240 General: New (to me) 1980 Volvo 244

[john.wigley]

Originally Posted by Othen

Well Bob, in 1977 the price of an average house in the UK was £9,737 - so £5,595 might have bought a nice flat in somewhere like Leicester. In that context a Volvo 240 was pretty expensive!

Pretty much, Alan. In that year, Linda paid £6.7K for a nice one bed flat in a newish block in Mountsorrel, just North of the city. Unlike motor cars, however, which rarely appreciate, it went on to sell for considerably more than that just four years later when we were buying our first house together.

In contrast, my Mini, for which I had paid £2.2K new in 1978, sold for just £950. Cars may be fun and nice to have, but they are a depreciating asset.

The better investment was, is still, and, I think, always will be property. I just wish that I had realised that when I was younger, and invested so, instead of contributing, as was my wont, into pension schemes. A few may have performed well, but most seemingly not. The way mine is doing right now I'm convinced that I would have had more fun by feeding £20 notes into the shredder!

Hey ho ...

Regards, John.

P.S. I sense a thread on alternative investments coming on ... J.