Financial Wisdom Part Three – Funny Money

Here is part three of the Abnormal Returns blogger wisdom:

Question: What is one thing you do with your money (spending and/or investing) that you would never recommend to a client, family or friend?

My answer:

About 10 years ago I bought a boat. Or, as boat owners say, BOAT – Bring Over Another Thousand. This was, by far, the worst financial decision I ever made in my life. Although it was enjoyable the cost of upkeep and maintenance was unbearable. They say that the best days of a boat owners life are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it. I can confirm that this is wrong. The better of the two days was definitely the day I sold the boat and learned the hard lesson that materialism really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. A famous poet once said “Mo money, mo problems”. He was wrong. He should have said, mo materials, mo problems.  

Don’t get me wrong. I like big boy toys as much as the next guy, but the toy doesn’t always have a positive ROI. In fact, monetarily most of these toys will have a negative ROI, but an intangible positive ROI. A boat was just too much negative ROI for me to handle in both monetary and intangible terms. I’m sure lots of people disagree. But based on the bull market in boat sales I suspect there are a whole bunch of people who are going to end up agreeing with me in the coming years!

(Chart via Liz Ann Sonders)