What goods should you buy and what should you rent?

mrochester · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:25

I find the spread of subscription business models feels very insidious. It seems designed to entrap customers and to extract more money out of them.

On that basis, what goods do you believe you should own and not rent and vice versa?

Here are some of the common ones I believe you should own:

Home
Car
Computer software
Music
Films

Here are some of the common ones I think you should rent:

Internet connection
Mobile plan
VPN connection

Firestar_3x · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:28

Can you buy anything on your rent list?

mrochester · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:36

Firestar_3x said:
Can you buy anything on your rent list?

no but then I think that’s the point...

krooton · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:38

mrochester said:
no but then I think that’s the point...

They are services, doi

ultralaser · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:39

You measure the cost of ownership over the likley period of owning.

/thread.

mrochester · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:39

krooton said:
They are services, doi

Correct...

The_Arbiter · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:39

I often raise this point, as do others. Some people even really like it. I just think it's the new "in" thing. May as well cut out the middle man, (credit cards).

Services are good for subscription, and getting deals vs one off cost.

Any physical objects, or even digital media i prefer to own. Renting (streaming), i think is still good, but the cost vs owning, i may as well own. Also i like to support artists directly, movies i don't care. And Netflix services still need another 10yrs before getting good imo.

Lease cars, if you have the money, sure why not. But imo, waste of money, but i'm not earning 40k a year.

UK housing is a sick joke, and another topic altogether.

Oh, and this Google Stadia type gaming, no thanks. Give me pc building, mods, and opensouce, thankyou.

Would i rent computer software, hah, no. Business use, yes.

If youtube becomes paid for i'll likely not use it. I already have no care for twitter, instagram, etc. Whatsapp is good, but i wouldn't pay subscription for it. I have a phone bill for a reason.

TV is subscription based from the BBC, but i feel it's poor value for money. If there were no adverts on the other channels and radio, sure it'll be worth the money.

moon man · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:43

my list is about the same ,house and car owned outright ,and software and music i have a promotional now tv subscription ,sky movies 2 quid something a month ,and mate 20 pro unlimited everything at 20 a month but had this a while ,my total overheads are maybe 50 quid a week ,hence i dont work much

Orionaut · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:44

Rent things you would like but not need.

Buy things that you have to have and cant live without.!

robfosters · 8 Mar 2020 at 20:59

Nothing wrong with renting computer software. Sometimes you only want to try them or you need them for a particular project like editing your holiday videos or something. What’s the point in paying hundreds for premiere when you can rent it for a couple of months to finish your project?

hornetstinger · 8 Mar 2020 at 21:04

Slaves?

Holst1981 · 8 Mar 2020 at 21:11

hornetstinger said:
Slaves?

With zero hours contracts you can outsource housing and food

FoxEye · 8 Mar 2020 at 21:19

The_Arbiter said:
Would i rent computer software, hah, no. Business use, yes.

Well, besides FOSS software, a number of companies are phasing out their perpetual products in favour of subscriptions. Sure it's mainly business soft atm, but who knows what the software landscape will look like in a few years time.

The existence of FOSS helps but doesn't really guarantee that your favourite soft might not turn sub only.

And at this point, is Office really just business soft? Is Adobe Cloud software just for business? Arguably not, and they're already subscription based.

Maybe Windows itself will stay "free" (who knows), but it's not beyond the realms of possibility that MS might start wanting a monthly payment. People seem fine with XBox and PS subs.

Jury's still out on how all this will unfold, ultimately.

Orionaut · 8 Mar 2020 at 21:32

Holst1981 said:
With zero hours contracts you can outsource housing and food

That is kind of why slavery went out of fashon.

Nothing to do with social conscience,

Simply that with the invention of mechanised power (Initially steam engines, later ICE's)

Chattel slavery was no longer economically wothwhile.

Poor people could be far more easily exploited vie indebtedness and wage bondage...

Firestar_3x · 8 Mar 2020 at 22:00

mrochester said:
Correct...

Yes they are services which are not available for purchase, therefore "thinking you should rent them" is irrelevent, you have no option but to rent them!

Anyway I / we own everything bar 2 of our houses outright, I do no like the idea of leasing vehicles or renting phones, I do however subscribe to multiple services.

SPG · 8 Mar 2020 at 22:06

Home

Anything else is a nice to have.

Pawnless Endgame · 9 Mar 2020 at 08:11

Internet, phone, water are utilities, so ofc you rent them.

The hosue etc is something that you should own. It's the difference between paying towards your own pension vs paying towards a landlord's pension. I'm glad I only rented for 3.5 years.

dirtychinchilla · 9 Mar 2020 at 09:24

The rule of thumb is normally if it appreciates, buy it. If it depreciates, rent it.

To the guy that thinks Netflix needs ten more years, you obviously haven't been using Netflix.

StriderX · 9 Mar 2020 at 09:33

Well apparently because it's a borrowers market you should indebt yourself to the hilt going by the data.

Hades · 9 Mar 2020 at 09:45

I don't think it's a simple list that's the same for everyone. For example I do generally agree about owning a house and car. But in some circumstances it makes sense to rent. For example if you move around the country a lot for work then renting might be a better option for housing. In this situation I think that owning one or more investment properties, where you do not live, would shield you against property price rises. But then rent property to live in wherever you wanted.

I have always been a big proponent of owning a car too. But with the huge incoming changes over the next decade I think I would only want to own a cheap used car. I wouldn't want to buy a new one. So renting for new cars looks a better option than buying one to me right now.

I'd own my phone, tablet and computer. I'd also obviously own my clothes. Small electricals are so cheap you might as well just buy them. But I can see the case for renting everything else for mobility.