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This only works if ALL things happen. -You have the cash to buy outright.

-You have an investment that you can reliably withdraw the funds from.

-There isn't risk to losing principal with the investment.

-The investment outpaces inflation + interest. If inflation is 3% in your example you just lost .6%.

99% of the time these things aren't true for the 5-7 years of a loan.

Does inflation really matter here? The value of the loan isn’t inflated, so I don’t think inflation should “count” here?

Willing to be wrong on that, just having a hard time understanding.

I'd argue that inflation is further reducing the cost.

Inflation means that $1 is fundamentally less valuable in the future than it is right now. If we're making a deal for me to pay $1 in the future, I'd prefer to make that $1 payment as far out as possible.

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