It's a complete fallacy to think that one is more secure or less risky than the other.
That's your opinion, not mine. We can simply agree to disagree though.
People can still be discretely lured and
mugged even in public places,
even shot.
So you think if you google search 'mall mugging' and 'mall shooting' that makes your point? I can just as easily insert 'eBay scams' and 'paypal scams' if you want me to
So why are you applying investment strategies and looking at valuations at iPhones if that's not your goal?
'Investment Strategies' vs 'Reducing Cost'
You say toma'e'toe, I say toma'h'toe.
Really don't care what you want to call it.
You can deny it all you want, but you if you're putting money into an item and expecting from the outset to try and recoup some cash at a later time, you are looking at it as an investment vehicle, and that's a bad strategy.
It's not hard to understand, you don't buy a phone (or car or whatever) to use it as an investment. You ALREADY KNOW before buying it's going to drop in value. The main point is that you want to try and reduce the amount it costs you.
Again, if you're looking at your iPhone and wondering how many dollars you're going to get from it later, then there is no point in buying the phone at all. Put the money in a real investment vehicle, and then when you get a return on that investment later, you can then sink the cash into whatever gadget you want, knowing you've already got a return on your money.
Putting my money or a stock portfolio won't make phone calls for me.
People can buy depreciating things which help them in their daily lives and still look to not try and have as heavy a loss when selling as expected.
Again, I don't care what you call it. The principles are the same and universal regardless if it's an investment banker or a 6-year old selling his trading cards. Cool use of 'jargon' though.
I find it ironic that you berate another user on here for their credit card mentality, and in the same breath you're espousing a strategy where a your phone upgrade cycle hinges on how much you'll get for it later. The logic is just as poor as going into credit card debt.
Very twisted logic
The guy said you won't lose money selling the phone for $350 since you bought it for $199. I simply corrected by letting him know even if he paid $199 upfront the phone still cost him much more than that over the life of the contract. Also who said anything about a 'hinges'? Only you it seems. I simply like to reduce the amount of $ it costs me to upgrading->selling->and upgrading again.
The sound, logical thing to do is to purchase the phone SOLELY because you have the means AND can justify the intrinsic value of using the phone as being worth its purchase price.
Not everyone feels the same way.
If you cannot do this, then the "investment" is unwise, because the entire time you're owning the phone, you will be stressing over what actions and events might "devalue" it. And that in itself will devalue the utility and enjoyment you get from it while actually owning it.
Hmmm maybe this will help you understand what an investment is...
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/investment
the investing of money or capital in order to gain profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.
Again, the phone isn't an investment. People aren't looking to make a profit on it and know going into the transaction that the thing is going to drop in value (they just weren't expecting as much as the iPhone has!).
Yes... people can buy things which help with their daily lives and try to keep them nice so that when they sell they get higher value for them.
