I've made some momentous decisions in my life with relative ease: i) eloping, ii) moving to a foreign country, iii) giving up a lucrative career to follow my passion etc.
But lately I've been suffering from paralysis when making some financial decisions on large discretionary items. I'll give you one example and I'd really appreciate feedback on how to deal with this.
My wife and I have have two newish cars in total. Our two kids have just gotten their licenses and so far we just share the two cars. It's a bit inconvenient some times but mostly it works with minimal waiting as my wife and I tele-work most of the week.
So I figured why not give one of our cars to the kids to share and I'll buy a nice luxury one. I moved the money from Vanguard to my checking account so I could pull the trigger at any time.
But I can't make the decision on which car to get and when I think I have a car in mind, I can't pull the trigger. The challenge is that the problem is not well defined (unlike say your roof fell in and you need it replaced) and finding the optimum decision is near impossible (how to decide on the best car after test driving each for 10 minutes and then buying one to hold for 10 years)! Further, there is always a trivial solution (don't buy a luxury car, just rent one as needed, let the kids use Uber etc.).
I've waited so long that I've now got an extra 50% in my checking account than what I originally planned to spend (I maxed out my 401k and Roth plans early this year)! So it's not a cash funds problem at all.
So how do people make these financial decisions on large discretionary items?
But lately I've been suffering from paralysis when making some financial decisions on large discretionary items. I'll give you one example and I'd really appreciate feedback on how to deal with this.
My wife and I have have two newish cars in total. Our two kids have just gotten their licenses and so far we just share the two cars. It's a bit inconvenient some times but mostly it works with minimal waiting as my wife and I tele-work most of the week.
So I figured why not give one of our cars to the kids to share and I'll buy a nice luxury one. I moved the money from Vanguard to my checking account so I could pull the trigger at any time.
But I can't make the decision on which car to get and when I think I have a car in mind, I can't pull the trigger. The challenge is that the problem is not well defined (unlike say your roof fell in and you need it replaced) and finding the optimum decision is near impossible (how to decide on the best car after test driving each for 10 minutes and then buying one to hold for 10 years)! Further, there is always a trivial solution (don't buy a luxury car, just rent one as needed, let the kids use Uber etc.).
I've waited so long that I've now got an extra 50% in my checking account than what I originally planned to spend (I maxed out my 401k and Roth plans early this year)! So it's not a cash funds problem at all.
So how do people make these financial decisions on large discretionary items?
Statistics: Posted by MrCheapo — Tue Nov 05, 2024 3:19 pm — Replies 25 — Views 1044