I think the new panamera is the best looking large sedan on the market.

The old one, not so much... but I still liked it.

I think its the best looking SUV on the market after the Cayenne.

Isnt that what they did on the last nissan armada?

(The new one is beautiful... but the 03-16?)

I couldn’t call that ethical unfortunately ;)

50k can cover daycare, a nice 2000sf house with an acre of land, 2 nice cars, and you still have $$ left over... haha.

Funny how different things are based on where you live.

Heck, here in the midwest, 50k is a great salary for someone with a masters degree that finished top in their class...

I know plenty of college grads in the 30k range that would just about kill for 50k/year.

Experienced managers with degrees are right around 50/k...

Mixed bag.

I run a small business. My gosh I can’t get people to work even paying huge salaries that put me on the cusp of going out of business. I find it insane how hard it is to get someone to even notice I exist.

I also am a high level manager at one of the largest companies in the city. I get so many job applicants…

Props for calling a budgie a budgie and not a parakeet. 

Reminds me of a friend I have. bought a new Tacoma and a Sports Car.

Finally confided in me and said his goal was to pay off his credit card next year- he owed more than 10k at 16-17% interest...

He had 2 cars... Owed on both of them.

Made much more money than me, but after 6 years or so, we are driving similar cars. I…

Married to a car girl (and SCCA racer), its bad news on car buying time- and modification time, but good news most the time. 

Risk is always a difficult thing to handle.

Ideally you mitigate the risk by having many situations of this- IE you have $100k cash and you buy a 10k car with a loan, put 45k in the stock market, 10k in short term bonds, and 45k in a business.

if “SHTF”, you have enough assets even in a worst case scenario to buy…

The BEST THING I EVER DID IN MY LIFE

Was decided that I don’t give a Frick what my neighbors think of me.

The minute I stopped caring what the heck anyone else thought me me, my life turned totally upside down and I have everything I want AND plenty of money, and I’m totally 4000000 times happier.

your point is very important here.

So many people who claim they are getting a loan because interest rates are so low are flawed because they operate on this principle:

$10000 at 1.9% is cheap money, and my money would be better off in another investment. (could be true)

BUT they don’t have 10,000 to put in another…

I didn’t ignore payments. Assuming 30k annual cash flow, you have ample cash to cover monthly payments, and I subtracted 84k instead of 80k to cover the interest charges for the loan. (I was trying not to make it too personal and generalize it a bit, but in this case my $86k business investment (I rounded to 100) pays…

It’ll probably be more like 6-8 years old... haha, but sure ;)

I disagree.

The only reason cars are so expensive is because people buy expensive cars. We could all be driving cars with a 10-20k MSRP if people would buy them. 

I always liked this logic:

1. Spending less is better than spending more. If you can handle delayed gratification, it is worth it. Therefore spend as little as you can while still be satisfied with your selection.

I want to agree with you.

So I listened to your advice.

I bought a sedan.

i’ve had it for 2 years.

IT FREAKING SUCKS

now I like the sedan, but its too small for kids, travel loads, etc.

I’d much rather just pay more and have a big ‘ol SUV or Truck so I don’t have to worry about playing tetris to go on vacation.

I assure you…

Except most the research I’ve read on the matter is that the wealthy are the LEAST LIKELY to buy new, and are more likely to buy used. 

I want to agree with you, but then I have to be that annoying exception guy.

I had $100k cash. I can’t afford to spend that 100k on 2 cars, when interest rates were under 2% and the market was turning out 14%- it was too expensive.

So I got payments, and used the 100k as a down payment to buy a business that churns out…