early lease termination

[TheRaven]

She obviously doesn't suffer from the "phone won't hold a charge at month 22" issue that you reference.

Yeah neither do I - but i'm an old guy by phone standards. I didn't have my first cell phone until I was in college. By the end of year 2, my phones still have no issue making it through an entire day on one charge.

Sponsored

 

[JSFoster75]

Yeah neither do I - but i'm an old guy by phone standards. I didn't have my first cell phone until I was in college. By the end of year 2, my phones still have no issue making it through an entire day on one charge.

I'm by no means "old", and I tend to keep my phones for a very long time... I went from an iPhone 8 to an iPhone 14 Pro Max. My phones still hold a charge all day even after 4+ years.

As for the leases, I know people that do well with them, but due to life experience/lessons, I'll never do one myself. It makes no sense to me to make a continual payment on an already horrible investment and never own it regardless of what it's worth when it would have been paid off. That being said, I rarely keep a vehicle past when it's paid off although I plan to do that with my current car. But, I also have disciplined myself to way overpay my car/mortgage payments to pay them off long before they would normally be paid off so I build positive equity pretty quickly (something I never did or was able to do when I was younger).

As someone that has learned of financial lessons the hard way (I've paid a lot of "stupid tax"), I prefer to buy things using traditional means including fixed interest rates on my home... My first home, the mortgage lender (also a friend) tried to talk me into an ARM loan, I refused and 2 years later I proved to him and myself why it would have been a very bad idea... The market plummeted, interest rates shot up and my payment remained the same while anyone with an ARM saw their payment skyrocket, and no need to go through the hassle of a refinance.

 

[TheRaven]

I'm by no means "old", and I tend to keep my phones for a very long time... I went from an iPhone 8 to an iPhone 14 Pro Max. My phones still hold a charge all day even after 4+ years.

That's why I said "old by phone standards". I'm not ACTUALLY old either...but I still have a Facebook profile and I do not use Instagram or Twitter. I'm that kind of "old". That means that (like you, I suspect) my life doesn't exist primarily on my phone like the lives of most of the younger generations do...and thus, my phones last longer.

As for the leases, I know people that do well with them, but due to life experience/lessons, I'll never do one myself. It makes no sense to me to make a continual payment on an already horrible investment and never own it regardless of what it's worth when it would have been paid off. That being said, I rarely keep a vehicle past when it's paid off although I plan to do that with my current car. But, I also have disciplined myself to way overpay my car/mortgage payments to pay them off long before they would normally be paid off so I build positive equity pretty quickly (something I never did or was able to do when I was younger).

You admit that your aversion to leasing is a personal preference - that's fine. I take no issue with anyone who doesn't want to be bothered with the extra math and extra care that leasing smartly requires. I only take issue with those who loudly proclaim "leasing is da devil!!" based on some very obsolete perception of how it works.

I'll freely admit that i'm a nerd, both in career and my hobbies...as such math is second nature to me and I tend to forget that not everyone loves to have to do math 24/7 in every aspect of their life. For my 2021 JLU80, leasing results in the lowest total cost of ownership...and that's the case for a lot of other Wrangler buyers too. But that only works because the Wrangler is a high residual vehicle, and it only works when the lessee is willing to do the extra work required to not get screwed by the dealer.

Sponsored