Riverstar... interesting question though I DO like to set datums from which to contemplate much.... In this case how to define an ASSET ... well I guess there may be all sorts of assets, apparently Dolly Parton has more than two..?
Some assets provide more pleasure than they are likely to provide financial profitability, and Dolly seemingly has quite a few of those too as a very astute business woman..?
At the other end of the scale, how do we wish to determine something physical that is other than an asset, yet we require to spend effort/ money on in order to acquire it...? An expenditure without the purpose of creating financial returns....perhaps a reasonable I.D. might be "goods"... ?
If we can work from there then perhaps as we are discussing motor vehicles, then goods are items we expect to DEPRECIATE in value the more use we make of them and even when we are finished with them there may be some value left, even if we only sell it to a scrap man as opposed to hoping it has retained enough value in a trade-in to help with the cost of it`s replacement..? I suspect also worth consideration in terms of financial evaluation, we understand that as soon as we register it in our name/drive it out of the showroom it`s market value can immediately drop and dependant on marque, quite considerably so..? Thus while not thought of an investment and more part of the cost of living a particular lifestyle, the family car might be thought of as a NECESSARY EXPENDITURE, and not an investment, though on the other hand it could also be considered as an investment in terms of improving the quality of family life.... Bit of a conundrum...?
Marketing and the markets.. the power of advertising is undoubtedly enormous in manipulating minds in all sorts of areas of life from which one can adopt BELIEFS.... if one is so inclined...sigh! With enough time, money and effort expelled to create and propagate those beliefs, they can become widely adopted, and for me the Classic car MARKET has drawn a huge number of folk in to it, by promoting the idea that there is INVESTMENT potential to the extent that owning a classic vehicle can be deemed to be an ASSET in the financial sense...? The datum for market thinking to work from, would logically seem to be that markets can rise and fall...Thus if you are an astute investor or have some insider information or more likely NOT, you might win or loose and in any market I suspect the winners win at the expense of the losers..?
Classic Cars, or in the US Collector Cars...... even defining that which does or does not fit into that categorisation can create lengthy discussion...? But as we are talking Morgans, I guess that can be avoided for the time being..? However, some Morgans may well be seen as having more investment potential than others..... Complex innit..? Perhaps just best to get to grips with the REALITY that few if any Morgans are likely to generate PROFIT over your ownership and are likely to soak up your cash in the long term...? If that scenario is accepted than it seems a Morgan is unlikely to be considered an astute purchase in terms of a financial asset..?
Seems many of us like the idea of INVESTMENT in much, finding a measure of comfort in expenditure that may be considerable in terms of our wherewithal, thinking perceptions of house values being the main one for many folk and perhaps vehicles following on from that..? Do you have any doubt that estate agents and car sales folk are well aware of promoting those investment ideals as part of their trade skills...? As a potential purchaser we can be suckers for the sales patter.... be that "make America great again" or "lets` get Brexit done" or Classic cars have investment potential.... (-:
As I may have typed elsewhere, I have an acquaintance who bought a very nice condition 90`s Porsche 964 in 2009 for circa £16K from a specialist dealer. The same dealer is now marketing a very similar year, condition 964 to the one bought in 2009 today for circa £52K .. Yeah well some "Classics" have more investment potential than others it seems.... However, even though his 964 would seem to have increased considerably in terms of MARKETABLE value, how has the pound (£) performed over the same period of time.... and if he either tried to cash it in privately or went for a Sale Or Return (SOR) from the same dealer, it would seem very unlikely that the £36K difference in ADVERTISED value might end up in his pocket..?
Seems to me that the term "man maths" is accepted as covering the many excuses utilised to justify the expenditure on hobby`s and pastimes such as involvement with Classic Cars and much else, and it seems so many of us may delude ourselves that a Classic this that and the other is an investment, and as such, we can be little more than cannon fodder in the dealerships showrooms...?
Bottom line.... we would all hope that our Morgans are worth something given the amount of cash spent on them as the result of expenditure involved in purchase, maintenance, repair and usage, even if purchased many years previously, and even if their actual monetary value value may in time require to be assessed as part of our "estate".. (-:
Me..? The cost of my Morgan at the time of purchase equated to five years of savings potential... no finance costs involved... If five years of savings relative to your personal wherewithal is deemed to be of no consequence, I would be surprised indeed, but then there are folk who have never had to save, thus there truly will be those whose Morgan`s market value could be considered of no consequence whatsoever at the time of purchase. I have no issue with that.
At the time of purchase my Morgans market value was of considerable importance as you might imagine, but as the years passed the expenditure involved and with good fortune relative to income and other of life`s targets being achieved, it is indeed a very comfortable feeling to arrive at a mindset where I feel my Morgan owes me nothing, based upon the amount of enjoyment it has provided during my 16 or so years of ownership, even if most of those were spent laid up in the garage while other of life`s priorities ... Perhaps admitting I may have only covered circa 25k miles over that time will equate to being excommunicated by the "faithful"... (-:
I suspect my usage can play into the question of INVESTMENT thinking.... and in my assessment... that my Morgan owes me nothing is based an a personal SENSE of returns from adventures enjoyed touring Southern Europe on three occasions covering France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. As I have typed elsewhere, it provided returns by just being there in the garage, which are hard to quantify though seeing it there when I visited the garage for whatever reason and knowing it was there waiting.. definitely added to my perception of returns and thus evaluation processes, more so when it was road legal and just waiting for the key to be turned to head out into whatever adventure I might have in mind as it is right at this moment.... (-:
I suspect the determination of investment potential can have more personal connotations by way of returns than in the mere financial sense when all is well in your world, though when there is either a need or desire to turn a Morgan back into cash..... an entirely different point of view will likely be attached...?
My current thinking is that ICE vehicles have the potential to fast become less valuable and Classics that have experienced bubble growth may well pop the loudest any time in the relatively near future.... but then I admit to pessimist tenancies as a previously experienced optimist...
