What Do You Splurge On? Am I foolish for "living" a little?

5 series does not really compare to cts-v and neither is in 30-40K range

What kind of car you get does not matter. How much you spend does matter.

Are you foolish for proposing you spend $30k-$40k on a car? In my book, yes. You are also foolish to currently have a car payment while you have $90k saved, unless you are earning more on your savings/investments than the interest rate on the car payment.

1. Will you earn this level of income forever, or was 2012 a particularly good year?
2. What is your long term plan? You have already stated non kids, but do you plan to buy a house, vacation home, retire early, etc? Do you want the car more than you want those things?
3. You got good advice above to buy a used one.
4. If you think there is any chance you are going to be working for someone else, don't buy a flashy car.
5. If you take clients out in your car, think about what you are driving. I figure the car someone drives tells me about their values. I do business with people who have similar values as they generally represent my interests better. I would not spend that kind of cash on a car.

nasheedb said:   peas said:   DINK4LIFE said:   Been reading personal finance websites, FWF, etc for a while.. see the same things over and over: buy a car that is cheap and you can run into the ground, never lease a car, don't buy a home over xxx% of your income, and various frugal living advice.

I have been on my own, financially, about a year now, but still living on a college budget. I'm making very good money (130,000) , and I am considering 'splurging' on a nice BMW 535i or Cadillac CTS-V.

I have never been one to waste money, and I saved about 75% of my after tax income this year. My current car payment is about $200/mo, but I'm thinking "screw it" - I'm 24, what's the point in making lots of money if you don't live a little. Looking at cars in the $30k - $40k range.

Am I young and foolish for wanting to blow some of my disposable income on an awesome car? This purchase would bump my "transportation - car/gas/insurance" costs from ~4% of my '12 income to ~10%. My rent/utilities are 6%.


FWF, What do YOU splurge on?If you're going to drop that kind of dime on a car, why not consider the Model S which won Motor Trend's 2013 Car of the Year? It'll buy you more (or better) creds than a snooty exhaust-belching BMW. Plus in the spirit of FW, the fed & state tax credits sweeten the deal. Yeah I know some ppl are going to moan about the tax credits but it's there to use (might as well complain about coupons or rebates in general). The gas savings will help a bit too.

You make good but not unlimited money. Cars' depreciation rapidly approach zero whereas housing often maintains its value or even appreciates. That $30-50k would make a hefty down payment on a nice house/condo. Ask yourself - do you want to impress the ladies with your ride, only to disappoint after taking them to your apartment shack. Or get a respectable (but not exorbitant) car and a nice crib that you can have fun in?

Personally I "splurge" on MIC lithium flashlights and sometimes cameras. But I'm not young & single anymore so YMMV.


He sounds like he wants a car soon, not two years from now...

I believe the current backlog estimate is about 9 months depending on configuration.

RS4Rings said:   SUCKISSTAPLES said:   RS4Rings said:   Yea was very win when the table broke and they tumbled to the ground. I was tossing on some dollars so didnt get a pic as it happened
I climbed onto the table at a naked sushi buffet to eat the Ikura off the model. The other fwf attendees would have been most displeased if that table broke

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v644/fwfinance/C215C7D2-B44A-4...
Excuse me but there is a pube in my foodTo be fair, she was shaved.

Crazytree said:   "He was one of those born clever enough at gaining a fortune, but incapable of keeping one. For the qualities and energies which lead a man to achieve the first, are often the very cause of his ruin in the latter case."

-William Thackeray "Barry Lyndon"
A good example of an OT post that's more educational and interesting than the thread topic.

glxpass said:   Crazytree said:   "He was one of those born clever enough at gaining a fortune, but incapable of keeping one. For the qualities and energies which lead a man to achieve the first, are often the very cause of his ruin in the latter case."

-William Thackeray "Barry Lyndon"
A good example of an OT post that's more educational and interesting than the thread topic.That rings eerily true for every successful lawyer I know.

Crazytree said:   "He was one of those born clever enough at gaining a fortune, but incapable of keeping one. For the qualities and energies which lead a man to achieve the first, are often the very cause of his ruin in the latter case."

-William Thackeray "Barry Lyndon"
Not me, I know I was lucky to achieve what I did and thats why I'm overly conservative now and take no chances, lighting does not strike twice

I'm splurging on stocks, bonds, and precious metals. I'm in the top 5% income bracket, but I still drive a used Honda with 100K+ miles. If you splurge like me while you're still young, you won't ever have to drive an SUV or suburban sedan for the rest of your life.

If your future plans involve further education, $90k in savings is nothing. Determine your 5 year plan before treating yourself to things you "deserve".

<---- DINK for the foreseeable future with loads of education debt driving my sweet Hyundai with the manual roll down windows.

BEEFjerKAY said:   Infinion said:   We have a great time sitting back and laughing at our couple-friends that read from the life-script and now hate their lives together...he he...

Which, of course, is the same thing the couples with kids will be doing about their child-less couple former friends.

FWIW, laughing at others is not a sustainable foundation for personal satisfaction. Laughing at oneself, is.

I'm sure many of them are fulfilled by their choices in life. However, and sadly, we've have some pretty honest discussions with former friends about how much they wish they hadn't made those choices, but now feel trapped in them. The laughing comment was mostly in jest. We don't really laugh at them, at least not for out own 'personal satisfaction.' I didn't intent to diminish the choices you've made in your life if that's what you read. I was just attempting to give some advice and encouragement to the OP since they have obviously made some of the same choices I have.

SUCKISSTAPLES said:   RS4Rings said:   Infinion said:   If your name is accurate, and you're really a DINK4LIFE and 24yr, you'll quickly find a few things to be true.

First, starting very soon, and likely already, many of your friends, especially couples, will begin producing children and buying houses with white picket fences. At that time, they will likely not be friends with you anymore. You won't care about their kids, and they won't have time to do things with you anymore. Try to find another couple that is like minded about their futures. I can tell you first hand, loosing friends to children is just as hard as loosing friends for any other reason, except, now you'll hate their kids because of it. My wife and I were lucky enough to find a couple we like, that have the same plans as us, and roughly the same socio-economic status. We have a great time sitting back and laughing at our couple-friends that read from the life-script and now hate their lives together...he he...

My wife hangs out with our couples friends and I hang out with my car friends,they range in age from over 30 years younger than me to just a few years younger. Some weekends I go to clubbing with them, have backyard BBQ's and have even gone to parties at Colleges where I played beer pong for the first time. My car hobby is probably the biggest reason I'm still married, without that outlet I would have died of boredom hanging out with sane couples

Ditto , there is nothing more boring to our unmarried group of friends than getting together with my (previously fun) married /new parent friends , sitting down to a 6pm dinner in their home and getting tired by 8pm . Of course we do it , without complaint, to still maintain the friendship , but its not the same

What's funny is we got one of the newly married guys drunk earlier this year and he started begging his wife to let him go out with our unmarried group that night to the strip club. We found it hilarious and sad that he wanted to do this so bad , and that he had to beg for permission , its like he's been repressed the past few years. We also found it uncomfortable as it was 830pm and too early to go to the strip club .

All very true. OP identified as a DINK though, so having some outlet like RS4Rings states is important. We're DINKs, and go to bed WAY after 8pm...like, 9:30 usually Seriously, hobbies are really important to DINKs. You've made choices such that you are able to do whatever you want, so go do it. If that hobby is cars, great, go do that. Marriage/Couple is one thing, but all too often we hear from our family or former friends 'well, that's easy for you to say, you don't have kids/house/commitments/etc' whatever.' I suppose what I was getting at, was for OP to ensure, now, that they find people to identify with. If they're married or committed, it's likely that many of their friends will be too, and the majority of those will soon disappear to kids.

Buy the car, and enjoy it.

I'm going to get lynched for using the L word, but maybe the OP could lease the luxury car for 2 years and send it back at the end if it's not the life-changing car experience everyone is expecting.

TravelerMSY said:   I'm going to get lynched for using the L word, but maybe the OP could lease the luxury car for 2 years and send it back at the end if it's not the life-changing car experience everyone is expecting.Lesbian?