20180706 (Fri)
Now, my brother wants me to also pay for his maintenance cost of 4 cars. How?
In loan, this is called “interest cost”.
Your brother’s 4 cars (RM287,000) comes with service and maintenance. Now, your own cars (RM37,000) is your own cost and maintenance. You can use them to make money. So, you can actually provide car rental service and earn money.
Your brother’s cars (RM287,000) can also be used for rental, but he said he is charging you maintenance (interest). Hence, using your brother’s 4 cars can actually make you poorer if his cars are lousy (high interest cost). Is that right?
Therefore, you need to ensure making use of your brother’s 4 cars can really make ends meet. Is their use worth it? Meaning, if you use your brother’s cars to run a Grab service (for example), is the earning able to cover the maintenance?
If your own car can make money (for driving Grab), would you want to borrow your brother’s 4 cars (also for driving Grab) to make a viable business out of it?
That is the answer to the question of RM287,000 loan. Should or shouldn’t I reduce it using my RM37,000 to have lesser loan at RM250,000? Or continue using both RM287,000 and RM37,000 (total RM324,000) both cash and loan together?
It is a personal decision, based on your risk appetite and your available choice of investment vehicles. I would say, if you can loan (RM287,000) at low interest cost (housing loan is the cheapest borrowing), and use your available cash (RM37,000) to make more money, then using RM324,000 (RM287,000 + RM37,000) would be a better deal than using RM250,000 (RM287,000 – RM37,000).