[TheForge] which tools to own and which to rent?

[Andrew Vida]

terry l. ridder wrote:
> hello andy;
> 
> 
> On Fri, 1 May 2009, Andrew Vida wrote:
> 
>>
>> marc3rd wrote:
>>> I think, The smart way is to figure out "will it make you money"?
>>> Will it help you do something faster, better or that you can't do now, to
>>> the point it will make you money (including paying for itself.)
>>> After I say no, I usually whine "but I want one It's really cool." Then I
>>> buy it anyway.
>> 	Necessary considerations, but not always sufficient.  The lease/buy
>> decision can get complicated, particularly where large capital sums are
>> in question.  For most of us this is not really an issue, but if Terry
>> is considering ever a hundred thousand dollar decision, some further
>> analysis may be in order - it can make a significant difference.
>>
> 
> this is very true. currently i find no good financial guidance available
> locally. nearly everyone that i have talked with paint this rosey
> picture of all that they are going to do for me but when pressed for
> hard facts and details they all start to mumble alot. one so-called
> financial advisor told me that i should not concern myself with the
> details and that i should just put my faith in his firm and him.  i told
> him that i had no intention to ever place as much as a penny with him or
> his firm. he was taken back by my attitude and started to ask me if
> there was a part of his presentation that i did not understand. i told
> him that i understood all of his presentation and that he had avaded
> given me one straight answer to all of my questions. so right now i have
> a very bad taste in my mouth concerning financial advisors. i consider
> them nothing much more than a snake oil salesman.

	You point is well taken.  There are a lot of yahoos out there.  You 
need to find someone who knows what they are talking about.  The markets 
suck right now, all the bunnies and light baloney the media keep pumping 
out about Obama's supra-god abilities with the economy notwithstanding. 
  I am not a big finance expert, but I would say that most of the 
markets are very dangerous places at the moment.  We are in a very 
peculiar point in history because as far as I can tell this is the first 
time since 1898 (or was it 95?) that we have had significant deflation, 
wherein basically any asset you care to name is losing value.  Most of 
the time, if real estate sucks, you can buy gold.  If gold is no good, 
buy grain or oil, and so forth.  Everything is so uncertain right now 
and confidence so low and paranoia so high that it is really anyone's 
guess how any given real-asset investment will fare.  And of course the 
even scarier prospect is the whiplash into hyperinflation so that even 
your money will become worthless.

	What I will tell you is this: buy all the things you need - a house, 
car, plenty of food, medical supplies, tools, etc. - not as hedges in 
the usual investment sense, but as the material means to live in case 
this whole house of cards comes crashing down.  Some say it cannot 
happen and I hope they are right, but the signs are hinting at something 
else.  So get yourself squared away materially speaking and just hang 
on.  If things don't go to hell, you will still have your funds.  If 
they do, you will have your material means on hand.