All Forum Posts by: Timothy Metra

I don't understand how Dave Ramsey was screwed over so bad. He was young, had a lot of debt, but had about $1M in equity. He says the banks he went through were bought out and that the new owners wanted the debts paid within 90 days, more or less.

I don't understand this at all. How can you sign a loan on a bank, and then somehow have to pay the lien way quicker than the terms originally agreed to?

The BRRRR strategy seems appealing to me, but it's scary when I hear Dave's story. He doesn't go into super specific details, though. So I'm confused on how he was screwed over so badly.

@Jeff Filali but maybe I'm reading that completely out of context.

@Jeff Filali

From the GMC website:

"Customers keen on driving a new car every few years or wish to reduce the size of a down payment may prefer to opt for a lease.

Leases essentially allow customers to pay for the portion of a vehicle they use over the term of the lease, which typically runs between 24 and 48 months. Lease payments are calculated based upon how much the vehicle is expected to depreciate during the length of the lease.

For example, if a $40,000 vehicle is worth $20,000 (also known as the residual value) after a lease term of three years, a monthly payment will be based off the $20,000 difference instead of the entire purchase price."

@Jeff Filali I think when you lease a car, it can be depreciated and then your monthly payment is determined off that value. Like a $40,000 truck as a purchase is always going to go off the $40,000 because that's the lien. But when you're leasing, you can claim that $40,000 has depreciated to (hypothetical example) $20,000 and your lease payment would be based off the $20,000 value, not $40k. Which makes it cheaper and cheaper. I think that's how it works. And I'll end up talking to a CPA before I pull the trigger on aynthing of course

@Jeff Filali that's awesome. So I can claim depreciation on a lease? I was considering leasing a GMC Sierra.

@Jim Kennedy awesome response my friend, thank you. I'm definitely not looking to do anything borderline illegal, but I'm. definitely not trying to pay more in taxes than I need to. On the podcast he said to do the whole online business deal, but I'm actually planning on running a legitimate LLC. Me and my father are doing a spec build locally and are running the project through our LLC. I have an older car that's paid off, but it's starting to need a little work here and there. I was considering doing a lease on a nicer car to give off that vibe of success, but also be a win-win because my current car's reliability AND being able to claim it at the end of the year. I would probably end up claiming about 90% when it's all said and done. And owning a real estate business obviously involves a loooooot of driving so I Thought it would be pretty easy to justify. I'm also opening a business checking account and ALL of my business related expenses would go through it. The only thing that wouldn't is my houses utitlities and office space, which I would do seperately. Any negative views on this?

@Ben Zimmerman that first sentence was hilarious. I think he's super smart but tends to talk in circles sometimes and gives off the guru vibe, but overall I think he has a decent mindset with this certain topic. I also don't think my chances of being audited are high at all. I mean even if I claim a lease is 100% business purposes. I have a second car (paid off but older) that I can claim as my leisure vehicle. But it would be very nice to be able to lease into an upgrade, have that successful vibe when meeting clients and whatnot, and being able to write it all off at the end of the year.

1. Thanks for the clarification. My only concern with this is not knowing how much I should put away quarterly in order to pay my taxes at the end of the year. But it still does sound appealing honestly.

4. The no refunds part is also appealing. I'd rather have more money throughout the year. But I'd like to make more money throughout the year, then pay a little or get a small refund towards the end. I pay about $350 a week in taxes on average. So I'm thinking if I go 12 months without paying that, my owing will be astronomical. Which I would put money off to the side to take care of that, but still. I'd prefer a happy medium if possible.

2. I'm definitely planning on running a legitimate LLC, so I plan to do everything you just said!

3. I understand 100% is sketchy, but he said to go ahead and do it because the IRS is after the people making $40k a month, not $40k a year. I'll probably end up doing about 90% to play it safe, though. But again, the idea of having a super nice lease and being able to claim 90% on taxes will be a very nice upgrade for me and I think will help the business in terms of emulating success to clients. I'm not hit with the "shiny object syndrome" where I'm just trying to buy a nice car, though. I think it would be a legitimat ereason to lease a higher end vehicle.

@Wes Brand thanks for your input! I was actually forming a legitimate LLC, though. I'm planning on doing a spec build in my local area, so I'm not truly playing with fire in that portion. He's also big into real estate which involves a lot of driving (driving for dollars, trips to Home Depot, tenant issues, meetings with banks, etc) and he said to go ahead and claim 100% on the nice Lexus you lease because it would be hard to audit over. I already have a car paid off that's a little older and is starting to get some of it's more mechanical issues, so the idea of getting a lease is appealing because I can write it off as a business expense, but it would also be a legitimate one too. I would use it for those purposes and I have an old Corolla right now. It's been reliable for me forever, but it would be nice to lease a nicer end car and have that success vibe to me when meeting clients and whatnot. And on a side note, I can afford it extremely comfortably. I don't have any debts. Half of one paycheck (I get paid weekly) will cover all my bills. So I have 3.5 extra checks per month that bring home about $1,100 each on average. So I could afford upgrading to a nicer lease, I was just curious on the legalities of claiming it as an expense at the end of the year

@Natalie Kolodij thanks for taking time to reply out of your busy schedule! So does the w-4 make a difference in terms of what I'm paying? Like will I go from paying (hypothetical example) $5,000 in taxes on a w-2 and getting a $1,000 refund at the end of the year to keeping all my money and paying $4,000 at the end? But being able to possible pay less? I'm just assuming that if I put up quarterly chunks of money like you said, at the end of the year, they should be more than enough to satisify what I owe in taxes at the end of the year.

I'm also a little concerned with the vehicle. I know of people who have leased a 2017 work truck fully loaded and are doing 100% claiming with it, and ALSO leasing a claiming a 2017 Mercedes, but they put that one as a leisure vehicle to not draw any red flags.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7XNbWb0CXA

Here's the link to the podcast if you'd like to watch. Very interesting!