How to blow a bunch of money on your fire equipment

Financing equipment long term with your truck costs money. A lot of money. Financially smart department don't make this mistake.

Here's how fire departments waste a lot money on their equipment.
It happens often. You buy some equipment along with your new fire apparatus. And some departments finance the equipment with the apparatus payment.

How much money do they waste?
You'll pay about 50% of your loan amount in interest over 15 years. So, if you buy $50,000 of equipment with your apparatus and finance it over 15 years, you'll pay about $25,000 in interest. That's a lot of money for equipment that probably doesn't last 15 years. It's not a smart financial move. It's like financing your TV on your mortgage.

In summary, what's the smart move?
If you don't need to finance the equipment, don't finance it. It's not financially smart to finance relatively small purchases - only major purchases like apparatus or stations.

Or, if you do need to finance the equipment, break the equipment out separately and finance over a shorter time frame. You'll pay far less interest and pay off the equipment before its usefulness is expired.

Stay safe!

John R. Hill
Apparatus Budgeting Consultant
ENVIZION Financial
www.envizionfire.com