Typically, the prospective vacationer “invests” a sum of money, say $10,000, which entitles her to spend a week at the property in perpetuity, or at least until the property falls down or the company goes bankrupt. The mental accounting works this way. The original payment is an investment (not a purchase), the annual “maintenance fee” is a nuisance, but future vacations at the property are “free.” Whether such an investment makes sense for a family will depend, in part, on how painful it is for them to spend money on vacations. But such investments should be seen for what they are: a way to
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