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That's a pretty ridiculous comparison because of the difference in scale. There are significant opportunity costs to putting 10s of thousands of dollars into so

That's a pretty ridiculous comparison because of the difference in scale. There are significant opportunity costs to putting 10s of thousands of dollars into something that will depreciate in value over time rather than increase. Especially when you're in your 20's. That amount of money invested could be worth a lot more in 30 years. Compound growth is your friend.

anyfoo 8y ago
I said "comfortably", which implies that it should not threaten your retirement in any way. That is entirely dependent of one's individual situation, whereas the parent poster was making a blanket statement about such a choice being a "laughably poor decision". I agree that keeping in mind and taking care of your retirement is necessary, but I personally would not want to go through my entire life without the very occasional splurging on things that are a pleasure now, if the numbers work out well. Having only ever the end in sight is a pretty sorry way to live, in my view. The car (not a Tesla) is paid off, I treat its value as "lost" (even though in this particular case it has not actually gone down in value), and I'm sure that I will look at it and especially the project ideas it spawned in fondness, rather in regret of the loss of some additional compound interest. Granted, I'm not in my 20s, though. My comparisons were over the top, but vacations for example can add up to a lot over time, and they usually don't leave anything behind in terms of assets.
ovao 8y ago
I find it unlikely that the average HN member does not understand that earning money is a better financial decision than spending it on highly-depreciable luxury items (because such insights are entirely obvious), which is why comments like "compound growth is your friend" rub me especially the wrong way. If one can reasonably afford a luxury item, it is perfectly fine to spend that money on that luxury item.

anyfoo 8y ago

I said "comfortably", which implies that it should not threaten your retirement in any way. That is entirely dependent of one's individual situation, whereas the parent poster was making a blanket statement about such a choice being a "laughably poor decision". I agree that keeping in mind and taking care of your retirement is necessary, but I personally would not want to go through my entire life without the very occasional splurging on things that are a pleasure now, if the numbers work out well. Having only ever the end in sight is a pretty sorry way to live, in my view. The car (not a Tesla) is paid off, I treat its value as "lost" (even though in this particular case it has not actually gone down in value), and I'm sure that I will look at it and especially the project ideas it spawned in fondness, rather in regret of the loss of some additional compound interest. Granted, I'm not in my 20s, though. My comparisons were over the top, but vacations for example can add up to a lot over time, and they usually don't leave anything behind in terms of assets.

ovao 8y ago

I find it unlikely that the average HN member does not understand that earning money is a better financial decision than spending it on highly-depreciable luxury items (because such insights are entirely obvious), which is why comments like "compound growth is your friend" rub me especially the wrong way. If one can reasonably afford a luxury item, it is perfectly fine to spend that money on that luxury item.