Any financial/leasing gurus out there mind helping me out?

[RLJ10X]

Simply put: On average, your money will double every 7 years.

Let's say that at age 25, a young man manages to invest $50,000 in the S&P 500, and you never touch it, or add to it.

At age 32 our investor has 100,000, 7 years later age 39 he has $200,000. At age 46, $400,000. At age 53, his investment is now worth $800,000. At age 60 our investor is now worth $1,600,000.

 

[Docwagon1776]

2 bits of advice;
Stay on track, keep disciplined and you'll eventually get there and
Only take financial advice from people who have attained it.

Meh, no worries there. It's no trouble, I'm not tempted to do anything different. I just started at 10% of my pay into deferred compensation retirement account and 50% of every raise since. I never miss it since I never saw it. As I get OT or a 3rd check, I top off my IRA as well.

Respectfully, I don't take advice on finances. I learned how to evaluate investments via an accounting minor and various finance classes and reading. I just decided that making money wasn't my top priority. Top 10 for sure, but not top. Turns out that doing something you find worthwhile and fulfilling can also turn into a pretty nice income. If you'd told me 15 years ago I'd be making what I do today stateside I'd have figured you were full of it. But, here we are.

I know several people who've made themselves very wealthy doing things I have no desire to do. A buddy of mine is selling 5 apartment buildings right now. He actually works maybe 30 hours a week and is to the point he self-finances all but the largest acquisitions. That said, I know several people who've done things right and still gotten wiped out just due to things beyond their control.

Save some and spend some thats how i live!

Yup. Live for today and tomorrow. It's just about spending money on things that actually matter to you. We travel a lot. We buy a lot of experiences vs a lot of things. I underbought on my house

 

[Docwagon1776]

You can come up with every excuse and justification to be average, in debt and making payments you want.

Cash will always be king. Compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world. Those who understand that collect it; Those that don’t, are doomed to pay it.

It just depends on your risk tolerance. Being debt free is safer but isn't always the best strategy.

My mortgage is 2.5%
AT&T's dividend is right at 7%.

Assuming you reinvest your returns, compound interest works the same for both. Every "extra" payment I put into my mortgage reduces my risk, but also reduces my potential return.

Neither approach is wrong, it's about your tolerances and goals, but it is wrong to categorically say you can't use debt to make money. It's neither an excuse nor a justification to point out the dealership you're talking up as the winner is doing exactly that. Pretty much nobody can bootstrap a business that capital intensive out of pocket. So you take debt, or you get partners and lose equity, or you do both.

 

[GsRAM]

My .02. Some of both is good. Plan for tomorrow, live for today.

Vehicles are in general a terrible investment, unless they are antiques or collectables. My dad and mom had all kinds of plans for retirement, traveling, etc.

My dad was very smart with money and did very well for himself.

He got sick with ALS lou gehrigs disease at 48, passed away in a nursing home at 55, paralyzed and on a ventilator. I know lots of folks who have worked hard their entire life, but never make it to retirement.

So I save with an eye to the future, but also enjoy some of what I earn today. No excuse to be careless with your money, but tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

 

[RLJ10X]

Do you think your MOTHER would have been better off if your mom and dad were debt free, with some reserve when he got sick, or do you think your dad should have left your poor mom behind with financial worries on top of everything else she had to deal with?

"I would rather be in debt and be a ***** to my lender, than being financially secure" said no sane person ever!

Nice try. I'm not going for it.

I'll bet I can find a Wal-Mart greeter that wishes they hadn't pissed away everything they got their hands on, which includes having new vehicles every 2 years.

No kid dreams of being a UPS driver. It's hard work. But it's what you make of it. My money makes more money than I make, and I do quite well.

 

[amm24dmb]

Do you think your MOTHER would have been better of if your mom and dad were debt free, with some reserve when he got sick, or do you think your dad should have left your poor mom behind with financial worries on top of everything else she had to deal with?

"I would rather be in debt and be a ***** to my lender, than being financially secure" said no sane person ever!

Nice try. I'm not going for it.

I'll bet I can find a Wal-Mart greeter that wishes they hadn't pissed away everything they got their hands on, which includes having new vehicles every 2 years.

No kid dreams of being a UPS driver. It's hard work. But it's what you make of it. My money makes more money than I make, and I do quite well.

This is a bit of stretch and a little tone deaf. All he was saying is to enjoy life and be responsible at the same time. Just like you can’t be a ***** to debt you can’t be a ***** to planning for a future that isn’t guaranteed. Balance.

 

[GsRAM]

This is a bit of stretch and a little tone deaf. All he was saying is to enjoy life and be responsible at the same time. Just like you can’t be a ***** to debt you can’t be a ***** to planning for a future that isn’t guaranteed. Balance.

Thanks for that. Much appreciated. Precisely what I was attempting to get across, but apparently wasn't clear enough.

 

[retired]

I know most of my money has been spent on cars,trucks and motorcycles over the last 50 years with a fairly large chunk spent on whiskey and most of the rest I have just wasted.

 

[Tray Burge]

No kid dreams of being a UPS driver

This is so relevant to this conversation!
I have a buddy that was a driver for FedEx his whole career with them and he retired with his house paid off, no debt and a Millionaire!
Like I said, "It's not what you make, but what you do with it while you make it"
Carry on.

 

[PoMansRam]

Financial gurus buy with cash.

And they don't buy extended warranties.

I listen to Dave Ramsey a lot.

The thing with that is, Dave Ramsey or his followers aren't driving new, or even 2-3yr old fancy pickup trucks.

A 3yr old pickup truck today is nearly as expensive as a new one.

I'm all for his principles because they work, but his pay cash and drive a clunker doesn't work well for everyone, especially those in the rust belt.

For rust belters, you're always paying for a vehicle in some way. Either by payments or by paying yourself so you can pay cash for your next vehicle. It never ends as long as you need to drive.

 

[sam darakjy]

I own a business and file a schedule C. A lease on my truck would be a tax deduction for sure. I purchased instead and wrote the whole thing off the first year under Section 179.

 

[sam darakjy]

Please don't take this personal, I'm only trying to help, but that's stupid thinking.
That's like saying "it's smart NOT to pay off your house because it's the thing you're paying on with the highest amount of equity and you can borrow against it if you need money in an emergency"
This is just as stupid.
Being debt free is the ONLY way to build wealth, unless of course you have a rich relative leaving you a lot of money. lol

No doubt being debt free is a great idea. I do think other ways of thinking can be just as financially profitable. If you have a 200k mortgage at 2% or 3% and you have 200k cash laying around investing at 5% or higher might be the smart alternative. Not to mention the lost tax deduction for interest expense.

 

[sam darakjy]

I can't even count how many nieces and nephews maybe 20-30 of them between what I have on wife's side and my side, most in their 20's and 30's. One owns a home, the one that took an old toyora throw away from one of his elders. The rest have all ruined their life with stupid car loans, it makes me sick, how stupid are these kids today? Their justification, well I make a lot so I deserve it, lol. I have NOT financed a vehicle since I was 21 years old, and I had financed a couple then because I had too. The most successful nephew I have has/had a business, his wife is a good looking woman for sure, entitled to hell and back, first made him buy here a new fancy SUV, drove it two years still 5 years on loan, made him buy a different one, a land rover, lol I **** you not. Now he sold his business, and is stocking shelves, and his wife is the bread winner as an xray tech, and they are living in her mom's basement, yeah they still have the new fancy ass car and I forget the payment but it has to be near a grand. And meanwhile his brother is living in a million dollar house renting rooms driving a cab. Now, ten years have passed from the decision to buy a fancy car, and this nephew is still broke watching his brothers star rise, and the housing market has completely left him. Bad decisions last a lifetime, I have bought 4 homes because I didn't do those things, first when I was 29 years old, took that long to save a down payment. Now we can buy homes for sport if we wanted to, and I know when my nephews get my age, they will not have what we had, no way in hell. The number one reason is the housing prices, the number two reason is their thought the deserve nice cars because they make a certain amount. The rent in this area are the same as the mortgages, one bedroom starts at 2400 a month. You spend money on a new truck if you don't already own a home, just get a camper shell and plan on living in it.

Hey living in a camper.shell is not a bad thing. Some folks do it by choice nowadays. Your post is spot on though.

 

[sam darakjy]

So you think the guy(s) who owns the dealership paid cash for the dealership and all it's assets? Hint: Pretty much every new car at a dealership is financed through what's basically a line of credit (see: floor plan financing), that's how they have so many of them to sell. A car dealership of any size is all about debt creating wealth.

You think large real estate projects are paid for without debt? Like people who own 50+ apartment and office buildings didn't use debt to get there? The wealthy are just smarter about debt and know how to use it as a tool to gain wealth vs as a tool to gain pretty baubles, and how to protect themselves if things don't work out. Leveraging debt means potentially greater rewards at an increased risk.

There's a difference between financing a new truck to ride around in a new truck and financing a straight truck to start a delivery company. There's a difference between financing a big fancy house to live in a big fancy house vs financing a self-storage facility to make money off all the idjits who've bought more gadgets than their big fancy house can hold. The first is how poor people use debt. The second is how rich people use debt. Note that there is a trade off in risk. Once you're wealthy enough you can mitigate it, but there's always risk for that increased reward.

Nicely stated!

 

[Tray Burge]

The thing with that is, Dave Ramsey or his followers aren't driving new, or even 2-3yr old fancy pickup trucks.

A 3yr old pickup truck today is nearly as expensive as a new one.

I'm all for his principles because they work, but his pay cash and drive a clunker doesn't work well for everyone, especially those in the rust belt.

For rust belters, you're always paying for a vehicle in some way. Either by payments or by paying yourself so you can pay cash for your next vehicle. It never ends as long as you need to drive.

You must have quit reading after that chapter, he only advocates driving a clunker until you're out of debt and successfully accomplish all the other steps.
Once you've reached "financial freedom" you can pretty much pay cash for anything you wanna drive at that point if you've done everything else correct (emergency fund, budget, savings and investments).
Once you hit it, the money never seems to run out either, there's always money in your account.

 

[sam darakjy]

What's ironic is that if most posters in this thread took all the money they have spent on unnecessary mods over the many years and nvested it I believe we would have some millionaires in the group.

 

[Tray Burge]

What's ironic is that if most posters in this thread took all the money they have spent on unnecessary mods over the many years and nvested it I believe we would have some millionaires in the group.

We do. bawhahahahaha

 

[Sgambots91]

As long as you live within your means, you’ll probably be happy. Debt free would be nice, but not achievable in every case.

don’t go out and buy cars, houses, etc where all your earnings go to that every month and you have little to spend on yourself/family. If you can pay all your bills, still go out on vacations, add to the savings account, etc you are winning at life.

we are here for a good time, not a long time.