HP Forum Archive 05

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Regrets Message #1 Posted by D. Banks on 28 Mar 2001, 9:35 a.m. I know I'm repeating myself, but I still remember back in the 70s when the HP-70s went on closeout. The price dropped so much (along with the others that were closing out at the time) that I remembered thinking I could start an HP collection, starting with the 70, which I assumed would be one of the harder ones to get later on, since I never knew anyone who'd buy one. It was indeed pretty cheap, but since I was making about $600/month at the time, I really couldn't afford it. Now, I see a 70 being bid up to $480 on its first day on eBay, and I have to wonder how many of my own footprints my butt is going to collect over the next week. Yeah, yeah, inflation, opportunity cost, all those arguments. Still... I sure wish I'd got that 70 when I had the chance.

Depends on how much they were on closeout! Message #2 Posted by Gene on 28 Mar 2001, 5:08 p.m., in response to message #1 by D. Banks Inflation has pretty much tripled the value of $1 since 1975, so if an HP70 is $500 today, then this is equivalent to about $166 back in 1976. I'd guess, but I also imagine that $500 today is a smaller percentage of your income than $166 might have been back in 1975. Still, IF you had found them REALLY cheap and kept them NIB, then you would make a real killing today. My 2 cents, Gene

Re: Depends on how much they were on closeout! Message #3 Posted by S. Martin on 29 Mar 2001, 1:48 p.m., in response to message #2 by Gene Perhaps the best investment would have been in a 16C. In 1989 they were selling for perhaps $60. Buying one new and selling it today on eBay would bring at least 5 times your investment (a 16C NIB goes for at least $300 today on eBay). That's equivalent to investing $60 in a savings account over ten years with an annual interest rate of 16.2%. Not too bad! But then again, hindsight is 20/20.

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