Is the Leica an "Investment?"

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Originally Posted by Jim Jones

Income isn't what makes people wealthy as much as outgo keeps them from saving money. We tend to keep up with the Jonses. As an ancient Jones, I try to make that easy, but people persist in wasting money on large screen TVs, cell phones with cameras and GPS, video games, dinners out, and other money sponges. Most of these don't enhance the quality of life, but they do keep us from really living. Henry Thoreau may have overdone the basic lifestyle at Walden Pond, but it certainly beat going into debt for unnecessary baggage. Many Americans learned how to make do with nearly nothing in the 1930s. It was a tough time, but it made tough people who could teach their descendants much.

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I have zero debt. Friends and acquaintances are very confused about how I manage to be semi-retired at 46 with a thirty foot boat. Some of it was just plain good luck, but it was important that I was in a mental and financial position to allow that luck to happen, and then be able to take advantage of it. Everything you have that you don't own, owns you. I learned that some time ago.

All my camera gear has been an investment, but the investment is realized by the cash flow created by my use of the camera. There are about a zillion better investments than capitol appreciation on a camera. Burying money in a hole is among them.

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Originally Posted by JBrunner

Everything you have that you don't own, owns you.

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A very wise and true statement.

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Originally Posted by JBrunner

I have zero debt. Friends and acquaintances are very confused about how I manage to be semi-retired at 46 with a thirty foot boat. Some of it was just plain good luck, but it was important that I was in a mental and financial position to allow that luck to happen, and then be able to take advantage of it. Everything you have that you don't own, owns you. I learned that some time ago.

All my camera gear has been an investment, but the investment is realized by the cash flow created by my use of the camera. There are about a zillion better investments than capitol appreciation on a camera. Burying money in a hole is among them.

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+1 heck +10

Want to pass along some of that luck? I'm ready to receive it, I really am, tell me where to go and what to do and I'll do it :)

Also, a Leica is just like a leaky boat, too expensive and not worth the effort in labor... Hehe


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by pbromaghin

Yes, let's take a look around. Who would want to bring children into the world as it is? After all, the U.N. 1990 poverty goal for 2015 was met in 2008. The world economy grew 6% in the last 7 years, but fossil fuel consumption went down by 4%. Life expectancy in Africa is 5 years longer than it was 10 years ago. The last decade had fewer war deaths than any decade in the 20th century.

Who would ever want to bring children into the world as it was in 1945? Oh, right. My sister was born in 1946.

Who would ever want to bring children into the world as it was in 1916?. Oh, right. My parents were both born in 1917.

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My mother was born in 1938, my aunt in 1940 and my other aunt in 1942. After which, my grand-father went volunteer in WWII in 1943 (he was 32 and with three children, never to be called) to defend the fatherland from the incoming invasion by the bloody foreigner. Apparently somebody with a lot of belly and not many hair told him we would have repelled the invader on the shores of Sicily*.

The lesson I can derive from this is that if only rational people made children, the world would be inhabited by now ;)

* He told me later that on southern Sicily where he was sent the defence was constituted by an average machine-gun every 11 km of coast. Not joking.

My outlook on investing, and business in general, is always to do a little better tomorrow than I did today. In business, I try to increase my inventory and sales by 5% a month. It's not at all easy, I don't have a lot of experience being in business for myself, but after three years of steadily increasing sales, I have learned a lot. Last year I passed the point where my business income passed what I get from my regular job. I find that now I have money, but I rarely have any free time or a day off.

In the next year I will incorporate, and if sales improve as much as they hope, I will quit my job, and work for myself. I recently branched out into a new field of goods, and the results were better than expected. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to pursue the new goods until I hire a helper to do some of my current work.

When I was young, I didn't have a good idea about how investments worked. It seemed like black magic to me. I discovered that investing was simply buying low and selling high. I eventually found a niche in which I could invest in something I understood and enjoyed. I was surprised that I could make money at it.

It is nice to see business and investments grow. It is like building a house, or creating a painting. It is fun to try other ideas and see the results, and even more fun when the ideas are successful. I now have to become a better time manager.

I'm sure many will disagree, but in the 30's and 40's, if you were insistent on shooting the 35mm films of the day, a Leica would be the only way to go.. However, nowadays, a Leica is more jewelry than actual tool. Just my opinion.

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Originally Posted by EASmithV

I'm sure many will disagree, but in the 30's and 40's, if you were insistent on shooting the 35mm films of the day, a Leica would be the only way to go.. However, nowadays, a Leica is more jewelry than actual tool. Just my opinion.

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+1


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic | Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by EASmithV

Leica is more jewelry than actual tool.

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Actually it is both :) , but you must be in peace that you use this tool and not be worried about every scratch that will bring your value down. When you decide that you will never sell your Leica, and you use it and enjoy using it - then it is more tool than jewelry. If you consider to sell it in future and make profit - well ... :).

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Originally Posted by EASmithV

I'm sure many will disagree, but in the 30's and 40's, if you were insistent on shooting the 35mm films of the day, a Leica would be the only way to go.. However, nowadays, a Leica is more jewelry than actual tool. Just my opinion.

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Strongly disagree. Leicas are extremely durable, last a long time (like, generations) with occasional tune-ups, are available in user condition for non-insane prices, and the lenses are just beyond. Also, what other system outside of large format has usable, dedicated lenses dating back 80 years, covering just about any look you want - soft, vintage, ultra-modern, etc? Leicas are extremely practical - just because people collect them doesn't mean they are solely collectors' items! ;)

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Originally Posted by EASmithV

...., a Leica is more jewelry than actual tool.

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..Only if You haven't shot with Leica.