I know there are so many variables in each persons life and priorities as well but the 50% of your yearly income seems a nice/logical rule of thumb.

X2

I don't have any kids so no college tuition payments for me!!!!

When Suzy Orman says you can afford it...

DENIED !!!!! Cars first , money second and people last. Now you know. Signed Suzy.

That's how I did the math too. I took an honest look at my car-buying habits, and the money I'd spent on my DD's over the years.

I bought a used '85 Trans Am (5.0 TPI) in '91 for $6,500 and sold it in '96 for $2,000. 69% loss over 5 years.

I bought a new Firebird Formula (LT1, 6-spd) in '96 for $19,500 and sold it in '03 for $6,500. 67% loss over 7 years.

I bought a new Honda S2000 in '03 for $30,600 and sold it in '13 for $13,500. 56% loss over 10 years.

I only modded the Formula mildly, but I modded the snot outta the S2K. (Turbo, then Supercharger, suspension, etc.) I knew my next purchase would be a Vette, and the mods would start all over again because it's an addiction. I knew if I bought a C6 Z06 or a C7, I'd wind up blowing another $10k on mods in the first few years. And I'd have to watch them depreciate.

So I started thinking about my total cost of ownership over a 10 year cycle, and how I'm blowing money on cars left and right. I needed a strategy that met my goals for the least money.

I went out and did some test driving last August and found that I loved how the C5 Z06 rides and drives. I bought one the next day. It was half the price of a used C6 Z06 and less than half the price of a not-yet-on-sale C7. I'm already $8k deep in mods with more planned... And right on track toward my planned total spend for this vehicle.

I love the C7. I love the C6. I love the C5. I'd love to have all of them. But Corvettes are pretty reliable these days, as is the rate of depreciation of new cars. So I'll wait and buy a used C7 in 8 years. That's not the answer for everyone, but it works for me.

:iagree: Thats my thought as well, its almost like asking someone who's on their 3 divorce for marriage advice.

This however was a very interesting post considering the thoughts and opinions from other forum members. Being 29, some of my closest friends think I have half a brain for purchasing a 65k car but they have no idea about my finances.

I had to give up a few bad habits but Im single, no kids, no debt other than this and my house, I pull a little over 6 figures, I have a monthly bonus that will cover my car payment for the next 18 months, and finally it was now or never for me before I start a family.

:cheers:

1. Do you have at least three months of income preferably (4-6mo) saved and ready for
immediate use
2. Are you fully funding your retirement each and every month
3. Are your monthly debt service payments very low?
4. If you are married with kids, do you have adequate ( not the rainy day fund in #1)
savings set aside to take care and educate them if you in the event you are not
there to take care of them in the future.

If you can answer yes to those three questions then you have your financial house in order and you have the ability to use a large part of your disposable income for whatever you want - house - Corvette - boat - vacations whatever.
If you dont have the above things handled, you need to step back -make a plan and follow it to get these important long term needs handled - they affect your family and you and your long term happiness in life.
This is why the demographics show more older buyers buy Corvettes. They have had the time to save and get their futures secure and now have the disposable income to pay cash for the car. As one of the posters said - if you can say what will cost if I pay cash then you are where you need to be.

The current fad of "hey you only live once and may die next week" works only if you die next week. If you live and have no money to retire or take care of you family in times of dire need, that quote does not work - you did not die but you end with no money and no life. A C7 is an incredible car but it is still only a car - the future of your family is far more important. Sorry if this got "preachy"

Thanks man. That's really why I started this thread was to see what peoples thoughts were about pulling the trigger on pretty expensive toy. Everybody has different income, debt, priorities and etc.

I don't know why some people get sooo uptight about it. I mean I doubt to many of us will ever meet personally so why not share a part of our lives that we normally keep private with a bunch of strangers on the internet that all love the same car. :D

:iagree: Thank you, thank you, thank you. The YOLO thing is so overrated. Life is really damn long for most of us, so it's wise to think long term.

agree we can live many years but I can't say the same thing about the U.S. currency.

Too many variables for sure,
A few that do stand the test of time that I adhere to;

1. Try to keep you mortgage at 15% of you monthly gross income.
Give you a lot more flexibility in your life. Put at least 20% down.

2. Put enough down on your cars so that through the life of the loan you are never upside down. Life happens, you never know.

3. Obviously, never keep a balance on your credit cards.

I have an asset allocation for all our fun stuff which is roughly 10% of my total net assets. I basically borrow from myself out of this fund for cars, vacations, boats, whatever. Vacations are paid back in one year and autos over 3-4 years. The difference between what I paid for the car minus estimated depreciation is the amount I repay in order to keep the asset value at my goal.

No right answer!! I don't think YOLO is overrated at all. Life goes by so fast I've felt this way since my 20's. You will be 70 before you know it!! Every retirement calculator puts my wife and I right on par by 60yrs old!! We could save at least 30K/yr more, but we spend it. Save for what? For it to sit there? How much do you really need to be happy?

When I die there will be no inheritance to give but a house to leave, that's it!! That's me ;) When I'm 70 my youngest child will be 42 the oldest 50 do they really care if I leave them a lot of $$$? I know I didn't!! I told my mom to live her life have fun especially with everything she went through with dad. Don't not spend to leave it to me........how crazy is that!!

I work with guys (well 3) who have 7 figure nest eggs and 200-300K in the bank and they drive 10yr old vehicles, don't go on trips, live in modest houses, their nest egg and their $$ in the bank is their happiness.

I don't alzheimers runs in my family, as does heart attack, as does diabetes, I go on a trip a month EVERY MONTH, go through sports cars never owning one more than 3 years, still save for retirement, but could save so so much more!! I eat super healthy, but genetics are genetics and every male over the age of 65 has Alzheimers on m Dad's side, so I'm more than just a little worried. My dad, all of his 7 brothers, my grandfather, all died and suffered from the complications of Alzheimers. All became vegetables before 75.

So, for me and my predisposition I'm not looking to live to 90 and am fully aware the ramifications if I do have to live that long.


No right answer imo everyone is different!! If you can afford the payment buy it if things get hard sell it!!

I agree on most of what you said because it's true. But I would like to leave a little more for my kids so they can buy some toys too.

i think your on the light side. after taxes your talking 100K net income. to put 70% of your yearly income into a car, to me, seems a lot. getting back to my post, i think its about your net worth, not your income.

but its complicated, since you have other long term objectives for your savings, and need a lot of money for retirement ( id say a minimum of $3 million for retirement, in order to maintain a reasonable life style). i retired early, about 6 years ago, and can tell you that when it stops coming in, it goes out pretty fast. but then again, if youre 30 years old, youve got a lot of time left to accumulate wealth. so, maybe you should just go for it. yea, thats it, JUST GO FOR IT. or, as i like to say, carpe el diem.

I think you mean 3 months of expenses?

If someone has a very large income, and is saving a substantial part of it, why would they need the savings part to be liquid?
I generally keep 2 months of living expenses in the bank (which is less than 1/2 month's income) - that is my idea of liquid. The rest is kept "working" in a pair of trading accounts that could be accessed if need be.

:iagree:
In my opinion your annual salary should not be less than the car cost...sheesh and he lives with his folks...shame on them both, him for taking advantage and not being a man and them for allowing him to stay on the tit that way...eek:ack:

And just think some people spend that on a pack or cigarettes per day?

Any smokers out there, you can trade for a C7..............

Wow guys after reading this I'm depressed but I'm going to drive my red vert off into the sunset and enjoy it while I can.:cheers:

I love threads like this that bring out the judgement police who think they know exactly how everyone should live their lives even without knowing a particular individual or their situation. :rolleyes:

If we're making generalizations, since you're in Alabama does that mean you live with your sister?

^^ I guess that means your income is less than the cost of your car. :rofl:

Wow. Now I feel really good after hearing the rule thumb.

Maybe you should include a CPA course with that....:rofl: could not hurt :rofl:
Personally being the sweet Southern girl that I am I always have the protection of my pink Baby Glock:thumbs:

I didn't use any specific rule of thumbs, but this is exactly what mine worked out to be. $72K car, ~$140K income. Terrible financial decision for a 23 year old, but hey, I want to live my life and enjoy it.

The C7 is a "WANT" car (also called a TOY). To a lesser extent, the older generations also fall into a want/toy category.

If it is a want, pay cash....

Blue bomber697,
While I understand your train of thought, I must warn you that a few of my friends had similar thoughts at your age, now as we turn 50 yrs old, they are in a world of hurt trying to pay tuition with no savings and realizing they have nothing for retirement. But "hey they lived their life and enjoyed it" problem is those trips and big screen TV's and stuff that has been out of fashion for 20 years are quickly forgotten, but their kid's college and his retirement isn't..Just food for thought. Save alot now, buy an older used Vette and save save save.

What if you live till 90 and you burned up a big chuck of your nest egg early. I always pay cash for cars, never trade in anything. It makes for EASY negotiation, I tell them I'll pay TODAY, this amount, take it or leave it. Never had one leave it. SO, till you can belly up the cash, you probably can't REALLY afford it.

If people would really buy C7s based on the recommendations in this thread they would have sold about as many cars so far as SRT has sold vipers...

Buy a Vette, don't race it, and with the understressed V8 it should last a long, long time. (Even better, buy one of those eight-year-old C6s with about 5,000 miles on them.)

Or you can live frugally, turn 40 and find out you have brain cancer and die in 3 months.

Meh.

You could make 500k with 500k expenses and make 50k with 10k of expenses…..

So many choices . . . . I'll compromise and go with making $500k with $10k of expenses, please.

:thumbs:

Don't count on obama to change your diaper when you get old. All this healthcare silly-ness could change then change again and again.

If you are in your 20-40's you can bet medicare will not be as benevolent as it has been in days gone by. -- and they will raise the age from 65 to 85 before you become eligible to qualify for medicare.

My mortgage broker friend told me the banks like to see a total debt service ratio of 40% or under.

So this means that no more than 40% of your monthly pre-tax income should go towards debt repayment and property taxes.

So if a person is earning $120k pre-tax, translates to 10k a month, at 40% = $4,000 a month maximum in debt payments. Assuming this person has no credit card or other debts, just a mortgage of $1,400 and property tax of $300, he's only at 17% TDSR. He can have a car payment of $2,300 per month before he hits the max ratio, potentially two C7's :D

Well that's their way of calculating what you can afford, does not necessarily mean its their calculation of the smartest way to spend. But you can pick a lower TDSR like 25% as a goal for yourself instead of 40%, subtract your monthly debt repayments from it, to calculate a max car payment amount.

Just remember that it was folks in his profession and related financial institutions that nearly put this country underground in 2008. I still haven't forgiven them for that.

well heck with the c7 then i'll buy a lambo. :woohoo: j/k

i
i hope you knew i was kidding. If that health care law goes into full effect non of us are going to get good health care anymore.

:cheers::cheers:

Nice analysis. good response. im going to send you any future financial calculations i need to have done.

buy smart, either cash or finance smart, sell before major depreciation hit. what really matters is how much you lose.

I've been having this same thought for a while. Here is me

30 yo married no kids
Recently laid off and collecting unemployment 2500/ mo
I'm looking for a job but not really interested in taking one unless some super awesome deal comes along. I'm probably going to stick with self employed for the next few yrs

Total debt +- 600k. Roughly 6000 a month in mortgage payments
Rental portfolio averages about 9800 per month in operating profit

Also have investment in a rental business that is currently yielding around 2000 a month and should ramp up to about 8000 a month within 12 months but will require additional investment on my part of about 75000

Enough cash on hand to pay cash for a car but then savings would be 20k or so. Also have another business that is very volatile and sometimes makes as much as 30k a month but can also make as little as 2000 a month I need roughly 100k working capital for this operation which is about what I have.

My wife works but I let her keep all the cash so I'm not considering that here.

I'm pretty sure if I set an 800$ payment on autopay I wouldn't even know it was coming out but for some reason I cant convince myself to go buy one. The thing bothering me is that in 2 years the first year model will probably not have some awesome feature that came out on the 16s and it'll be worth 25k less. So here I sit with my 15 year old c5. Someone will be along shortly to trash talk me I'm sure lol

The thing that really stops me is when I consider adding that 800$ payment to paying off my mortgages instread plus the c5 I have is still fun

You're collecting unemployment with an income of about 30k a month???

Yup, exactly why I recommended to pick your own max TDSR that you feel comfortable with instead of the bank's 40%, then see how the corvette payment affects it. I gave an example of 25% to set as a goal, so the $10k pre-tax a month earner woudl then have no more than $2500 a month in debt payments. If his mortgage and prop tax total $1,700, that leaves room for an $800 car payment but no more, while still staying within 25%.

Your own TDSR % goal will vary and depend on a lot of factors. For example if you have kids, a wife who doesn't work, or if you live with your parents, etc

lol

is this a great country or what?

They dont count rental income when determining eligibility. I had to go through some audit before they approved me. Took 10 weeks total. Worked full time for 14 years with no gap so I think I earned some unemployment pay after getting laid off unexpectedly

The system is broken. Situations like me are proof of that. Put companies in wife's name. So those don't count either. Government is totally fubar and geared so that the rich get richer and everyone else gets shafted.

Doubt I make 30k every month but nov and dec are usually awesome months.

I think at the end of the day, no one could say that buying a corvette is a "smart" or "sensible" purchase. A brand new $15k car will get you from point A to B just as easily, and face it 90% of people buying this car have no intention of tracking it nor do they have the skills to handle it at its limits. Ultimately most people buying these are buying a status symbol, because it's essentially the closest thing to a "supercar" that non-millionaires could afford.

I'll use my situation as an example because I'm by far on the lower end of the group that could possibly "afford" this car. Also most people on this thread seem to be making sweeping generalizations without actual meaningful examples. I make about 80k a year, which ends up being about 4k a month after taxes, my 401k contributions, health insurance, etc. Out of that, 1.5k a month goes into rent, food, phone bill, car insurance, etc. I also own a fully paid off 2011 Camry as my DD so no car payments, a year's worth of expenses saved up, and I paid off all my student loans. So zero debt. I also have roughly 30k saved up not specifically reserved for "rainy days". That means I have 2.5k disposable income every month, the majority of which goes into savings and my brokerage account.

Let's assume I was grossly irresponsible, bought an optioned 70k corvette with only 10k down and financed the rest of it for 60 months @ 4% interest. The monthly payments would be about 1200 a month. That still leaves me with 1300 a month of disposable income to save, invest, spend, etc. That's a lot for me because I live fairly modestly. So in my case, I could easily "afford" to buy a 70k car without sacrificing my retirement, health, etc.

But that certainly doesn't mean that blowing that kind of money on a car would be a "smart" choice for me by any means. But the point is that if my life went downhill and I lost my job and simultaneously got seriously injured, I'd still be okay. My savings would last me a minimum of a year and my insurance would cover my injuries. I could also sell the vette, at a loss of course but the point is that I could in an emergency. If I bought a 70k car, that would be significantly over what I net in a year after taxes earning 80k. Yet I'd still be able to do it comfortably without compromising my health, retirement, or my sense of financial security despite having a modest middle class income.

So sorry about the long rant, but the point is that everyone's financial situation is different and can't be summed up to just "you can afford it if you make $x dollars". I have friends making 200k a year who are in financial situations I personally find to be grossly irresponsible and untenable, because they have monthly/debt obligations that match their monthly income. I'd say someone making 6k a month with 2k in expenses is fiscally better off than someone making 30k a month with 30k in expenses. After all, there are athletes who make more in a year than many of us can hope to attain in a lifetime, that somehow file for bankruptcy a year after retirement. It's all about financial management and discipline.

At the end of the day a vette is a toy, and you have to measure for yourself how much happiness having this car will bring you, and quantify exactly how much in dollars that perceived happiness is worth to you. Asking others to validate a luxury purchase is useless, because no one else has any idea what this car is really "worth" to you. Not everything can be boiled down to sheer dollars.

Only if you are one of those who hasn't died young.:yesnod:

^ I don't think I am . . . . Is there a Test to be certain ????? :crazy:

Many folks have the right idea....

it's not a "sensable" thing to do.....
don't measure it in $$ per use, or $$ per mile... measure it in $$ per SMILE.

Think about this... do you ever take a vacation? Why? It sure isn't sensable to do so... it doesn't put food on the table or help with a roof over your head. But vacations are worth the cost for what you get out of it... enjoyment.

:D Sadly, I've known a couple of barely 50 yr old guys who certainly had the money and the desire but neither got 'er done. Cancer and a hunting accident took them both way too young.

Well, obviously retirement has to be funded, but college education? I had 50k in loans my wife has 85k......!! The only way my kids get a free college ride is they take out loans they get a 3.5gpa or better I pay them off! They fail, get a F, party too much, I'm not paying a thing and one already blew it :crazy2: The way I see it if you can't get at leat a partial scholarship and maintain very high marks in college you aren't trying hard enough.

I have more on the way, so we will see how they do!

Nope dont have a sister...military brought us here! Thank u..
Any grown man who still lives with his parents and buys a car that cost more than his income deserves comments like mine...nuff said..

Lol that will cost ya extra for the CPA course. I know Southern girls can take care of themselves. :thumbs:

Heheh you are funny guy too...no kids here, dual incomes..no bills..we both can afford our cars...

:iagree: /

Exactly right. I know a lot of people who have pissed away substantial sums only to be left wondering what they did wrong.

Well I just sold my 67 rally sport on ebay in 1 week, walked into the dealer and there it was a 2013 torch red grand sport. I got credit approval and bought the car with 25.000 down

You should be ashamed of yourself. Its scum like you that milk the system and are proud of the "broken system" that they can take advantage of. Go get a real job, stop stealing from the government that comes from my pocket. And for gods sake DONT have children and bring them up on your ideas and qualities ! :salute:

I still have quite a bit left over... don't worry. I'm not touching all the money I still have in stocks and TFSA's. And including my rental income, I am making over $180K a year. Also, tuition in Canada is nothing compared to the USA. Top universities here are $4500ish a semester. And college is even cheaper. And I already have my big tv's and sound system and all my other major purchases. My RRSP's generally get maxed every year as well. But I appreciate the concern, it is great advice.


I don't have too much intention of living till 90 haha. That sounds boring. But that is true. Paying cash for cars is nice, but not actually practical under 30 for most people. Car payments are simply a norm, just like a mortgage. (Where I am at least)

Get over yourself. Stealing from the government that "comes from your pocket?" Do you know how unemployment taxes work? HE PAID INTO IT. And since it sounds like he's pulling the maximum weekly cap for unemployment it's a fair bet that he paid more into it than he'll ever get back. It's poor people that benefit the most from unemployment buddy not the rich.

What next, you gonna scream at someone for using their health insurance?

Old age is a privilege denied to many.

I think i have decided to pay cash and then pay back myself the payment with 4% instead of giving it to some damn bank. Heaven knows there ain't very many 4% investments out there plus i will have a bad a$$ car to have fun with in case a die before someone could change my diaper, I mean seriously why do you need 3 millions to retire on. All you can do at 80 and 90 is eat, crap, sleep and watch tv. My life will be just like the millions of suckers living off the govt tit now, except I'll be paying for it.

Strange Thread
 

I don't make a whole lot of $, but I don't have a house payment. So your question can't be answered because too many factors. If you don't have any debt like me, you can afford a super car with a lower income like mine.

I've run into the same issue as you, gixxer. I am technically a 1%er (income over $400k a year), but i'm 29 y/o and am purchasing a second location for my business and have a kid on the way. Right now, my focus is to save as much as humanly possible, until I'm, say, 35-40 years old (or as long as i can be patient about it.
I plan on saving a couple more years before asking my financial adviser if it's ok for me to throw out $70k, but it can sure as sh*t be difficult.
Best of luck with your decision!

I guess you didn't read the part where he said he transferred assets to his wife in a deliberate attempt to misrepresent himself during the 10 week audit for his eligibility?

I've been paying into government employment insurance for 12 years. I lost my job once in between, and it never even occured to me to apply for employment insurance - any spare time I had to look into and apply for EI I felt was better spent actually looking for a job instead. If I needed the EI, then it would probably be a different story.

This stuff is meant for the needy. What's next, saying that because I pay into health insurance I should play sick to get some free nights and meals in a hospital?

And they say ethnic minorities like mine leech off of the government lol.

FWIW, base car goes for about $51 K, not $70K, and I suspect provides 95% of the available C7 experience for only 71% of the higher dollar figure.

I'm no where near as loaded as all you guys seem (or claim) to be, but I think anyone wo can swing a 800 $ payment can get his behind in a C7.
No need to be a millionaire if you ask me...

Too true. I have a friend age about 45 currently diagnosed with less than six months to live as a result of metastatic lung cancer. (A non-smoker, by the way.) Her father died similarly, at a similar age.

What should be bothering you is that your considering an expensive toy while feeding off the government tit, you don't need a Vette you need some self respect and a kick in the ass by your father.

I make mid 300s and have about 1m in financial investments (ignoring home equity), have a child in college (I pay tuition and fees, she pays living expenses) and another staring in 5 years (his first year is already in a college savings account), no debt other than my mortgage. My wife earns about the same - we split the mortgage and bills and keep our own money.

I will likely take a small loan (30k) and pay it off in 6 months to make the cash flow of buying a 70k toy work - I don't want any taxable events with my investments (in that farking 39.5% bracket).

With the above situation I thought long and hard about buying something this frivolous, it's a toy after all. I'm surprised at the talk of affording a 800 payment and reaching income/debt ratios - debt is a tax on the stupid (like the lotto).

Be careful out there.

:iagree:

your combined income is 600k? And you are worried about dropping 75k on a car? Sheesh man right a check and have fun. Your kids could always get a side job too to pay for their living expenses. Where are they going yale?

dude you sound pretty financially good to me. But don't let the financial advisor rule what you do financially...remember first he is just an "adviser". second he makes money of what you save not what you spend.

:lurk:

Closer to 700

My daughter has, at any time, two jobs to pay her living expenses, she attends an in-state school that runs around 11k a year.

When there isn't scarcity you have to create it, for kids at least, lest they think money drops from the sky.

I knew I'd get trash talked on here. Same thing happened in off topic when I got the layoff notice in July. Frankly I dgaf. My companies were in wife's name when formed. Well before layoff notice. I disclosed everything to unemployment office and got approved. Don't hate me. Hate who u voted for.

I've applied for the required number of jobs every week and kept records. In addition went to the on site meeting required. Am I supposed to be too proud to take unemployment benefits after working 14 yrs straight and getting laid off unexpectedly? Yea right show me someone who would turn down 25k in benefits after being laid off.

Fun fact. The country would be way better off if the average citizen paid 25% of my tax bill......

Even netting out unemployment insurance the .gov makes out pretty good on me

:iagree:
I watched too many of our friends ruin their children by handing everything to them on a platter any want or desire...
My son won 3/4 tuituion to a private college, we paid the other 1/4 and living expenses, he had to come up with his spend money...
grad school we paid 1/2 tuition and living expenses and he had to take out loans and/or work for the rest.
He is self sufficient with a good job, recently married, just bought his first Condo.
Some of our friends children are living with them and they are paying their car notes...SMDH

It's not about how much you make it's about how much you have saved and can afford to spend. Being a retired member of our military I never made much money but always made sure I paid "myself" by saving something every pay day.
If you can't afford to pay cash for an asset that is just for fun and depreciates from the day you buy it, then you shouldn't buy it

I wouldn't throw stones at adult children stuck at home. It has been a tough economy. One of my sons graduated this year, the other a couple of years ago, both in relatively high demand tech fields. They both got jobs in their fields this spring--within weeks of each other--a result of how hiring has been going, not of their inherent worth or work ethics.

depends if you can make more with the cash than paying the interest on the car. I know of RIT that pays 6.9% and I am approved for 4.0%. Plus there is a chance the investment could appreciate too when it goes public.

". Also, tuition in Canada is nothing compared to the USA. Top universities here are $4500ish a semester. And college is even cheaper"

Really ? guess none of your kids are going to med school or law school or business school . Try 20k a year for tuition , not including residence. :rofl:

Medical, dental etc students get very high unsecured LOC offers from banks in Canada, they cost their parents less than students of other disciplines.

BB has great income for his age and is nowhere near retirement, if he wants a C7 he should get it without worry.

one simple way..
At the end of the month do you have atleast an extra $850 laying around..

this is about lowest no money down
Attachment 47747704

Key bank has 3.2%.

Penned has 1.9%

:iagree:

Your getting trashed talked (or spoken to as an adult) because you are taking benefits designed for families in need and gaming the system. The government you're taking from is borrowing 1 in 3 of those dollars.

Have some self respect, regardless of how dumb-ass the government is (and its polices) and support yourself - and perhaps appreciate that you don't actually need the welfare.

Oh, and working since you were 16 is not impressive, come see me in a couple of decades.

I've seen that as well, in our group of friends (credit my wife) I'm the poor white trash - their kids are all extremely well educated (Ivy league schools, masters degrees...) and basically unemployed / underemployed and living on mom/dad. They all thought they'd leave school upper middle class on their way to wealthy and are a bit surprised the world had not accommodated them.

At the end of the day the "scarcity" I'm creating is artificial, my children know I'd never let them fail, but I also won't let them not work. Buffett said it very well about his kids, I want them to be able to do anything but have to do something.

Look everyone, I have been using the formula that allows for the expenditure of all monies before they run out!

It's a hard transition, no doubt, and it always has been (current generation thinks this is first recession in history, many of us have been through many business cycles). I think it's good that it's hard, you don't want to take employment for granted.

OTB

Leasing also plays into things. Some brands really support with leasing programs, Infiniti and BMW stand out in my mind so a 70k car's lease payment is like a 50k car's or a 40k car is like a 25k car.

Not sure of lease programs for the Stingray or if they will get aggressive as time goes on.

Thanks for the adult pep talk. I buy all kinds of self respect every April 15. If it makes you anymore proud of me I declined the mortgage modification program the unemployment office was practically begging me to apply for.

Let's get this thread back on topic.

For the common person I would say if all your bills are paid, u have adequate health insurance and retirement savings. And 5000 left each month then u are good to go for whatever the bank will approve u for so long as the above isn't compromised.

It's really not the purchase price that u lose its depreciation. Anyone that bought a gallardo around late 2008 early 09. Likely made money on it if they sold it now. Corvettes usually hold value pretty well and I'm going to guess the c7 will as well at least until the first refresh. For me though I think I'm going to snag a c6 for 2-3 yrs then a 1-2yr old c7 after someone buys the new car smell and a refresh occurs making the 14 and 15s seem cheaper

This is a very interesting thread, as there are so many variables to consider.

Some people have families and mortgages and make XX amount per year, then there is the single bachelor who makes that same amount and his affordability for a car is completely different.

For me, if I can't afford to pay it in cash and still have enough to survive on for several years in case of some type of misfortune I don't buy it.

There are no rules and every one is different. I have a family member that has a net worth north of $10m and she simply refuses to spend more than $50K on a car because she thinks its not smart to buy a car that expensive and considers it 'unaffordable'.

I also have a friend that makes only slightly over $100k per year and drives a $100K Tesla because he is single, no stay at home mama for the kids, and rents a townhome.

This thread is like asking if its affordable to buy a $1m home. There are so many variables it is pointless.

what do you and your wife do for living? because I think I should go do what you do! :)

I'm using approximate numbers here, say you get a C6GS for $45k, drive it for 2 years, then uptrade it to a 2 year used C7. All you're really saving, if anything, is the difference in depreciation of the C6GS versus the C7. The C6GS will likely be worth $35k after two years, so you lose $10k, and the $70k new C7 will be worth about $54k meaning $16k was lost. So 6k would be saved over two years, or $3k per year. And there's the downside of not being able to drive the new model for two whole years and not being able to customize your options, the used C6 possibly running out of warranty, the hassle of finding a buyer for your c6 after two years or taking a hit by trading it in etc. Not really worth it IMO.

If you want something bad enough you can rationalize your way around just about every obstacle except a bank.

High tech software, both of us.

Agree on analysis

But I'm thinking more along the lines of a c6Z. Mid 30s. Sell in 2 years for low 30s. Buy a c7. That went new for 67 for low 50s high 40s. Not sure they will drop that much but I think they may after the 3rd year adds something like flex fuel and 35hp

Dang, I would buy helicopter and Lambo if I had 10m. I mean what is a old person going to do with 10m anyway? Sheesh.

Personally i could care less what BB DOES , but the loans you are talking about need to be paid back and are not as easy to get as you imply and you are wrong about costing parents less.

Take part of it and give it to a cause/charity of importance to the person, take another part of it and enjoy it and life with it (however they define that) and take the last part of it and through a series of trusts establish a legacy for their children that both provides a better start than they might have had, yet are structured in a way that incents the children to pursue their own profitable careers.