Investing in electronics

Few things have dropped in price faster than electronics. That’s one of the reasons I buy the bare minimum that will do the job. I remember about 20 years ago, a friend of mine said he owned about $20,000 worth of electronics. Any idea what those are worth today? I’m guessing almost nothing. How many people want to buy a 20 year old computer?

Think about that 20 year old computer when you get tempted to buy the newest and best bit of electronics. Imagine that a few years down the road, that bit of electronics will be little more than junk.

Now there are good reasons to buy the best in electronics. An engineer needs a darn capable computer to do his job efficiently. A musician may justify the purchase of good recording gear. A serious gamer may justify having a really good gaming platform. I’m not criticizing the last one. People can spend a lot of money on their hobbies. If that’s what they want to do, that’s their business.

If you are buying the latest shiny electronic device, be aware that you may be throwing money away. Compare that to buying something like a good shovel or a quality socket set. Twenty years later both of those things are probably just as useful as the day they were bought. It’s tempting to buy the hot new products but make sure there’s a real reason to do so.

I’m assuming few of us have money to throw away.

There’s a couple of other concerns that keep me away from expensive electronics. The sun is entering a time of increasing solar activity. A rogue pulse of energy from the sun could turn electronics into bricks.

We can debate the odds of that happening, but there is something that is of real concern right now -at least to me. Most of my electronic power is generated from my own solar electric system. Electricity is not unlimited. I have to justify how it’s used. My electrically powered equipment is carefully chosen. Not only is it inexpensive, it’s efficient. I’m one of the few people who what to know exactly how much power something uses before I buy it.

Electronics can be lots of fun, they can be useful, but they aren’t investments.

-Sixbears