Timeshares — Never Intended to be an Investment

Not long ago, NuWire Investor ran an article entitled, “Top 5 Reasons Why Timeshares are Horrible Investments”. And while I wouldn’t have used the word horrible, I certainly agree that you should never buy timeshare as an investment.

But here’s the critical point that people miss over and over again when they preach about what a lousy investment timeshares are: Timeshares are not intended to be an investment!

It is always funny to me that you don’t see articles telling you that a car is a horrible investment and admonishing you not to buy one. We accept the fact that cars depreciate. When is the last time you bought a car, drove it, and then resold it for as much or more than you paid for it?

There is a pretty long list of things that we all buy that do not yield a return upon resale. Besides cars, trucks, motor homes, and boats, there are other items like golf clubs, clothes, new appliances for the kitchen, TV’s, and computers—all of which begin to lose value the moment we take ownership of them.

We buy some things in life because we want to use them and enjoy them. We know they are not likely to appreciate during the time we own them, but we accept that. We want a car to drive to work each day, a microwave oven in our kitchens and a big screen TV in the den. And we want to kick back, enjoy using our purchases, enjoy sharing them with our families, and know that we are getting our money’s worth returned in good times, good experiences, and a more pleasurable lifestyle.

…And those are all pretty good reasons to buy timeshare, aren’t they?