I am married with a beautiful wife and an even cuter daughter. We have been renting an apartment for 4 years now and we are on the final stages of building a house. On top of that we need another car. We own a car which we paid for in cash. It was used, 2 years old with just over 10000km in mileage. Buying the used one knocked off 10000 euros from the retail price of the same model at the time of purchase. Now if I leased the car 4 years ago at a price of 250 euro per month I would have spent 12000 and now I could have upgraded to the newer model and keep paying the same lease price. I would also save more that 1500 Euro a year on service, tyres and repairs. So at the end of the day I would be 8000 down with a new car in my hands. I wouldn’t own it but since depreciation is a major factor no-one really owns a car.
Same with the house. I landed a pretty good deal and I am building at cost prices. A conventional house has a lifespan of 50 years. 50x12x500 euro rent is 300,000 in rent over 50 years. Without worrying about maintenance and repairs and with the choice of moving when you have annoying neighbours.
Essentially owning something is a privilege well deserved to anybody. Financially though leasing renting hiring is cheaper than owning. Many people find it hard to grasp this concept including myself. What got me to see things differently is the major reason people are willing to pay money for… Time and essentially to avoid being stressed. Wether stress comes from cleaning your house to financial management and to any other physical need. So next time you think you are investing in something huge like a house or a car think twice:)
