Buying HiFi at credit, anyone?


Has any of you ever bought a piece of Hifi with money you knew you did not have? Not talking about a 4-payment free interest deal when you have the cash anyway, I am talking putting the purchase on a line of credit or worse credit card and repaying it over many many months with interests to pay?

If so, no need to give a $ figure but how many months of net income did this represent and how long did it take to pay back? any regret? do you think it is a sign of ultime hifi sickness or true passion (not mutually exclusive!).
beheme

Showing 3 responses by newbee

"I just wanted to see if some folks who buy ....."

Why wouldn't they? If they have the cash there should be no difference, an intelligent manager of personal finances would always pay cash.

If they don't have the cash and chose to finance either cars and/or audios, its still a matter of personal discretion and their individual value systems.

IMHO your question elicited exactly the range of responses you got. It is, first, last, and always, about management of personal finances and establishing priorities in purchases of anything you and your family require.

And, you are right, "....it is VERY personal and discretionary".
IMHO, its no better or worse than buying most anything on long term credit that doesn't appreciate with time, such as homes, so long as you're not taking food out of someone's mouth or clothes off their back. I can't believe that folks buy very expensive cars and have them on credit for 6 years, or have revolving credit accounts at the expensive clothing stores. But they do. Who cares!

I vote for saving 10% to 20% off the top by not financing anything. Get a discount on top of that if you can and you're improve your life all around.
Beheme, "Paying cash is one of the most certain way to building no asset and eventually going broke".

ROTFLMAO! But, then again, who might I be but just a symplistic newbie. I shouldn't expect other more sophisticated folks, like you, to decode what I meant by 'paying cash'. :-)

Against my present inclination to beat you over the head with credentials, and success stories, I'll not do that as it will only pe percieved as being self serving or a fabrication, and frankly to do so would just be boorish. Those two paragraphs have been edited out.

But, since I must clarify what I intended by the expression 'paying cash' I offer the following. Over the last 30 years I have built my modest estate by prudent investment's and spending. The only time I use 'credit' is when it results in a net gain for me, such as using a credit card which pays a 1% rebate for all purchases (I pay the balance each month and I pick up an extra $500 to $750 anually). I own a VW which was financed at 1.5% and the cash I could have paid remained invested with a return of 5%, for a net gain. I also understand and use to its maximum the concept of float. Small change for you perhaps but its things like that which helped me gain some financial security.

I have no other debt, but I did have a mortgage on my home which I foolishly paid off in 15 years when I probably could have used that money to buy some more NASDAC stock in 1999/2000, the years when I actually chose to get out of the stock market totally. Many would have, and many did, and lost their shirts using your 'credit' mentality. But they sure knew how to use credit to advance thier net worth. Some of them were even 'getting rich' day trading. WOW! I didn't move back in to stocks until about 2 years ago. More good luck, perhaps.

But, IMHO if you must use (or justify the use of) credit for consumer purcases, luxury items if you will, because you do not have the cash available to pay up-front or back your incurred debt, you are the person who risks eventually going broke, not me. Charge it up to your passion if you will, or ultimate hifi sickness, what ever, if you must, but such financed purchases have nothing to do with personal, and more importantly for some fools family, financial responsibility, unless you can show a net gain by using your cash elsewhere, which is not a simple trick for most folks.

You asked for the opinions in this thread. How ungratious of you to then criticize folks for giving opinions you didn't want to hear, and insult them directly or by implication as well. :-(

Tboooe, I thought I was keeping it simple in my first response, and my second one as well, except for the lack of definition of the phrase 'paying cash'. And while I was critical of the form of the response of the original poster to the posts of many responders, including my first response, even in retrospect I can see no justification to his personalized response most recently to me. Are you signing on to the full meaning of his last posts? I assume not, and FWIW I just happen to have no real issue with your contributions.