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SHOULD I DO IT!?NEW THREAD TOPIC !

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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 02:19 AM
  #31  
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besides the latter good advice posts, the earlier discussion of financial sloppiness was frightening.

lucky you that you have that kind of money for a use once a week thing. c55 is an auto. 335i manual is better. let ur friends beat u on the drag strip.
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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 04:44 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Chris Stack,Jan 3 2007, 08:50 PM
I know. That's why the CPA and an MBA are in the plans for the next 5-7 years.

I don't expect to earn tons of coin just becase I went to a good college, but I do expect to do a little better than Captain English here with his krauted-out AMG.
anything keeping you from doing it now? The ROI is much better the sooner you do it....
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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 04:50 AM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by Chris S,Jan 3 2007, 07:18 PM
Please don't take this the wrong way, but IMO you should seek some financial counseling before you do anything. W/o knowing more about your financial situation, none of us can really do more than opine on which car we'd rather have.

I really don't like financing anything (esp. toys like occassional-use vehicles) other than my house, so all my vehicles are paid for in cash. No, they're not as impressive as an AMG Mercedes or BMW, but no payments are nice. I'm planning to order a C6 Z51 this summer, and it will be paid for in cash.

I question whether you'd really be saving much by trading. You'd prob. recognize a big depreciation hit on the AMG, and then sign up for another big new car depreciation hit on the 335i.

Car dealers love customers who think in terms of monthly payments, b/c that usually makes them easier to screw. First think about whether you want to trade into a lower value (but faster depreciating asset), then if so decide how you want to finance it.

W/o knowing more about your financial situation, the best advice I could offer is to sell either your S2000 or your AMG. Do you really need two toys like that, or are you overextending yourself trying to keep up w/ your friends?

Think about about: $650 per month translates into $162.50/day (used 1x/week), plus insurance, gas, mods, tires, etc. Is a 335i really worth it?

I drove one recently, and though it would be a nice daily driver, but it didn't get me all that excited. No way would it replace the S2000 for fun, and the C6 Corvette kills it for a fun weekend car.

My $.02...YMMV.
from a purely financial standpoint, paying cash for anything is generally considered the worst possible method of purchase, unless you have terrible credit & can't borrow at decent rates.
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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 05:04 AM
  #34  
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Originally Posted by dombey,Jan 4 2007, 08:50 AM
from a purely financial standpoint, paying cash for anything is generally considered the worst possible method of purchase, unless you have terrible credit & can't borrow at decent rates.
It depends on your personal financial situation and also the particular deal. I think Chris S was talking about people overleveraging.

I've always bought my cars with cash up until the S2000. The lease special was too good to pass up.
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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 05:07 AM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by dombey,Jan 4 2007, 07:50 AM
from a purely financial standpoint, paying cash for anything is generally considered the worst possible method of purchase, unless you have terrible credit & can't borrow at decent rates.
I absolutely disagree. Yes, if you have to drain your portfolio/savings to do so, but not as a substitute for the low/no risk investment.

If I pay 5.5% APR on a car loan, that's equiv. to ~ a 7.2% return after tax for a risk free investment! Tell me where I can match that if I finance and invest the money elsewhere. I have plenty of higher risk investments, so the low-risk alternative of putting some in the car provides good diversification.
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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 05:29 AM
  #36  
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Originally Posted by dombey,Jan 4 2007, 08:44 AM
anything keeping you from doing it now? The ROI is much better the sooner you do it....
CPA comes first, but I'm getting married in Oct, so I wouldn't be able to devote enough time to preparing for the test; I will start working towards it this time next year. I'll start on the MBA a few months after I finish the CPA. I'm not yet 25, so I still have some time
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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 05:33 AM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by SpoonS,Jan 3 2007, 04:18 PM
WELL IM THINKING of downgrading my car and upgrading property would you guys get rid of a c55 amg v8 monster for a bmw 335i with potential
The irony is, for someone like me getting rid of that Mercedes and picking up that BMW is an upgrade, not a downgrade...
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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 05:58 AM
  #38  
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Originally Posted by Chris S,Jan 4 2007, 06:07 AM
I absolutely disagree. Yes, if you have to drain your portfolio/savings to do so, but not as a substitute for the low/no risk investment.

If I pay 5.5% APR on a car loan, that's equiv. to ~ a 7.2% return after tax for a risk free investment! Tell me where I can match that if I finance and invest the money elsewhere. I have plenty of higher risk investments, so the low-risk alternative of putting some in the car provides good diversification.
...so you consider putting your money into a depreciating asset a "risk-free investment"? I guess you're right, there's no chance your asset won't depreciate.


If you are completely risk-averse, you'll have a hard time finding an investment yielding 7.2% that is risk-free (currently). But if you'll willing to take on a very small amount of risk, it's a piece of cake. Unless you're 75 years old & living on a small fixed income, being completely risk averse isn't really rational--and since you have "risky investments", I assume that isn't the case. You can gain diversification in your portfolio in much, much more efficient ways than essentially sitting out of the market by spending your cash on a car.

I admit that there are a few financial scenarios where paying with cash would make sense (which is why I wrote "generally" in my previous post). However, those scenarios are complicated and rare. For nearly everyone, paying cash is the most expensive approach.
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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 06:05 AM
  #39  
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Originally Posted by Chris Stack,Jan 3 2007, 08:50 PM
I know. That's why the CPA and an MBA are in the plans for the next 5-7 years.

I don't expect to earn tons of coin just becase I went to a good college, but I do expect to do a little better than Captain English here with his krauted-out AMG.
What college?
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Old Jan 4, 2007 | 06:13 AM
  #40  
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BS in Accounting from Villanova University, '04
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