Things I have bought but wished I bought 5 years ago. (not investments)

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Things I have bought but wished I bought 5 years ago. (not investments)

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#1878215 6-Oct-2017 00:27

reven:

electric curtains that close at dusk are pretty sweet. missing my roomba that I sold last year when moving. going to buy a xioami robot vac to replace it once some more home renovations have been completed.

basically anything that does stuff for me so I can be lazy are my best investments.

And it's a bloddy good roomba too, thanks ;)

Aredwood

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#1878228 6-Oct-2017 01:14

My rainwater tanks. As well as saving me money on the waterbill, The rainwater tastes way better (IMO). As it is far softer than council water. And the soft, low mineral content rainwater means that soap and shampoo clean better, make more bubbles, and rinse out easier. Some liquid soap brands have a residue that is hard to rinse off with council water, but no sign of that residue when using the same brand with rainwater. Sure I have already had the rainwater tanks for awhile now. But I should have gotten them 5 years earlier again.

Commercial grade Wifi and separate router. Perfect Wifi everywhere, Even walking down my 60m long driveway and standing on the other side of the road - I still have usable Wifi. (sure only around 2.5mbit download speed but web browsing still works perfectly fine). And no need to ever restart the router. I managed to get to 1 year and 8 months without needing to do a router restart.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1878258 6-Oct-2017 08:01

My nail gun was one of the best purchases ever. I recently got some absurd quotes to have around 90 metres of timber fences built. The nail gun cost me a few hundred bucks, and I got all the timber at cost + gst from a mate who works for one of the larger building merchants. Best toy ever for doing a good job in probably 1/5th of the time compared to hammering away.

Now I get the urge to build things all the time just because I have it in the garage. Might have a go at a new wood shed soon...

kryptonjohn

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#1878269 6-Oct-2017 08:20

Yeah I hired a Paslode gas nailer last time I put up a long fence. Saves your hammer arm as well as a lot of time.

What kind did you get? Our builders are still using Paslode gas nailers but I see 18V cordless electric nailers now and wonder how good they are.

Wheelbarrow01

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#1878276 6-Oct-2017 08:37

kryptonjohn:

Yeah I hired a Paslode gas nailer last time I put up a long fence. Saves your hammer arm as well as a lot of time.

What kind did you get? Our builders are still using Paslode gas nailers but I see 18V cordless electric nailers now and wonder how good they are.

Yea mine is a Paslode gas jobbie - I got it second hand from a tool auction here in Christchurch. I don't now how good the electric ones are, but I imagine they don't come close to the power that the Paslodes have for that heavy duty work such as fencing/framing.

Coil

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#1878277 6-Oct-2017 08:39

I wish i didn't buy all the cars/motorcycles and electronics i did when living at home and saved at least 1/3 my pay...

networkn

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#1878285 6-Oct-2017 08:52

Coil:

I wish i didn't buy all the cars/motorcycles and electronics i did when living at home and saved at least 1/3 my pay...

Heh, and I bet everyone was like Save your money, and you were like, nah, she'll be right. Can't put an old head on young shoulders eh :)

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Geektastic

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#1878291 6-Oct-2017 09:07

networkn:

Coil:

I wish i didn't buy all the cars/motorcycles and electronics i did when living at home and saved at least 1/3 my pay...

Heh, and I bet everyone was like Save your money, and you were like, nah, she'll be right. Can't put an old head on young shoulders eh :)

So true.

When I left University my first job was working for the Ministry of Defence. We had a final salary pension scheme which was non-contributory. That meant that if you worked the full years of service, your pension was half of the highest salary you earned in the 5 years preceding retirement, index linked forever, with a lump sum of 3.5 times that salary, tax free on top of the pension. And you paid zero contributions for that.

As a young blade, the MoD taught me many things but I fancied myself a bit more dynamic and ambitious, so after 5 years or so I was off into "the real world" leaving all the lifers behind, who used to tell me "I'd love to work somewhere else, but I'm 45 now so I can't really leave as it will mess up my pension."

Now, as I can see retirement age being not all that far away, and the chances of having a free pension of about $50,000 a year being about zero minus one, I do occasionally sense wisdom in their dull acceptance of their lot. Just occasionally.

geoffwnz

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#1878292 6-Oct-2017 09:07

Wheelbarrow01:

kryptonjohn:

Yeah I hired a Paslode gas nailer last time I put up a long fence. Saves your hammer arm as well as a lot of time.

What kind did you get? Our builders are still using Paslode gas nailers but I see 18V cordless electric nailers now and wonder how good they are.

Yea mine is a Paslode gas jobbie - I got it second hand from a tool auction here in Christchurch. I don't now how good the electric ones are, but I imagine they don't come close to the power that the Paslodes have for that heavy duty work such as fencing/framing.

I've been able to borrow a Paslode gas one previously. Very effective and a lot of fun. And you end up putting in more nails than you would otherwise. :-)

Only downside is the cost of hardware. $350+ for nails and gas cartridges vs under $20 for 5kg of "normal" nails.

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#1878295 6-Oct-2017 09:11

Geektastic:

networkn:

Coil:

I wish i didn't buy all the cars/motorcycles and electronics i did when living at home and saved at least 1/3 my pay...

Heh, and I bet everyone was like Save your money, and you were like, nah, she'll be right. Can't put an old head on young shoulders eh :)

So true.

When I left University my first job was working for the Ministry of Defence. We had a final salary pension scheme which was non-contributory. That meant that if you worked the full years of service, your pension was half of the highest salary you earned in the 5 years preceding retirement, index linked forever, with a lump sum of 3.5 times that salary, tax free on top of the pension. And you paid zero contributions for that.

As a young blade, the MoD taught me many things but I fancied myself a bit more dynamic and ambitious, so after 5 years or so I was off into "the real world" leaving all the lifers behind, who used to tell me "I'd love to work somewhere else, but I'm 45 now so I can't really leave as it will mess up my pension."

Now, as I can see retirement age being not all that far away, and the chances of having a free pension of about $50,000 a year being about zero minus one, I do occasionally sense wisdom in their dull acceptance of their lot. Just occasionally.

On another note, those people just turning up day after day to ensure they get money to retire on probably were doing a pretty average job as their motivation was to their pension. I sometimes think 5 years for most people is all they should stay doing one thing.

kryptonjohn

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#1878296 6-Oct-2017 09:12

Yep - easy to justify for tradies where time is money. Not so easy to justify for us weekend warriors.

Coil

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#1878305 6-Oct-2017 09:15

networkn:

Coil:

I wish i didn't buy all the cars/motorcycles and electronics i did when living at home and saved at least 1/3 my pay...

Heh, and I bet everyone was like Save your money, and you were like, nah, she'll be right. Can't put an old head on young shoulders eh :)

Yeah that with a few other things. Something about time and how it goes too fast and you gotta make the most of it :P.
Heck what would they know, Old people..

Geektastic

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#1878347 6-Oct-2017 09:59

networkn:

Geektastic:

networkn:

Coil:

I wish i didn't buy all the cars/motorcycles and electronics i did when living at home and saved at least 1/3 my pay...

Heh, and I bet everyone was like Save your money, and you were like, nah, she'll be right. Can't put an old head on young shoulders eh :)

So true.

When I left University my first job was working for the Ministry of Defence. We had a final salary pension scheme which was non-contributory. That meant that if you worked the full years of service, your pension was half of the highest salary you earned in the 5 years preceding retirement, index linked forever, with a lump sum of 3.5 times that salary, tax free on top of the pension. And you paid zero contributions for that.

As a young blade, the MoD taught me many things but I fancied myself a bit more dynamic and ambitious, so after 5 years or so I was off into "the real world" leaving all the lifers behind, who used to tell me "I'd love to work somewhere else, but I'm 45 now so I can't really leave as it will mess up my pension."

Now, as I can see retirement age being not all that far away, and the chances of having a free pension of about $50,000 a year being about zero minus one, I do occasionally sense wisdom in their dull acceptance of their lot. Just occasionally.

On another note, those people just turning up day after day to ensure they get money to retire on probably were doing a pretty average job as their motivation was to their pension. I sometimes think 5 years for most people is all they should stay doing one thing.

Yes, I agree. None of them were at all motivated - they had become drones. A friend of mine used to tease me about becoming what we termed a 'JFL" - Job For Life.

The ironic thing being that he is in fact still working for the same employer he was when I was at the MoD and I'm not...!

I never saw the benefit of leading a dull and miserable life just to ensure that I would have money to spend when I was old and decrepit...

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#1878349 6-Oct-2017 10:02

Geektastic:

I never saw the benefit of leading a dull and miserable life just to ensure that I would have money to spend when I was old and decrepit...

I was thinking of adding this to my original post, but couldn't find a nice way to put it. I agree 100%. Spending 20 years being miserable so you can spend 10 years in relative comfort makes no sense to me. I know older generation British feel very differently.

kryptonjohn

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#1878352 6-Oct-2017 10:07

I'm certainly not miserable in my work, but it's not my first choice. I'd rather be teaching something for a living - probably golf or skiing. But what I do pays really well and I've got a family and bills...

<sigh>

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