Posted by tallman at 12:58am Aug 14 '07So what's the most valuable thing you own?
Please note that by "valuable" I don't mean how much it cost or how much you could sell it for. Your most valuable thing might also be your most expensive thing (for instance, homeowners could make a pretty good case for their house being the most valuable thing they own - but a home is not just valuable in terms of capital, it provides shelter, an essential human need), but that's really boring.
I guess what I'm really interested in here are items that have high cost to value ratios. Measurement for this stuff can be a little difficult, but starting with the cost and then extrapolating from there might work.
For instance, let's take my copy of Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral. I've listened to this album more times than I can count. For at least 2 years, I listened to at least a portion of it (and Broken) almost daily, and after that I still listened to it a lot (no, I'm not known for the diversity of my music collection). So for the measly price of around $15, I was able to glean literally hundreds of ours of listening pleasure, not to mention the fact that it broadened my horizons and meant something special to me personally. As such, this album has a high cost to value ratio. Let's say that I've listened to the album all the way through 300 times (it isn't exactly that, but when you factor in the songs I skipped and the songs I've played more often, it probably breaks even). That amounts to around $0.16 per listen. There are perhaps a few CDs that have reached similar levels, but it is an interesting way of thinking about your purchases. How many times do you have to listen to an album before you've gotten your money's worth?
Movies on DVD tend to have a higher ratio. This is because you can't typically watch a DVD while doing something else. Half the times I listened to TDS I was doing something else like cutting the lawn or riding the bus to and from school. I can't really do that with movies. I can, however, watch a movie while screwing around on the internet (as I type, I'm watching Clerks II in the background). Then again, I love movies and the cost of seeing them is generally higher. For instance, seeing it in a theater would cost around $10. To rent it would take around $4 at a blockbuster (or around $1-2 to rent through netflix, depending on my volume). To buy on DVD is around $20. Thus, I'd need to watch it 5 times to justify it's purchase. I think I've managed that with Clerks II, but not necessarily with other movies. For instance, I own 2001: A Space Odyssey and it's one of my favorite movies of all time. But it's a tough movie, and I've only really watched that DVD a handful of times. So it has a significantly lower ratio than some other movies like Aliens or Terminator, both of which I've watched dozens of times.
Another example is my iPod. Some would call the purchase of a $300 music player frivolous. I mean, who the heck needs to have their entire music catalog available at all times? It's silly. And yet, I use my iPod every day. I use it in the car, I use it at work, I use it at the gym, and I sometimes even fall asleep listening to it. It might not have as high a ratio as TDS yet, but I should also note that the iPod can only gain on TDS, as every time I listen to TDS now, it's on my iPod. I've had the iPod for 2 years now. At 365 days a year, that works out to around $0.42 a day and falling.
One thing I've noticed as I've gotten older is that I'm much more willing to pay for convenience now than when I was younger. When I was a teenager, I had lots of time and little money. Now it's the opposite. I view my time as extremely valuable and am willing to spend money to save time. For instance, I don't change my oil personally, I take it to a place that does it for me and I read while I wait. I tend to think of my time as "billable" and place an arbitrary value of $100 on one hour of my time. This can rise if it's spent doing something I don't like (i.e. I'm willing to spend more to avoid doing something I don't like), or less if it's spent on doing something I like (i.e. I don't bill myself for writing this post or blogging or watching movies, etc...) That way, it becomes a lot easier to see if a cost is worth it.
I've also noticed that certain groups of people are willing to sacrifice convenience to save money. My parents, for instance, have always been a little frugal... until recently that is. I think that's because kids cost a lot of money and parents thus have to make some sacrifices in order to provide for their children (just look at how college costs are increasing and you'll see why).
Anyway, despite my long rambling post, I don't actually know what my most valuable thing is. Here are some things that would probably make my list:
My Home - I use it every day and it is absolutely vital to my wellbeing. It has also appreciated in value since I've purchased it (though, granted, I don't own all of it)
My Car - Not as essential as my house, and it's value depreciated significantly when I drove it off the lot, but still a pretty important thing in my life.
My Computer - Perhaps not essential to survival, but still used every day for multiple hours and multiple purposes, from entertainment (games, reading, etc...) to learning to writing to business, etc.... It's relatively expensive, but the high levels of use make it well worth the expense. I bet the ratio'd be high.
Several CDs and movies have probably achieved excellent cost/value ratios. Books not so much, as I tend not to reread books (though I have done so for a couple books)
My Bed - It was expensive, but I use it every night for 4-8 hours and it's really comfortable.
Food - this actually probably wouldn't make my list, because food has no reuse value. It's perishable and it's consumable. But I do love food, and it is also a necessity of human life.
You get the idea. What's the most valuable thing you own?
~[private]
Please note that by "valuable" I don't mean how much it cost or how much you could sell it for. Your most valuable thing might also be your most expensive thing (for instance, homeowners could make a pretty good case for their house being the most valuable thing they own - but a home is not just valuable in terms of capital, it provides shelter, an essential human need), but that's really boring.
I guess what I'm really interested in here are items that have high cost to value ratios. Measurement for this stuff can be a little difficult, but starting with the cost and then extrapolating from there might work.
For instance, let's take my copy of Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral. I've listened to this album more times than I can count. For at least 2 years, I listened to at least a portion of it (and Broken) almost daily, and after that I still listened to it a lot (no, I'm not known for the diversity of my music collection). So for the measly price of around $15, I was able to glean literally hundreds of ours of listening pleasure, not to mention the fact that it broadened my horizons and meant something special to me personally. As such, this album has a high cost to value ratio. Let's say that I've listened to the album all the way through 300 times (it isn't exactly that, but when you factor in the songs I skipped and the songs I've played more often, it probably breaks even). That amounts to around $0.16 per listen. There are perhaps a few CDs that have reached similar levels, but it is an interesting way of thinking about your purchases. How many times do you have to listen to an album before you've gotten your money's worth?
Movies on DVD tend to have a higher ratio. This is because you can't typically watch a DVD while doing something else. Half the times I listened to TDS I was doing something else like cutting the lawn or riding the bus to and from school. I can't really do that with movies. I can, however, watch a movie while screwing around on the internet (as I type, I'm watching Clerks II in the background). Then again, I love movies and the cost of seeing them is generally higher. For instance, seeing it in a theater would cost around $10. To rent it would take around $4 at a blockbuster (or around $1-2 to rent through netflix, depending on my volume). To buy on DVD is around $20. Thus, I'd need to watch it 5 times to justify it's purchase. I think I've managed that with Clerks II, but not necessarily with other movies. For instance, I own 2001: A Space Odyssey and it's one of my favorite movies of all time. But it's a tough movie, and I've only really watched that DVD a handful of times. So it has a significantly lower ratio than some other movies like Aliens or Terminator, both of which I've watched dozens of times.
Another example is my iPod. Some would call the purchase of a $300 music player frivolous. I mean, who the heck needs to have their entire music catalog available at all times? It's silly. And yet, I use my iPod every day. I use it in the car, I use it at work, I use it at the gym, and I sometimes even fall asleep listening to it. It might not have as high a ratio as TDS yet, but I should also note that the iPod can only gain on TDS, as every time I listen to TDS now, it's on my iPod. I've had the iPod for 2 years now. At 365 days a year, that works out to around $0.42 a day and falling.
One thing I've noticed as I've gotten older is that I'm much more willing to pay for convenience now than when I was younger. When I was a teenager, I had lots of time and little money. Now it's the opposite. I view my time as extremely valuable and am willing to spend money to save time. For instance, I don't change my oil personally, I take it to a place that does it for me and I read while I wait. I tend to think of my time as "billable" and place an arbitrary value of $100 on one hour of my time. This can rise if it's spent doing something I don't like (i.e. I'm willing to spend more to avoid doing something I don't like), or less if it's spent on doing something I like (i.e. I don't bill myself for writing this post or blogging or watching movies, etc...) That way, it becomes a lot easier to see if a cost is worth it.
I've also noticed that certain groups of people are willing to sacrifice convenience to save money. My parents, for instance, have always been a little frugal... until recently that is. I think that's because kids cost a lot of money and parents thus have to make some sacrifices in order to provide for their children (just look at how college costs are increasing and you'll see why).
Anyway, despite my long rambling post, I don't actually know what my most valuable thing is. Here are some things that would probably make my list:
My Home - I use it every day and it is absolutely vital to my wellbeing. It has also appreciated in value since I've purchased it (though, granted, I don't own all of it)
My Car - Not as essential as my house, and it's value depreciated significantly when I drove it off the lot, but still a pretty important thing in my life.
My Computer - Perhaps not essential to survival, but still used every day for multiple hours and multiple purposes, from entertainment (games, reading, etc...) to learning to writing to business, etc.... It's relatively expensive, but the high levels of use make it well worth the expense. I bet the ratio'd be high.
Several CDs and movies have probably achieved excellent cost/value ratios. Books not so much, as I tend not to reread books (though I have done so for a couple books)
My Bed - It was expensive, but I use it every night for 4-8 hours and it's really comfortable.
Food - this actually probably wouldn't make my list, because food has no reuse value. It's perishable and it's consumable. But I do love food, and it is also a necessity of human life.
You get the idea. What's the most valuable thing you own?
~[private]