$50k Deposit

[ToddS]

Was it worth it to be married to your current spouse when your old flame turned out to be hotter in their old age,etc.etc.etc.

Wait! So you're saying she turned out to be hotter??!

 

[SteveOfMo]

When I started this thread - August 12th 2019 TSLA share price $229

Today February 21st 2020 share price $886

So the $50k deposit would be $193k today - 6 months later. That’s a 386% return! Again, why would anyone put down a $50k deposit!!

Your math is incorrect, it's 286% using your numbers. It's subtract the old number from the new number, then divide the difference by the old number, then multiply by 100. It's not 886/229x100.

 

[daniel]

$50k plus interest = cost of being one of the first.

Exactly!

Yes they will eventually mass produce these so I am sure they will lower the deposit to $5 or $10k.

They want to sell more and the way to do that is via financing with low enough down payments.

Tesla is not in a position to make a limited edition vehicle. They need money.

There's not going to be a huge market for a $200K super-car. This will be a flagship car to prove that electric cars own the field.

... No way I'm giving up thousands of dollars to get it 6 months earlier.

That's fine and sensible. The deposit is for the folks who can spare $50K for a few years and want to be the first in their town to own the quickest street-legal car in the world.

When I started this thread - August 12th 2019 TSLA share price $229

Today February 21st 2020 share price $886

So the $50k deposit would be $193k today - 6 months later. That’s a 386% return! Again, why would anyone put down a $50k deposit!!

I bought TSLA at $35 right after I took delivery on my Roadster but I was not willing to bet my savings on it. If I had, I'd be so filthy rich now! But I could have been wiped out also. Investing is always a risk. If you'd bought when it was $800 you wouldn't be so happy today.

$50K as a deposit now will still be $50K when it comes time to pay for the car as long as they don't fold. $50K in TSLA could be $100K or $200K when it comes time to buy the car, or it could be $25K. And TSLA is not paying dividends. Some of us depend on the interest and dividends from out investments to live in our retirement.

Tesla probably figures that anybody who really intends to buy this car and can afford it, and wants badly enough to be one of the first in line, can afford the $50K deposit. Also, they want to get a real idea what the demand is. For a $5K refundable deposit they'd get some people who would end up dropping out and not buying the car, or trying to sell their place in line. With a $50K deposit, they know that only people who are serious will plunk down the money. Some of those may not be able to buy it in the end, but they were serious when they put down the deposit.

 

[SteveOfMo]

Exactly!



There's not going to be a huge market for a $200K super-car. This will be a flagship car to prove that electric cars own the field.



That's fine and sensible. The deposit is for the folks who can spare $50K for a few years and want to be the first in their town to own the quickest street-legal car in the world.



I bought TSLA at $35 right after I took delivery on my Roadster but I was not willing to bet my savings on it. If I had, I'd be so filthy rich now! But I could have been wiped out also. Investing is always a risk. If you'd bought when it was $800 you wouldn't be so happy today.

$50K as a deposit now will still be $50K when it comes time to pay for the car as long as they don't fold. $50K in TSLA could be $100K or $200K when it comes time to buy the car, or it could be $25K. And TSLA is not paying dividends. Some of us depend on the interest and dividends from out investments to live in our retirement.

Tesla probably figures that anybody who really intends to buy this car and can afford it, and wants badly enough to be one of the first in line, can afford the $50K deposit. Also, they want to get a real idea what the demand is. For a $5K refundable deposit they'd get some people who would end up dropping out and not buying the car, or trying to sell their place in line. With a $50K deposit, they know that only people who are serious plunk down the money. Some of those may not be able to buy it in the end, but they were serious when they put down the deposit.

I purchae

Exactly!



There's not going to be a huge market for a $200K super-car. This will be a flagship car to prove that electric cars own the field.



That's fine and sensible. The deposit is for the folks who can spare $50K for a few years and want to be the first in their town to own the quickest street-legal car in the world.



I bought TSLA at $35 right after I took delivery on my Roadster but I was not willing to bet my savings on it. If I had, I'd be so filthy rich now! But I could have been wiped out also. Investing is always a risk. If you'd bought when it was $800 you wouldn't be so happy today.

$50K as a deposit now will still be $50K when it comes time to pay for the car as long as they don't fold. $50K in TSLA could be $100K or $200K when it comes time to buy the car, or it could be $25K. And TSLA is not paying dividends. Some of us depend on the interest and dividends from out investments to live in our retirement.

Tesla probably figures that anybody who really intends to buy this car and can afford it, and wants badly enough to be one of the first in line, can afford the $50K deposit. Also, they want to get a real idea what the demand is. For a $5K refundable deposit they'd get some people who would end up dropping out and not buying the car, or trying to sell their place in line. With a $50K deposit, they know that only people who are serious will plunk down the money. Some of those may not be able to buy it in the end, but they were serious when they put down the deposit.

I purchased 500 shares of TSLA at $187 and another 500 when it recently hit $350. That was the dip I was waiting for! Now let it ride for the next 10 years.

 

[GuyDude]

Got my refund.

 

[AMPd]

I purchae


I purchased 500 shares of TSLA at $187 and another 500 when it recently hit $350. That was the dip I was waiting for! Now let it ride for the next 10 years.

That’s a lot of money to keep banked interest free.

 

[daniel]

That’s a lot of money to keep banked interest free.

That's basically the reason I've never bought more shares of TSLA. I bought it so I could own a piece of the company. I'd have to be very desperate before I'd sell it, so I'll never get any money from its success. And I live off the income from my investments so I cannot afford to put everything in it.

OTOH, a younger person with a long time-line before retirement, who is investing for growth and does not need income from their investment because they get their income from their job, might find a zero-dividend growth company very appealing. As long as they're not putting all their eggs in one basket. That's always risky.

I do have a sizable chunk of solar bonds from Solar City, now Tesla. They're unsecured, non-transferable bonds, not redeemable before maturity, so they have the same risk and they are illiquid. But they pay a sweet 5% interest. And they financed the installation of solar panels. I guess that business model has gone out of favor because they have not issued solar bonds for a very long time. But I'm very happy with the investment and I'd have bought more if I could have.

 

[AMPd]

That's basically the reason I've never bought more shares of TSLA. I bought it so I could own a piece of the company. I'd have to be very desperate before I'd sell it, so I'll never get any money from its success. And I live off the income from my investments so I cannot afford to put everything in it.

OTOH, a younger person with a long time-line before retirement, who is investing for growth and does not need income from their investment because they get their income from their job, might find a zero-dividend growth company very appealing. As long as they're not putting all their eggs in one basket. That's always risky.

I do have a sizable chunk of solar bonds from Solar City, now Tesla. They're unsecured, non-transferable bonds, not redeemable before maturity, so they have the same risk and they are illiquid. But they pay a sweet 5% interest. And they financed the installation of solar panels. I guess that business model has gone out of favor because they have not issued solar bonds for a very long time. But I'm very happy with the investment and I'd have bought more if I could have.

I bought some around 260 something back when SEC was investigating musks 420 tweet. Then sold around 280 because I lost confidence in Musk as a CEO. He proved me wrong and I’m happy about that.
I really only prefer owning stock that pays a dividend.
Seeing that notification from E*TRADE pop up whenever a dividend is deposited to my account is just swell, don’t know why but something about getting money for nothing is so satisfying to me.

 

[daniel]

I bought some around 260 something back when SEC was investigating musks 420 tweet. Then sold around 280 because I lost confidence in Musk as a CEO. He proved me wrong and I’m happy about that.
I really only prefer owning stock that pays a dividend.
Seeing that notification from E*TRADE pop up whenever a dividend is deposited to my account is just swell, don’t know why but something about getting money for nothing is so satisfying to me.

The only individual issues I own are very small numbers in businesses that I particularly like, and that I want to feel a part of. Nearly everything else is in mutual funds, other than a very few individual bond issues, again that I had a special reason for favoring, like munis from a city I lived in and that I thought was well run. When it comes to my livelihood I'm very conservative.

I agree that getting money for nothing is very nice. It's what enables me to live where I do and enjoy the activities I love (when there's not a pandemic going on, that is. )

 

[bolosky]

So if we're telling TSLA stories here, as an early-ish Roadster owner they offered to sell me shares in the IPO. I took them up on it and got them at $17. I bought some more a little later, and sold the lot of it around $171. I figured that more than 10x was just being greedy. That paid for the Roadster and my wife's Model S, including tax on the cars and capital gains tax on the stock sale. So I basically got two free Teslas.

 

[ICUDoc]

So if we're telling TSLA stories here, as an early-ish Roadster owner they offered to sell me shares in the IPO. I took them up on it and got them at $17. I bought some more a little later, and sold the lot of it around $171. I figured that more than 10x was just being greedy. That paid for the Roadster and my wife's Model S, including tax on the cars and capital gains tax on the stock sale. So I basically got two free Teslas.

That's a hell of a story- $17? I'd never even heard of Tesla then.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing- if only I'd bought 10 000....or 100 000....or ....

 

[daniel]

So if we're telling TSLA stories here, as an early-ish Roadster owner they offered to sell me shares in the IPO. I took them up on it and got them at $17. I bought some more a little later, and sold the lot of it around $171. I figured that more than 10x was just being greedy. That paid for the Roadster and my wife's Model S, including tax on the cars and capital gains tax on the stock sale. So I basically got two free Teslas.

You got the cars "free" in the same sense that you get "free" money if you pick the right horse at the racetrack: You took a risk and won. Back then, it was anybody's guess whether or not Tesla would succeed. If everybody had known how successful Tesla would be, the IPO price would have been $500 rather than $17.

That's a hell of a story- $17? I'd never even heard of Tesla then.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing- if only I'd bought 10 000....or 100 000....or ....

There are a handful of companies in recent years that have succeeded so well that if you'd bought in big at the start you could be ten times as rich now as you are. $1,000 worth of Bitcoin in 2011 would be worth $22 million today, and that's after it's fallen from over $60 million. I met a guy who declined an opportunity to invest in GoPro at the very start. Thinking about what could have been is not a profitable use of our time. For every company that made its founders and investors rich, there are hundreds, if not thousands, that went bust.

 

[bolosky]

You got the cars "free" in the same sense that you get "free" money if you pick the right horse at the racetrack: You took a risk and won. Back then, it was anybody's guess whether or not Tesla would succeed. If everybody had known how successful Tesla would be, the IPO price would have been $500 rather than $17.

Of course it was a risk. I was intentionally exaggerating when I called it free. That said, having driven a Tesla for a while before making the investment I knew at least that the cars were much better to drive than most people thought at the time, so I felt like $17 was underpriced. And I fully expected the most likely outcome was to lose my investment when I made it, because you're right, that's the fate of most startups.

I've invested in two other startups. Both of them are still alive and neither one is public. One looks like it will go public and pay off really well. The second one remains to be seen. So I've been really lucky with my choices of early stage companies.

 

[daniel]

Of course it was a risk. I was intentionally exaggerating when I called it free. That said, having driven a Tesla for a while before making the investment I knew at least that the cars were much better to drive than most people thought at the time, so I felt like $17 was underpriced. And I fully expected the most likely outcome was to lose my investment when I made it, because you're right, that's the fate of most startups.

I've invested in two other startups. Both of them are still alive and neither one is public. One looks like it will go public and pay off really well. The second one remains to be seen. So I've been really lucky with my choices of early stage companies.

I, too, bought my shares of TSLA after buying my Roadster, in 2011. I did not expect to lose my money because that car was the most amazing thing on four wheels that was legal to drive on public roads. But I also was not willing to risk more than a few thousand dollars, and of course the price of the car which would likely have been worthless if the company failed and was not around to service it.

I don't regret my decision because at the time there was no way to know. I was willing to risk as much as I did, but not willing to risk my income by putting a significant part of my investments (which I live on) into a start-up.

 

[CraZ8]

The best story I know of passing on a low stock price was a good friend of my fathers who was in Japan with the military during the 50s. He had something to do with finance and a couple of Japanese businessmen approached him with an offer to buy half of a fledgling electronic company for $5000. His only response was “ who would buy anything named Sony?” He retired as a bank president in Tennessee so he did ok but talk about missed opportunities!
I wish I had some free cash six months ago to buy TSLA but put it into a model S instead. Instant gratification I guess

 

[Cal1]

Don't see any reference to the Roadster on the Tesla website. Do you have to go in a store to do a deposit?

 

[Nded]

Do you use the internet much?

Click pull down, click 'more', Roadster next to Cyber Truck.

 

[Cal1]

Click pull down? Click what? Thanks I did find it from another post.

 

[MagnusMako]

Went nearly all in from an inheritance at 227/share late summer of last year. Risky? Yes. Rewarding? Beyond all expectations. Sold @ 900 pre-crash, re-bought at 400 on the way up from 360 bottom.

I'd love to put down for one in maybe a year or whenever we have a more firm delivery time frame. I'd much rather keep putting that 50k to work than needing to be one of the first ones. Like Elon said, Roadster is dessert, so it's really still a ways off - I think probably not till early 2022 for first production if we're lucky.

 

[XLR82XS]

I'd love to put down for one in maybe a year or whenever we have a more firm delivery time frame. I'd much rather keep putting that 50k to work than needing to be one of the first ones. Like Elon said, Roadster is dessert, so it's really still a ways off - I think probably not till early 2022 for first production if we're lucky.

Exactly. I won't give up 50K now as it can work for me for a couple years.