I am not gonna lie, i thought living in NYC was expensive… i take it back. Living in suburbs is 3x more expensive. I dont have a terrible job, but how do people even manage to do that?
Hey! My income is right in the range you describe and I *almost*, I mean *almost* bought a new Versa. I ended up getting spooked by the death rates in this class of car I so upgraded to the Sentra which cost $14.2K. Fifteen months ago I was driving a 1999 Corolla (purchased new). Only one door opened and the windows didn’t go down. It had a cassette player (no CD player). I am not the norm though, so I agree with your post.
It’s ok to lie now that the election results are in. Just say it’s what you believe.
I don’t know how people afford mortgages, luxury cars and goin out every weekend. Especially the under 35 crowd It just doesn’t add up from a cash flow perspective.
It’s doable even on a one-person salary. I fall behind sometimes for a month or two before my bonus kicks in. but if you are making around 150k the mortgage, taxes and stuff should only cost about 3-4k a month which leaves about 9k for other stuff. Car payment shouldn’t cost more than a 1000 which leaves about 8k for eating out, entertainment, travel. Clearly doable.
This is doable even with kids as there are many good neighborhoods in the suburbs that provide free education up to high school, if you are spending money for private school in the city then that’s just dumb imho.
Fancy cars like M BMWs and such have two distinct buyer groups - one is the usual empty nesters who are in their 50s or 60s, and the other is young people in their 20s. The young single people who live alone have no other costs, so they spend a disproportionate amount of their income on a status object like a fancy car. As these people approach late 20s or early 30s, they start thinking about house and family, and trade in their sports car for Subaru.
The Lexus is more of an older people car though. Most younger buyers would probably prefer something with sportier pretensions.
Lexus is trying to pivot toward younger people with their i series and RC series, those cars look much sportier than your old lexus sedans.
Yes, they are probably trying too hard if you ask me. But what I was saying is that this particular Lexus is a GT and is more of a replacement for the old SC. The equivalent young buyer would probably prefer the cheaper and more overtly sporty RC-F. I’m not sure who buys IS350 or IS200 to be honest. It is a pretty ridiculous looking car for a sedan; if you want to put that crazy grill on any car, you need to follow through with the whole body, like in the car above. With the current IS, unless you care a lot about reliability, today’s BMW or Audi are better in most ways, and are possibly even cheaper for the same features (and are in fact pretty reliable nowadays).
What do you find so expensive in the suburbs?
per month?!?!? shame on any AFer who pays $1,000 per month to drive a car. hacksaw.
Yeah this is confusing as hell to me, I live in suburbs in NYC and the cost is much lower than living in the city. Top notch free schools for kids, cheap community service, food and grocery is also much much cheaper.
Is this because moving to suburbs is coincidental to a change in personal circumstances, like having some kids?
Anyway, I suspect that people don’t really spend less after moving to suburbs. If you can afford a $1 million apartment, you are going to buy a $1 million house. The money you save on groceries or Seamless is going to be used to buy cars or yard care. Whatever people earn, they will spend it somehow.
I call BS. I don’t know anybody making $150k on a single salary near an urban center claiming this. Most importantly, the tell was that I’ve never seen a person making that much that “forgot” to factor in taxes. Using your own math, that $9k goes to $3k. What person doesn’t notice a 67% drop in their discretionary income?
Also, they way you’re talking about finances with kids is like listening to a virgin trying to explain sex. “You know… it’s like your flower… and you’re just you know sharing it… you know?”
I’m doing it right now, but I guess my circumstances is a little different since I get paid full amount upfront and can plan how my taxes is paid at year end. But yea, it’s very doable even if you factor in taxes and I have a wife with expensive taste mind you.
What do you do that allows you to get paid up front? From a cash flow perspective (which is what sparked this debate), its very difficult for a normal person paid biweekly and taxed biweekly to live as originally described, with a nice savings rate.
That’s not over the top. I see a lot of statements for people who purchase cars. (Some are for business, others are just writing off the sales tax on their 1040.)
For a Cadillac Escalade or a Ford F-250 Platinum, you can get close to the $1,000 per month range, depending on the financing arrangements. And these are Detroit vehicles. Imagine if you go with a luxury sedan like a BMW 760iL.
i realize rates are low but doesn’t it go against ALL financial sense to leverage a depreciating asset?
vehicles are status symbols out here.
Plus, you need some kind vehicle. And unless you have 50-60k saved up (most people dont), you have to buy one somehow.
edit - plus, if you have to have a car, and interest rates are less than investment return, it makes perfect sense to borrow money for it.
That’s a myth if you plan on matching duration or at least that’s my impression after taking a cursory look at it for myself.
^You’re also missing the point. Buying a car is 95% emotional. It’s not going to make logical sense to most people. It’s not supposed to.
If we all drove the bare minimum car we needed and nobody financed it, only about 1/4 of the people in America would have cars, and 90% of them would be Toyota Corollas.
I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you. I’ve made it my life’s mission to help people become financially secure. But telling people that they shouldn’t buy the things they want gets you nowhere.