re: Disney Vacation Club

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Would you discount 50%?

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Not sure what exact number I would use. On one hand, you have more flexibility with DVC than you do with a traditional timeshare, since you can vary the week of use.

On the other hand, DVC comes with an expiration date, where traditional timeshares do not.

Traditional timeshares lose their value when newer complexes are built and people want to spend their time at the better, newer places.

With DVC, you basically are paying for a depreciating asset, as the value effectively is reduced with every passing use, as there is a finite number of years it can be used.

I don't know of anyone that looks at it as a financial investment with the idea of a massive financial return. You could get a financial return in the form of discounted future vacations.

You are basically locking in most of the future cost of your hotel stay for future vacations. Your future cost each year is the cost of assessments, plus an amortized amount of the purchase price. If you buy 150 points at 80 a point, before closing costs, it is $12,000. If there are 40 years left on the contract, that's an additional $300 a year. If your annual costs are $6 a point, that's $900/year, so you are looking at roughly $1200 a year the first year with a 3-4% increase each year.

You also have to consider that the point values needed for a stay change (increase) over time. 116 points currently gets you a week in the summer at Animal Kingdom Lodge in a standard view deluxe studio room. But in the future, the dates of each season can change - which may effect how you can use your points, effecting value of them.

Our family goes to Disney most years, but we never pay $1200 in hotel costs on a trip, so, the club does not make sense to me.