What's the most expensive thing you ever bought? top 3?

[GilesMM]

I imagine the most expensive thing MMM ever bought was his divorce.

[Much Fishing to Do]

VASGX, 3 kids 529s, retirement at 51.

[londonbanker]

1- Secondary residence (forever home)
2- Primary residence
3- Ferrari #2
4- Ferrari #1
5- Daily driver
6- Wife daily driver
7- Honeymoon to Japan
8- Wedding ring
9- Land Rover #3
10- Land Rover #1
11- Land Rover #2

I will stop there as I am getting depressed 🤣

Oh and I forgot the cumulated cost of both our kids private education… don’t even want to add up !

Was all this before or after finding the MMM lifestyle? Please say before :)!

Well - you might think I am nuts, but it was after. I couldn’t have afforded this before. Because I found MMM 10years ago, just about the same time our salaries grew massively, we caught the right habits. Savings, investing and focusing on value - not prices. And of course leaving well below our means (we’ve been averaging a saving rate of 65%+ over the past 10years)

[2Birds1Stone]

@spartana, some of these older cars hold their value and/or appreciate above the rate of inflation, so it's not the worst "investment" if you have the $$ and get the enjoyment out of it. It's not for everyone, but if you're gonna be a gearhead it's probably the most economical way.


@londonbanker, you see that F40 recently listed at barrett-jackson?

[londonbanker]

1- Secondary residence (forever home)
2- Primary residence
3- Ferrari #2
4- Ferrari #1
5- Daily driver
6- Wife daily driver
7- Honeymoon to Japan
8- Wedding ring
9- Land Rover #3
10- Land Rover #1
11- Land Rover #2

I will stop there as I am getting depressed 🤣

Oh and I forgot the cumulated cost of both our kids private education… don’t even want to add up !

Was all this before or after finding the MMM lifestyle? Please say before :)!

Well - you might think I am nuts, but it was after. I couldn’t have afforded this before. Because I found MMM 10years ago, just about the same time our salaries grew massively, we caught the right habits. Savings, investing and focusing on value - not prices. And of course leaving well below our means (we’ve been averaging a saving rate of 65%+ over the past 10years)

I guess the 2 Ferraris and 3 Range Rovers made me think it was before. I should have been a London Banker! Sometimes the very high incomes around here kind of stun me.

To be fair the land rovers aren’t Range Rovers but old Land Rover series 2 (1966, 1970 and 1971)… combined price of £20k for the lot… at best :-)
It’s a fetish I unexplainably got into. I do all service and maintenance on them myself. The annual road tax and insurance cost me a combined £75 per car per year… so quite mustachian in fact :-)

[Arbitrage]

Not counting things like houses, educations, or recurring expenses like taxes, rent, or day care - here's what I've spent more than $10k on:

1. Infiniti Coupe - $31.4k
Back when I was a twentysomething with a new career and attached emotional value to wasteful but sometimes necessary tools.

2. Subaru SUV - $27.3k
Current family car. 

3. Renovations on our current house before we moved in - $18k
Previous owners had completely trashed the carpet and paint.  Also needed some safety items addressed.  After we moved in, DIY on tons of stuff probably saved an equivalent amount.

4. Hyundai compact sedan - $12k
Initially purchased for DW, then I swapped cars with her for a while before ditching a second car altogether for an e-bike.

5. Interstate moving expenses - $10.5k
Definitely not cheap, and scheduled during peak season on a popular domestic migration route these days, exiting California.

6. Used Nissan sedan - $10.2k
First car purchased for DW after we married.  Totaled in a crash after a few years and bought the Hyundai.

Our wedding definitely would've qualified as well, but I didn't pay for it.  Never taken a vacation that crossed this threshold.  My wife is working on a series of non-elective dental procedures that might get us there, though!

[Turtle]

I imagine the most expensive thing MMM ever bought was his divorce.

Neither he nor the ex Mrs MMM strike me as the vindictive sort who divorce lawyers like to exploit to make themselves rich, so perhaps not.

If both parties are mature adults and willing to talk and work things out, it's possible to do one for less than $500.  If not, the sky's the limit.

[Dicey]

Hmmm...

1. Condo for stepson, who is not neurotypical, plus renovations, $451k, all cash. At some point, he will get a mortgage and we will get some portion of that back. I'm counting it since we don't live in it and it is not a rental and it was a voluntary expenditure. And, we can afford it, though it does kind of suck to have our liquid assets turn illiquid just as the stock market goes on sale...

2. Used RV, about $66k. Paid cash, which came from a side gig.

3. When stepdaughter got engaged, we encouraged them to elope. They did. When they bought their first condo, we gave it a makeover, spending $25k on materials. Paid cash.

In case #1 doesn't count, property taxes on our primary run $12.5k/year and we've lived here for ten years.

This is an interesting question. I think I'll ask DH to see if his list would be the same. You know, in case I'm forgetting something.

Also, we are FIRE and in the "and beyond" cohort, so we're fine.

[jsap819]

Here's mine, and not including my student loan and mortgage:

1. $33k - 2009 Honda Accord brand new. To this day this has been the most expensive thing I've ever spent and I still kick myself for making this dumb decision of overpaying for this vehicle after I finished college. The good news is I still drive it to this day and it's been very reliable as I've only had to replace the starter. All other maintenance has been done by me.

2. $21k - destination wedding in 2015. Almost all of my wife's family is in the Philippines so that's why we had it there. Mind you, this price also includes our flights and the cost of our honeymoon to Japan. It was also a pretty extravagant wedding. So in hindsight, we probably saved some money if we had a normal wedding here in Socal. 

3. $21k - 2017 Subaru Forest brand new. Our current family car. Since we were expecting that year, wife wanted a newer and more reliable car. At the time she was driving a 2000 Toyota Camry and my Accord.

4. $8k - 2016 trip to London, Paris, and Italy for 3 weeks. This includes flights, hotels, food, and a $2.5k Louis Vuitton bag that my wife "had" to have.

5. $6.5k - engagement ring

[Much Fishing to Do]

Here's mine, and not including my student loan and mortgage:

1. $33k - 2009 Honda Accord brand new. To this day this has been the most expensive thing I've ever spent and I still kick myself for making this dumb decision of overpaying for this vehicle after I finished college. The good news is I still drive it to this day and it's been very reliable as I've only had to replace the starter. All other maintenance has been done by me.

2. $21k - destination wedding in 2015. Almost all of my wife's family is in the Philippines so that's why we had it there. Mind you, this price also includes our flights and the cost of our honeymoon to Japan. It was also a pretty extravagant wedding. So in hindsight, we probably saved some money if we had a normal wedding here in Socal. 

3. $21k - 2017 Subaru Forest brand new. Our current family car. Since we were expecting that year, wife wanted a newer and more reliable car. At the time she was driving a 2000 Toyota Camry and my Accord.

4. $8k - 2016 trip to London, Paris, and Italy for 3 weeks. This includes flights, hotels, food, and a $2.5k Louis Vuitton bag that my wife "had" to have.

5. $6.5k - engagement ring

I wouldn't be kicking yourself re: the cars...sounds like you buy cars that both CAN be driven for 17+ years AND YOU DO.  Heck, slightly used cars are so expensive anyway i dont think you lost much going with the new, its keeping them for 17+ years where the difference is made. 

I know people say things like new cars depreciate 30% after you drive them off of the lot....but I've yet to find that car to buy in decades of looking. 

[Bateaux]

My big three would all be houses.  The Florida house we purchased in 2018 for $237k, current zillo estimate $487k.
The rent house next to us.  $66k in 2004, zillo estimated value $160K.
The current house we live in $52k in 1992.  Zillo estimate value $269k.

What's crazy is we'd like to buy another vehicle this year and it could cost more than our first house.

[Tempname23]

Private college tuition for our oldest (we would've paid for the other one, too, but he wound up at our flagship state school, with a fair amount of scholarship $$). Time will tell, but so far it appears to be worth it.

 That's what I was going to add, Dental school tuition for my daughter. That was about $250k over 4 years, plus we paid rent for the tiny house she lived the last year when she did her clinical work. She is out and practicing now for the last 6 months, she's getting paid very well and I talked to her today, they are going give her a raise and pay for mileage, because she is at an office 50 miles from home. Maybe 6 more months and she will get a new office closer to her home. If things continue as they are her earnings will equal what we paid in 1.5 years.

[Drink Coffee And Stack Money]

We do not buy a lot of big ticket items besides our house, so it's pretty simple. In the last 16 years since getting married:

1. Loaded 2016 Jeep Cherokee bought new and still driving: $36k
2. No frills 2012 Jeep Patriot bought new and still driving: $18k.
3. We paid for ourselves and 6 family members to vacation at the Oregon coast for a week in 2019 (All gas, hotels, food, rental house): $5k

[Drink Coffee And Stack Money]

What's crazy is we'd like to buy another vehicle this year and it could cost more than our first house.

New auto prices are out of control. I'm definitely not looking forward to our next auto purchase, and I hope we can put it off for another 4-5 years. I know of several people paying $800-$1k a month now for a new car payment which is just insane to me.

[Ysera]

Not counting our house, it would probably be my beloved (and sadly departed) Old 'n Busted Mare (not her real name...😄). I had her for nearly ten years. Her adoption was cheap, but her old racing injuries, senior health needs, and extra feed were quite spendy over the years. Lots of face punches! All together, it was probably in the neighborhood of what someone would pay for a moderately nice brand new car. But I have no regrets because she was a good soul who deserved a retirement home. That said, I am not looking to replace her.

[Just Joe]

Acreage was an important dream for us so our choices reflected that. Space for critters and kids. We bought a place with a nice (needs R&R) house.

Our one new car purchased in the late 1990s was our most expensive thing to that point. Car payment was similar to the house payment and the daycare fees.

Looking back we really couldn't afford it at the time. We didn't like the payment so we paid it off as fast as we could. Cut maybe 5-6 months off of the payment. 7-8 years ago we bought a nicer vehicle (used, like new) but we paid it off in just a couple of years. Yep, still hated that payment. We're still driving both cars. 315K on the old one, 140K on the newer one.

Daycare for Thing1 and Thing2. ;) They should have named one end of the building for us, or so it seemed until I saw what daycare costs now in discussions here.

University will be the next biggest purchase. We're prepared to send both offspring but #1 seems to be satisfied with part time untrained work (?!?!?!) and rejects any schooling at all. At least offspring#1 is working (we are told) so that is an improvement.

Offspring#2 is eager to go to college. Off to StateU for that one. Will need a better car than their current ~23 yr old car which is fine for around here but not cross state interstate travel. Hoping prices on used cars will correct downward before we need to buy something either for us or for offspring#2.

 

[JupiterGreen]

House is definitely the most expensive thing I've ever bought, but then it goes like this:

1. house improvements (addition, roof, fence things like that)
2. car
3. undergraduate degree

beyond that:
4. graduate degree #1
5. graduate degree #2 (not sure if 1 or 2 cost more, but they were cheap degrees without lasting debt and I've made my money back and plenty more on all my degrees)

Taking in total education/professional development might be #2 overall. It is something I constantly spend money on because I value it highly and I love to learn new things. So I guess education is kind of like an expensive hobby, though I continue to make money off of my education "hobby".

[snic]

Hands down, the most expensive thing we (wife and I) have ever paid for aside from real estate is our daughter's ivy league education. And she isn't even halfway done yet. And she wants to go to law school.

We (and her grandmother) did save in 529 plans since birth, so we'll probably be able to cover about a year of law school until they're depleted. But she doesn't qualify for any financial aid, so if she does go to law school we will have spent well over $500k. Which is more than we paid for our first house 23 years ago.

[naturalhattrick]

Car - 6.3k
Road bike - 1.2k
CoastFIRE - 70k/year

[RetireOrDieTrying]

I have a spectacularly poor choice to share from my past:

A quarter-million-dollar motor home, 25% down entirely on credit cards at ~23% interest, remaining $200k financed at 8.99% for 30 years. Immediately $70k upside-down the moment I drove it off the lot.

Twice what I'd ever paid for an actual house.

Hands-down the costliest decision of my life.

[RetireOrDieTrying]

But is it a cost you regret or one that was worth it?

My answer isn't a dodge - I promise!

I rarely do regrets. I have an engineer's brain which does RCA (kind of an autopsy on a scenario), and I take away lessons. Those lessons all add up into who I am today, and I like the guy in the mirror. Without the lessons, I would be missing part of my growth.

Mind you, there's a lot easier ways to grow than sticking your finger in the light socket, and I'm happy my learning comes with a little more thoughtfulness now.

I'm going to paraphrase your question and turn it slightly: "Would I do that again?" The answer would be a resounding "no."

[scottish]

In 2004 I bought a loaded Toyota Tacoma new for about 35K CAD.    It's now getting to the end of life, mostly due to corrosion.   I had to replace the radiator and MAF sensor this month though, so even tacoma parts wear out eventually.  :-(

In 2008 I replaced DW's car with a new Toyota Yaris for about 20K CAD.    It's also starting to rust out.

And back in 1992 I bought a Nissan pickup truck new for about 20K CAD as well.   It only lasted until 2004.    It was great though, it had almost no gadgets at all.   Window cranks, stick shift, manual locking hubs, no A/C, ...    I had very few repairs on that vehicle.

We usually buy vehicles new and keep them as long as possible.

[hounton]

Wow.  Reading through this it made me thankful for all of the things that I have that I didn't pay that much for:

I bought my house long enough ago that I paid a fraction of what it's worth.
I had a private Catholic school education for my kids but since I work as a Catholic school teacher, it was free or deeply discounted.
My husband is a mechanic and he has done amazing things to reconstruct a car for me.  I've never had a car payment.  I think a lot of my accumulated wealth is tied to no car payment.
My oldest got an AMAZING scholarship to college.  She worked hard and I am proud of her.
I stayed married.  I didn't always want to, but I powered through and things are better now. 

So I guess my biggest splurge is travel.  I love travel but I try hard to be frugal about it.  Still, it's so much fun to take my kids to Angkor Watt or Roatan.  We have a house in Benin, West Africa, my husband's home country.

I have a son going to the local state school.  It will be a big expense but he assures me that he is going to get a "real" degree that will make him money -- we are looking at engineering or pharmacy.

[iris lily]

I don’t know, can’t remember outside of houses and cars. Trips to .Europe, I suppose.

A few weeks ago I spent $1,800 on two front row center tickets to see Chris Rock  and Dave Chappelle.

Many years ago I spent $1,000 on a week’s pass to the Us Figure Skating championships held in my home town. I learned that big money was really for prime seats for the weekend televised night finals. All of the other competitions held through the days of that week were pretty much open seating. It was cool because you could see up close the big name skaters practicing. The Juniors and Novices skated at a facility way out in the county.

[Sibley]

1. House
2. College degree (really good scholarships, otherwise it would be #1)
3-6. Cars, couldn't tell you what order, but they were Pontiac Vibe, VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI, Ford Focus, and now Honda Fit.
7. Roof

[Dreamer40]

Probably the solar panels we put on the house last year and the trip to Antarctica. For the Antarctica trip, DH and I shared a lower-deck triple-berth cabin with a friend of ours. Still the most expensive trip we’ve ever taken but absolutely worth it.

[rocketpj]

Commercial property.  Very, very worth it.

House.  Also worth it

Most recent car.  EV, love it, probably overpaid but I don't actually know the price of gas right now and that makes me very happy.

[use2betrix]

Lots and lots and lots of vehicles.

1. 2020 F250 (diesel) - $68k pre-tax new (current)
2. 2013 42’ toy hauler - $56k - lived in full time for 5 years
3.  2013 F250 (diesel) - $56k pre-tax new
4. 2017 4runner - $40k new
5. 2003 mustang cobra - $38.5k
6. 2023 Subaru crosstrek - $36k new (current)

After that - too many to remember the cost - Land Cruiser, multiple jeeps, Ducati, Harley, multiple sport bikes, adventure bikes, other trailers, etc etc.

After autos it would probably be.. $6k between two guitars, $5k between our two bikes.. then guns, tools..

Currently still have the 2020 F250 and crosstrek. Both paid off.

Use them all quite a bit. Took my daughter on a 15 mile bike ride last weekend, and about to play the guitar for her while she takes a bath! <3

[Greystache]

The most expensive thing that I ever bought was my freedom from working for a living. It cost me $1.5 million and it was worth every penny.

[Extramedium]

1. (Tie) 2017 31' Class C motorhome (bought in 2020) and 2018 Tesla Model 3.  Both around $55-60,000.
2. 2004 Toyota Prius (sold 5 years later for about the same amount), $24,000?
3. 2017 Subaru Forester base model, manual transmission, with hail damage (in 2020), about $17,000.  To tow behind the RV.

Non-vehicle?  Probably $2700 for my Salsa Fargo in 2017.  Close second, cumulatively all the stereo equipment (including Sonos speakers) we gradually accumulated.

I don't think it feels right to me to include house or educational expenses in this list.  If I had made upgrades purely fancy, like sauna or sport court, I'd include it, but don't feel the same for central A/C or replacing the 120 y/o windows.  Those just seem like expenses of living in a house in the developed world in the 21st century, fighting against nature/entropy reclaiming our place.  And education is what got me my career.  I'm a medical professional and can't just start working because I'm a self-starter.  It's the ante to play in the game of my life. 

[Dicey]

Well, it gets a lot harder if we can't include real estate, which would take up slots 1-10. After that...

1. About $70k for a new-to-us, but 10 year old Class C RV. Paid for with profits from house #9.
2. About $24k for my "new" 2014 Toyota, purchased in 2016, with profits from house #6.
3. About $30k in hardscaping for our current house. All DIY, with Craigslist as our main source of materials.

DH has been studying up on and following the EV market a lot lately, so stay tuned. Whatever he does, it will be used and purchased for cash. His truck is 21 years old. If he wants something different, that's fine by me. I'm sure he has no plans to sell the truck, so I'm just mildly curious about what we end up with. Might be something, might be nothing.

[Metalcat]

I just bought a Class C RV too! Lol

Mine only cost $3500 though, so it doesn't even crack the top 10 of my most expensive purchases.

[Valley of Plenty]

If skipping house and cars, let's see...

1. Plane tickets for self and GF to go to Germany this summer ($4000)
2. Glock 19 ($600, becomes $1200 after accounting for holsters, light, and optic)
3. AR-15 (Also $600, becomes about $1000 after optic, light, and sling)

I feel like there are probably other things I've spent more money on than guns, but none are coming to mind.

[ChpBstrd]

In the early oughts I bought a crack house for $4,300 and fixed it up. I probably only spent $25k on materials but the true cost was 5 years of weekends during my late 20's. Sold it for $52,000 ready to move into. Still, the amount of time I dumped into that project was ridiculous. I failed to account for the low productivity of being an amateur. I would have been much better off with a part time cashier job.

In terms of monetary value and things not related to real estate, I dropped $165k on a single transaction late last year buying six-month US treasury notes. It didn't feel weird at all.

[Must_ache]

Income taxes. By a very wide margin.

That's not something you [choose to] buy.  That's something you have are required to pay. 

[FINate]

The usual boring stuff:

House #1, #2, then #3
Medical care
Various cars, nothing interesting
Home stuff (HVAC, water heaters, remodels, etc.).

The fun stuff:
Mountain bike ($5k in 2012). Rode 2-3x/week (before medical issues), still in good condition with regular maintenance. Hope to get back in the saddle once our local trails dry out.
O/U hunting shotgun ($2k). Beautiful gun used on countless hunting/clay outings.

[charis]

(1) House (first and only)
(2) Degrees for both spouses
(3) Home renovations (although total kid and auto expenses over the years are up there, but don't fit the question).

[Treedream]

I am currently buying a house, but since that doesn't count:

1) miniature terrain for my make belief fantasy games
2) health insurance for a year
3) probably holidays?

All in all none of these are above 10K. In fact, beyond these, I'd be hard pressed to find anything I spend more than 1K on.

[WesternAugust]

1: Wheelchair van to transport my daughter (never planned on that type of expense, but boy are they expensive, as are the other expenses that come with modifying a home and other equipment for a person in a wheelchair)
2: Recent major renovation/repairs to our house (didn't add a whole lot of value, but will help maintain value)
3: Wife's student loan pay-off

Before my daughter was born and I when I first got a major promotion I bought a fancy watch. It was dumb, but I don't regret it too much, but I wouldn't buy another. We also took some really nice vacations abroad. I definitely don't regret those.