Personal Finance and Investing

I had a LITTLE pickup truck for 20 years, until a deer thought it wise to cross the highway.

I got a LITTLE SUV which gets about 50% better gas mileage. And I may keep it until gas vehicles are banned, because it's probably the LAST model year that isn't wired to the internet and reporting everything, down to scratching my nose, to some data broker.

Sure do miss the pickup. Only about once a day, when I have something to haul that's too big or messy for a nice SUV.

Problem with owning two or more vehicles is the logistics of moving them around and maintaining them.

TBH, do I want a chauffeur, housekeeper and grounds keeper?

All that said, perhaps what I *really* want is to move closer to the ocean and civilization, as 7 acres of 10 foot tall brush and poison oak is a bit much to deal with at my age, but "chainsaw I must".

Big picture, I have always viewed possessions as having some present or future utility, so I collected some tools and spare parts (divorce-bait), as opposed to merely "symbolic" wealth such as the trinkets that advertisers want us to own purely to signal something (other than gullibility) For background, read "Money, Sex, War and Karma" by David Loy. The downward spiral of symbolic wealth is that one can never have enough. There will always be someone else richer, more attractive, more popular, and so on), and that suits capitalism just fine.

To the OP's point, ask whether this desire will result in real benefit to yourself and others. Photographs can. Music can. And tools can repair garage doors that someone (else) accidentally knocked akilter.

And also be aware that the term "hoarder" as an insult to mostly normal well-balanced people (ahem, like me) ignores the fact that some people grew up feeling short of all they wanted to grow, like all the electronic kits or telescopes they couldn't afford on a meager allowance, mowing lawns, and so on. Those little desires led to a pretty decent career in optical and electronic/computer engineering.

One thing I have to keep in mind is that while a techie tends to be impressed by "great technology inside" things should "work", like my chainsaw that requires NO TOOLS to open and to reset/replace the chain (YES), or my old cameras that still beat the new ones, and don't even have batteries to run down.

For everything else "neat", I'm building shadow boxes. Heck.

And new computers every 10 years or so!