DVC Cost Analysis

[a742246]

What you are saying crisi is so true. I find myself doing exactly what you have just mentioned. Treating family and friends to a DVC vacation is priceless especially when children are involved.
How do you put a dollar figure on that? You can't. I consider that as investing in the future. Afterall, we will all become just memories eventually.

I asked alot of older people (people in their 80's) in my life this one question.

What would you have done differently? The majority of the replies I got were evolved around "having more fun" in life.

Good post, Crisi.

 

[crisi]

What you are saying crisi is so true. I find myself doing exactly what you have just mentioned. Treating family and friends to a DVC vacation is priceless especially when children are involved.
How do you put a dollar figure on that? You can't. I consider that as investing in the future. Afterall, we will all become just memories eventually.

I asked alot of older people (people in their 80's) in my life this one question.

What would you have done differently? The majority of the replies I got were evolved around "having more fun" in life.

Good post, Crisi.

But we are putting dollar values on it, and when we are asking the question "can we afford it?" we have to.

A lot of people do this analysis for fun, they can afford DVC, but they could afford to stay at the Poly every year, too. And others are swayed by this sort of analysis into the belief that because they are "saving" its affordable. The first I don't worry about. The second group, many of whom left us in 2008 and 2009 with their financial security drastically impaired, having taken a loss on their purchase, a few having lost their homes....that's the reason I think that this is a "deep thinking" exercise.

I have a different answer....my grandmother died with I was a baby and my grandfather was left with three kids still at home and huge bills. My grandfather was a great guy - there is no denying he had fun with his life, even if he faced his share of tragedy. But he had it fishing off a dock. Spending Christmas with his grandchildren.

Disney is a great place. Disney is a great place to make memories. Memories are priceless. It does not logically follow that you can only make great memories at Disney. If you NEED Disney to "create memories" or "have fun" at whatever expense ....ask yourself if THAT is a healthy state. That is a phrase that scares me as someone with a recovering alcoholic in the family.

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

What you are saying crisi is so true. I find myself doing exactly what you have just mentioned. Treating family and friends to a DVC vacation is priceless especially when children are involved.
How do you put a dollar figure on that? You can't. I consider that as investing in the future. Afterall, we will all become just memories eventually.

I asked alot of older people (people in their 80's) in my life this one question.

What would you have done differently? The majority of the replies I got were evolved around "having more fun" in life.

Good post, Crisi.

Very profound. This will be one of my new quotes. Having just turned 50 two weeks ago, I need something old and wise to tell people

 

[a742246]

But we are putting dollar values on it, and when we are asking the question "can we afford it?" we have to.

A lot of people do this analysis for fun, they can afford DVC, but they could afford to stay at the Poly every year, too. And others are swayed by this sort of analysis into the belief that because they are "saving" its affordable. The first I don't worry about. The second group, many of whom left us in 2008 and 2009 with their financial security drastically impaired, having taken a loss on their purchase, a few having lost their homes....that's the reason I think that this is a "deep thinking" exercise.

I have a different answer....my grandmother died with I was a baby and my grandfather was left with three kids still at home and huge bills. My grandfather was a great guy - there is no denying he had fun with his life, even if he faced his share of tragedy. But he had it fishing off a dock. Spending Christmas with his grandchildren.

Disney is a great place. Disney is a great place to make memories. Memories are priceless. It does not logically follow that you can only make great memories at Disney. If you NEED Disney to "create memories" or "have fun" at whatever expense ....ask yourself if THAT is a healthy state. That is a phrase that scares me as someone with a recovering alcoholic in the family.

Your Grandfather sounds like a great man.

Happiness is a state of mind. Not Disney or anything else will make anyone happy if they don't want to be.

Money doesn't buy happiness it may help in the short term but in the end
its doesn't.

Its all how you see the beauty in things that matter most.

I am fortunate I found who I am, I now live among the moose. I was born and raise in the inner city of NYC(60's). There was not a whole lot of places where you could find yourself and I know how hard it is to survive there.

The best analysis (advice) one can give about purchasing a DVC membership is this.

If you can not pay cash then do not buy.

There is good debt (home mortgage, reasonable student loan, reasonable car loan) and bad debt (credit card,etc.). Disney DVC I would consider is bad debt.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Your Grandfather sounds like a great man.

Happiness is a state of mind. Not Disney or anything else will make anyone happy if they don't want to be.

Money doesn't buy happiness it may help in the short term but in the end
its doesn't.

Its all how you see the beauty in things that matter most.

I am fortunate I found who I am, I now live among the moose. I was born and raise in the inner city of NYC(60's). There was not a whole lot of places where you could find yourself and I know how hard it is to survive there.

The best analysis (advice) one can give about purchasing a DVC membership is this.

If you can not pay cash then do not buy.

There is good debt (home mortgage, reasonable student loan, reasonable car loan) and bad debt (credit card,etc.). Disney DVC I would consider is bad debt.

I agree that DVC is not the best thing to go into debt for because it is not a necessity. But, this thought brought something else to mind.

One of the few things I remember from being a finance major years ago was...never finance anything for longer than it will last. We were specifically talking about business expenditures. Our examples were on the personal level. Its ok to mortgage a house because you will still have the asset after you finish financing it. Its not ok to go out to dinner at a nice restaurant, and pay for it on the credit card.

DVC would fall somewhere in the middle. It does have more long term value than going out for dinner even though it is strictly for pleasure, BUT when your contract expires...you only have your memories, and no tangible asset. Of course, you do have the option to sell at some point in time and recoup some of your capital outlay.

A bit off topic here...but I'm not totally in favor of student loans. Do what you have to do to get through school. Go to a school that you can afford and work. You won't be sorry. There are exceptions. You can't become an electrical engineer at the local community college, and the pay off will be so much more than being a HVAC tech. BUT, financially you shouldn't go to Harvard to major in Elementary Ed. (You'll never recoup the investment.)

 

[Dean]

Though that's one of the problems with these strict "apples to apples" models. For many people, possibly most people, owning changes your behavior. You squeeze in an extra trip. You go when maybe you'd put it off because you have the points and "the room is paid for." You take guests and pick up their room. You get spoiled quickly with a one, or even two, bedroom. Or, without a room bill facing you, you spend more - dinners out, Cirque. And then, there is the prevalence of "addonitis."

Not that these things don't bring their own value. The trips we've taken family along and gifted them the room have been wonderful. The "enforced vacations" were really nice, particularly when the kids were younger. Having the kids sleep in another room has been a nice little "marital perk." And its nice not to face a room bill and we have been going to nicer dinners and seeing Cirque. But the possible behavior patterns changes should be acknowledged.

The change in behavior is a totally separate issue in many ways and the reasons I've said before that no matter what the number say it's unlikely DVC will save anyone any money, same with the DP.