Quote:
Originally posted by letshunt
You shit heads and your cars crack me up...I sold a medium sized stockbrokerage for a tidy sum on my 40th birthday...then got bit by the porn bug.
Houses, cars...some pretty sharp investing, guys.
I admit when I was about 25 I bought a 500 series Beamer...and realized that it nothing but a fucking hole in the garage you pour money into. As Serge pointed out, if you lease it you have some latitude in deductions....since stockbrokers usually get audited, you will have to show the nice auditor your travel log and identify what trips were for personal use and which ones are business...keeping in mind that travel to and from work isn't part of the deductability option. Be prepared for the big red IRS marker through that one.
Nice house, now figure in taxes, interest on your loan (which deductable, so you can take 28% of that) maintenance and upgrades and show me your real rate of return, you won't clear 3%.
For the record, I believe I could buy what I want...I am currently driving a rusted out '79 F-250 and live in a two bedroom apartment. Neighbors think I am on welfare...it's fucking great. I do still have a few Armani suits left...but you look pretty funny wearing an Armani suit in beater truck.
Did I mention the bank account and stock portfolio...smart guys got nice thick stock portfolios and plenty of money in the bank. Not penis building cars and guady houses as monuments to their own greatness. Warren Buffet drives a Buick Skylark....
By the way Serge, remember earlier this year I mentioned Cisco was gonna rock....what a two months I have had trading the shit out that.
For you other investors, study the stats on turn around stocks in bankrupcy....then take a hard look at United Airlines. Then think about Chrysler in the exact same situation, it was one of my greatest buys, in the dollar range and I chickened out and sold at 42. UAL is at about a buck, think the govt is gonna let UAL go out of business? Not a chance. Bush can't afford the PR...
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letshunt you are 100% correct unless you look at the current climate in the stock market and interest rates at the bank.
I look at my properties as investments and that's where I'm putting my money now. I don't buy these houses and condos with a downpayment and monthly payments - I buy them outright as a place to live and an investment. The house I live in is paid for and so is my daughter's condo on Sail Bay in San Diego. The place I have at Las Ventanas in Cabo is rented out when I'm not there and has already appreciated $400k in less than six months. Can't get 5% on your money in a bank right now even if you lock it up for 5 years.
You see with my income, all my interest mortgage deductions are phased out 100% on schedule A. It makes no sense for me to have a mortgage if I can't deduct the interest.
Now you say the smart money has their money in stocks. I hope they were all real smart and didn't have any of the stocks of the public companies that lost 7 trillion dollars in the last two years. So if anyone you kow was deep in the market, they got toasted!!
I was never in the market deep. You mention Chrysler, back in the 70's I bought Chrysler at $4 when they were going bankrupt, then the feds came in and bailed them out, sold the stock at $32.
Recently, I rode Yahoo in puts from $180 and the last put I sold was a $15 strike when their stock bottomed at $11 and change.
Was in the initial offering with Paypal at $13 and sold after the merger from Ebay at $69. Did ok on that also. But anyone who's heavily in the market for the past 3 years has gotten destoyed including Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, to the tune of billions. So I question that you feel the bank and stocks are better than real estate, I don't think so.
Now, I also like cars, have quite a few of them including a race car (
http://4viper.com ). Those are my toys and diversions. I buy cars for cash and keep them. So if that's about my ego or something, it's still a lot of fun and I really have a great time out at race track with my kids.
The biggest thing you should do. Claim all of your income to the IRS, use every loophole they allow, pay every dollar you owe and that way you can sleep soundly at night.