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Yeah, that's not in the cards for mine unless they get scholarships and graduate college debt free with money left in their coverdell account. I've told my sophomore (4.7 gpa) that if he does that, I'll either buy him a car or help with his down payment on a house.
You'll note I expressly failed to mention the cost of my wife's cars.
Not only are mine getting used cars but if they end up with something over 150hp I've made a horrible mistake. Boys and big engines are a bad combo.
Current one is 10 with years to go, I hope. It does help that my last truck was bought for $500, driven for four years, then turned in for $4k under cash for clunkers.
A 2010 honda civic with 150 thousand miles on it (still a decent car) is worth about 5k right now. You can buy a brand new honda civic for like 20k out the door right now.
Similar thing here, but those repair bills can get hairy, especially after 100k miles. I drive a 2011 Toyota Sequoia. Has 115k miles on it. Just spent $5k on repairs, not including tires. And it will need tires come this fall.
I love the Civic, it was the first car we bought as a married couple. Gave really serious consideration to the sport touring with manual transmission
Yeah, a Civic isn’t something I could even think about. We do a lot of driving vacations to the beach or FL or up north. I’ve got three boys from 13-19, not happening without a much bigger car. Still ways to spend a lot less. I’ve already stated that I’ve only bought 1 new car (on a great deal) since 2003.I love the Civic, it was the first car we bought as a married couple. Gave really serious consideration to the sport touring with manual transmission
But when I put my boys in, I looked back and it was almost clown car worthy.
Maybe in 2033.
Rent an SUV or a Van for those.stbugs said:
Agreed. 20+ years of financial services experience with countless conversations about personal finance and seeing the entire picture of people's financial situation and how much you make does not mean how much wealth you have.
Yeah I’m always blown away when someone actually follows my advice and is then able to buy a home. I make sure to let them know how rare it is and that I’m proud of them. Like maybe 1-2% of the clients actually do it.
I get a little better results but yes, the vast majority don't take action. Hell, a whole crap load don't even read the email I send. But the ones that do and I help them buy their first homes... those mean more to me than jist helping someone who just needed a good rate get done.
I'm trying to implant the idea of my wife taking the RAV4, I get a Civic, and we can rent a van for trips. We won't be buying anything for a few years at least so conditions will change. Ideally our oldest 3 will be out of HS, leaving one in HS and one in middle School. My wife envisions vacationing with them still, which I'm fine with but if they have families they can drive separately or we can rent a bus.
A few years back I rented a van for 10 folks to drive to Nashville for a Predators game. Worked great (and the Rangers won, so double great).
Seems off. Averages can be misleading. Is the denominator total people in that age group regardless of if they have a mortgage?
Yeah, it seems way off. Average credit card debt is about $6k based on what I just looked up. Did they just divide by population? Family of 5 in a house with a $150k mortgage is a $30k average? Renters counted as mortgage free, etc.?
Thinking through this now. I drive a 2010 Elantra with 140K miles that I bought used, it’s been paid off for 4 years. We also have a 2012 Frontier truck that we bought from the girlfriend’s parents.
Do not buy a Tourag.
If that's the case it makes sense but is a really bad study.
Pretty much the same here. I really liked our Civic, Highlander and now the RAV4 but if I could have had any vehicle I wanted and cost wasn't a factor, it wouldn't have been those. But, I like the looks of an extra $25k in my brokerage account along with the RAV4 more than I would the Range Rover Evoque.
Plus it includes all of us renters - currently three adults in my household (ok two adults and a 22-year old slacker) with zero mortgage dollars between us.
It’s nice to have options! I’m not feeling 2, you don’t need the extra money and it doesn’t sound like enjoyable work for you. I like 3 best because of the ability to transition into a side hustle and I sense a little excitement from you with the opportunity.
2. Avoiding because you don't like it or because you fearful of new thing or?
2 - was avoiding while active duty because it wasn't what I wanted to do, wasn't interesting to me. Now that I'm a civilian, it is interesting but I haven't done it before (contract law). But it is the business side of the military and could be very interesting. Just not sure.
My vehicle purchases
Bought my "realistic dream" car, an Audi A6 3.0 Quattro at 45 years old. Sometimes you have to play the midlife crisis card. Better than a 25 year old mistress, right?
If you're doing OK financially, take the more challenging/passionate choice, which seems like #3.
A 1% fee can be hugely impactful over time. The vast majority of people are going to come ahead by investing in a mix of low-cost index funds than paying an FA.
Did the "right thing" and rented a car for our upcoming road trip. Still going to keep looking at SUVs, but didn't want to rush into making a decision in the next two weeks.
Avoid
I realize this is not what you are asking but that is usually a really bad idea. He would face income tax plus an additional 10% penalty on the 401k distribution. Could easily be 32% or higher effective tax and that doesn't include state.
Does his company offer 401k loans? There’s no tax issue and while I wouldn’t recommend not letting your 401k money do what it’s supposed to do the loan is a better way to get money now if you have the means to pay it back. If no to having the ability to pay that loan back then buying a house is a bad idea. If it’s a matter of needing the money to get a much better loan then it might be worth it.
I have no idea what his personal finances are, but I’m not sure I totally agree with this. If he’s currently paying $2200 a month for rent but is not able to save $20-$30,000 for a down payment, I wouldn’t say that automatically means he can’t afford a house where his payment might be 1800 a month.
