A Car Guide for the Young, Fabulous and Broke

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: rahvin

Originally posted by: Vic
Actually, that was a great article. Classic Suze. She's not saying, "Don't buy a new car," she's just saying don't buy before you're ready, and don't buy more car than you can reasonably afford and need. In other words, get your priorities straight. She then goes on to explain how to get the best deals on the car, financing, and insurance. All very reasonable.

All this bickering here makes me think that people didn't actually read the article

Some people get their panties in a bunch if you talk about their car. In fact I doubt anyone even read the article but you and me.

Perhaps it wasn't the article but your little comment at the end?

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: radioouman
I calculated this one time. If I bought a $25,000 car about 5 years ago, at a reasonable interest rate for the time (6%), I would have to pay something like $430 per month for five years. If I put that amount of money into an account that could earn on average 10% per year for 25 years, I'd have somewhere around $450,000.

I decided to buy a $3500 car at that point.

No offense, but your knowledge of finance is a bit whack. For example, you're comparing a 5 year cost against a 25 year investment. $430 * 300 months (25 years) is a lot more than $25k (it's $129k), so your very premise is apples and oranges. Next, $430/mo. on $25k for years is not 6% interest, it's 1.25%. Moving on, that $450k return would be at 8.5%. That rate of return is far too aggressive to be a savings account, and you're not taking into account any risk -- something to think about. Finally, you left out operating costs and service life on that older, cheaper car, which is certain to be considerably more and shorter (respectively) than on a newer car. The cost of a car is more than just the initial acquisition cost.
What I'm getting at is that, provided the rest of your financial picture looked good, it could have been very reasonable to invest in the car for the first 5 years, then into your actual investments the next 20, and get a similar rate of return. I'm not knocking your priorities, I'm just saying that your statement was too simplistic and not "big picture."

edit: In the "business of life," cars (transportation) are not investments, but they are overhead.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Perhaps it wasn't the article but your little comment at the end?

If my comment bunched your panties then you have guilt (direct or subconscious) about the money you are wasting.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: rahvin

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Perhaps it wasn't the article but your little comment at the end?

If my comment bunched your panties then you have guilt (direct or subconscious) about the money you are wasting.

You are a psychologist as well as a financial expert! Woohoo!

:roll:

There is nothing quite like education via Yahoo.com.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: rahvin

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Perhaps it wasn't the article but your little comment at the end?

If my comment bunched your panties then you have guilt (direct or subconscious) about the money you are wasting.

You are a psychologist as well as a financial expert! Woohoo!

:roll:

There is nothing quite like education via Yahoo.com.

Lol. Attack, attack, attack. Is the guilt that heavy? Typical tactic to attack the source of the article if it makes you feel insecure. But keep on trying to discredit it, it's simply sensible advice and well written and a good read, but you can't get past the guilt to realize that can you?

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: rahvin

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Perhaps it wasn't the article but your little comment at the end?

If my comment bunched your panties then you have guilt (direct or subconscious) about the money you are wasting.

Actually, it's not guilt that bothered me (my car has been paid off for 2 years). It was your superior, holier-than-thou attitude.

 

[Nutdotnet]

I'm 24. Retirement is, at least, 30 years away. Why the heck would I lower the quality of my life now, when the "gettin is good" to have a "great life" when I'm old. It makes ZERO sense. Heck, I may die before I ever get the opportunity to experience retirement.

Now, it's retarded to live beyond your means and drive a high-priced car on a mediocre income, but c'mon, Your 20's should be the best time of your life, and probably your best chance to find a hot bitch that you can marry down the road. I'm sorry, but, I'll think about retirement and my financial future when I'm married and have a family. Right now, I'm living for the NOW...

Luckily, for me, I CAN live in the now and have plenty of $$$ to do some investing.

 

[Chrono]

Originally posted by: Ophir
If you think VTEC is an illusion, you're dead wrong. I open the throttle and VTEC kicks in, giving me much more power. I come off the line and change lanes so fast you go blind and, BOOM, you're dead.

I'll gladly work more years for VTEC, biatch.

QFT BROTHA!

 

[Orsorum]

I have a $10,000 car, 2 years old, that I'm going to drive until it dies (though it's a Kia so that may be sooner than I'd like ). Drove a minivan for 7 years (was my mom's for six years before that) and I was completely happy with it as long as it worked. I'll pay off this car in three years instead of five at which time I'll put the now extra-money into savings. Save young and buy smart, enjoy your youth and save for old age.

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: Vic
people didn't actually read the article

nail/head

 

[Freejack2]

Truth be told might as well live now, the odds aren't so great that we'll have this kind of standard of living 30 years from now. Heck there is no guarantee we'll have any standard of living 30 years from now.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: rahvin
Well you can do math, the majority of americans can't.

Actually, his math sucked. As I pointed out. His heart is in the right place, but he's trying to put together a complex jigsaw puzzle with a lot of the pieces missing.

I much prefer the advice Suze gave in her article rather than the message you're trying to turn it into in this thread.

 

[miketheidiot]

i would really like to know how much more you benefit by having a $30,000 new car than i do with my 8 year old $4,000 car?

 

[DPmaster]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
i would really like to know how much more you benefit by having a $30,000 new car than i do with my 8 year old $4,000 car?

poontang

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
i would really like to know how much more you benefit by having a $30,000 new car than i do with my 8 year old $4,000 car?

Well, $30k is high side for a car based on actual needs. For $30k, you're going to get "want" items like luxury, performance, SUV size, etc. I doubt a $30k new car would be comparable to your $4k used car, even going against new vs. used. More realistically, a $16k new economy car would be comparable (i.e. what your car was probably like new, for apples to apples comparison).
Starting from there, the new $16k car offers warranty, reliability, lower maintenance costs, and longer service life. Service life is the key issue. That is what you're really paying for. How long will the car last? Let's say for example that a new car is expected to last 200k miles, then a $4k car with 120k miles only has 80k miles left (and that 80k with the highest maintenance costs and the least expectation of reliability).
Make sense?

 

[TheShiz]

Originally posted by: Booster

The best way to buy a car is to pay cash upfront for the whole enchilada.

Sorry, miss, this is utter BS. It only highlights how incompetent you are. By loaning money, you have to pay interest, but it's almost the same as inflation. By extending the pay period you get what is worth more than money and is the most important thing - a time advantage. I mean, if you pay the whole sum at once, there you go, you lose it all at once, your funds diminish as well as opportunities of making more money and financing some important projects. Don't read that stuff, it won't teach you no good.

sorry sir, this is utter BS. it only highlights how incompetent YOU are. by loaning money, YOU HAVE TO PAY INTEREST, and IT IS MOST LIKELY AROUND 3-4X inflation (probably more). by extending the pay period, YOU END UP PAYING MORE.

Do you really think people lend other people money out of the good of their Hearts? You need to go back to school son.

to quote a genius "it won't teach you no good"

 

[AMDZen]

Good article, she has a lot of good, albeit obvious things to say. I find it fairly disturbing that so many people buy new cars, or lease cars when they can't afford them. But then again I don't care that there are so many stupid people out there, only that I don't count among them.

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: DPmaster

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
i would really like to know how much more you benefit by having a $30,000 new car than i do with my 8 year old $4,000 car?

poontang

It would be cheaper to hire a hooker.

Tom

 

[qaa541]

Originally posted by: Vic
Actually, that was a great article. Classic Suze. She's not saying, "Don't buy a new car," she's just saying don't buy before you're ready, and don't buy more car than you can reasonably afford and need. In other words, get your priorities straight. She then goes on to explain how to get the best deals on the car, financing, and insurance. All very reasonable.

All this bickering here makes me think that people didn't actually read the article

Agreed, I dont think people really got the gist of the article. I think people are more willing to defend their current ifestyle than see the truth.

BTW - Fatwallet for life!!!

 

[CTrain]

No one have commented on this so-called new law that was in the article.
That you can deduct state income tax OR state sales tax...

Is that true ???
And if its true, do you need to keep all your receipts to compute how much sales tax you've paid for the year ??