Buy Dents
I visited my daughter's new home this week. It's her first home. It was built in 1925, but it is in very good condition.
I went into the kitchen. There was a gleaming stainless steel side-by-side refrigerator. I opened the door. It was smooth.
It looked like one of those expensive Sub-Zero models, which cost about what I pay for a car every ten years or so.
She is tight-fisted with her money. She hastened to assure me that she had bought it for well under 50% of retail.
It was a dented model. But I could see no dents.
She told me to look on the right side, which faced away from the front of the house. Sure enough, there was a dent. I probably would not have noticed it. I don't imagine that any male would. Men don't go looking for dents on refrigerators. They go looking for beer inside refrigerators.
That dent was worth hundreds of after-tax dollars in my daughter's bank account. The machine came with the same warranty as a new one. It was delivered and set up by Sears.
If you are determined not to pay retail for durable consumer goods, you don't have to most of the time.
Over years of buying smart and investing the difference, a person can build enough to retire on, if he starts early enough.
Buy dents. They pay!