Am I wrong . . . DVC is a great deal right?

The point I am trying to make is that prospective purchasers really need to look at this as a financial investment, and don't let yourself get caught up in the magic. DVC is strictly a financial move. Don't get fooled by marketing, sales tactics, and magic.
Believing buying a timeshare is a financial move, or that it is a financial investment is EXACTLY what DVC marketing wants you to believe. The hook before you even talk to a kiosk CM is "Save up to 50% on Your Future Disney Stays." It's in big lettering on their binders and a big part of their canned pitch. Give it a spin next time you're in the park. I was there last week and got to experience it in full effect.

By asserting that buying a timeshare is anything more than a luxury purchase for one to buy, use and enjoy, you are doing the work of Disney for them. It's the Mickey Math form of pixie dust.

The line guides love to throw out there is that there exists a "break even" point. My first guide used the number "7-8 years" to break even. Break even against what? Hotel rates? I imagine very few people here would go to Disney every year if they had to pay even discounted rates at a hotel to do it each time.

By nature of the product itself, your habits are altered when you consume the product. It doesn't matter the "savings" you're having, you're going to spend more. Are you saving on a per stay visit? Probably. But it's more likely you're staying a lot more. Your habits have been changed. When a product changes your consumption behaviors, forecasting savings based on your altered behaviors provides a false sense of financial gain. It's how all discounts work, it gets you to buy what you wouldn't normally.

Here's a fun little financial model for people who want to get a true break even point from a purely financial standpoint. Take all of your travel costs post buying a Disney timeshare, gate tickets/APs, flights, car rentals, groceries (for those kitchens you can now use), souvenirs, signature dinings, mickey bars, etc over your first few years of ownership and divide that by the same number of years. That will give you a sense for your new spending habits (how sustainable that is is up for debate, but it's the best indicator of how the product changes behavior). Now take the previous five years (years, not visits) prior to buying a Disney timeshare and total up all the same expenses you've had over that period and divide it by five. That gives you your annual spendings prior to purchasing a timeshare.

If that latter is a smaller number than the former, there is no financial break even. To treat a timeshare, even a Disney one, as a financial investment because it's a "penny saved" is misguided and muddies the reality of timeshare ownership.

Your model of taking the initial cash outlay, investing it, using the earnings to pay cash will always be the more secure/sensible way to do Disney because as the economy tanks, you turn off the Disney spigot. You're buying financial freedom. But no one does this. It's hard enough planning 11 months out, 6 months out, 60 days out on my vacations. To layer monitoring the markets to determine when to enter/exit and decide if Disney makes sense this year? No thanks. That's why buying a Disney timeshare is a luxury. You can be lazy about it and just pay your dues and plan to go even when the world is burning around you. Nothing like planning fastpasses when your retirement is halved, right? Just grab your fiddle.

A lot of us here own because we enjoy Disney, we can afford it, and we like the idea of going back with our families year after year. It is a luxury purchase in the truest sense because when **** hits the fan and the economy tanks, ditching Disney vacations is the first thing people do. But not us timeshare folk. We're on the hook. That's a huge risk that a lot of us assume because we know it's a luxury purchase that we will enjoy using for years to come through all the ups and the downs. And if we're wrong? Whoops.

It's a timeshare not an investment.
 
By nature of the product itself, your habits are altered when you consume the product. It doesn't matter the "savings" you're having, you're going to spend more. Are you saving on a per stay visit? Probably. But it's more likely you're staying a lot more. Your habits have been changed. When a product changes your consumption behaviors, forecasting savings based on your altered behaviors provides a false sense of financial gain. It's how all discounts work, it gets you to buy what you wouldn't normally.

The other argument I see often is that "without DVC, I wouldn't have traveled nearly as much as I do. This is the intangible part of DVC that all of these MBA's with their quantitative analysis don't understand". This is THE sales tactic that Disney uses. It manipulates your mind into thinking that since you paid for it, you have to take advantage even though travelling back to WDW includes many extra expenses that are not included in your DVC package.

I actually did refer to this in my post. And you are correct in two ways.

1) DVC is a luxury purchase. But so is vacationing in general. While many here may disagree, a WDW vacation is not a necessity of life. But that doesn't change the fact that the only thing DVC truly provides you is hotel rooms which can also be had without a DVC purchase. You are pre-purchasing hotel rooms. That's it.

2) The one caveat to that (which you did allude to) is you are also buying discipline, but potentially paying a premium for it. As I stated, you can vacation just as many times without DVC as you do with DVC. The purchase of DVC itself doesn't guarantee you more vacation time. What it does do is eliminate the need to save for the hotel rooms for your future WDW vacations because you've prepaid for it already. For those who do not have the discipline to save for this, or put the money in a savings account and not touch it for anything other than Disney hotel stays, this could be a benefit. But understand that you may be paying a premium for this service.

It may cost you more in the long-run for the exact same amount of vacations, because you are paying a premium to control your own financial discipline.

Even though this may seem like a benefit for someone without financial discipline, this is the last person I would recommend DVC to. If you cannot save enough money for your hotel stays without DVC, you are probably not one who has adequate retirement savings, emergency fund, etc... If you do not have these things in place, DVC should be put on hold until these items are taken care of because as you stated, DVC is a luxury purchase.
 
Believing buying a timeshare is a financial move, or that it is a financial investment is EXACTLY what DVC marketing wants you to believe. The hook before you even talk to a kiosk CM is "Save up to 50% on Your Future Disney Stays." It's in big lettering on their binders and a big part of their canned pitch. Give it a spin next time you're in the park. I was there last week and got to experience it in full effect.

By asserting that buying a timeshare is anything more than a luxury purchase for one to buy, use and enjoy, you are doing the work of Disney for them. It's the Mickey Math form of pixie dust.

The line guides love to throw out there is that there exists a "break even" point. My first guide used the number "7-8 years" to break even. Break even against what? Hotel rates? I imagine very few people here would go to Disney every year if they had to pay even discounted rates at a hotel to do it each time.

By nature of the product itself, your habits are altered when you consume the product. It doesn't matter the "savings" you're having, you're going to spend more. Are you saving on a per stay visit? Probably. But it's more likely you're staying a lot more. Your habits have been changed. When a product changes your consumption behaviors, forecasting savings based on your altered behaviors provides a false sense of financial gain. It's how all discounts work, it gets you to buy what you wouldn't normally.

Here's a fun little financial model for people who want to get a true break even point from a purely financial standpoint. Take all of your travel costs post buying a Disney timeshare, gate tickets/APs, flights, car rentals, groceries (for those kitchens you can now use), souvenirs, signature dinings, mickey bars, etc over your first few years of ownership and divide that by the same number of years. That will give you a sense for your new spending habits (how sustainable that is is up for debate, but it's the best indicator of how the product changes behavior). Now take the previous five years (years, not visits) prior to buying a Disney timeshare and total up all the same expenses you've had over that period and divide it by five. That gives you your annual spendings prior to purchasing a timeshare.

If that latter is a smaller number than the former, there is no financial break even. To treat a timeshare, even a Disney one, as a financial investment because it's a "penny saved" is misguided and muddies the reality of timeshare ownership.

Your model of taking the initial cash outlay, investing it, using the earnings to pay cash will always be the more secure/sensible way to do Disney because as the economy tanks, you turn off the Disney spigot. You're buying financial freedom. But no one does this. It's hard enough planning 11 months out, 6 months out, 60 days out on my vacations. To layer monitoring the markets to determine when to enter/exit and decide if Disney makes sense this year? No thanks. That's why buying a Disney timeshare is a luxury. You can be lazy about it and just pay your dues and plan to go even when the world is burning around you. Nothing like planning fastpasses when your retirement is halved, right? Just grab your fiddle.

A lot of us here own because we enjoy Disney, we can afford it, and we like the idea of going back with our families year after year. It is a luxury purchase in the truest sense because when **** hits the fan and the economy tanks, ditching Disney vacations is the first thing people do. But not us timeshare folk. We're on the hook. That's a huge risk that a lot of us assume because we know it's a luxury purchase that we will enjoy using for years to come through all the ups and the downs. And if we're wrong? Whoops.

It's a timeshare not an investment.
I actually don't disagree with a lot of this; I just think it isn't mutually exclusive from DVC functioning as a savings (not an investment). What has happened is people are buying DVC under a different set of assumptions and motives than Disney uses to determine the 50% savings. Essentially if you are buying DVC to continue going the same amount of time as you previously been going and were previously staying discounted rack rates at a deluxe, DVC is a savings. This is actually where I fall into, I bought enough points to replace the some of my stays at Disney in deluxe resorts (still saving up to replace my final stays DVC isn't covering). I have been going to Disney my entire life yearly and the past 5-6 years was deluxe rooms for a week (while I saved up to buy with cash). So DVC was a purchase to get that cost cheaper and offer a savings to me. However, I seem to be against the norm of why people by DVC. Many are buying to extend vacations (which is still a savings but a savings that is immediately consumed by vacations) or upgrade their accommodations types (again a savings but immediately consumed).

Perhaps I'll move to using DVC to extend my vacations, but that is still a savings in the end I'm just choosing to reinvest my savings back into my vacations. But currently I take the difference between the realized discounted rack rates at the deluxe resort and the MF I paid for the stay and invest that cash (I think this is the point @CanadaDisney05 was alluding to but I could be wrong). In the end that will add up quite a bit, much larger than not buying DVC. Though this does require I go to Disney for many years and discounted rack rates on average are more than my MF on average will be (likely this will be the case because MF are operational costs and so if discounted rack rates went below MF amount then Disney is taking a loss on average for each cash booking at a deluxe, sure certain times that will happen but not always). So for some it is a savings (not truly an investment itself) that allows one to invest that savings however they see fit (back into vacations or investment vehicles).

The argument for a luxury purchase is still valid and can exist with the idea of it being a saving (and likely should). I don't see them as mutually exclusive, but see them as two sides of the same coin. It is a luxury purchase (same as any vacation) because I don't need it but it is also a savings because for the foreseeable future I could afford to stay discounted rack rates for the amount of time my points bought me and had been doing so. Though because it is luxury I don't look at any residual value of my contract I'm purely looking at it from the standpoint of if I have to dump it at a value of 0 or I hold to maturity. From that standpoint I determined my break even point on dumping at 0 and decided it was worth the risks. Essentially I only need to carry it for 7-8 years before I broke even under my set of assumptions, which was a reasonable time frame to carry risk for me.

PS: I already bought a lot of the upcharge dining experiences before DVC. In fact DVC so far has had me buy less than normal my last two trips (not sure why I just did). But I didn't consider this because I was already spending a lot on the eating out and upcharge event portion and already buying an platinum plus AP each year. Those events are a separate yearly budget I consider separate from the hotel portion, which I do try and stick to. So DVC is allowing me to free cash up to invest, but I paid the purchase price upfront to do that so as you say there is a risk for that and in 7-8 years when that risk will mostly wash away, but each person should evaluate the affordability of DVC and most certainly if it didn't provide any savings for them (how they chose to reinvest that savings is different) it would make very little sense to buy.
 
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Essentially if you are buying DVC to continue going the same amount of time as you previously been going and were previously staying discounted rack rates at a deluxe, DVC is a savings...[snip]... Many are buying to extend vacations (which is still a savings but a savings that is immediately consumed by vacations) or upgrade their accommodations types (again a savings but immediately consumed).
This is one of the more concise points I've seen on Disney timeshare buying behavior. I think what most people run into is the additional consumption exceeds any per-night saving. Again, as a luxury purchase that's to be expected.

I'm being dogmatic, I know. But posts that come up talking about what a great financial decision/investment buying a timeshare is ignore the realities of the numbers in practice and lays out for potential buyers a misrepresentation of what buying into a Disney timeshare truly encompasses.
 


We paid $50 a point direct for our first 175 points and thought $85 a point was high. Without DVC we wouldn't have gone nearly as often, probably wouldn't have found Marco Island and would still be living in Louisiana.
Would you mind telling me more about finding Marco Island? I lived in Louisiana until after school - maybe I should look at Marco Island :)
 
All I know is after selling DVC I have much more dispensable income to do other things. That could be going out to dinner with the wife or drinking bourbon & cigars with the guys.

Point is I’m no longer captive to Disney.... which I supported for many years. I never left Disney, but Disney has left me in many ways.

I still visit, but now I’m free to do other things as well without all my vacation dollars going to Disney.

And that’s also a huge plus in the intangible column.

YMMV.
 
Perhaps I'll move to using DVC to extend my vacations, but that is still a savings in the end I'm just choosing to reinvest my savings back into my vacations. But currently I take the difference between the realized discounted rack rates at the deluxe resort and the MF I paid for the stay and invest that cash (I think this is the point @CanadaDisney05 was alluding to but I could be wrong).

Actually, what I was alluding to was the idea of taking all the money that you would be paying into DVC (purchase price, closing costs, maintenance fees, etc....) and instead of purchasing DVC, simply put that money into a savings account (or a liquid investment vehicle). Then every time you travel do WDW, use portion of that money to pay for your hotel. Remember, even in a basic high interest savings account, that money will grow.

I'm not suggesting that this method would necessarily net a greater return (money left over at the end, or the ability to withdraw enough every year to cover more nights in hotels, or upgraded hotel rooms). This would depend on the rate of return you received on your money, and inflation on MF and cash prices.

What I am suggesting is this should be the true alternative when deciding on DVC. DVC doesn't get you access to anything special (I understand there are some small events like moonlight magic if your buying direct, but thats not really what were talking about). It doesn't change your experience in anyway. You are still going on vacation just as often, and staying in the same rooms. It's just an alternative method of financing to the good o'l fashioned save your money method of paying for a vacation.
 


Actually, what I was alluding to was the idea of taking all the money that you would be paying into DVC (purchase price, closing costs, maintenance fees, etc....) and instead of purchasing DVC, simply put that money into a savings account (or a liquid investment vehicle). Then every time you travel do WDW, use portion of that money to pay for your hotel. Remember, even in a basic high interest savings account, that money will grow.

I'm not suggesting that this method would necessarily net a greater return (money left over at the end, or the ability to withdraw enough every year to cover more nights in hotels, or upgraded hotel rooms). This would depend on the rate of return you received on your money, and inflation on MF and cash prices.

What I am suggesting is this should be the true alternative when deciding on DVC. DVC doesn't get you access to anything special (I understand there are some small events like moonlight magic if your buying direct, but thats not really what were talking about). It doesn't change your experience in anyway. You are still going on vacation just as often, and staying in the same rooms. It's just an alternative method of financing to the good o'l fashioned save your money method of paying for a vacation.
I agree, PLUS.... you are not forced to take a Disney vacation. You have some freedom. Believe it or not, there are other places to visit.
 
Actually, what I was alluding to was the idea of taking all the money that you would be paying into DVC (purchase price, closing costs, maintenance fees, etc....) and instead of purchasing DVC, simply put that money into a savings account (or a liquid investment vehicle). Then every time you travel do WDW, use portion of that money to pay for your hotel. Remember, even in a basic high interest savings account, that money will grow.

I'm not suggesting that this method would necessarily net a greater return (money left over at the end, or the ability to withdraw enough every year to cover more nights in hotels, or upgraded hotel rooms). This would depend on the rate of return you received on your money, and inflation on MF and cash prices.

What I am suggesting is this should be the true alternative when deciding on DVC. DVC doesn't get you access to anything special (I understand there are some small events like moonlight magic if your buying direct, but thats not really what were talking about). It doesn't change your experience in anyway. You are still going on vacation just as often, and staying in the same rooms. It's just an alternative method of financing to the good o'l fashioned save your money method of paying for a vacation.
Understood. That account would deplete eventually, much sooner than 50 years if used to cover you full vacations or would only cover a small amount of vacations if you wanted an equal distribution for 50 years. But yeah this was the alternative and when I did my cash side I looked at this because it is important to consider the earnings (and did so to find my break even spot).

I also agree when I did my financial analysis I only considered the cost of the hotel rooms in it. None of the other items (member perks, discounts, ability to trade to more expensive resorts, etc) should be considered in my opinion either. The most basic apples to apples should be considered.
 
Understood. Yeah You definitely deplete that account eventually vs buying into DVC under most reasonable market assumptions. But yeah this was the alternative and when I did my cash side I looked at this because it is important to consider the earnings (and did so to find my break even spot).

Ya, in all my calculations, I usually find that if your using the cash and going Value resorts, then cash is by far the better way to go. If your going deluxe, then DVC is by far the better way to go. If your going moderate, then it's a toss up. DVC gives you upgraded accommodations at the cost of losing flexibility and liquidity.

Of course, these are based on my own personal assumptions of rates of return and inflation. These are also based on the assumption that you will continue to go to WDW every year or two for the next 20 to 50 years. It also doesn't take into consideration potential resale at a certain point as that would be a total random guess.
 
Ya, in all my calculations, I usually find that if your using the cash and going Value resorts, then cash is by far the better way to go. If your going deluxe, then DVC is by far the better way to go. If your going moderate, then it's a toss up. DVC gives you upgraded accommodations at the cost of losing flexibility and liquidity.

Of course, these are based on my own personal assumptions of rates of return and inflation. These are also based on the assumption that you will continue to go to WDW every year or two for the next 20 to 50 years. It also doesn't take into consideration potential resale at a certain point as that would be a total random guess.
Yeah I drew similar conclusions on when DVC was beneficial. It really is important that each individual does a full analysis (using their own situation: tolerance for risk, savings, etc) as you said then considers the liquidity and flexibility risks on top of any savings that maybe had.
 
Remember, the alternative to DVC IS NOT, not going on vacation. The alternative to DVC is putting the money into a savings account (or investment account), and using that money to pay normal cash prices instead. At the end of the day, you can travel just as often without DVC as you do with DVC. DVC doesn't buy you more vacations.

I disagree with this because not everyone is good with investments. The people that say don’t buy X just invest it and you’ll make more money then you would have saved by buying X are the people that are good with investing. So it works for them and that is great. I have skill sets that would put others to shame but i don’t put that on others because not everyone will be as good as me at what I can do and I am not as good as others as to what they can do.

Cooks will tell you it’s easy to make your own meals so just cook at home and save some money. But not everyone can make gourmet meals.

Mechanics will tell you to do your own vehicle maintainence. It’s easy and saves money. But not everyone can replace brakes, change fluids, replace belts, or rebuild an engine.

Construction workers will tell you to do your own repairs. It’s cheaper and saves money but not everyone can drywall, replace flooring, fix a broken pipe or finish a basement.

So yes investing is an alternative. But it’s not for everyone. Investing isn’t as simple as ‘put your money here and make more’ I, along with others, have learned that the hard way. It is by no means a guarantee.
 
I disagree with this because not everyone is good with investments. The people that say don’t buy X just invest it and you’ll make more money then you would have saved by buying X are the people that are good with investing. So it works for them and that is great. I have skill sets that would put others to shame but i don’t put that on others because not everyone will be as good as me at what I can do and I am not as good as others as to what they can do.

Putting money into a high interest savings account doesn't require any special skill. I promise you, the time it takes to get this setup is a fraction of the time it takes to buy into DVC.

So yes investing is an alternative. But it’s not for everyone. Investing isn’t as simple as ‘put your money here and make more’ I, along with others, have learned that the hard way. It is by no means a guarantee.

This is a Disney board, not an investment board so I'm not going to rant about why I hate mutual funds. But you don't have to be an investment expert to invest in mutual funds. It's basically the same as putting money in a savings account. As long as you have discipline and don't withdraw the money when markets crash, you will not lose money in the long run.
 
Well, just us....
We get to stay at BRV for about $125/night - having hit breakeven.
We go anyway, twice per year. We now (after 6 years) save ($450-$125) x8 X2 = $5200 - $2000 dues. That would be roughly $3000 per year. Above and beyond those rotten Main Hotel "Discounts" that USED to exist :).

Our $28000 CASH investment, in a CD, would have been worth less - based on when we bought. No - we did not buy "Apple" at $80, and do not play stock market bingo. "You could have" is not something I care about.

WE are very happy. We are going to go ANYWAY. We have a lovely HOME (BRV). By the time our contract dies? We will be 90 :). We have no debts. House paid.

My point: DVC is a WANT, not a NEED. PLEASE care for your NEEDS first? House, Cars, Children's College? THEN consider DVC :).

All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.
 
Would you mind telling me more about finding Marco Island? I lived in Louisiana until after school - maybe I should look at Marco Island :)
It is very conservative and residents are old, average age is 62. Population triples during the Season (Dec through April), normal population is around 16,000. Home prices are high. There are many millionaires on the island and we are not one of those. John Boehner has a condo here. We don't live on directly the gulf, but about 1.7 miles away in the center of the island. We are about the furthest city on the southern end of the Gulf Coast. About 45 miles from the Everglades and about 110 miles from Miami. On one of our trips to WDW, we wanted to add a beach stay and had been chased out of Orange Beach by a tropical storm a few years before that trip. Looked around the Gulf and found Marco Island and a nice special deal at the Marco Island Beach Resort for a five night deal. We added a five night stay at the resort to our one week at WDW and had a wonderful trip. Wound up buying two weeks at a local timeshare on the island so we could add a week at the beach each time we headed to WDW. The Marco Island exit off I75 is the last one before it turns into Alligator Alley and a toll road to Miami (Exit 101).
 
Fun to see how people view their investment. We bought back when it was 85 per point, e take 3 or 4 trips a year including WDW once or twice a year or two. We normally don’t stay budget or value regardless of where we travel.

So for us we just figure the initial investment bought down our per night rate. This year a villa costs us about 90 dollars per night, rack rate is 3 to 5 hundred depending on time of year. For us that was the “invest” consideration, at what point does the difference equal the buy in and would I make that high a return considering I will draw from the principal each or every other year. And no we are not trapped to go to WDW, we take winter trips to get out of the cold and sometimes pick a resort to enjoy, much nicer than a drab Hilton in some town.
 
The idea that the only way to go to Disney reasonably or even to stay at a DVC resort is by buying is simply wrong. To make buying reasonable one must be able to afford it (IMO that's being able to pay cash) but it has to make sense financially just based on the stays. Paying more to own DVC (considering reasonable financial variables) than one could stay at the same DVC resorts would be the definition of insanity.
 
Probably not even remotely likely. At best, you probably have 15-20 years of annual trips, and that is being generous.
I think that timeline is a bit tight, for someone purchasing in their 40's. I purchased at 50, I'm now 62 and still enjoy going every year. I've had some great trips with my kids, extended family, and friends. I intend to keep going as long as I can. Of course my contracts expire in 2042. Hopefully I don't expire before them. Granted not everyone is like me, some do lose interest, but if that happens, and Disney keeps upping their direct prices, they will probably still have a reasonable way out in about 20 years if they want to sell.
I believe it has been a great deal, it hasn't saved me money, I visit more, spend more, eat table service more. I wouldn't be happy to stay home on my vacation every year, even if it meant I'd have more money in the bank. I never had a lot of "stuff", but I've had great experiences.
 
I believe it has been a great deal, it hasn't saved me money, I visit more, spend more, eat table service more. I wouldn't be happy to stay home on my vacation every year, even if it meant I'd have more money in the bank. I never had a lot of "stuff", but I've had great experiences.

I think when the detractors say that DVC doesn't save you money, they are not comparing it to not vacationing at all. Of course staying at home is always cheaper.

The comparison is to travelling to WDW and paying cash prices (or renting DVC points).
 

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