wbwood,
You struck a nerve, so to speak. In my case, it was more like $176,000 that I "threw away". Well, some people would see it that way.
My story: Through the years, many of which were spent enjoying five different gasoline motorhomes (always bought them as "clean, one-owners") I decided that some day I would special order a new big diesel pusher (just like I wanted). I loaded it up with options and specials, drove the list price up to a whopping $230K. But, through a dealer in North Dakota, bought it at a discount. That was in early 2003. And now, it's worth maybe half,...probably less. I bought it for cash, from profits made through sale of real estate and airplanes. BUT, what if I had invested the money in something that I knew would NOT depreciate?
My excuse, as always, is that my whole life has been about having a good time.
Now, while we could've bought a permanent place on the lake, it's not what we really wanted. We decided that what we prefer is to enjoy different lakes. ALSO, we actually enjoy having a permanent base (stick & bricks) in a big city of our choice. We truly enjoy all that a big city has to offer (too long too list). And, we decided that the only way to travel is in a big diesel pusher.
And, we enjoy all of it now, because in a few years we will no longer be healthy enough to do all of the above.
My advice to Crowe is to stay smart by doing the research (what you're doing), then at the appropriate time decide what YOU want and where you want to do it.
Enjoy life,....it's too short not to.
