Bryan Barnfellow
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
My advice: Buy the car and direct in your will that you be buried in it. Then count the cost in your long term budget as a prepaid funeral expense. Presto.
-BB
-BB
(emphasis mine)I don't get that part either. Expensive travel doesn't get deemed as wasteful here usually but cars often are deemed frivolous purchases, yet cars have resale value. A car kept for ten years could have a very frugal cost per hour of enjoyment.
I don't get that part either. Expensive travel doesn't get deemed as wasteful here usually but cars often are deemed frivolous purchases
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Well, sometimes I insinuate that expensive international travel is a giant, bottomless black hole into which one can throw infinite amounts of money..... But usually there aren't many who agree with me.
Well I am going to put this to a rest. Everyone has been great. I don't golf, I don't live a lavish lifestyle, i don't have a vacation home, I put one son through college and our income more than covers our living expenses. i did pay off the Cadillac as it was bothering me to have that debt even though the interest rate was less than I was earning on my money. i ran the numbers through firecalc and I still have a 100% rate with the $50k reduction so I bought the car. My wife and I are looking forward to hitting the road next week to Nashville and ft Walton in it.
The OP didn't ask whether he could afford to buy the car. He asked, How any of the others dealt with spending their savings or if there were any regrets.
I would not look at it as spending $53,000.00. I would look at it as an entertainment expense. Lets just say you buy the car and lose interest in a number of years and you are able to sell it for a decent price (you may even make a little) because it is a desirable car. You may only spend what adds up to a few thousand dollars a year. I am sure the people that golf, fish, take pictures, travel or whatever spend a couple thousand a year and they are fine with it. In other words if you were to come on here and ask if you should spend $2000.00 a year to golf you would get a lot of approval. It's all how you want to spend YOUR money. Your wife is still working with her own pension and it seems like your needs are met and the bills are paid If you are comfortable with reducing your portfolio for what could be temporary, do it. It is really no one else's business to tell you if they would do it or not.
True. We all like to spend our money in our own way. And we tend to shake our head at the other guy's choice.
I did not see that this $53K expense is going to ruin the OP's finance the way some other posters did. He will be OK. I just wonder how long he will stay pleased with the car. Will he like something different after a while?
Hey, travel is the same. You go visit some place this year. If your health permits, next year you want to go somewhere else. When is it going to stop?
Well I am going to put this to a rest. Everyone has been great. I don't golf, I don't live a lavish lifestyle, i don't have a vacation home, I put one son through college and our income more than covers our living expenses. i did pay off the Cadillac as it was bothering me to have that debt even though the interest rate was less than I was earning on my money. i ran the numbers through firecalc and I still have a 100% rate with the $50k reduction so I bought the car. My wife and I are looking forward to hitting the road next week to Nashville and ft Walton in it.
+1Congrats! Where's the pic?
True.The problem with comparing travel expenses verses the expense of owning a car is you pay for a vacation and when you are done you have nothing but the memory. If you decide to scratch the itch with a different car you have the old one to trade/sell to cover part of the cost. A lot of good memories can be created with the car too...
Do whatever you want...bottom line is you have a lot of debt for someone who is retired. Good luck.
True.
But with travel, the experience is frozen in your memory. With a car, eventually it breaks down and needs repair. People often forget the past good memory, and are constantly reminded of the present problems. It can be like with a divorce; people tend to forget about the happy past, and only think of the current dispute.
I am not trying to sway anybody from buying any toy. I was among the ones who cheered the OP on. Just trying to describe the other side of the coin.