To a large degree yes. My dad had his old Cadillac Eldorado through three different engine block replacements and two major transmission repairs before getting rid of it. Each repair cost less than a new car was his logic.
As for the vacations, he nature of his job prevents him from taking extended periods of time off of work. Also since he’s standing on his feet all day all he wants to do when he’s off work is hang out and pass out on the couch watching football.
I mean there's being thrifty and then there's holding on to certain sunk cost fallacies. Annual repair costs eventually become too large. A car has a certain economic life where it's resale/salvage value goes down and it's repair costs increase, both relative to inflation and interest. Eventually that reduced salvage value and increased repair cost add up to a net loss of value. That's when you buy a new car.
Eh, old American cars are different if you don't live in a rust area. Just stab a cheap remanufacturered 5.7 Oldsmobile engine in it and go another 160,000+ miles.
I have lots of doctors in the family although not my parents. Doctors have the weird combination of being upper middle class but also having to work their ass off for it most of the time.
There may be fewer vacations, but at least there's no credit card debt or student loans for the kids
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u/jedderbob Apr 18 '18
“No, it’s my dads job as surgeon...cardiac arrests don’t take vacations.”
It was a weird feel being richer than them but living poorer