[Dylan86]

So I've been enjoying the m235, so happy with it. I honestly couldn't ask for more, in life, right now, especially my vehicle situation. This is due to the fact that it's the nicest car I've ever personally owned, it's paid for (no debts), and I have all of the hardware necessary ($15k sitting in a pile of parts) to make this a great reliable long term road/track car..

The Dilema: I've invested into the MJ stock market and doing fairly well. Was thinking of using some of my hard equity (the car) to buy into some more options to better position myself for 2-3 years from today, when I'll be married and purchasing my matrimonial home (2nd home). At that point, things should be looking up, and a car will become an instant desire, again (I mean, my own garage, finally??). Being car people, and a lot of you being my elders with lengths of financial experience, what would you do?

Sell the car, invest the cash 2-3 years short term, save the parts and rebuy the car later, and install them then?

Sell the car, and the parts, invest it all. Buy something much greater?(Only option I will consider at this point would be a track prepped Lotus Exige S, or older P-car, track prepped).

Aside from those two alternatives (for me), I prefer BMW's feel, i6T engine, and driving dynamics when compared to other cars in our segment. I could easily see myself buying up a low KM M235 and reinstalling all of my mods, it's only 2-3 years... I'd rather have a track prepped M235 than a stock M2, that's just me.

Am I silly for considering this? I've put a feeler out with a friend, who adores the car, but hoping some of you can shed some light on the topic of "smart money", when it comes to making tough decisions..

Ultimately... What would YOU do? Feel free to tear me apart, I'm good either way, hah


D

[BEM-S4]

Financial implications aside - if you love the car definitely consider hanging onto it. I have tried with no success to track down a few of my father's cars and buy them back. I found one - being sold as a parts car after being totaled.

So if you're cool with another 2 that will be easy, but if you think you'll want your specific car back someday it's best not to let it go in the first place. Selling to a friend helps in that regard but who knows what will happen down the road.

[p912guy]

I don't have a specific recommendation regarding holding onto your car and or parts vs selling some or all to "invest" in the market, other than to say the market looks great right now, but...... One doesn't need to be an investment genius to make really nice returns right now, but this market isn't going to last forever, especially if you're chasing big short-term returns, and anything less than 5 years is short-term. Investing is long-term game (decades, not years), otherwise it's just "gambling". Don't get me wrong, I love looking at what our 401k and other investments are doing right now, but a 20% or more correction is gonna happen sooner or later, it always does. I know too many people on the sidelines now because they were burned once or even twice in the last two big downturns. They saw double digit returns and entered the market late when prices were booming, only to lose a bunch when the market went south. They were burned badly and thus have sat out the past 6-8 years just holding cash for fear of being burned again.

I'm just saying, with the best of intentions, you could sell it all, put the proceeds into the market, see the market continue to boom and buy the home and car of your dreams, OR you could see a fast and deep correction and come out of it only being able to afford a nice used Honda.

[albertw]

You need to be sure you're realistic about your financial categories. For me the basic necessities category includes a Civic, so I would say you have about $40k in your car and parts that belong in the entertainment category. Only you can say whether that is appropriate at your stage in life.

Then there's the question of how you categorize your holdings of marijuana stocks. There likely will be a lot of consolidation as governments figure out how to tax away most of the profits. Eventually it will be just another commodity and only the most efficient producers and marketers will survive. If you have enough inside knowledge to predict the winners, maybe it's investing, although it seems to me there are too many unkowns for anyone to know enough. For most people it would be gambling, which would put it in a different subcategory of your entertainment category. Only you can tell whether it's investing or gambling.

If it's gambling, it's kind of like buying lottery tickets. If you're really poor with zero prospects of advancing, then winning a lottery is your only hope of a good life and it sort of makes sense. For anyone else it's idiocy unless you regard it as pure entertainment.

[XutvJet]

I guess I'm of the opinion that if selling a car that's worth $25-35k is going to greatly improve your portfolio, then that tells me you probably shouldn't have the car in the first place as you don't have the portfolio value you should have.

I'm 43 and my M235 is by far the nicest car I've ever owned, but it's purchase price and current value is peanuts compared to my investment portfolio and assets. It'a not even a dent. I'm not trying to brag here. Just saying that for me personally, a car's value shouldnt have any real impact on your financial situation, whether you keep it or sell it. If it does and you're older than 25, you're doing it wrong.

Also, what is the "MJ" stock market?

Lastly, this is a terrible time to be throwing money into the market. It's very overvalued. A correction is coming and is due. I've been through all of them since the late 1990s and it sucks, but it is what it is.

[Ron Jeffries]

Well, don't follow my advice. I have focused on having cars that make me happy, from a very young age, right up to today. Not as investments, fun to have and drive.

I've been fortunate to earn good money and have salted some away. I also have cleverly married a "country mouse" wife, who I hope will take care of me unless I tick her off.

But day in and day out ... my cars bring me joy. I'll have that to remember when I'm lying in a gutter somewhere.

[ianp622]

For me, that is way too much effort and you may end up worse financially than you are now.

1. Past stock performance isn't indicative of future performance.
2. You take a hit whenever you sell and then buy back a car.
3. Assuming a 10% return, you're looking at maybe $4-5k profit over 2-3 years.
4. You'll be paying taxes when you repurchase it.

[bimmerfile]

Originally Posted by Dylan86

.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .......

Am I silly for considering this? .................................................. .................................


D

Short answer: Yes...

[emtrey]

Get rich quick schemes in the stock market are a fools game. Virtually same as gambling.

Keep. your car. Invest in stocks in solid companies with a steady record of growth.

I earned some significant returns when I first started trading options. Then I thought I knew what I was doing. Lost it all back and then some. Options are for seasoned traders or hedging a portfolio.

Your car will not likely buy you a better car or house following what you are doing now.
Get out while you are ahead and use that money to start a true investment portfolio.

[morphomeman]

Presumably, you will have to buy another car to replace this one. The parts that you paid $15K for are worth much less, even if never used. You will take a big hit in depreciation on the car. What you net will probably not amount to much. So just keep the car and install the parts, rather than letting them lie in a pile somewhere.

[overcoil]

So I just saw this http://business.financialpost.com/in...om-weed-stocks.


Then again if accumulating cash is important how wise is it to spend $15K Canadian on performance parts for a potential track car and if you track your M235 that thing is going to depreciate even faster. So it seems the OP is passionate about cars and potentially tracking the car and there is the potential for destroying the car.

Maximizing your salary and savings, learning and delving into investments.

Can't really argue with those that say selling your car and putting that money into stocks is a fools gamble, but automobile performance parts and track cars...

[BEM-S4]

Originally Posted by morphomeman

Presumably, you will have to buy another car to replace this one. The parts that you paid $15K for are worth much less, even if never used. You will take a big hit in depreciation on the car. What you net will probably not amount to much. So just keep the car and install the parts, rather than letting them lie in a pile somewhere.

Right so say all-in you've got $70K tied up between car and parts. You'd sell car for what $30K and parts for $5K if we are being generous? So you're out $35K, let's just say for sake of argument you've had the car 3 years.

Fast forward to repurchase all that stuff, assume exact same for sake of conversation. You're out another $70K that will be worth $35K again in 3 years, which is 9 years from when you originally bought the first car.

So starting at 0 you could keep your current stuff for 9 years and it will be worth, I don't know, $15K? So you've lost $55K. Or you buy two rapidly depreciating assets, and lose $70K using my rough numbers. That's assuming you have no car in the interim between cars. That $70K could easily be $85 or $90K if you buy something to drive years 4-6.

All that is to say you're contemplating doubling down on RAPIDLY depreciating assets to buy hopefully appreciating assets. The only thing you can bank on with 100% certainty is that the cars will absolutely depreciate. The rest is a guessing game.

Basically all that is just a rough way of illustrating that your investments need to outpace the depreciation of two (maybe 3 vehicles) for all this to make sense.

[XutvJet]

I've typically made back 20% to 30% on used parts, all of which were in excellent shape and only 1 to 3 years old. It's something, not much.

[Dylan86]

Thanks, guys. I didn't want it to become about the stocks, as I'm not invested in any of the hype, today. I've started with a company from 2014 and it's on its way to being a leader in the CBD Pharma side of the industry, the unicorn, basically. I've been with them since .10 and trading just over $1 today, so I've done well.. Thing is, I want to hold my shares, and stack up before they release their 2017 year end. They are the most undervalued company sitting just under the top 3 LP's in terms of revenue/growth, and not even scratching the surface of their recent 4-5 acquisitions made, in 2017.

I'm fairly educated in stocks and investing, I'm not a "day trader" but I do trade, weekly with smaller amounts to keep my secondary income streaming. I work for a public company, who provides shares through their bonus structure, which pays a 3.60 dividend, annually, so I have retirement and long term focuses worked out, already.

I'm not trying to convince myself of my financial convictions, but this made me look into some other options, especially after hearing from fellow car nuts. FWIW I can get about $42-45k cdn for the car, as it is, without taking off some primo re-sale goodies. That would put me close to 100k shares, with this company, if I were to sell it. I could get a loan or credit line, but typically only invest hard cash. I was able to turn $5k into a 2015 m235, so I've got the strategy, I just don't have the stones to sell my car, I needed a "push" and not getting it, here :P

Thanks for all of the input, guys. I value it, greatly.

Will keep you posted if anything happens, but at this stage I'm going to hold off, keep my credit line handy in case of anything, but feel much better hearing from the board. Cheers,

D

[Dylan86]

Originally Posted by ianp622

For me, that is way too much effort and you may end up worse financially than you are now.

1. Past stock performance isn't indicative of future performance.
2. You take a hit whenever you sell and then buy back a car.
3. Assuming a 10% return, you're looking at maybe $4-5k profit over 2-3 years.
4. You'll be paying taxes when you repurchase it.

I've been investing in this industry since 2014, so I understand the pains and patience required, to make money. I've had several impatient friends bail out, being advised of similar things, and are currently experience a lot of remorse, but you gotta go with your own gut, not anyone else's. There are in fact trends you can count on which help "predict" a plausible outcome, never guaranteed, but as long as the company has its financials in place, and good management, it's a time game. Impatient investors always loose, the long holders win 99% of the time, with proper DD of course.

And 10% return? I can get that through Sunlife and my CTC stocks with my account on autopilot, wouldn't sell my car to make 10% on it's equity position, no way.. I usually invest liquid cash for a minimum of 100% profits on a 3-5 year spread. You just have to find the undervalued company, before the rest of the herd, this can take days/weeks of due diligence, and is key to successful investing. Always need to be informed, it's almost a second job. Keeps me sharp, though. I'd never follow a herd, and I personally never have.

[Dylan86]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

I guess I'm of the opinion that if selling a car that's worth $25-35k is going to greatly improve your portfolio, then that tells me you probably shouldn't have the car in the first place as you don't have the portfolio value you should have.

I'm 43 and my M235 is by far the nicest car I've ever owned, but it's purchase price and current value is peanuts compared to my investment portfolio and assets. It's not even a dent. I'm not trying to brag here. Just saying that for me personally, a car's value shouldn't have any real impact on your financial situation, whether you keep it or sell it. If it does and you're older than 25, you're doing it wrong.

Also, what is the "MJ" stock market?

Lastly, this is a terrible time to be throwing money into the market. It's very overvalued. A correction is coming and is due. I've been through all of them since the late 1990s and it sucks, but it is what it is.

My dream is to get my personal port folio up first, second property in a couple of years, then get back into this great car (or similar car), in a few years. That was my initial plan when I came here for advice. That would put me close to my ideal property/ net equity level and would open up the doors for an easy vehicle purchase at that point. I just feel that most of my liquid cash "could" be doing more for me, financially, than sitting in a car.

The MJ (Marijuana/Cannabis) industry, is what I've been invested in, but on the Pharma side of things, not so much Growers/Producers/Dealers, but the medical sector of the industry, the one that's NOT currently on everyone's radar. It doesn't move with news releases like the MJ world, it's a much safer (imo) investment for a long hold. MJ companies will do great, but subject to the most manipulation and correction (as mentioned) as well as the legislative side of things that are still "unknown". Pharma is basically retail level margins, with less operating overhead (no growing facilities). This is basically the only side of this industry I'm messing with, today. I did well on some, but got out of Aphria and Aurora end of Jan and glad I did. Summer will be a great time to get informed on this, if you have any interest. It's all coming down to Canada's Federal Legalization, at this point.

[albertw]

Originally Posted by Dylan86

The MJ (Marijuana/Cannabis) industry, is what I've been invested in, but on the Pharma side of things, not so much Growers/Producers/Dealers, but the medical sector of the industry, the one that's NOT currently on everyone's radar. It doesn't move with news releases like the MJ world, it's a much safer (imo) investment for a long hold. MJ companies will do great, but subject to the most manipulation and correction (as mentioned) as well as the legislative side of things that are still "unknown". Pharma is basically retail level margins, with less operating overhead (no growing facilities). This is basically the only side of this industry I'm messing with, today. I did well on some, but got out of Aphria and Aurora end of Jan and glad I did. Summer will be a great time to get informed on this, if you have any interest. It's all coming down to Canada's Federal Legalization, at this point.

I think you're underestimating the long term risk here. There have been very few properly designed trials of medical marijuana. Now it's use is based mainly anecdotal evidence. Once it becomes legal I suspect that a lot of trials will start up to really test it in a wide variety of situations. You run the risk that for most conditions it turns out to be no better than a placebo, like acupuncture or reiki or reflexology or homeopathy. There will always be a market to those who aren't interested in or don't trust science, but the big market potential is for prescriptions by medical doctors. They tend to base their recommendations on science when it's available.

[XutvJet]

Originally Posted by Dylan86

My dream is to get my personal port folio up first, second property in a couple of years, then get back into this great car (or similar car), in a few years. That was my initial plan when I came here for advice. That would put me close to my ideal property/ net equity level and would open up the doors for an easy vehicle purchase at that point. I just feel that most of my liquid cash "could" be doing more for me, financially, than sitting in a car.

The MJ (Marijuana/Cannabis) industry, is what I've been invested in, but on the Pharma side of things, not so much Growers/Producers/Dealers, but the medical sector of the industry, the one that's NOT currently on everyone's radar. It doesn't move with news releases like the MJ world, it's a much safer (imo) investment for a long hold. MJ companies will do great, but subject to the most manipulation and correction (as mentioned) as well as the legislative side of things that are still "unknown". Pharma is basically retail level margins, with less operating overhead (no growing facilities). This is basically the only side of this industry I'm messing with, today. I did well on some, but got out of Aphria and Aurora end of Jan and glad I did. Summer will be a great time to get informed on this, if you have any interest. It's all coming down to Canada's Federal Legalization, at this point.

I don't know how old you are, but here's my take.

1) If you're in your low to mid 30s and don't have at least $250,000 in appreciating assets (own a home in a good neighborhood, solid investments) then you have no business owning a car like an M235 or spending lot of money on mods and other toys.

2) I don't believe you should sock away everything you make and live super frugally, but the YOLO mantra so many people live by is disturbing. It's all "Big hat and no cattle". The reality is you'll live well into your 70s thus you better plan for it. You have plenty of time to acquire wealth and the fancy toys, and yes, an M235 is a pretty fancy toy.

3) One must first focus on eliminating all of their debt except for perhaps their home. However, paying off the home as quickly as possible should be a goal.

4) If available, fund your company 401K to the company match. Nothing more. Choose low fee S&P 500 index funds. Nothing else.

5) Strongly consider closely following Warren Buffett's "15-minute retirement plan": 90% of your money in S&P 500 index funds and the remaining 10% in short-term government bonds. The book "The Little Book of Common Sense Investing" has lots of solid advice and mirrors Buffett's recommendations.

6) Buy cars and other toys with cash. If you can't buy it with cash, then you can't afford it.

7) Use credit cards and take advantage the rewards perks but ALWAYS pay the cards off at the end of the month.

8) Once you pay off your house and have around $1M USD in the portfolio, then consider perhaps a second property or other solid investment vehicles.


The medical marijuana investment is intriguing and I'll look into it. However, I hope this isn't all your invested in because it sound quite unstable compared to other investments. I invest in stand alone stocks and higher risk stocks for fun but they represent a very small part of my portfolio. Any money I make on them is viewed solely as fun money.

I've been in the market for a long time now and have gone through lots of ups and downs and have made many investing mistakes along the way. Believe me, market timing and get-rich schemes is about as risky as it gets. You cannot go wrong in the long-term with bullet #5. Trust me.

As for your M235, I'd hold on to it and not sink a penny more into it. I'd focus on maxing your investments, not add a penny more to the MJ stocks, and dial back some lifestyle spending and funnel that into your portfolio. Extra cars and homes will need to go on the back burner for a good long while.

[BEM-S4]

To jump on the #5 bandwagon, long term you've gotta be damn good and damn lucky to do better than steady investment in a no load index fund like Magellan. Always remember the sage advice of Mr. Lou Mannheim: Quick buck artists come and go with every bull market, but the steady players make it through the bear market. I'm a Bogle devotee myself but it amounts to the same thing.

Not to say opportunistic bets especially in situations like this cannot be good ideas - they absolutely can - but high reward comes with high risk. Most of the folks I know in the MJ game are very wealthy to begin with and it's a passion project for them - like the father died a horribly painful death from cancer and MJ helped - so now they've got foundation money flowing into that.

[XutvJet]

I really just wish I didn't live in ultra conservative bible-thumping Kansas and could buy some legal weed I'm convinced my state will be the last to join the bandwagon.

[Dylan86]

Originally Posted by albertw

I think you're underestimating the long term risk here. There have been very few properly designed trials of medical marijuana. Now it's use is based mainly anecdotal evidence. Once it becomes legal I suspect that a lot of trials will start up to really test it in a wide variety of situations. You run the risk that for most conditions it turns out to be no better than a placebo, like acupuncture or reiki or reflexology or homeopathy. There will always be a market to those who aren't interested in or don't trust science, but the big market potential is for prescriptions by medical doctors. They tend to base their recommendations on science when it's available.

The trials have been taking place, since 2009, actually. Don't think USA, or Canada, specifically. Think Germany, Israel, Brazil, and Globally, this is the key, everyone's focused on US bullchit, and Canadian legalization, that's about 10-20% of the worlds market share, as Canada will be the dominant growing Capital, worldwide. They've been all over the medical studies for years in foreign country's, already. where CBD is legal, releasing what is now very promising results. This includes recent 2017/8 Government approvals for CBD to be used to treat patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimers disease, Epilepsy, PTSD, Fibromyalgia, Chrons, etc. None of which has made mainstream media, yet, and none of which has hit the retail pharma shelves, it's literally a ticking time bomb, even on a strictly medical basis, this is a multi billion dollar industry. I could give a F about recreational laws, they don't effect my area of focus all that much. If anything, we tend to go up when the weak hands get scared out of MJ stocks. There's a lot of misinformation out there, and like I said before, not trying to make this a debate on investing, really, but if you guys are cool with this topic, I'd be willing to unload the pages of my own notes/DD on the subject, lol

As I also said, I've made my money in the MJ/Grower LPs sector, already. I have a longer term play and focus (the one that has me wanting more cash flow) in mind, with a Pharma structured company who specializes in medical grade pure CBD's, derived from Hemp and Hops, which are outside of the legalization/regulation windows. They have sales, millions already per Q, and if the bigger Pharma giants weren't doing everything in their power to stop the CBD movement, today, I'd be up more than the 600% I am, already, with this company. I believe it's a company that will be the leader in its sector, which is flying under most of the MJ radar, today. As the big profit investors, who went big into MJ in 2015-16 are looking for the next "thing", I feel I've positioned myself, accordingly. Only time will tell, and for what I have in, I've taken 5x the profits to date, so I'm never going to feel "down", just might get frustrated if my recent sells take an upswing, lol.

[Dylan86]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

I really just wish I didn't live in ultra conservative bible-thumping Kansas and could buy some legal weed I'm convinced my state will be the last to join the bandwagon.

Kentucky is in the works, today, you guys won't be too far behind! lol