[jacobsed]

In 2016 I had the cash to buy my SPF but chose to finance and used Woodside Credit. They were very easy to work with and the transaction was flawless and the payment was $525. I'd highly recommend using them if you are financing. The interest was like 5% which was basically the best or close and they specialize in what I was doing.

I totally understand the perspective that you should pay cash. If you can afford to make payments then you can afford to save up first. Its the only way to go to avoid risk and stay out of trouble. Many people screw that up by getting in way over their heads.

I have saved and paid cash my whole life up until the point where I could start leveraging my own money and make some moves that I was unwilling to make earlier in life. I did not pay cash but decided to leave my $50k invested (non retirement account). I made a lot more money leaving it invested over the interest I was paying on the loan. Once I saw the Carno virus scaring the market I pulled that money and paid off the loan.

In summary I left my $50k invested in good growth stock mutual funds from January 2016 and pulled it out early Feb 2019. It ran up to $91K and I netted $85K after capital gains tax. That is a 16% annualized return. I'm really happy I didn't pay cash for the Cobra because it would have cost me a bunch of money.