x4 trails in Colorado.
It's really interesting how people go on these rugged trails & their objective isn't to go anywhere -- it's just to do the trail. I guess some people drive fast, others drive rough.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHvXi_HejnI
Different rocks I know... ;)
Still, my point is there are far cheaper ways to play in the dirt and rocks than $30K+ vehicles with expensive alterations.
I'll never forget riding in a lifted p/u that belonged to my friend years ago. Tippy! He turned around. Truck seldom went off road ever again AFAIK.
In defense of nice vehicles - I know they are like nice tools. More pleasant to use and possibly more reliable.
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Yeah, but now he can go on the awesome 4x4 trails in Colorado.
It's really interesting how people go on these rugged trails & their objective isn't to go anywhere -- it's just to do the trail. I guess some people drive fast, others drive rough.
Their objective is completely 100% to justify their purchase of said off-road vehicle... and so they can brag about off-roading on the weekend.
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Yeah, but now he can go on the awesome 4x4 trails in Colorado.
It's really interesting how people go on these rugged trails & their objective isn't to go anywhere -- it's just to do the trail. I guess some people drive fast, others drive rough.
Their objective is completely 100% to justify their purchase of said off-road vehicle... and so they can brag about off-roading on the weekend.
I can't say for that specific case - but it's not true in general. A lot of folks just enjoy off-roading. Another bunch enjoy driving off into the wilderness and camping.
There are definitely guys who are posers. Like these characters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgEteLYwFZs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgEteLYwFZs)
Really? You just purchased a 60K USD vehicle and now you're going to see how much air you can get?
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OMG, there are so many.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hKvteM8jCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvTI5eJgz9M
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That truck is not going to be worth anywhere near $60,000 as soon as they do take it offroad....
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Yeah, but now he can go on the awesome 4x4 trails in Colorado.
It's really interesting how people go on these rugged trails & their objective isn't to go anywhere -- it's just to do the trail. I guess some people drive fast, others drive rough.
Their objective is completely 100% to justify their purchase of said off-road vehicle... and so they can brag about off-roading on the weekend.
I can't say for that specific case - but it's not true in general. A lot of folks just enjoy off-roading. Another bunch enjoy driving off into the wilderness and camping.
There are definitely guys who are posers. Like these characters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKQdlXvbWSU)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgEteLYwFZs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgEteLYwFZs)
Really? You just purchased a 60K USD vehicle and now you're going to see how much air you can get?
And you can get the same experience (much better IMHO) on an inexpensive dirt bike. Or better yet, a mountain bike. Drive the $200 Yugo to the trailhead with your $2000 mountain bike and go! Can't go anywhere very often if you have to spend most of your time working so you can make expensive truck payments.
It really depends what you're doing, though. I did a six day trip through Baja Mexico that would have been vastly more difficult / less comfortable on a bike.
It's funny how nobody would complain about someone flying somewhere to do a mountain biking trip or driving a car somewhere to do the same thing but if it involves driving a 4x4 vehicle on a trip instead, everybody loses their minds...
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We're mocking people doing stupid things with their truck. Like jumping them off ramps, and not little jumps, either. Or engaging in pulling contests to see which 4x4
is tougher has better tires.
There's no problem doing useful things with a 4x4.
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We're mocking people doing stupid things with their truck. Like jumping them off ramps, and not little jumps, either. Or engaging in pulling contests to see which 4x4 is tougher has better tires.
There's no problem doing useful things with a 4x4.
Actually it's which vehicle is heavier.
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Yeah, that's true. The amount of traction depends mainly on vehicle weight.
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I offroad my lifted 4 door Wrangler with a Jeep club. I don't do it to brag I went offroading (I'm not sure how that would be a brag, but ok). I do quite often see "Mall Crawlers". They're more "offroad look" than actual offroad capable. In any case, $30k is more than the total of my Jeep and all the modifications. And I bought it brand new, ordered from the dealer in 2014. As of last week, it's a snowplow truck.
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I offroad my lifted 4 door Wrangler with a Jeep club. I don't do it to brag I went offroading (I'm not sure how that would be a brag, but ok). I do quite often see "Mall Crawlers". They're more "offroad look" than actual offroad capable. In any case, $30k is more than the total of my Jeep and all the modifications. And I bought it brand new, ordered from the dealer in 2014. As of last week, it's a snowplow truck.
Hard to see, but on the right is my bone stock Jeep covered in mud from taking it off-road hunting.
On the right is a modified, lifted, spotless Jeep on rugged tires.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Ea_vpfAI8
https://youtu.be/IiAdwfpU7e8?t=84
I guess doing expensive things to expensive things isn't all that uncommon? ;)
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I offroad my lifted 4 door Wrangler with a Jeep club. I don't do it to brag I went offroading (I'm not sure how that would be a brag, but ok). I do quite often see "Mall Crawlers". They're more "offroad look" than actual offroad capable. In any case, $30k is more than the total of my Jeep and all the modifications. And I bought it brand new, ordered from the dealer in 2014. As of last week, it's a snowplow truck.
Hard to see, but on the right is my bone stock Jeep covered in mud from taking it off-road hunting.
On the right is a modified, lifted, spotless Jeep on rugged tires.
Maybe the guy on the left cares more about his jeep? ;)
(I agree lots of "only for show" modded cars out there, but you can't judge based on cleanliness at any point in time)
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In my experience most people (not all, certainly) who talk about their "off road" vehicles and report (or brag) about going "off road" never actually go off a road.
To them, as they venture forth from suburbia in their lifted, swamp tired, leather upholstered, climate controlled, twenty foot long planet-pounders on a Saturday morning "adventure", once those precious tires leave pavement for gravel or even - gasp! - dirt, they are off road, even if the road is shown on every map ever, regularly maintained, signed for hazards, etc.
Heck, just last week I went truly off-roading as I drove our Chevy Bolt EV through our field to deliver goat chow to our goats. (Oh, shoot, I guess I just bragged about going off road.)
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In my experience most people (not all, certainly) who talk about their "off road" vehicles and report (or brag) about going "off road" actually only go off pavement.
To them, as they venture forth from suburbia in their lifted, swamp tired, leather upholstered, climate controlled, twenty foot long planet-pounders on a Saturday morning "adventure", once those precious tires leave pavement for gravel or even - gasp! - dirt, they are off road, even if the road is shown on every map ever, regularly maintained, signed for hazards, etc.
Heck, just last week I went truly off-roading as I drove our Chevy Bolt EV through our field to deliver goat chow to our goats. (Oh, shoot, I guess I just bragged about going off road.)
I look at their tires - can't tell you how many times I've seen heavily worn aggressive off road tires that have pristine tread blocks and sidewall - they're just worn out from running on smooth pavement.
I gave an old set of tires to a friend to use on his plow truck and the sidewalls had scrapes and gouges, the tread blocks were torn, lol. Still great for a plow rig though!
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In my experience most people (not all, certainly) who talk about their "off road" vehicles and report (or brag) about going "off road" never actually go off pavement.
To them, as they venture forth from suburbia in their lifted, swamp tired, leather upholstered, climate controlled, twenty foot long planet-pounders on a Saturday morning "adventure", once those precious tires leave pavement for gravel or even - gasp! - dirt, they are off road, even if the road is shown on every map ever, regularly maintained, signed for hazards, etc.
Heck, just last week I went truly off-roading as I drove our Chevy Bolt EV through our field to deliver goat chow to our goats. (Oh, shoot, I guess I just bragged about going off road.)
But did you get a good stuck?
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My husband is a farmer. He needs a truck to haul things like animals in a livestock trailer, seed, and farm stuff. His truck is now almost 20 years old, with 67,000 miles (bought it used with 2 years of use with 10,000 miles) He only uses it to haul heavy things and nothing more.
If he has to "drive around" or drive a 50 mile round trip for machinery parts, he drives the "farm car". To be a "farm car" the requirement is that it be a beater and he gets at least 250,000 miles on the odometer before it becomes scrap. We know there are some area farmers who think we have a different outlook than they do about trucks. We don't care. At all.
We figure we have saved a small fortune in gas alone with him not driving around our gravel roads in a truck. We used the money we saved to fund college educations for our three children. Much better pay out!
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The two most expensive things typical people purchase are their home and their vehicle. You could easily turn things around and say "San Francisco rents derailing their retirement" for example and make fun of people throwing away $3700/month on tiny SF apartments. Fact is there's nothing unique about trucks. In fact trucks and SUVs overall have better resale value than passenger cars. The issue is that if the goal is FIRE, then minimum expenses is always how you win net worth waving contests in the end.
You could ban trucks and those same people will just find something else to spend the money on instead. People who have a habit of spending 100% of their income will find ways to spend 100% of their income regardless of what you ban. People who have a habit of spending only 60% of their income will buy whatever fits that budget, regardless if a 9 year old Honda Fit is what's needed to keep spending to 60% or if a $750/month Truck payment still lets them stick to 60% of their income. I've often been amused by the Porsche guys on another forum I'm on because a Porsche 911 when purchased at just the right spot on the depreciation curve will basically never go down in value. Sure, you might spend a couple thousand a year in maintenance but basically because the car is "free" (since resale will always equal the purchase price) there's guys spending the equivalent of only $300/month in maintenance for their Porsche 911. Even expensive cars are cheap if you do it right, and trucks can be similar. Again: if you do it right.
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In my experience most people (not all, certainly) who talk about their "off road" vehicles and report (or brag) about going "off road" never actually go off pavement.
To them, as they venture forth from suburbia in their lifted, swamp tired, leather upholstered, climate controlled, twenty foot long planet-pounders on a Saturday morning "adventure", once those precious tires leave pavement for gravel or even - gasp! - dirt, they are off road, even if the road is shown on every map ever, regularly maintained, signed for hazards, etc.
Heck, just last week I went truly off-roading as I drove our Chevy Bolt EV through our field to deliver goat chow to our goats. (Oh, shoot, I guess I just bragged about going off road.)
But did you get a good stuck?
Ooh, I can brag about going off road. Our tractor is 60 years old and our truck is 45 years old. Husband got the riding mower (I'm not sure how old that is, I'm guessing 25-35 years) stuck while mowing our walking path and drove the tractor out to get it. The tractor got stuck too, so he used the truck to try to pull it out ( it's 4 wheel drive). That got stuck so he just had to leave everything out there for a week until the ground dried a bit.
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In my experience most people (not all, certainly) who talk about their "off road" vehicles and report (or brag) about going "off road" never actually go off pavement.
To them, as they venture forth from suburbia in their lifted, swamp tired, leather upholstered, climate controlled, twenty foot long planet-pounders on a Saturday morning "adventure", once those precious tires leave pavement for gravel or even - gasp! - dirt, they are off road, even if the road is shown on every map ever, regularly maintained, signed for hazards, etc.
Heck, just last week I went truly off-roading as I drove our Chevy Bolt EV through our field to deliver goat chow to our goats. (Oh, shoot, I guess I just bragged about going off road.)
But did you get a good stuck?
Ooh, I can brag about going off road. Our tractor is 60 years old and our truck is 45 years old. Husband got the riding mower (I'm not sure how old that is, I'm guessing 25-35 years) stuck while mowing our walking path and drove the tractor out to get it. The tractor got stuck too, so he used the truck to try to pull it out ( it's 4 wheel drive). That got stuck so he just had to leave everything out there for a week until the ground dried a bit.
But if you had a new 4WD truck it would have traction control and you could have pulled everything out! Time for an upgrade!
(Am I creating an urgent need in your mind?)
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In my experience most people (not all, certainly) who talk about their "off road" vehicles and report (or brag) about going "off road" never actually go off pavement.
To them, as they venture forth from suburbia in their lifted, swamp tired, leather upholstered, climate controlled, twenty foot long planet-pounders on a Saturday morning "adventure", once those precious tires leave pavement for gravel or even - gasp! - dirt, they are off road, even if the road is shown on every map ever, regularly maintained, signed for hazards, etc.
Heck, just last week I went truly off-roading as I drove our Chevy Bolt EV through our field to deliver goat chow to our goats. (Oh, shoot, I guess I just bragged about going off road.)
But did you get a good stuck?
Ooh, I can brag about going off road. Our tractor is 60 years old and our truck is 45 years old. Husband got the riding mower (I'm not sure how old that is, I'm guessing 25-35 years) stuck while mowing our walking path and drove the tractor out to get it. The tractor got stuck too, so he used the truck to try to pull it out ( it's 4 wheel drive). That got stuck so he just had to leave everything out there for a week until the ground dried a bit.
But if you had a new 4WD truck it would have traction control and you could have pulled everything out! Time for an upgrade!
(Am I creating an urgent need in your mind?)
I think anything short of a monster truck (or maybe a boat) would have been hopeless. I like your sig line, btw.