I have made good money on my investments every year. Well, except for the slightly over $100,000 that disappeared in 08.

However I can take $3K each year off of my income taxes on the loss. I'm 71 so I need to take care of myself to recover as much as I can. In thirty some more years the deduction will end.

 

Finance but always try to pay it off early.

 

If you have a great year and make $100K, you can apply all $100K of your past losses towards your Capital Gains and not owe a penny in Federal Taxes.

 

That. Except I went through Eagle at a decent rate. It's automatically deducted. I don't even notice the payment each month. I'll throw a few grand at the loan here and there and pay it off in half the term. My cars are paid for. My house is paid for. Boats, snowmobiles, three other bikes, etc, etc...all paid for. I earn more off my cash than what I'm paying out, so financing isn't just for those who can't pay outright for the bike.

I get the pay cash for a used bike thing. It's sound advice for most people. But, there are exceptions. I wanted a used 09 or newer Ultra, but the price I got on the new bike was one custom seat (that's how I look at bike things - in parts cost) away from a used one. A thousand bucks less doesn't justify a year less warranty or the prior use. Between that and the interest rate the math worked out.

 

Paid as much as the dealer would allow on my credit card so that I could get some frequent flyer miles, then paid the balance in cash, and immediately paid the balance that was charged to the credit card. So yes, the answer is paid in cash.

 

Financed because I bought on a weekend and did not have access to my funds till Monday. Sent a check to Harley that week and paid it off.

 

Don't blame anyone but yourself, it was a stupid question
to ask a bunch of bikers in the first place....

 

It was used but paid for up front. Best debt is NO debt.

 

I was going to pay cash for mine. But, I didn't have the cash for the upgrades I wanted to do. Rather than wait to work on it, I chose to finance 7K and get soem of the work I wanted done and a few other things. Besides, it's been so long since I've had anything other than a home loan that my rating was starting to go down.

 

Financed...will have it paid off in less than a year.