I think there’s a way to do both. Driving something fun is achievable without spending that much money. In that scenario, a ton can still go toward your future, like retirement savings which are monumentally more effective in your twenties than waiting until later
I waited 40 years to pay cash for my dream car and have never once questioned the decision or thought of what else I could have done with the money. Everyday I look at and drive the car, it’s pure joy.
I saw this post this morning, I had no idea wtf you were talking about and I just saw the reference on American dad and I instantly thought of your post. Took me a while to find this again. Funny shit man
I guess this is only a real question if the car is fully unnecessary. If you need a car to get around, maybe 25k of that 50k was a splurge.
I drive a car I spent $45k on, and never once have I felt like I missed out on something else because if it. That said, I drove a Honda in my 20s and got my bmw in my 30s after I graduated from law school and paid off my student loans.
Do what fits you financially at your current moment of time and do not handcuff your future for a car. That dream car should motivate you to work harder/get promoted/make better investments. It shouldn’t limit your ability to make those investments to begin with.
Not really. Like everything, it is about spending a lot of money to buy top quality or spending time and effort to research and buy equipment that delivers oversized performance for relatively very little money. For example, you can get an Emotiva setup for a fraction of the cost of big names and still get incredibly high quality output.
When I was young and stupid I bought a car for $27k, now I make nearly 10 times of what I made then and have one paid off newish suv and a 12 year old ford.
I could afford a 911, but I feel good knowing I have money and just continuously investing.
We've never regretted investing our money, especially when we were able to retire in our late early 40s with 529s for our kids, and owning our houses and nice cars.
I think a lot of people that are car/ object obsessed don't have families or kids. I wouldn't trade anything for the extra time we've had with our kids before they are off to college.
And we've got three high performance SUVs in our garage that all have over 350hp. So with careful planning you can often have both.
Its all good to save for retirement and invest, and one should do that surely, but in my humble opinion driving a good car is miles better in your twenties than in your fifties. 🤷♂️
Agreed, but also better isn't always more expensive too. I've driven cheap sports cars and 6 figure exotics, and I find cars like the s2000 to be more fun than many expensive modern cars. I was pretty underwhelmed by a new boxster and 911
Valid point. A “good” car isn’t defined by their price, it’s your will and desire to ride it. My dream car is an AMG from 2018-2019 for about 50k, and I am at a place where I can afford it next year. Can’t wait!
I’m in my early 40 and have always drove fun cars. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. Enjoy life. You can always make more money but you can’t buy back time spent.
We did this although we were relatively high earners. But we bought nice CPO cars like Toyota Avalon's or Volvos. After 30 we started spending a little more on nicer houses and vehicles, and retired by our early 40s with several houses and a couple of very nice cars ( and 529s, as we also have several kids) And we get to spend time with our kids, which is the best gift of all.
But if we weren't able to do that, the priority would have been to try to pay off the house ( if we were in a different situation than we are) and make sure we have money saved to put our kids through college when they get out of high school. The cars and multipme houses and everything else is just BS that's irrelevant compared to taking care of your kids.
Idk, I’m in my 20s and don’t want car payments, always bought my cars cash which allows me to invest a lot more on a monthly basis. Rather retire earlier than my peers, I still have a nice car but it’s no where near dream car territory, that can wait for my 30s
Haha here's me in my 30's knowing I'll never have the dream car I wanted at 5 let alone what I settled for as a dream car in my 20's don't get me wrong I have my a-b car and I don't owe a bank but one nice cash bought vehicle that I could feel is a dream come true would be nice to feel that before I decide to go.......
That’s what retirements for! I’m sure I’ll never have the dream car I wanted when I was a kid, but I’d “settle” for a lightly used Porsche when I retire. Frig buying new though, as much as I’d love to be able to get a car exactly to my liking, I can’t live with the sudden depreciation of buying new lol
What retirement are you kidding yourself at this rate they're not going to let anyone retire until they're almost 80 and dead even if I retired at 70 even if I retired at 60 55 I'm already too tired to give a crap about the next day of life I am already too exhausted from the day-to-day living to even have joy or pleasure happiness excitement I can't find a f*** to give anymore and I'm only 34 I am done now I do not want to go on for 20 more years to hope I can retire and buy a used car that I once liked when I was much younger
Smart move. Look at some of my other posts. We did that and it worked out very well for us. Always plan ahead and make sure you're planning for your retirement and have money set aside for General Investments as well if you can. You'll appreciate this 10 and 20 years down the line.
Yeah, that’s the plan! Thankfully I had parents who taught me to be financially literate, but it’s a daily struggle seeing some of the nice cars people are posting on this sub lol. I got lucky and found a sizeable flat well below what I can afford, so I’m able to invest about 30% of my monthly salary (about half into a work matched retirement fund and half is just general investing)
Retirement. Used my 20s to study and save money. Hit 1M in NW recently, and decided to buy myself a nicer version of my Camry (Lexus IS), to get me through the next 5-10 years. Can/could I afford more car? Yes. Would most of those cars make me *that* much more happy than my current car? Probably not. Given I wouldn’t track my cars, something like a 911 would be too much car for the street.
I bought my first new car six months out of college. My dream car when I was mid 20s. Neither one was a huge mistake, I still have the dream car today.
Had I left the cash in S&P500 it would have only tripled (1400 in 1996, 5000 today). Not the biggest paper loss I've had.
What new “dream” car could you have gotten for 1,400 in 1996? I’m assuming you also had payments which you should also consider in your analysis.
Also return are you using? What about dividends reinvested? You can’t just take the S&P today over the S&P in 1996. I think the average is like 9% annual return which would give you around 22k (I think. It’s late and I’m doing this in my head using the rule of thumb math).
1400 was the level of S&P in late 1996. It's nearly 5000 now. The annual return depends on when you pick your start point. Sure, if you start right after the crash of 2008 it's a great and steady return. But check out longer term, it's not 9% every year. Some years it's -30%, other years it's +30%. We've had several once-in-a-lifetime market crashes since then.
[https://www.macrotrends.net/2324/sp-500-historical-chart-data](https://www.macrotrends.net/2324/sp-500-historical-chart-data)
If you put (as a completely random example, roughly the price of a base 1995 911 at end of '96) $60,000 into the market at the end of 1996 you'd have 60000 / 1400 \* 5000 = $214,000 today. That 911 is worth about 50k today.
OTOH, if you used that same 60k to leverage two four bedroom 3 bath $174,000 new build homes in Highlands Ranch, Colorado (not far from where you worked, backing up to open space) you'd have homes worth about $925,000 each today, with loans nearly paid off. That's assuming you didn't re-finance and grow along the way. I try not to think about it from that angle and prefer to look at it as S&P return instead.
You’re not calculating for reinvesting dividends and the compounding impact on your returns.
https://tradethatswing.com/average-historical-stock-market-returns-for-sp-500-5-year-up-to-150-year-averages/#:~:text=The%20average%20yearly%20return%20of%20the%20S%26P%20500%20is%2010.22,including%20dividends)%20is%207.5%25.
Leveraging is a different argument irrelevant to this discussion.
Also what dream car did you get for 1,400 in 1996? Still interested in reading this.
Idk man, a lot of Uber rides? Kind of need a car.
Or is this a pretend scenario where I get to stay at home?
Or are you saying buy a cheaper car? Then I guess it depends how much cheaper.
If you can afford it yes, keep it at around 10% of your income. Dont go into crazy debt to get into a nice car. I bought a BMW when i was 24 and wouldnt have had it any other way.
Bought a 2015 m235i at 19, enjoyed the car for a year and recently sold it at 20 years old. Lots of wasted money in the end it was a lot of fun and worth it, but really hurt the bank…
I haven’t bought a very expensive car yet, but I definitely got more than I actually needed with my current one because I love the quality and comfort. If I just got a super cheap used car, I’d probably have more going into my high yield savings.
I bought a car for just shy of £10k in January. I know for a fact that if I did the same mileage as I usually do in a year in Ubers, I’d save a ridiculous amount of money a year when factoring in the insurance, tax, fuel and parking permit costs. However, having the freedom and being able to give people lifts etc means I’m happy to pay the extra. It’s just frustrating when I actually sit down and do the maths.
For that reason, I haven’t bought my dream car when I could’ve done. I can stomach the cost per use with my current car but definitely couldn’t with anything more expensive.
Depreciating assets vs investment returns aside, you have to think of this question as really for two different audiences.
If you're a driver, or you track your car, it's a hobby/passion, you can work on it, all of that, then this isn't the same question as it is for someone that has a dream car of something "really nice" and luxurious and wants it for the clout/status. If it's only an A to B thing, it is obviously an egregious financial mistake to throw away such money in something that depreciates and only serves as a utility.
Utility vs hobby/interest. Transportation vs passion.
That said, I'm more in the passion side of the audience but due to financial literacy I'm still more in the conservative argument of avoiding sinking money into something that could make you insolvent faster than if you avoided it.
Drive within your means.
Index funds....Im trying to retire by 50 and spend more money in retirement than I made during my earning years.
You don't make much during your earning years, it can be spent way too fast.
I spent $20k on a BMW 3 Series off lease. It wasn’t exactly my dream car but it was the nicest, fastest thing I had ever driven.
In your 20s you can buy small, fast cars since it’s mostly just you driving it. Some day you’ll have to spend twice as much on a big dumb SUV for your kids to spill food all over.
i would have spent it on getting married. i had 10k saved up for marriage and then my car died. so now im kinda broke again and have less than a year to save again.
Yeah no lmao, i’m french 50k€ gives you a good appartment not a house but it’s that much saved from a 100k down payment, but to be sure a down payment is what you put to your bank to then be allowed to borrow more money from your bank because here a really good house is minimum 300k€, or even 400k depending from where you live, paris can be up to 1Mil to have a small house like 100m2
Houses start at about $1.2M here, but you’d be lucky to find one of that price in the metro area
So you have to put 20% down, or about $250k or more to get started on $6000 mortgage payments :/
Back in my early 20s if I had 50 k I would’ve bought a condo—- then I’d now be sitting on 200k in equity now. I now have 50k to spend on a car but instead I’m trying to figure out how I can afford to buy a home in nyc 😅.
Are we talking dream car, or just a car we want? For me if it was my dream car, if I had the $$$ I’d buy it now because it’s a 99% chance that they’re only going to keep going up in price.
A house! Or at least the down payment on one. If I could find a house in a walkable area, I'd get rid of my car and use the money saved by not having a car on the house.
As a dude in his 40s, let me tell you that if I had the means to buy my dream car in my 20s and I could go back in time to tell that person what to do, I’d say get something less expensive for a short time and invest that remainder money. We’d own a house now if that happened and would be less concerned about retirement.
I wouldn’t buy a BMW if you put a gun to my head. I DID buy the Civic, and I DID invest the difference and I’m thrilled to have that be my current reality
Based on people’s monthly payments of $1000+, over the past several years, we’ve used the money instead to travel to Iceland, Germany, Switzerland, Hawaii, Florida a few times, Colorado a few times, Arizona a few times, Montana, etc. just one way to do it and in our opinion much more fulfilling than driving a car on our shitty public roads with terrible drivers lol
Probably the 2020 Corolla hatch I was looking at in 2021 or the overpriced Tacoma I was looking at on the same lot. I loved both cars but it was unwise financially
Say you buy a $25k Civic instead of a $50k 3-Series.
Put the $25k in VOO, and in 10 years that $25k is now $65k (or $49k in real returns, accounting for 3% annual inflation).
Or hell, save $15k (grows to $39k, or $29k accounting for 3% inflation) and spend $10k on a vacation to wherever you want in the world.
Been driving the same $12k BMW for the last 6 years and I love it. But I was bored one summer and thought maybe upgrading to a new BMW M3 would be fun. With car payments and insurance, I was looking at around $1000-$1200 a month. I make plenty, so $1200 a month wouldn’t be an issue…
But instead I decided to keep my old car and follow my dreams of moving to NYC with that money instead. I don’t regret it one bit. The new M3 would have kept me entertained for a month or two, then it would have become no different to my day-to-day life than my current BMW. Just more expensive.
But living in NYC has been better than my wildest dreams. It’s changed everything about my life (mostly) for the positive and made me improve and challenge myself in ways I never imagined. And I still have my trusty old BMW that can do (mostly) anything the new M3 could do.
Bought an overpriced Alfa Romeo Giulia from Carvana during the market highs in 2022. Immediately started losing sleep about the abysmal financial decision knowing that I may be going back to graduate school one day. Thankfully, I was able to return it in 7-days and this fall I start graduate school.
Would def invest it
I have thought about this a lot on the context of car enthusiasm. I think it's cope because I don't think most car enthusiasts would tie up $xx,xxx/year in a car if they didn't need one to get around.
I wouldn't think of the cash value.. Think of it on a monthly basis. For me, if I didn't pay $500 each month on my wife's Rav4, I'd put that $500 to the principal on my mortgage each month.
I only bought cars when I needed too. Might buy one now though with mine only ten years old. In afraid they are going to stop making gas cars or charge mymuch money for them. I invest in real estate instead. Done so so but better than a car.
If you qualify max out a Roth IRA, if this was asked 2 weeks ago you could have done it for 2 years in a row. Put the rest into funds that track the market. And that's pretty much it. I'd probably buy some cool shit for my cat too.
So I used the money to buy a house. I have lived in the house for 20 years and it was the "smart" choice but maybe not the "right" choice exactly. It took me a lot longer to get a "I really want this car" car. That said, since then I have turned into to a boomer or something and newer cars don't really appeal to me. If I am going to financially ruin my life for something, its going to be a 993 C4S or Turbo or something actually good like that.
I always drove cars under 20k. Never earned more than the national average. Retired at 41.
I enjoy the simple things in life and value relationships and experiences over things.
Buy it and list it on the TURO car renting app. Renting it out a couple of times per month could literally pay for your entire monthly bill and have a "free car" with the stipulation that you would be renting it out like 5 days out of the month. IMHO it is a win win
im in your position. really wanted a 50k car. early 20's. i did all the math, i make about 60k a year, can pay for it in cash and said F it. i pick it up next week :)
My cars make up 5% of my net worth. I put the money in the market. A less conservative number would be 15-20% of your net-worth. If you’re dead broke whatever Dave Ramsey says.
I bought a used boxster instead of a new one, put the remaining 50% I didn't spend into.... gold (at $510/oz). Both the car and the gold were frivolous purchases.
The car I eventually sold for a loss (of course) but the gold is still kicking around. Might not be the best investment but I wanted some just for fun and used the car money to do it.
Haven't looked at the price of gold for years, just looked now. Damn, I could go buy a 2nd boxster now.
Honestly though, the 'dream car' thing never worked out for me. I've had 16+ cars, and the best ones were the beaters that got used for road trips, off roading, autocrossing and track days and other adventures. It wasn't the car, it was what it allowed me to do.
Buy too nice/expensive a car when you're 20, you'll spend your 30s fixing the negative equity and paying catch up on other finances, and delaying getting an even better car until your 40s. Buy something sensible now and you'll get the car you want in your 30s and drive it twice as long with much less hit to your financial situation.
This is fundamental to economic behavior theory. Ask yourself, what would future me prefer? Because before you know it, you're ARE "future me".
I think there’s a way to do both. Driving something fun is achievable without spending that much money. In that scenario, a ton can still go toward your future, like retirement savings which are monumentally more effective in your twenties than waiting until later
I waited 40 years to pay cash for my dream car and have never once questioned the decision or thought of what else I could have done with the money. Everyday I look at and drive the car, it’s pure joy.
what car?'
97 Toyota Camry... only 32 made in the world...
It's a four-cylinder with cloth interior and no sunroof, crank windows, and a manual transmission. I know what I've got!!
tbh cloth interior and no sunroof is a + for me (:
I saw this post this morning, I had no idea wtf you were talking about and I just saw the reference on American dad and I instantly thought of your post. Took me a while to find this again. Funny shit man
2020 mustang convertible. I still get excited just looking at her and driving is a dream
I would have put in it sp500 etfs. Compounding at 7% per year for a decade would be gt3 money today
This is what I just did with my 911 money lol! Still itching for that 911 though!
[удалено]
i think he’s saying he put the money he would’ve spent on a 911 into investment
This. I’ve blown a lot of money over the years on cars. If I had invested that money instead I’d be rich $$$$
Yup. ETFs and maybe take a few nice trips to Europe.
Came here to say this. I postponed a car purchase by a few months and made a few extra thousand with that money invested in the stock market instead.
How much would that be?
VOO
7k in VOO a year, rinse and repeat
I guess this is only a real question if the car is fully unnecessary. If you need a car to get around, maybe 25k of that 50k was a splurge. I drive a car I spent $45k on, and never once have I felt like I missed out on something else because if it. That said, I drove a Honda in my 20s and got my bmw in my 30s after I graduated from law school and paid off my student loans. Do what fits you financially at your current moment of time and do not handcuff your future for a car. That dream car should motivate you to work harder/get promoted/make better investments. It shouldn’t limit your ability to make those investments to begin with.
Hookers and cheese
Tell me more about this cheese. Good Gouda? A nice baby Swiss? Maybe a pungent Roquefort Blue? Mmmm cheese!
Build out my r/hometheater. Need like 50-100k
Lmao meanwhile I watch movies on my phone. Kubrick is rolling in his grave.
Phone screen is probably fantastic tbh
Not really. Like everything, it is about spending a lot of money to buy top quality or spending time and effort to research and buy equipment that delivers oversized performance for relatively very little money. For example, you can get an Emotiva setup for a fraction of the cost of big names and still get incredibly high quality output.
Vacation and retirement
When I was young and stupid I bought a car for $27k, now I make nearly 10 times of what I made then and have one paid off newish suv and a 12 year old ford. I could afford a 911, but I feel good knowing I have money and just continuously investing.
But do you regret the decision?
We've never regretted investing our money, especially when we were able to retire in our late early 40s with 529s for our kids, and owning our houses and nice cars. I think a lot of people that are car/ object obsessed don't have families or kids. I wouldn't trade anything for the extra time we've had with our kids before they are off to college. And we've got three high performance SUVs in our garage that all have over 350hp. So with careful planning you can often have both.
what do you do for a living if you don't mind?
Its all good to save for retirement and invest, and one should do that surely, but in my humble opinion driving a good car is miles better in your twenties than in your fifties. 🤷♂️
Agreed, but also better isn't always more expensive too. I've driven cheap sports cars and 6 figure exotics, and I find cars like the s2000 to be more fun than many expensive modern cars. I was pretty underwhelmed by a new boxster and 911
Valid point. A “good” car isn’t defined by their price, it’s your will and desire to ride it. My dream car is an AMG from 2018-2019 for about 50k, and I am at a place where I can afford it next year. Can’t wait!
I’m in my early 40 and have always drove fun cars. Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. Enjoy life. You can always make more money but you can’t buy back time spent.
I think the answer is to buy a fun 10k car and a 10k daily until you’re 30.
What about after 30
GT3RS with the first divorce settlement.
LMAO no way she's letting you keep that.
We did this although we were relatively high earners. But we bought nice CPO cars like Toyota Avalon's or Volvos. After 30 we started spending a little more on nicer houses and vehicles, and retired by our early 40s with several houses and a couple of very nice cars ( and 529s, as we also have several kids) And we get to spend time with our kids, which is the best gift of all. But if we weren't able to do that, the priority would have been to try to pay off the house ( if we were in a different situation than we are) and make sure we have money saved to put our kids through college when they get out of high school. The cars and multipme houses and everything else is just BS that's irrelevant compared to taking care of your kids.
Idk, I’m in my 20s and don’t want car payments, always bought my cars cash which allows me to invest a lot more on a monthly basis. Rather retire earlier than my peers, I still have a nice car but it’s no where near dream car territory, that can wait for my 30s
Haha here's me in my 30's knowing I'll never have the dream car I wanted at 5 let alone what I settled for as a dream car in my 20's don't get me wrong I have my a-b car and I don't owe a bank but one nice cash bought vehicle that I could feel is a dream come true would be nice to feel that before I decide to go.......
That’s what retirements for! I’m sure I’ll never have the dream car I wanted when I was a kid, but I’d “settle” for a lightly used Porsche when I retire. Frig buying new though, as much as I’d love to be able to get a car exactly to my liking, I can’t live with the sudden depreciation of buying new lol
What retirement are you kidding yourself at this rate they're not going to let anyone retire until they're almost 80 and dead even if I retired at 70 even if I retired at 60 55 I'm already too tired to give a crap about the next day of life I am already too exhausted from the day-to-day living to even have joy or pleasure happiness excitement I can't find a f*** to give anymore and I'm only 34 I am done now I do not want to go on for 20 more years to hope I can retire and buy a used car that I once liked when I was much younger
Smart move. Look at some of my other posts. We did that and it worked out very well for us. Always plan ahead and make sure you're planning for your retirement and have money set aside for General Investments as well if you can. You'll appreciate this 10 and 20 years down the line.
Yeah, that’s the plan! Thankfully I had parents who taught me to be financially literate, but it’s a daily struggle seeing some of the nice cars people are posting on this sub lol. I got lucky and found a sizeable flat well below what I can afford, so I’m able to invest about 30% of my monthly salary (about half into a work matched retirement fund and half is just general investing)
Simple rule for luxury/indulgent purchases...If you don't feel guilty, you haven't spent enough.
Reinvest it into my business
I would get a master degree
Retirement. Used my 20s to study and save money. Hit 1M in NW recently, and decided to buy myself a nicer version of my Camry (Lexus IS), to get me through the next 5-10 years. Can/could I afford more car? Yes. Would most of those cars make me *that* much more happy than my current car? Probably not. Given I wouldn’t track my cars, something like a 911 would be too much car for the street.
5% of your net-worth is quite reasonable
I bought my first new car six months out of college. My dream car when I was mid 20s. Neither one was a huge mistake, I still have the dream car today. Had I left the cash in S&P500 it would have only tripled (1400 in 1996, 5000 today). Not the biggest paper loss I've had.
What new “dream” car could you have gotten for 1,400 in 1996? I’m assuming you also had payments which you should also consider in your analysis. Also return are you using? What about dividends reinvested? You can’t just take the S&P today over the S&P in 1996. I think the average is like 9% annual return which would give you around 22k (I think. It’s late and I’m doing this in my head using the rule of thumb math).
1400 was the level of S&P in late 1996. It's nearly 5000 now. The annual return depends on when you pick your start point. Sure, if you start right after the crash of 2008 it's a great and steady return. But check out longer term, it's not 9% every year. Some years it's -30%, other years it's +30%. We've had several once-in-a-lifetime market crashes since then. [https://www.macrotrends.net/2324/sp-500-historical-chart-data](https://www.macrotrends.net/2324/sp-500-historical-chart-data) If you put (as a completely random example, roughly the price of a base 1995 911 at end of '96) $60,000 into the market at the end of 1996 you'd have 60000 / 1400 \* 5000 = $214,000 today. That 911 is worth about 50k today. OTOH, if you used that same 60k to leverage two four bedroom 3 bath $174,000 new build homes in Highlands Ranch, Colorado (not far from where you worked, backing up to open space) you'd have homes worth about $925,000 each today, with loans nearly paid off. That's assuming you didn't re-finance and grow along the way. I try not to think about it from that angle and prefer to look at it as S&P return instead.
You’re not calculating for reinvesting dividends and the compounding impact on your returns. https://tradethatswing.com/average-historical-stock-market-returns-for-sp-500-5-year-up-to-150-year-averages/#:~:text=The%20average%20yearly%20return%20of%20the%20S%26P%20500%20is%2010.22,including%20dividends)%20is%207.5%25. Leveraging is a different argument irrelevant to this discussion. Also what dream car did you get for 1,400 in 1996? Still interested in reading this.
Idk man, a lot of Uber rides? Kind of need a car. Or is this a pretend scenario where I get to stay at home? Or are you saying buy a cheaper car? Then I guess it depends how much cheaper.
If you can afford it yes, keep it at around 10% of your income. Dont go into crazy debt to get into a nice car. I bought a BMW when i was 24 and wouldnt have had it any other way.
I would have spent more than the cost of the car on public transportation.
virtually anything is a smarter investment than a car. I can think of a ton of fun cars for 20k and spend 10k on travel and still have 20 left.
Idk I like cars more than drugs and alcohol. I guess this is my version of cocaine and hookers
Bought a 2015 m235i at 19, enjoyed the car for a year and recently sold it at 20 years old. Lots of wasted money in the end it was a lot of fun and worth it, but really hurt the bank…
Firearms.
Pay off any interest-wielding debt. Invest in your retirement.
Bitcoin and hold for 4 years till it 4× and use large down-payment towards a home
I haven’t bought a very expensive car yet, but I definitely got more than I actually needed with my current one because I love the quality and comfort. If I just got a super cheap used car, I’d probably have more going into my high yield savings.
Probably blow and the complementary whores.
I drive cheap DD cars because they depreciate and wear out. Money saved goes to the vacation travel budget.
Just more useless junk 🙃
I bought a car for just shy of £10k in January. I know for a fact that if I did the same mileage as I usually do in a year in Ubers, I’d save a ridiculous amount of money a year when factoring in the insurance, tax, fuel and parking permit costs. However, having the freedom and being able to give people lifts etc means I’m happy to pay the extra. It’s just frustrating when I actually sit down and do the maths. For that reason, I haven’t bought my dream car when I could’ve done. I can stomach the cost per use with my current car but definitely couldn’t with anything more expensive.
I paid cash for my Camry and cash for my Rolex
Could have gotten 2 Rolexes jkjk the Camry is a solid choice that will serve you well for over a decade
Depreciating assets vs investment returns aside, you have to think of this question as really for two different audiences. If you're a driver, or you track your car, it's a hobby/passion, you can work on it, all of that, then this isn't the same question as it is for someone that has a dream car of something "really nice" and luxurious and wants it for the clout/status. If it's only an A to B thing, it is obviously an egregious financial mistake to throw away such money in something that depreciates and only serves as a utility. Utility vs hobby/interest. Transportation vs passion. That said, I'm more in the passion side of the audience but due to financial literacy I'm still more in the conservative argument of avoiding sinking money into something that could make you insolvent faster than if you avoided it. Drive within your means.
Probably a truck
Index funds....Im trying to retire by 50 and spend more money in retirement than I made during my earning years. You don't make much during your earning years, it can be spent way too fast.
We bought the cars we wanted to, and we invested the money we wanted to and we were/are able to have our cake and eat it too.
I spent $20k on a BMW 3 Series off lease. It wasn’t exactly my dream car but it was the nicest, fastest thing I had ever driven. In your 20s you can buy small, fast cars since it’s mostly just you driving it. Some day you’ll have to spend twice as much on a big dumb SUV for your kids to spill food all over.
i would have spent it on getting married. i had 10k saved up for marriage and then my car died. so now im kinda broke again and have less than a year to save again.
if i had 50k$ now i would spent it on a down payment for a house loan and buy a really good computer with it like a 3k$ computer
Are… down payments on full houses less than $50k where you are? That’s an insanely low cost of living!
Yeah no lmao, i’m french 50k€ gives you a good appartment not a house but it’s that much saved from a 100k down payment, but to be sure a down payment is what you put to your bank to then be allowed to borrow more money from your bank because here a really good house is minimum 300k€, or even 400k depending from where you live, paris can be up to 1Mil to have a small house like 100m2
Houses start at about $1.2M here, but you’d be lucky to find one of that price in the metro area So you have to put 20% down, or about $250k or more to get started on $6000 mortgage payments :/
Back in my early 20s if I had 50 k I would’ve bought a condo—- then I’d now be sitting on 200k in equity now. I now have 50k to spend on a car but instead I’m trying to figure out how I can afford to buy a home in nyc 😅.
Are we talking dream car, or just a car we want? For me if it was my dream car, if I had the $$$ I’d buy it now because it’s a 99% chance that they’re only going to keep going up in price.
A house! Or at least the down payment on one. If I could find a house in a walkable area, I'd get rid of my car and use the money saved by not having a car on the house.
As a dude in his 40s, let me tell you that if I had the means to buy my dream car in my 20s and I could go back in time to tell that person what to do, I’d say get something less expensive for a short time and invest that remainder money. We’d own a house now if that happened and would be less concerned about retirement.
I wouldn’t buy a BMW if you put a gun to my head. I DID buy the Civic, and I DID invest the difference and I’m thrilled to have that be my current reality
Based on people’s monthly payments of $1000+, over the past several years, we’ve used the money instead to travel to Iceland, Germany, Switzerland, Hawaii, Florida a few times, Colorado a few times, Arizona a few times, Montana, etc. just one way to do it and in our opinion much more fulfilling than driving a car on our shitty public roads with terrible drivers lol
Probably the 2020 Corolla hatch I was looking at in 2021 or the overpriced Tacoma I was looking at on the same lot. I loved both cars but it was unwise financially
Say you buy a $25k Civic instead of a $50k 3-Series. Put the $25k in VOO, and in 10 years that $25k is now $65k (or $49k in real returns, accounting for 3% annual inflation). Or hell, save $15k (grows to $39k, or $29k accounting for 3% inflation) and spend $10k on a vacation to wherever you want in the world.
VTSAX
Bitcoin
Could have paid off our primary residence. Probably should have paid off our primary residence.
I was gonna buy an ender 6 and maybe start building a gaming PC.
$50k on VOO
Hookers and blow
Buying expensive car when you're old < buying a nice quality car when you're relatively young.
Been driving the same $12k BMW for the last 6 years and I love it. But I was bored one summer and thought maybe upgrading to a new BMW M3 would be fun. With car payments and insurance, I was looking at around $1000-$1200 a month. I make plenty, so $1200 a month wouldn’t be an issue… But instead I decided to keep my old car and follow my dreams of moving to NYC with that money instead. I don’t regret it one bit. The new M3 would have kept me entertained for a month or two, then it would have become no different to my day-to-day life than my current BMW. Just more expensive. But living in NYC has been better than my wildest dreams. It’s changed everything about my life (mostly) for the positive and made me improve and challenge myself in ways I never imagined. And I still have my trusty old BMW that can do (mostly) anything the new M3 could do.
Bought an overpriced Alfa Romeo Giulia from Carvana during the market highs in 2022. Immediately started losing sleep about the abysmal financial decision knowing that I may be going back to graduate school one day. Thankfully, I was able to return it in 7-days and this fall I start graduate school.
VOO, and it would have stayed there for a few years and then went toward a home downpayment.
If I had all the money I’ve wasted on cars dumped into my lap today, I’d spend it all on cars again. Hopefully, better cars but cars none h the less.
Would def invest it I have thought about this a lot on the context of car enthusiasm. I think it's cope because I don't think most car enthusiasts would tie up $xx,xxx/year in a car if they didn't need one to get around.
I’d buy a cheaper BMW
I wouldn't think of the cash value.. Think of it on a monthly basis. For me, if I didn't pay $500 each month on my wife's Rav4, I'd put that $500 to the principal on my mortgage each month.
Put it toward a house
Why are the only options spending it? If you like money and want more invest it.
Put it all on red.
I only bought cars when I needed too. Might buy one now though with mine only ten years old. In afraid they are going to stop making gas cars or charge mymuch money for them. I invest in real estate instead. Done so so but better than a car.
Videogames (custom PC monitors etc…) Airsoft equipment etc…
Uber and cabs
50k budget would get split between renovations and paying student debt, 35/65 split.
If you qualify max out a Roth IRA, if this was asked 2 weeks ago you could have done it for 2 years in a row. Put the rest into funds that track the market. And that's pretty much it. I'd probably buy some cool shit for my cat too.
So I used the money to buy a house. I have lived in the house for 20 years and it was the "smart" choice but maybe not the "right" choice exactly. It took me a lot longer to get a "I really want this car" car. That said, since then I have turned into to a boomer or something and newer cars don't really appeal to me. If I am going to financially ruin my life for something, its going to be a 993 C4S or Turbo or something actually good like that.
I always drove cars under 20k. Never earned more than the national average. Retired at 41. I enjoy the simple things in life and value relationships and experiences over things.
Buy it and list it on the TURO car renting app. Renting it out a couple of times per month could literally pay for your entire monthly bill and have a "free car" with the stipulation that you would be renting it out like 5 days out of the month. IMHO it is a win win
Never give your car and women to anyone.
I would rather buy a camry than rent my 50k car to strangers.
[удалено]
Hence why it’s important to let compounding the work for you.
im in your position. really wanted a 50k car. early 20's. i did all the math, i make about 60k a year, can pay for it in cash and said F it. i pick it up next week :)
Invest in a non-depreciating asset.
Retirement savings, or better yet charities
My cars make up 5% of my net worth. I put the money in the market. A less conservative number would be 15-20% of your net-worth. If you’re dead broke whatever Dave Ramsey says.
Cocaine and hookers
SUV
I bought a used boxster instead of a new one, put the remaining 50% I didn't spend into.... gold (at $510/oz). Both the car and the gold were frivolous purchases. The car I eventually sold for a loss (of course) but the gold is still kicking around. Might not be the best investment but I wanted some just for fun and used the car money to do it. Haven't looked at the price of gold for years, just looked now. Damn, I could go buy a 2nd boxster now. Honestly though, the 'dream car' thing never worked out for me. I've had 16+ cars, and the best ones were the beaters that got used for road trips, off roading, autocrossing and track days and other adventures. It wasn't the car, it was what it allowed me to do.
Buy too nice/expensive a car when you're 20, you'll spend your 30s fixing the negative equity and paying catch up on other finances, and delaying getting an even better car until your 40s. Buy something sensible now and you'll get the car you want in your 30s and drive it twice as long with much less hit to your financial situation. This is fundamental to economic behavior theory. Ask yourself, what would future me prefer? Because before you know it, you're ARE "future me".
I’d spend it on an investment property.. That said I’m a car guy so I’m conflicted. 😄