Food for thought

[quirty30]

Ever wonder what it would be like if you had taken all the money you spent on DVC and bought Disney stock instead?????

http://corporate.disney.go.com/investors/stock/index?historical=yes

For the record, at close yesterday, the price was $41.46 a share. I would be up about $30k right now if I had done this. And I only bought my DVC in June of 2009. Next time I see a thread where someone asks, "should I buy DVC?" I'm going to tell them to buy Disney stock, then sell it in a few years and buy DVC with the proceeds!

 

[DisneyHumbug]

Would that profit have generated any memories?? I wouldn't give up those memories for anything!!!

 

[quirty30]

Would that profit have generated any memories?? I wouldn't give up those memories for anything!!!

After seeing what's happened to my 401k and other investments the last several years, I'd have gladly put off buying DVC and deferred those memories a few years, knowing I have a little more financial security.

Now that you mention it, my kids are approaching their teens and less interested in Disney. I could actually sell my DVC for pretty close to what I paid for it, buy Disney stock now and make back some of my money. Except I'm just a big kid at heart and I still look forward to our trips!

In all seriousness, for a young couple who doesn't have kids yet, this wouldn't be bad advice at all.

 

[cdmickey]

Well, you made all your declarations (with 20/20 hindsight); Disney stock went up, but could have easily gone down.

 

[TheYellowDart]

Also you just said that your kids are teens now and don't want to go to Disney as much, so you really could never make up those memories =)

 

[ssawka]

And how would you have paid for your trips that you took over that period of time? Would you have not gone on those trips or would you have paid cash? I have a friend that won't go on vacation unless he figures out an ROI for the money spent Not all decisions in life come down to a monetary value!

 

[quirty30]

Looking back, I certainly couldn't have put these trips off due to my kids ages (and for the record, I pay cash for everything - or charge it and pay it off every month.) Without DVC, we'd have likely gone once a year, but not 3-4 times a year like we did. But just seeing the numbers made me think....

 

[bobbiwoz]

We bought for the memories and to enjoy Disney! We had some Disney stock as well. I think Apple has been the better investment for money, and DVC has been excellent for the reason we bought!

 

[gmi3804]

And if a frog had wings it wouldn't bump its *** a-hoppin'!

And do you know how much a 40 year-old would have if at age 25 he started putting $50 a week into the stock market and re-invested the dividends?

Finance 101.

 

[Chuck S]

Disney stock is not the very best investment, and there are no park or discounts associated with stock ownership. I purchased Disney back in the early 1990s, and it is just now returning to the price I paid, it was a loss for many years.

Chevron , Exxon and other energy stocks would have been a much better long term investments than Disney as far as growth of value, not to mention Apple going from $100 to $500 in the last 3 years.

But the memories I have of sharing DVC trips since 1992 with my Mom are priceless.

 

[jarestel]

It'a an interesting exercise but since I didn't use "investment" money to purchase DVC, not particularly startling. If one needs to choose between saving, investing, or playing, the choice is pretty much a no-brainer. Since I consider DVC to fall into the "playing" category, those funds come from the discretionary expenditures bucket and aren't really expected to grow my financial portfolio.

Having said that, I think it is a good point to consider for those who ARE making choices between saving, investing or playing.

 

[Caren90]

It'a an interesting exercise but since I didn't use "investment" money to purchase DVC, not particularly startling. If one needs to choose between saving, investing, or playing, the choice is pretty much a no-brainer. Since I consider DVC to fall into the "playing" category, those funds come from the discretionary expenditures bucket and aren't really expected to grow my financial portfolio.

Having said that, I think it is a good point to consider for those who ARE making choices between saving, investing or playing.

Always try and do a little bit of all three!

 

[castleri]

I purchased Disney stock in the 90s and after making amistake of putting it with a holding company that sent a nice lithograph for doing so I found I was losing money because they later started charging a monthly fee. It was free at first and not being up on investments I did not realize what was happening until it was too late. I ended up with a loss on my income tax and a lesson well learned. I have had much more of a return on my "investments" in DVC. The family times and memories are worth more than the return on stocks could ever provide. I do wish I had bought some of that apple stock instead
but since retiring don't have any extra to invest unless I quit going to WDW.

 

[PamOKW]

Depending upon when in 2009 you invested in Disney stock, you might have been buying at a 5 year low -- during the height of the financial crisis. Of course, there's a lesson here on how buying low is better than buying high!

It's said over and over -- buying DVC should not be considered a financial investment. It's a purchase -- like a car, or a laptop, or a vacation. For many of us, it has been an economical way to get high quality accommodations at reasonable cost. And I agree that the memories have been priceless.

 

[taaren]

It'a an interesting exercise but since I didn't use "investment" money to purchase DVC, not particularly startling. If one needs to choose between saving, investing, or playing, the choice is pretty much a no-brainer. Since I consider DVC to fall into the "playing" category, those funds come from the discretionary expenditures bucket and aren't really expected to grow my financial portfolio.

Having said that, I think it is a good point to consider for those who ARE making choices between saving, investing or playing.

This is true of us as well. I have my finances divide up, some set aside for retirement (mostly pre-tax contributions + a set amount each year for our Roths), some set aside for a rainy day fund, some set aside for investing, and what we bought with DVC was supposed to be our "fancy wedding" fund. That money wouldn't have gone towards investing no matter what (it was going to go towards something we enjoyed, a luxury or splurge) so we feel DVC was a great use of that cash.

I see this come up a lot on the "should I buy DVC threads", people recommending investing/saving, but the truth is most of us probably would have burned our DVC fund on another luxury item, since if we bought DVC we thought we had that much $$ to "spare".

 

[Snurk71]

If you want to "invest" in Disney with a guaranteed return, stock up on park tickets - that's one thing that is nearly guaranteed to rise (I think ticket prices have increased in the double digit%s for a while now). I actually bought $5+K of them last summer before the price increase.

 

[MousekeTom]

My mom bought her grandkids Disney Stock throughout the years for birthdays and Christmas presents in the late 1980's and through the 1990's. I even added the stock into my portfolio. We all still own the stock.

The stock did quite well in Eisner's early years and while Disney was putting out blockbuster movies. Of course the whole market has done poorly since 2000. Glad to see Disney making a come-back. All the while, we stayed off-property (Hampton Inn) or in the value resorts (All-Star Movie was always booked ).

The kids (now adults) are still tickled to get a check from Disney every January and brag to me that they are part owners of Disney. I tell them, they have enough stock to own a few garbage cans at DisneyWorld.
.

 

[DVCconvert]

Well, you made all your declarations (with 20/20 hindsight); Disney stock went up, but could have easily gone down.

It has gone down and will no doubt again at some point in time.
It wasn't all that many years ago I was buying DIS around $14.

 

[taaren]

If you want to "invest" in Disney with a guaranteed return, stock up on park tickets - that's one thing that is nearly guaranteed to rise (I think ticket prices have increased in the double digit%s for a while now). I actually bought $5+K of them last summer before the price increase.

I've thought this as well, and would buy DLR ticket/AP vouchers for the next 10 years if they were non-expiring the way the WDW ones are ... unfortunately all the DL ones have an expiration date "first day of use must begin by ..." which is usually less than a year out from date of sale.