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Your first two statements are contradictory. A car "has a shot of" (I assume this means a non 0 probability) of paying you more than you paid for it. You then a
by hervature 5y ago
Your first two statements are contradictory. A car "has a shot of" (I assume this means a non 0 probability) of paying you more than you paid for it. You then admit there is a non 0 probability but say it "is definitely not an investment".
If you replace "has a shot of" with "is expected to" then I agree with what you are saying. That being said, decisions aren't made in a vacuum and payoff not strictly tied to the underlying asset. So, a bike to deliver newspapers, a backhoe to dig for treasures, or a laptop with Adobe Creative Suite could all be considered investments.
Your last point is essentially the concept of utility. More abstractly, you are investing in your children by spending money now to raise them with good values in hopes that it brings them more utility later.
- xyzelement 5y agoI agree with your last point. I do think that the term investment applies even when you're investing to gain something (utility) rather than $. I do agree that if you're buying a car because you think it will be a collectible, or you will use it to drive Uber and make more money, it's an investment. My point is that most people who buy cars do NOT buy then with a plan to make money off of them, but still casually refer to investing in an asset, which isn't appropriate.