Is the potential, possible recession stopping you from purchasing a mandolin these days?:(
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Is the potential, possible recession stopping you from purchasing a mandolin these days?:(
Not quite. Some fear of something will always loom.
In the short term, recent events might cause some to accelerate purchases of Chinese made instruments. I received e-mail today from the Mandolin Store that on Oct 1 prices of Eastman instruments would be going up by 6.5%. It is effecting most MIC instruments, not just Mandolins. Many USA made instruments builders are taking the cue and raising prices as well.
Frankly, if fear of a recession is making you rethink an instrument purchase, maybe you should be putting your money towards something more fundamental than a luxury item in the first place.
Weve been in turmoil up here for a while. The answer is no. Ill still keep buying. No time like now to be buying from folks that spent more than they should have.
Nope ! I live and spend like tomorrow might be my last ! :) Waiting on my new Girouard F4 !
Recession, sickness, and other kinds of misfortune are always possibilities. Buy what's within your reach and pay reasonable prices, and you will be happy and might even be able to make back what you paid, eventually. Can't live life worrying about the uncertainties, there's enough factual stuff to be worried about. :-)
A mandolin can get you through times of no money, but money won't get you through times of no mandolin.
- does anyone know who said that?
Nothing is stopping me as I buy what I want, Wife and kids are clothed and fed, bills paid very little debt! house paid for, land etc..I was already told once I wouldn't live another year and that was in late 2011 early 12-I was in bad shape healthwise! Life is full of uncertainties and no one is promised tomorrow! So life does go on in one way or another. I've never been one for new mandolins but was sold recently on one and slammed my $ down! No regrets, they all should increase in worth in the future for my Wife/Kids when I'm gone as I expect I'll go long before them, I'd rather have my $ into something tangible than look at a statement and wonder where it goes or a 401K that could take a serious dive and loose thousands but that's me and if that happens maybe instruments will only be worth to keep you warm by a fire?
No
Just cannot seem to find a used Stiver A with a radius. Fs are much more common as Lou has not built an A in a while. Scrolls just don't do anything for me (I know, don't tell me, I'm the odd one).
When a nice A with a redius comes aloing I will pull the trigger, so to speak.
While there is currently no recession happening there will always be the potential for one in the future. They seem to occur in somewhat regular cycles and another downturn will surely happen. I've managed to live through numerous recessions as my inventory of mandolins, guitars and now a fiddle steadily increase.
I only make big $$ purchases when I have the money to spare. I don't divert from my regular savings for them. I play for me and this isn't a business investment.
Jamie
If I were into high-end instruments it might give me pause, but my wife and I tend to focus on finding things we enjoy playing without breaking the bank. My Eastman OM is the most expensive new instrument I've ever owned. My wife has a violin and a viola that came from thrift stores, not first-chair orchestral quality but solid wood and very playable. I just ordered her birthday present, an electric fiddle, from a guy in Canada who crafts instruments in his spare time and is very affordable. Recessions are a good time to pick up bargains and restore them to playing condition.
The "business cycle" will trend downward, sooner or later. People with advanced degrees and many publications, who spend their lives studying economics, disagree on "when" and "how much," but I haven't heard anyone say that the economy will expand continuously forever. "Trees don't grow to the sky," as they say.
But [a] foregoing a purchase because of a potential recession, which may be six months or three years away, is making an immediate decision based on rumor and punditry, and [b] unless you're buying a Lloyd Loar Gibson F-5, or something comparable, the financial impact of the decision's relatively minor -- as compared to buying a house, automobile, boat, etc.
Certainly there have been times in my life when I had to think hard about coming up with $1K, but that had more to do with my personal "business cycle," than with overall economic conditions. If one's job/income situation is likely to be significantly worsened by a recession, I'd recommend more caution, but that would be true regardless of the economic forecasts that get bandied about 24-7 on cable.
I've heard that country music recording sales rise during economically depressed periods, so maybe there'd be more chances to play that new mandolin, for audiences seeking solace from the vicissitudes of the stock market and the unemployment rate.
No, in fact, maybe we should take it as an encouragement. If the economy implodes, maybe traveling bards will be the only people able to earn money. I for one plan to stand in front of the train station with an open case and see what that nets me.
Don't base your life intimadated by a so-called up coming recession or you will make it happen,,,live your life without fear...
Okay, no more wimpy hesitation!
There's MORE THAN a "potential, possible" recession coming - it absolutely WILL happen, eventually. Just as we all absolutely WILL be dead, eventually. Might as well use the interim to buy instruments and make music. That could even make some folks happy along the way... so that they don't have to, ya know, keep counting how many days they have left.
As Dylan said: "He not busy living is busy dying."
A couple thoughts.....
Don't buy as an investment, buy because you like it.......
Collectors who bought "high" in 2008, still have those instruments today, because they can't sell them for half of what they paid -- fine instruments, for sure -- just not an "investment".......
My friend who is a second-generation antique store owner and raised in the business once told me the key to his success, he said "you don't EVER want to run out of money!"
Never invest in anything you don't have a direct interest in..
Retired, fixed income, recession doesn't effect me other than hopefully bringing down the prices of toys I might buy.
I'm an economics junkie, read a lot of classics econ books, attended the local Federal Reserve events. As others have said recessions are an inevitable part of our economic system and certain fundamentals point to one in near future. The one additional point I'd like to make is that, even in the absence of those predictors, recessions can occur as self-fulfilling prophecies because people act based on what they think is about to happen. Last poll I saw said that 60% of Americans are expecting one so all we need is some time or a precipitating event for the prophecy to come to fruition.