How materialistic are you?

[Devil]

2 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Interesting. I never put that much thought into clothing.  I mean, I want them to look nice and suit my taste, but that's it. 

We're all different mate, it drives my wife insane to be fair.

I don't judge though, i respect everyone for how they want to live their lives. 

[Toinho]

1 hour ago, Devil said:

Never been into cars at all so I've never felt the need to debt myself up to the eyeballs for a fancy motor.

Clothes, different story. Always need to feel comfortable and can't stand thinking I look scruffy. I've dropped certain designer labels when they started to be sold in certain shops that I feel devalue them.

I'm also the same with Tech, we have a Mac and my eldest daughter has a Mac book as I feel the quality is better.

Always baffles me when young people at work go and buy brand new cars. Wtf would rather have a loan for a house than a car!

[nudge+]

1 minute ago, Toinho said:

Always baffles me when young people at work go and buy brand new cars. Wtf would rather have a loan for a house than a car!

I think that depends heavily on what value you (or anyone else) assign to a car. For some, it's just a means of getting from A to B. For some others, it's a passion. Personally, I'm somewhere in the middle, but I have many people close to me who are extreme petrolheads and would rather live in a cheap place but own a car they're fond of.

[Toinho]

2 minutes ago, nudge said:

I think that depends heavily on what value you (or anyone else) assign to a car. For some, it's just a means of getting from A to B. For some others, it's a passion. Personally, I'm somewhere in the middle, but I have many people close to me who are extreme petrolheads and would rather live in a cheap place but own a car they're fond of.

Of course but I think they’re incredibly materialistic then. A car is very rarely a worthwhile financial asset, as in depreciation is huge. Each to their own of course but will continue to baffle me. More so in my previous example is that people who are 18-25 who still live at home and are buying $30-45,000 cars, that to me is a poor financial decision. But as you said some people like cars that much I guess…. Or they’ve fallen to the world of consumerism. 

[nudge+]

14 minutes ago, Toinho said:

Of course but I think they’re incredibly materialistic then. A car is very rarely a worthwhile financial asset, as in depreciation is huge. Each to their own of course but will continue to baffle me. More so in my previous example is that people who are 18-25 who still live at home and are buying $30-45,000 cars, that to me is a poor financial decision. But as you said some people like cars that much I guess…. Or they’ve fallen to the world of consumerism. 

For what it's worth, I do think it's silly to go into debt for a fancy car, and I'm sure many do that because they see it as a status thing and simply want to show off. But there are genuinely plenty of others for whom a specific car means much more than that and they are buying it for completely different reasons. Might still be a poor financial decision, but hey, you only live once... Not much harm when you're young, healthy, with no family and other obligations yet. 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

11 hours ago, nudge said:

I do think it's silly to go into debt for a fancy car,

I knew a guy where I worked a few years back who remortgaged his house and with the money over bought himself a flashy car, this other guy who worked with us got the hump as his car was better than his so he got a big loan and went and bought a more expensive car just to show off to him, fucking mental.

I don't drive and have never had a licence in my life but when I was 21 my mate convinced me to buy a car and he would teach me how to drive, so, I bought an old Zephyre Mark 2 for around $100 Australian dollars then (1970) but it needed fixing up to make it road worthy so I got it towed up to my house and parked it outside, my mate went on holiday and said when he got back we would both do it up and then he would teach me how to drive.

Now, our house was right in the bush area in Victoria called Daylesford, just outside Bendigo and up the road they had a car scramble site where every weekend cars (old bangers) would race each other and this guy one weekend asked if he could buy a windscreen off my car as his bangor got smashed up, he offered me some good dollars for it and I was quite happy with that.

To cut a long story short by the time my mate got back from holiday and came to see me, looked at my car and said "WHAT THE FUCK......?", all he saw was the shell of my car sitting on bricks minus wheels, windscreen, windows, seats, engine and engine bits, hood, doors etc, I told him I got more money back for the car than what I paid for it and what I was going to pay for it doing it up by selling parts to guys who used the scramble site every weekend.

I never bought another car after that and still have not got a driving licence, 4 push bikes are the only thing I have ever owned in my life. 

 

[Bluewolf]

On 06/10/2022 at 19:35, nudge said:

Yeah, it's hard to define it. I think in general, all people prefer nice things over less nice ones (that isn't necessarily the most expensive ones, though), and would go for it when they can afford it. Using your examples, would I be ok with a cheap car? Sure, as long as it is not falling apart. Would I get a nicer, more expensive car if it was financially viable? Also yes, because why not, if I can afford it. 

This is probably a good example.... I am the same, as long as a car/motorbike got me from A-Z and was reliable then sure, looks and make don't really matter as long as it does the job but if I had the cash and it was something I always wanted to own then I probably would spend the money on a more expensive one.. an RXS100 is cheap for parts for example and great for work runs and the like and won't let you down.. but it wouldn't stop me buying a Harley if I had money to spare for those long summer run outs and touring and not even because of the name just you need something with more comfort and power when you go on long trips because you need the right equipment for the job so to speak... 

Not really into brand names and all that, if it's comfortable to wear I don't care what it looks like or if it's in fashion etc... the only thing I tend to be a bit picky about is power tools simply because I have already tried the cheap stuff and in the long run you need to have a certain quality of product if you expect it to last the course.. Cheap is great but not if you have to keep replacing the same stuff constantly that's just a waste of money.. 

As a rule of thumb when it comes to buying anything you have 3 main choices. The cheap end of the market then you have the middle ground and then the high end expensive stuff... I normally plump for the middle because you can get some good reliable stuff without breaking the bank.. never go cheap and unless you can afford it never go high end because all you are buying is the name...