Regretting a Big Purchase

00:00:00] Eric Brotman: Welcome to Don’t Retire, Graduate, the podcast that asks you what you want to be when you grow up so you can graduate into retirement with purpose and passion. I’m your host in valedictorian, Eric Brotman. Welcome to Office Hours where we answer listeners questions about personal finance, retirement readiness, and more.

We received a question from Michelle who asked, What’s one big purchase you’ve made and regretted. And I love this question and there’s so many ways to answer it. And so I’m gonna be transparent with you, Michelle. I’ve done this more than once in my life. And so if, if you’re in that boat you’re not alone.

 There are several things that I can think of where I’ve made a sort of a, a big purchase and then had regrets. One of them is over improving a piece of real. A personal residence specifically related to things like landscaping and, and outdoor stuff, where spending a whole lot of money to create a little oasis for yourself in a place that you’re gonna spend some years, but maybe not the rest of your life, where you’re not gonna get it back upon resale.

There’s lots of talk about real estate. How much do you improve it? Should you have the nicest house in the neighborhood or the least nice house in the neighborhood so that you’re, you’re selling it and you’re gaming that system? The reality is that kitchens and bathrooms and certain things do create some form of recovery when you sell a property, but a lot of times we’re guilty.

I’m guilty of over improving a home to the point where not only won’t you get it back, but it really. Sort of foolish to throw that money out there. And I, I use landscaping as a perfect example. You want to have a nice property, but it doesn’t need to look like Pebble Beach. Another thing I can think of is the purchase of a, a nice piece of jewelry.

I know there’s lots of folks who, who love the finer things, so to speak, but you know, for me, I had a very nice dress watch and I used to wear it every day. And it was it was a, it’s a beautiful piece and I, I loved it. But now I have an an Apple watch and I would rather have something that’s tracking my metrics and, and my steps and all those kinds of things because we’ve sort of become a more connected world.

And I love having a watch on that’s more functional than just attractive. And I actually, I do regret having this watch at this point. I would love to sell it, and it’s difficult to sell for anywhere near what I paid. So I think that’s a big purchase that I, I loved it and I enjoyed it for a while and that’s great, but now I’m, now it’s in a box and that doesn’t make a ton of.

So when I got your question, Michelle, I actually asked a few other folks for their input on what are the big purchases, what are the things you regret? And the one that keeps coming up is, well, a boat. And every time I hear this, it, it reminds me that the, the big joke is the two happiest days in a boater’s life, or the day you buy the boat and the day you sell the boat.

And that’s because it’s so much work and it’s so, it requires so much energy. And a lot of people a lot of people who buy boats think they’re gonna use ’em all the time and then it’s expensive and it’s time consuming and they don’t get used as much. You know, it’s a lot like equipment in, in your home gym.

If you have a treadmill and it’s a beautiful treadmill, but you hang clothes on it instead of running on it, that’s a purchase that can be large that you might regret. So I hope this helps Michelle. There, there are so many examples of these kinds of things. And even if it’s something you can afford, you might still regret making a, a large purchase and, and largest relative.

We all feel differently. It could be overshooting the target on your, on your car, on your home, on your, on your entertainment, on your exercise, on your you know, basically on your hobbies, any of these kinds of things. I know there are situations where people regret owning a times. And actually we have a, a guest lined up, I think for later in this season on Don’t retire, Graduate about timeshares because I tend to think that they’re an albatross, that you get stuck with them and you can’t use ’em.

And, and people regret having them and they buy them when they’re on site and very excited about a vacation spot. And then they realize they would rather. They’d rather be able to go other places and you can’t sell them. You can’t get rid of them. And so we actually have a guest coming on to talk about that and try and demystify timeshares a little bit.

But for me, that would be something I’m glad I’ve not bought that I would’ve regretted. And some people feel this way also about vacation homes. You know, if you’re somebody who loves to travel and you buy a second home someplace at the shore or in the mountains or at the. , there’s a new tendency to say, Well, I bought this place, I have to use it.

And so if you’re one of those people who likes to see different places and travel to different countries or states or or venues, and then you own a property, you might regret the fact that you own that property because it means you’re gonna travel less except to that second home. So I hope this was good food for thought.

I, I, it’s not a perfect answer, but transparently, those are the things that have happened in my life, and I, I wanted to share those with you. I’d be really interested in hearing stories from other listeners. So for anyone who would like to ask us a question or who would like to tell us about something that you’ve bought, that you’ve regretted, please either tweet us at brotman planning.

Or post it on our Facebook page or send us a message at Dontretire graduate.com. We would love to hear from you. If you have a question you’d like us to consider for a future episode, please send it to us and leave ratings or reviews on your favorite podcast platform. They are priceless to us. If you enjoy the show, share it.

Share it with friends, with family help other people on your journey, on their journey to financial freedom. I thank you for coming to Office Hours. We’ll be back next week with an engaging guest on Don’t Retired Graduate, and for. This is your host, Eric Brotman. Don’t retire. Graduate

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