<p>Whenever you have $50K saved up.</p>
<p>I don’t believe in car payments. It’s a depreciating asset.</p>
<p>
Huh? I believe cars are depreciating assets, but that in no way affects the optimal payment structure. If you believe you can get a better interest rate than the car loan wouldn’t it be optimal to make money on the spread?</p>
<p>I’m an actuarial science major at PSU Smeal. I feel like I should be able to get a very well-paying job with a nice increase as I past more exams on the job.</p>
<p>But here’s the thing:</p>
<p>I will be living at my parents’ house until I’m at least 25 years old. I won’t have to pay any rent. I’ll be eating at home (occasionally I’ll go out to eat). My parents also bought me a new car last year. So that Mercedes E-350 coupe (my dream affordable car) will be the very 1st car I purchase on my own.</p>
<p>For at least 4 years after I graduate, I should have plenty of money saved up from not having to pay rent or buy a car (whatever money I make will only be used on gas, clothes, and personal activities)</p>
<p>You know that girls really won’t go for the “I’m saving money for an E350” line, right?</p>
<h2>You know that girls really won’t go for the “I’m saving money for an E350” line, right? </h2>
<p>I’ll be saving money in general, not just for the car. Which means I’ll have more money to spend on dates and other stuff.</p>
<p>In this economy, aren’t a lot of new college grads staying at home for a couple years?</p>
<p>And? Having your own place is desirable to women. It will never hurt you (well, 99% of the time - I guess living at home in a mansion is superior to sharing a room with another dude). But on the chance that’s not the case, I doubt there will be a time it hurts you. </p>
<p>Anyways, owning a nice car isn’t as hard as you think it is. Buying a used entry level luxury car after 2-3 years is not very difficult if you save up ~10-20K and are willing to stomach a ~500-750 payment for 48 months.</p>
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<p>How many actually do, for the life of the car loan?..wouldn’t do it unless loan rate is 0%.
What happens if you become unemployed ?</p>
<p>If you think you can’t beat standard auto loans, I’m sorry.</p>
<p>Why do you have a strong interest in driving a particular car? If your parents just bought you a new car, that should last 10+ years. Wanting a “big enough salary to drive a luxury car” seems kinda shallow, imo. I guess if you drive one, you’ll attract the kind of people who are impressed by that.</p>
<p>My older daughter wouldn’t be dateing any guy living at home, especially if he is already working. We are ready to kick her butt out the door as soon as she graduates next year. D1 is also very shallow, so she’ll date a guy with a nice car, but only if he could also affor his own place.</p>
<p>First let me say that I have no objection trying to impress a girl. Been there, done that, as the expression goes.</p>
<p>Mr. Payne is right there(post 46). Living with Mommy and Daddy doesn’t impress a girl. Particularly if that girl is actually a woman and is supporting herself.
Do many children(nearly adults) live with Mom and Dad? Yes. But It may be hard for a young fellow to see now, while in college, that driving a car, even a nice one, back to Mommy and Daddy’s house for a visit isn’t impressive.
An average car back to his own place would be far more impressive.</p>
<p>What do you mean, Lil Wayne, that at 25 the Mercedes will be the first car you’ve bought yourself? If you trade in the gifted new car you have now, and if you’ve lived on Mommy and Daddy’s dime into what should have been your early adult yrs, then how do you figure you are buying it yourself? By supporting you in nearly every other way to let you keep what you earn, they are essentially still buying the next car for you.</p>
<p>At 22, 23, 24 you are old enough to be a man; yet you want to live with Mom and Dad just as you did when you were 6. Adulthood is not determined by the calendar alone.
Many here have the advantage of seeing things as a child, as a young adult, as an older(slightly!) adult, and as a parent. We have all those experiences. Try to understand, LilWayne, that you are seeing things only from a childs’ perspective. Rewording your position, one might say <em>If I keep sponging off Mommy and Daddy until I am 25, then I can save up my allowance to buy something really big for me</em>. You aren’t the first to think that way. You won’t be the last.<br>
Also for me, that way of thinking is “been there, done that”. In my case my parents had different ideas, thank goodness.</p>
<p>Just understand that your position isn’t unique, and a home of your own is far far more impressive than <em>your room</em> in Mommy and Daddys’ house. You are right it is easier to live as a child than it is to live as an adult. But there is a sense of accomplishment and pride when one steps into self-supporting adulthood, and that IS impressive! Barring any physical or mental impairments, adulthood and self supporting go together; and without one a person generally doesn’t have the other.</p>
<p>Wait, wait, you’re going to be living at home on your parents’ dime for years so you can save up for a $50,000. car??? Holy smoke! Have you checked with your parents about this plan?</p>
<p>My guess is that Lil Wayne may change his priorities once he graduates and begins working. He may find that he values a grown-up life style more than a particular car. He may also find that when he starts to write a check out of his hard-earned bank account, the old car doesn’t look so bad because money accumulating in the bank feels better than a depreciating Mercedes in the driveway.</p>
<p>I own a car in that price range. Bought it a few years back before the economy tanked. Took a 5 year loan with 0 interest. It is a company vehicle so there were tax advantages. It is paid off now but the payment was $1500. per month. You need to make a lot more than 100K per year to make those kind of car payments. I was in my late 40s when I bought the vehicle. Still driving it with over 100K miles on it.<br>
At your age you should think about more practical things like rent, food, building good credit, etc.<br>
If you actually have enough money in your 20s to pay 1500 per month for anything you should buy real estate which APPRECIATES and doesn’t DEPRECIATE.</p>
<p>Real estate doesn’t neccessarily appreciate unless on massive time intervals. And even so, it’s possible that if you buy at the peak it will never appreciate. Someone who bought in Nevada in 2006 will likely never see that investment appreciate.</p>
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<p>that is more than my mortgage, insurance (car and house), real estate taxes, gas, electric, cable tv, cell phone, water AND food costs for the month.</p>
<p>I paid cash for my ‘gently used’ Toyota last summer. Funny thing is they ran a credit check anyway. I suppose they wanted to know the odds that the nearly 11.5K check I was writing would be good. I was ****ed because the score was only 841. I wanted those last 9 points!!</p>
<p>You could have brought them a bank check.</p>
<p>Something that I’d like to do someday is to bring in a small plastic container of gold coins and ask them if they’d trade the new car for twenty pieces of metal in my hand. One of the gold guys that I read many years ago when to a dealership to rent a Mercedes. He gave them a bunch of gold coins for a deposit. When he returned the car, they asked if they could keep the gold coins for his payment. He, of course, said no. He’d much rather have the real money than a bunch of pieces of paper.</p>
<p>I think that the last time I had a credit score checked was in the 1990s when we refinanced our house. I don’t remember what our score is. Since then, we’ve just paid cash for everything so no need for knowing our credit score.</p>
<p>Forget the 50k car. Get a nice used Mercedes or Lexus (my son got one for $4000) and save your money for an apartment. If you have a good job, you shouldn’t be living with the rents.</p>
<p>I’d like to know how ebeee can decide that a person needs “a lot more than a 100000 salary” to buy a 50k car(post 54), when ebeeee doesn’t know the buyers’ expenses or possible trade-in a buyer may have! This poster has not told us his income, trade-in, or expenses. How about me? Can I afford that car ebeee?</p>
<p>Glad to see Gourmetmom agrees with me(post 53) Once any college grad is living a grown-up lifestyle(self supporting) then he finds needs should prevail over wants.
I don’t think wanting a car to impress girls is bad per se- but I think having ones’ own home is much more impressive than a nice car while one lives with Mommy.</p>
<p>To answer Wayne: " In this economy, aren’t a lot of new college grads staying at home for a couple years?" Yes some do. But others are prepared by family and schooling to be self supporting adults. That’s what growing up, and college is all about.</p>
<p>My daughter and I would be spectacularly unimpressed by a guy who was living at home just so he could save up money to buy an “impressive” car. That’s immature, not impressive.</p>