Spreadsheet Warriors - how have you calculated the all in real cost?

[stat]

I made a killer spreadsheet and it helped. There are valid sets of assumptions that make DVC make sense.

But some things didn't fit into it my spreadsheet and they made all the difference:

1. The pride of ownership- caring about the buildings, the staff, even the stinking tax assessments.
2. The pride of being a DVC member in general.
3. Full control over the booking process. Grabbing what I want with a few taps on my phone- no third parties involved, no waiting around. (Waitlists are different- I get something good enough and sometimes something better comes through).
4. Commitment / forced travel. Imagine it's your investment is a restricted annuity that pays yearly dividends of joy and memories.
5. Paying up front is a hedge of sorts. I have plenty of exposure to the stock market already. Taking some off the table diversifies my net worth into something less volatile and largely uncorrelated with my other investments. I might not get market average returns but I'm confident it's better than a HYSA and that's good enough for me.
6. This community.

 

[TDK44]

Yes, I understand that--I argue in favor of this point on DISboards all the time, and have for probably ten years, and maybe closer to twenty. But something that costs $100 today is only going to cost ~$104 next year. And Dues are a cost. So, if you want to know what your Dues bill is going to be in then-current dollars in N years, you should use something a little more than long-run inflation.

You should still project the costs out based on their expected growth rate, whether that’s inflation or a little more. Obviously the point is to project expected cash flows.

You should still discount those back at your opportunity cost, not at their growth rate (otherwise the NPV would always be zero).