Getting the new car itch...

[Mosaud1998]

I've had the new car itch for a while now but keep pushing away when I roughly calculate monthly payments ($670s/month on a new 330 AWD w/$10k down)

I'm almost 24 years old. No debt. Make roughly $5,500-$6,000/month. Still living with my parents. But, pay rent.

I'm leaning towards either a BMW 340 (Certified) or a new 2021-2022 330.

I'm probably going to sell my E90 (I've got it listed on here). I know if I trade it in I'll roughly get like $7k-$8k.

I initially wanted to buy some property and put it on rent but man this new car itch

Someone want to talk me out of it or slap me with some sense.. I sell cars myself and know the market is crazy. But, I won't get what I want for my car if the market wasn't crazy.

[2000cs]

What are your goals in life? Will buying the car help or hurt attaining them?

[spazzyfry123]

No debt because you live with your parents. If that’s a long term solution, do it up! If you’re going to go out on your own, hold the $10k for the “next step.”

Or YOLO. I DGAF

[JP10]

Take it from a guy that made a similar decision at a younger age, do something better with your money. Would've killed for your position, don't squander it.

Don't mean to be a downer either because I'm a car guy at heart, but just saying

[upstatedoc]

Does that help?

[vreihen16]

Doesn't the dealership where you work provide demo cars to their salespeople?

Personally, I'd be loading up your retirement accounts.....

[Mosaud1998]

[QUOTE=2000cs;28189681]What are your goals in life? Will buying the car help or hurt attaining them?[/QU

Most likely hurt. Though in some cases it can help build my credit since I have light credit.

My goal in life is to own a few investment properties and build my way up at my job.

Maybe down the road opening up my own dealership.

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Doesn't the dealership where you work provide demo cars to their salespeople?

Personally, I'd be loading up your retirement accounts.....

No, they don't. Only the managers get demos.

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

Does that help?

That did and so did seeing the payments on a $50k car

[Housekeeping]

Better to have your own place and a shatty car than live with you parents and have a BMW. I think any girl would agree..

[Joe T]

dude, you can't afford it. you think you can because at 24 you live with your parents, but you really can't

I'm a little more than twice your age, your monthly is about my weekly and I wouldn't pay $670 a month for a car payment.

here's some sound advice. Make an appointment with a financial advisor, spend 30 minutes talking about where you are today (and be honest), where you want to be in 10 years. Talk both short and long term goals.
I'm not a financial advisor, but here's what he should tell you. Live with your parents until you cant (marriage, live changing event, or you NEED to leave) save as much as possible. Take that $10K burning a hole in your pocket and invest it. at a modest 10% rate that's $75k in 20 years. Put just $500 a month into that account and in 20 years it's almost $500,000. In 30 years it $1.33million

If you put that $500 into an ira/401K so it's a pretax contribution, your net take home pay is affected only by about $75 a week

you'll forget the $10k you didn't use and you'll not notice the $75 a week. As you make more money invest more

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by Joe T

dude, you can't afford it. you think you can because at 24 you live with your parents, but you really can't

I'm a little more than twice your age, your monthly is about my weekly and I wouldn't pay $670 a month for a car payment.

here's some sound advice. Make an appointment with a financial advisor, spend 30 minutes talking about where you are today (and be honest), where you want to be in 10 years. Talk both short and long term goals.
I'm not a financial advisor, but here's what he should tell you. Live with your parents until you cant (marriage, live changing event, or you NEED to leave) save as much as possible. Take that $10K burning a hole in your pocket and invest it. at a modest 10% rate that's $75k in 20 years. Put just $500 a month into that account and in 20 years it's almost $500,000. In 30 years it $1.33million

If you put that $500 into an ira/401K so it's a pretax contribution, your net take home pay is affected only by about $75 a week

you'll forget the $10k you didn't use and you'll not notice the $75 a week. As you make more money invest more

This. I started a retirement account in my early 40's and it's grown well beyond any expectations I had. If I had the chance to back up to my mid-20's, I would have started saving then. Compound interest is a beautiful thing and when you get to the point of seriously considering retirement, you'll wonder how the years went by so quickly. Want to retire young? Start saving now and leave it alone until you retire.

[M_Six]

All that said, I know the itch. I drive a GLC300 now and I hate the thing. I'd love to get into something newer, but I hate the idea of car payments and I don't want to dig into savings just for a car. So I'll keep this POS for a few more years.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by Joe T

dude, you can't afford it. you think you can because at 24 you live with your parents, but you really can't

I'm a little more than twice your age, your monthly is about my weekly and I wouldn't pay $670 a month for a car payment.

here's some sound advice. Make an appointment with a financial advisor, spend 30 minutes talking about where you are today (and be honest), where you want to be in 10 years. Talk both short and long term goals.
I'm not a financial advisor, but here's what he should tell you. Live with your parents until you cant (marriage, live changing event, or you NEED to leave) save as much as possible. Take that $10K burning a hole in your pocket and invest it. at a modest 10% rate that's $75k in 20 years. Put just $500 a month into that account and in 20 years it's almost $500,000. In 30 years it $1.33million

If you put that $500 into an ira/401K so it's a pretax contribution, your net take home pay is affected only by about $75 a week

you'll forget the $10k you didn't use and you'll not notice the $75 a week. As you make more money invest more

You make 25k a month and $670 a month is a lot for a car for you?

Something doesn't sound right here lol... at all

[P1]

Do not spend $10K cash and $670 a month on an entry-level BMW. That's just not smart.

Why don't you take a little bit of that $10K and spend it on some tasteful upgrades to the car you have? Maybe a small drop and some nicer OEM wheels? Alcantara steering wheel?

You'll appreciate the car again AND be smart with your money at the same time.

[wtwo3]

I love cars and I love new cars. It's a matter of priorities. Lots of financial advice out there treat a car like a utility, and as such deprioritizes a car to the bare necessity rather than something that might be a passion for someone.

In my life, I've approached situations a little differently than the typical - do this OR that. I've always said to myself, if there's something I want that maybe seems to conflict with my life goals, I don't approach it with a "well I can't do that so I won't".... I've approached it with, "what do I need to do to make it happen while still maintaining my life goals".

I've got a life goal of owning a Ferrari. I don't make 7 figures, so rather than thinking it's some sort of crazy pipe dream, I asked myself, within the boundaries of my financial situation and life goals, how can I make owning a Ferrari a reality? What changes can I make today, to achieve that goal? So I came up with a long term plan to create an investment account specifically aimed at being a "toy car fund". I then had to make sure this fit within the bounds of what my life goals were in general.

How can you apply similar logic to your situation? Lay out all of your life goals. Start thinking about what you need to do TODAY to make your life goals happen 5-10-15+ years from now. Based on those changes, continue working backwards, considering each priority in your life, and allocating an amount to that. Eventually you'll end up in a situation where you've organized a plan of action, or you've identified a gap you need to fill to make something happen. If you need to fill a gap, then think about what you can do to fill that gap. If you buy an investment property now which generates a steady stream of income for you, will that fit within your financial goals and also help open up new opportunities to get that new car?

TLDR: Don't sacrifice one life goal to achieve something else. Instead ask, how can I achieve both?

[Mason Hatcher]

Listen to these people. I didn't listen when I was 24. I am 60 now and will have to work up until noon on the day of my funeral, because I can't retire. I wish I had listened.

[dreamingat30fps]

I dunno but I think there should be a Mosaud1998 OT Fund and you have to contribute 10% of your salary to it. Our fee for all the amazing life coaching OT has provided. Personally I think it's a steal! Just imagine how shitty life would be if you didn't listen to the OT.

[Mosaud1998]

I can't open a retirement account with my job yet since I haven't been there for 6 months.

But, would it be smart to open a retirement account or just put some money from each paycheck into the stock market/Crypto?

Isn't that what a retirement account is basically? It's just your job investing money into stocks and stuff they chose instead of you choosing your own.

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

I love cars and I love new cars. It's a matter of priorities. Lots of financial advice out there treat a car like a utility, and as such deprioritizes a car to the bare necessity rather than something that might be a passion for someone.

In my life, I've approached situations a little differently than the typical - do this OR that. I've always said to myself, if there's something I want that maybe seems to conflict with my life goals, I don't approach it with a "well I can't do that so I won't".... I've approached it with, "what do I need to do to make it happen while still maintaining my life goals".

I've got a life goal of owning a Ferrari. I don't make 7 figures, so rather than thinking it's some sort of crazy pipe dream, I asked myself, within the boundaries of my financial situation and life goals, how can I make owning a Ferrari a reality? What changes can I make today, to achieve that goal? So I came up with a long term plan to create an investment account specifically aimed at being a "toy car fund". I then had to make sure this fit within the bounds of what my life goals were in general.

How can you apply similar logic to your situation? Lay out all of your life goals. Start thinking about what you need to do TODAY to make your life goals happen 5-10-15+ years from now. Based on those changes, continue working backwards, considering each priority in your life, and allocating an amount to that. Eventually you'll end up in a situation where you've organized a plan of action, or you've identified a gap you need to fill to make something happen. If you need to fill a gap, then think about what you can do to fill that gap. If you buy an investment property now which generates a steady stream of income for you, will that fit within your financial goals and also help open up new opportunities to get that new car?

TLDR: Don't sacrifice one life goal to achieve something else. Instead ask, how can I achieve both?

My dream when I was in middle school was to own a BMW.

Achieved that goal in 2019.

I love cars too. Buy right now, I'm thinking of ways to make money work for me. Stocks Crypto etc. I'm young so I can sorta play with money.

Once I've got kids and more responsibilities, I won't have that sort of freedom.

Hopefully, the house market crashes soon so I can buy a townhouse and put it on rent. Can't beat passive income.

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by Mosaud1998

I can't open a retirement account with my job yet since I haven't been there for 6 months.

But, would it be smart to open a retirement account or just put some money from each paycheck into the stock market/Crypto?

Isn't that what a retirement account is basically? It's just your job investing money into stocks and stuff they chose instead of you choosing your own.

Here's a couple things you can do:

- Open up a Roth IRA. You're below the income limit for a Roth so make sure to take advantage of that.

- You can open up a brokerage account. Robo-advisors get the job done. I personally like to use Wealthfront since it's relatively low fees. Open up an account and automatically deposit money in on a regular basis (I deposit weekly).

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by Mosaud1998

I can't open a retirement account with my job yet since I haven't been there for 6 months.

But, would it be smart to open a retirement account or just put some money from each paycheck into the stock market/Crypto?

Isn't that what a retirement account is basically? It's just your job investing money into stocks and stuff they chose instead of you choosing your own.

Depends on what they offer. If it's a 401k with some kind of match it's free money. Also typically the money invested is pre-tax so you don't pay tax on whatever you invest through your job until you eventually take that money out. At least that's my understanding having not had employer retirement plans in many years.

But yes you could open your own retirement investment account and put money in it yourself.

Or just go all in on SHIBA and buy a sick lambo with the fat stacks you'll make! Fuck it YOLO!!!!