Saving for new car

[tmitchell]

Question about how you all work with scheduled major purchases in retirement.

For instance I'm expecting to pay around 30k for a car every 10 years. A number of people here have recommended putting into my RE budget something like $300-500/mo for this kind of thing.

For those of you who hold this line in your budget, do you invest this money in a special bucket, or is it just part of your overall holdings? If the latter do you just pull out $30k for the purchase when you get there?

I have some of my holdings at Betterment and they have buckets that can be set up for longer term purchases, etc.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[street]

Just pull out of savings and buy the large item.

 

[Aerides]

I'm much more loose with my budget management than most here, but this is how I do it:

If I've budgeted $80 for all-in expenses (and I mean all in, taxes, HI, etc.), then I put a swag amount over that, about $20k per year for "bigger unplanned stuff" before I decided to retire. So, in reality spending say 80, but by SWR supports 100.

I don't do monthly budgets. We've been ER'd for over 4 years now. We tracked expenses closely, month over month, for about the first year, and found we were very comfortably under plan in our day-to-day, month-to-month stuff, so stopped bothering with that.

I don't manage strict buckets beyond keeping a few years in cash/CD's, so some years are down, some are up, and it all sort of evens out.

Earlier this year I decided it was time for a pool. DH reran firecalc because he was a bit nervous about a big cash outlay that wasn't planned at all. It made zero difference.

 

[VanWinkle]

Question about how you all work with scheduled major purchases in retirement.

For instance I'm expecting to pay around 30k for a car every 10 years. A number of people here have recommended putting into my RE budget something like $300-500/mo for this kind of thing.

For those of you who hold this line in your budget, do you invest this money in a special bucket, or is it just part of your overall holdings? If the latter do you just pull out $30k for the purchase when you get there?

I have some of my holdings at Betterment and they have buckets that can be set up for longer term purchases, etc.

Thanks for your thoughts!

The last time I bought a car-2019, I used the funds in my taxable account that were invested conservatively for purchases of this type. Short term bond fund fit the bill. I now have decided to keep all of the taxable invested in the total US stock market index and will sell shares for a car purchase when needed. That way, I can keep the money working for me and would have gained 7000 dollars this year on the investment(35000 X 20%). Some people ask what if stocks are down? I would sell them anyway and purchase a similar investment in my IRA to replace the stock index fund the same day. That way, I have not sold low. I actually sold bonds in my IRA to fund the purchase when I replace the stock sale with a stock purchase in my IRA. I would replace with a similar fund(not identical) so I could harvest the loss in my taxable account. YMMV

VW

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

i would says 30K div 10 years div 12 mos to get a monthly figure, do an autodraft into big savings bucket (along with everything else I do this with like property taxes into this one big savings bucket etc). I try to keep that savings in a money market account earning something. WHen it gets absurdly big then I move some to a money market mutual fund. rinse repeat. I dont really invest what I know Im going to want in cash money in 10 years. Then when I buy the thing I draft that amount back to cover to purchase. I track each month of savings into categories on a spreadsheet so I can quickly see how much i have currently saved for car, taxes, etc. And I adjust that spreadsheet and subtract it out of the column when I spend it to update that figure.

Editted to add: Im one of the people that kind of track monthly expenses by category mostly bc I want to know how much I underspent my income so I know how much to draft to savings. I label this "unallocated" and its a pot of money that grows monthly. If something unplanned comes up, or an opportunity presents itseld, or I get a wild hair and want new floors, its from this I pull it. I tracked "unallocated" on the same savings spreadsheet like i do car savings etc. I also label what I spend it on when i subtract it out by inserting a comment in the spreadsheet. Helpful to be able to go back on the same spreadsheet and know when i bought a washer/dryer and how much I spent on it etc. No pulling of receipts.

 

[Andre1969]

Depending on what interest rates are running, I might just finance it. If I was going to pay cash for it all at once, I'd just pull the money out of my MM account, and then rebalance the rest of my portfolio, if needed, to get the asset allocation back.

 

[Blue531]

I would just take enough money out to buy the major purchase. I'm not interested in being in debt again. But I also would not spend $30K for new car. I wouldn't spend half that if I could. But also I probably won't buy a new car ever again. I hold my cars as long as possible. As far as saving up for a car at that rate could take awhile. If I were to want to save up, I would use the stock market to grow that money and not leave it in savings.

 

[jollystomper]

t is just part of my overall cash allocation. Part of my 5 year plan going to retirement was to add a car and replace 2 cars, so that was factored into the amount. We no longer really "budget" for specific things, we just monitor our overall cash flow.

 

[OldShooter]

Just pull out of savings and buy the large item.

+1

 

[Jerry1]

In terms of planning and budgeting, I figured out my necessary expenses (day today living) and my discretionary expenses (everything else) and then I added $20K per year to that and rounded up. Then I ran all my numbers with that level of expense and all was good.

Now that I'm in retirement, I keep track just to make sure my assumptions were good. So far so good. I don't keep separate buckets for large expenses in either my budget or my financial accounts. Just deal with it as it comes. That means it's likely that some years I will be over budget, but most years I should not.

As for financing, with money so cheap, it should at least be considered. One of the considerations for me is taxes. If I pull too much money out of my IRA, it will put me in the next tax bracket. That may be one reason to take a loan. The difference between the 12% and 22% bracket times $30K (for a car) is $3,000. That's enough to get my attention even though I'd prefer to just pay cash and be done with it.

 

[W2R]

Before retirement, I set aside enough for an SUV outside of my retirement portfolio. Then shortly after retiring back in 2009, I bought a brand new 2009 Venza, which I still have. That was part of my retirement plan; to retire with a new car so that I could more easily get through the first few years in case of a down market.

After being retired for 10 years or so, I noticed that the market had done nothing but soar, and I had only been spending an average of about 1.7% of my portfolio each year. I was allowing myself 3.5%, but didn't spend it all and plowed the rest back into my investments.

Anyway, it turns out that even without allocating money towards a new car, I can easily afford one. So, I withdrew enough of my cash dividends from my portfolio to pay for my next car and put it in my local bricks'n'mortar savings account.

There it sits. A much bigger problem for me is finding a car that I actually want. None of them appeal to me very much, and I only have about 35,000-36,000 miles on my Venza so there is no urgency in replacing it. But anyway, I'm ready to jump on it if/when I figure out what I want.

 

[38Chevy454]

Just pull out of savings and buy the large item.

X2, no need for special bucketing in my finances, just take out for large purchases. I don't even do the bucket method for any reason.


Just asking to OP, is $30K enough for a new car? Unless you are buying small non-luxury cars, most new cars would seem to bust your $30K limit.

 

[wolf]

+1

+ + 1. Keep it simple.

Also, unless you are bored, or worry that after 10 years, your maintenance costs will exceed the cost of a new car. Keep your old car.

More, important. Have a trusted mechanic, maintain the
car. ie. Fluid changes, and fix safety related issues.

Avoid, Dealer mechanics. Too expensive. And they are always trying to upsell.

 

[OldShooter]

+ + 1. Keep it simple.

…

In defense of the OP, he is trying to figure out a “mental accounting” car-buying scheme for himself. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_accounting) I am not so inclined but I think for many people the way to “keep it simple” is to work within some mental accounting rules that suit them.

 

[brett]

We do not keep separate funds/accounts for anything-including major purchased. If the money is not in current or HISA, we simply draw down from our equity accounts.

Not a big believer in buckets. Seems like a lot of busy work to me. We have three. Equity holding, HISA, and current.

 

[GenXguy]

I put $200/mo into a sinking fund for minimal car replacement costs, not to buy a brand new car. Years later, if I want something better and more expensive than the fund can pay for, then the rest comes out of discretionary funds, so if I had allocated $50K/yr for discretionary spending, I could take some from that to buy a nicer car. These funds don't really exist - they're just figures on a budget for mental accounting.

 

[ziggy29]

We tend to just throw about $500 a month into a sub account at my CU which is intended to more or less cover large and infrequent purchases, plus whatever mileage reimbursement my wife gets on her job (which has been almost zero in 2020). And then when we make a multi-kilobuck purchase, we pull from there.

 

[Spanky]

X2, no need for special bucketing in my finances, just take out for large purchases. I don't even do the bucket method for any reason.


Just asking to OP, is $30K enough for a new car? Unless you are buying small non-luxury cars, most new cars would seem to bust your $30K limit.

Usually we buy a 3-year old car. $30K is good enough for a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord.

 

[Spanky]

We include basic, medical, car repair, house repair, travel, property taxes, big ticket items into a yearly budget. None-yearly expenses will be calculated using the FV and PMT financial functions in Excel. For example, $30K for a new/used car every 10 years, 2% inflation, the future value of the car is $36,569.83 in 10 years (=FV(2%, 10, 0, -30000). The PMT based on 2% saving yield is $3,339.80 (=PMT(2%, 10, 0, -36570), which is the yearly budget for a new car.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

I hate debt of any kind.


That said. I am going to borrow every dollar I can for my next new car in a couple years. I have enough to pay cash for the dealership, but I don't want to sell $40,000 plus in investments to pay cash for a car. I will finance it at .9% and finance it for 6 years on their dime. If I sold $40,000 in my portfolio it would generate taxes of about 25% state and federal.


My income will handle the monthly payments and keep me well within the much lower tax bracket.


Plus I believe the $40,000 invested in VG Balanced fund will yield a better return than the .9% the dealership is offering.


This is coming from a guy who loathes debt of any kind.....

 

[GravitySucks]

I hate debt of any kind.


That said. I am going to borrow every dollar I can for my next new car in a couple years. I have enough to pay cash for the dealership, but I don't want to sell $40,000 plus in investments to pay cash for a car. I will finance it at .9% and finance it for 6 years on their dime. If I sold $40,000 in my portfolio it would generate taxes of about 25% state and federal.


My income will handle the monthly payments and keep me well within the much lower tax bracket.


Plus I believe the $40,000 invested in VG Balanced fund will yield a better return than the .9% the dealership is offering.


This is coming from a guy who loathes debt of any kind.....

+1
I guesstimate where the next tax rate bump will be that year. Put that much down and finance the rest.
2013 was my last new car. Financing was at 1.9%, A rated corporate bonds were paying around 4%. Made more sense to finance than take the tax hit. Actually would have made more sense to finance the max, but hate debt.

 

[rk911]

Question about how you all work with scheduled major purchases in retirement.

For instance I'm expecting to pay around 30k for a car every 10 years. A number of people here have recommended putting into my RE budget something like $300-500/mo for this kind of thing.

For those of you who hold this line in your budget, do you invest this money in a special bucket, or is it just part of your overall holdings? If the latter do you just pull out $30k for the purchase when you get there?

I have some of my holdings at Betterment and they have buckets that can be set up for longer term purchases, etc.

Thanks for your thoughts!

we set aside $500 p/m into a "new car" fund which is kept at an online bank. we have about a dozen other sinking finds that we fund each month as part of our budget. out-of-pocket medical, dental expenses, vacation, RV maintenance, entertainment to name but a few

 

[Spanky]

I hate debt of any kind.


That said. I am going to borrow every dollar I can for my next new car in a couple years. I have enough to pay cash for the dealership, but I don't want to sell $40,000 plus in investments to pay cash for a car. I will finance it at .9% and finance it for 6 years on their dime. If I sold $40,000 in my portfolio it would generate taxes of about 25% state and federal.


My income will handle the monthly payments and keep me well within the much lower tax bracket.


Plus I believe the $40,000 invested in VG Balanced fund will yield a better return than the .9% the dealership is offering.


This is coming from a guy who loathes debt of any kind.....

Good point. With such a super low interest rate, why pay cash for a new car or even a house? With mortgage rate hoovering at 2.87%, it's quite tempting not be pay too much money down on a house purchase.

 

[Bamaman]

The trick is paying cash for one vehicle. Then, save $300-500 every month for the next capital expenditure.

I'm fortunate not to have any house payments, so I can cash flow a payment on a low APR loan.

What really scares me is having some unknown expense come up like having to replace a roof on the house--$15K.

 

[bolt]

Before retirement, I set aside enough for an SUV outside of my retirement portfolio. Then shortly after retiring back in 2009, I bought a brand new 2009 Venza, which I still have. That was part of my retirement plan; to retire with a new car so that I could more easily get through the first few years in case of a down market.

After being retired for 10 years or so, I noticed that the market had done nothing but soar, and I had only been spending an average of about 1.7% of my portfolio each year. I was allowing myself 3.5%, but didn't spend it all and plowed the rest back into my investments.

Anyway, it turns out that even without allocating money towards a new car, I can easily afford one. So, I withdrew enough of my cash dividends from my portfolio to pay for my next car and put it in my local bricks'n'mortar savings account.

There it sits. A much bigger problem for me is finding a car that I actually want. None of them appeal to me very much, and I only have about 35,000-36,000 miles on my Venza so there is no urgency in replacing it. But anyway, I'm ready to jump on it if/when I figure out what I want.

Now this is the car to look for used, low miles, offering the seller considerably more value than its trade-in in cash.
Get the cash needed from your assets!

I'd never buy new unless you frown on getting your hands dirty.
In that case I'd suggest pigskin gloves

Good luck & best wishes....