All Forum Posts by: Scott V.

@Scott V. Hood for you. Ask yourself that same question when u turn 55. I retired at 48 with real estate. No one cares what you drive . You make a good income but how long do you want to be in a job?

@Scott V.

Can I put some seasoning on you before I grill you???

@Scott V.

Now, here’s the kicker!!! What would Dave Ramsey say about this?!!

I may be attacked for this, but oh well.   You do not need a second car; you already have one paid for by someone else.  (*key statement "paid for by someone else")

For my duplex, I was able to put $3500 down. (It was only 120k - 20k paid by seller for new hvac)  It was such a good deal! Mortgage ++ is $750 a month for both sides.   Well, rent for each side is $900. I cashflow $1,050 off that one property!  

to summarize, my initial investment was $3,500.... to cashflow $1,050 a month. 

Why would you pay your own hard earned 9-5 income for a fancy car?    I protect my 9-5 income at all cost.  IF I want a fancy  new toy, I think to myself "How can I have this, without touching my 9-5 income?", and  "How can I get someone else to pay for me to have this car?"

In my opinion, that $3,500 you may have put down on the new car would have served you much better if you had purchased a deal similar to mine.  Then your tenants would be paying for your new car and having it paid off in just 40 months... without any additional money (less the $3,500) coming out of your pocket.  

To summarize, with a little more patience, you could have gotten the car for free...

You have to understand "perception" and what that means. You are ~4 years out of DDS and buying a $75k garage queen. Who cares what you think of forward/presumptuous thinking, that is what everyone around you will see you as - a 30 year old who thinks he arrived. Akin to the Twitter/Uber engineer who cashed in $2mil in stock lottery tickets when their company went public, blowing money. Except you are only making $140k, not cashing $2m in RSU lottery tickets. That's worse IMO, especially since you want to finance it! That goes against pretty much every investing principle in the book. You can choose to ignore it, but let's make it clear what you are doing. It is purely YOLO at this point.

I would wait until you buy into the practice, double or triple your income, invest more, and then decide later. Stating "I’m trying to progress as fast as possible toward that" in a thread where you talk about blowing $45k + insurance/maintenance on a 2nd vehicle is literally counter productive. You realize that? Repeat that to yourself a few times. If this is what you blow your money on now, what will you want to "level up" to once you 2x and 3x your income? A Ferrari? This is how folks who make money, blow money, and end up broke somehow when they make $500k. Cars, boats, RV's, you name it. Again, read WCI, posts about guys living paycheck to paycheck because of lifestyle creep when they are senior doctors.

I won't spend any more time on the investing/market timing part, if you are a long term investor, you messed up. Period. YOLO there too. It's called "buy and hold investing" for a reason. Market timing is not involved. Your money cannot make money sitting in a 0.01% interest bank account. While everyone made money in the market this year, you lost money to inflation. 

Good luck dude. Buy the car if you want it. It's not a financially sound thing to do, but it's your money. Just be real with the consequences of not putting that money to work, but financing a depreciating asset sitting in your garage. 

@Scott V., congrats to start with as it seems like you have your financials in order. 

As for the car, it is obvious that you can afford it, so no question about it. You can buy the car if it really has gotten to the core of you and you definitely have the "itch for it". There is no reason for you to explain to everyone whether it is or it is not a good deal, as long as it satisfies you, your desires and your needs. 

A couple of questions for you that you should truly answer to yourself for the future:

1. Is this a one time deal or an obsession? I know of too many people with similar "symptoms" and buying "the dream car" is just the beginning. Will you be disciplined enough to stop at this or are you going to look for the next big thing/better looking car and keep loosing on depreciation?

This is a good question. From time to time I get the urge to buy this or that, but I'm usually pretty good at not pulling the trigger when I recognize it will only hurt me in the long run and is not something I need. The end goal is always financial freedom and I am probably frugal to a fault (as any of my friends or family will attest). The only reason I'm even entertaining the idea of the car is that it's a lifelong passion of mine and the desire never dies. 

2. Quick Math - You save 40% (roughly about 56k) a year. Congratulations, that is a lot of money! You spend the other 60% (which is another 95k or so) for living expenses, entertainment, food etc. If you are single, with no debt, and only $2100 of that goes to your mortgage, I would start thinking about whether you can save more. This highly depends on cost of living based on your location, but I would strongly urge you to start saving more, if you can.

I often take this approach when going over my budgets. I do find the exercise a bit frustrating however beacuse I start asking myself "what the hell are you even saving for? You're in the prime of your life physically, have no family obligations, debt, etc. so enjoy certain things while you can". I'd love to hear from some people in their sixties who constantly delayed gratification when they were younger and hear whether it was really worth it or if they would have splurged a little more on certain things when they were younger. I'm legitimately open to any and all opinions on that topic as I'd rather learn from the mistakes of others than make them myself.

3. MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION - where do you see yourself in 2 years from now, 5, 10? (if you can go that far). Do you see yourself as a dentist working for someone else? do you see yourself opening up your clinic? Getting married? Kids? Will the house you have support your growing family? The fact that you are posting in BP, I am assuming you want to get into RE at some point. Honestly, try to draw a road map of your life for the next 5-10 years. Set realistic goals and try to be disciplined and hit them, this way you will have a much better chance at knowing whether buying a 45k car makes sense or not.

In 5-10 years I see myself as an owner of a (hopefully) successful business, my income goal at that time realistically is in the 300-500k range, at age 35 or so I'll probably be looking to start my family, and in terms of real estate I'll be looking to buy the building I practice in as well as any subsequent buildings during expansion of the business. 

Props for posting this. And it is not about getting your a** grilled, it is all about what you want out of your life. 

Live your dream my friend, but every now and then "wake up" and do a reality check! :)

Two more points: you said you will be buying into a practice soon, how will this car loan look to a bank when you go shopping for a practice loan? I bet you'll wish you have that 45K in your pocket then...

Re: future wife--will she be more impressed by the car or by the fact that you chose to not spend that 45K and instead save it for a down payment on a house, investment properties, dental practice, etc. I'm guessing the latter (I know I would be!)