Here sits the equivalent of 6 really good bass guitars! A new HVAC system will break you these days.
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“If you sit close enough to the bass amp the vibrations will keep you warm”
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As will lack of one, at least around here.
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I recently dropped $11K for a new HVAC. It’s just the cost of living.
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Yup mine was 12K.
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Thats true!
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That is some serious equipment…that would be something you find in an office building here
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Im very impressed with the quality and efficiency of this unit.
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Wouldn’t it make sense to finance it via a mortgage re-fi or home equity loan. I it’s always gonna be a part of the home. You’re never gonna take it with you. I would ordinarily suggest that with anything that’s appurtenant to the home itself.
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If I have the cash/investments that can easily converted to cash I’m looking at the interest rate and expected ROI of investments to decide. Off the top of my head I’d figure around 5% interest is the tipping point for paying cash if you can.
You’d also need to have the equity available which is probably not an issue with price increases the last five years, but might be if you only bought in the last year or two.
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I actually looked at an equity loan but with interest above 9 percent its a bit too steep.
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That high right now eh? Of course I remember when 9% wasn’t a bad rate on a first mortgage loan. On my first home it was 8% and that was in the mid '70s. The abnormally low rates of previous years have everyone a bit spoiled.
Another way to view it though is to determine what the net after tax rate of borrowing is. At a 25% combined tax rate the net is 6.75%. For those with a 401k plan they may also considering borrowing from it and paying themselves back with interest.
Just throwing out ideas from over 30 years as an investment advisor. Sorry, old habits are hard to break. 
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No worries, I appreciate your help!
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My folks were paying 18% on their mortgage in the mid-80s even with awesome credit.
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Killer-looking system! The best of luck with it and I hope it lasts forever so you can focus on what really matters. 
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Yup, when a certain someone likes to say we’ve had inflation like never before that statement is so very wrong. Anyone who lived in America in the '70s knows that we experienced double digit inflation that lasted well into the '80s.
Money Market accounts were paying 18% interest because short term interest rates were so high. 30 year US Treasury Bonds paid as much as 14% interest. US auto manufacturers subsidized the interest on auto loans at around 10% so that people would actually buy new cars again. Home builders had to offer “Buy Down Mortgages” that reduced interest rates by as much as 5% from market rates to get home buyers qualified to buy new homes. Companies were paying 10% COLA increases for several years just to keep employee incomes up with inflation.
This post pandemic inflation is mild compared to what we saw then and it lasted far longer in part due to the increase in oil prices after the energy cartels were born.
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Totally. This current inflation is nothing in comparison. Standard savings accounts were at like 9% in the '80s.
When the rates are high like this it’s a good opportunity to look at things that are traditionally mediocre investments, like CDs, because they may look pretty awesome in a couple years given their relative safety.
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All true Bill and of course there should always be a tipping point on borrowing vs cash especially if one uses home equity. Mine would ordinarily be a premium over the net cost of borrowing. How large a premium would depend and several factors.
But I often asked a question of people something like if you can borrow money at 5% that you can invest at 10% how much money should you borrow? Every cent you can right? Of course there are other factors such as risk and liquidity to be considered as well but I only wanted to point out the impact of positive leverage.
Banks and insurance companies make billions of dollars of profit using a strategies very little different than that. Pay the depositor 5% on his CD and loan that money out on car loans charging 10% or even more on revolving credit card balances. If we always borrow against appreciating assets we’re far better of than borrowing against depreciating assets. That may include most of our gear as well…LOL.
Investment grade bonds can be ever better since higher interest rate bonds will appreciate in value as interest rates decline. Of course the opposite is true should rates increase so maintaining an awareness of how the markets work is critical in order to take advantage of this. Or work with an investment professional.
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Yeah bonds are another great example, slightly less safe but still real safe and usually seen as mediocre for payoff but right now probably not a bad plan at all
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