I dont know if I should post this here or in the S2000 thread...anyway here goes..


So I just got offered a full time job, starting base pay around 36,000. I live in the west coast, will need to move out soon and start paying rent (around 400 per month), food, and everything else that comes with being independent. I have a 13k car that I can sell and put towards the down payment on a used s2000, I'm looking for 2002-2005, around the 16-22k mark. The job will provide full medical, dental, a performance oriented bonus program, etc.

Can I afford this awesome set of wheels, and still live comfortably? I like to eat out a few times a week, go out occassionally, and buy toys (hopefully an r6 soon).

Thanks guys, doing the numbers, I know I won't be able to save too much, but I want to have some fun (done with school). Btw, I have about 15k in school loans....

 

If you like eating ramen for dinner every night.. then possibly.

 

It's hard to tell because we have no idea what your monthly expenses are going to be. You need to do a very detailed breakdown of your expenses to see how much money you need per month. Compare this with your actual take-home pay from your paychecks, not from your gross pay (duh), and it should be clear whether or not you can afford the car. Better yet, record your actual expenses for a few months and compare this with your income. From the looks of it, if you only need $3,000-$9,000, and want to take out another loan, it seems possible, but the decision is up to you. If I were you, though, I'd keep the 13k car for awhile, pay off my school loans, wait for my salary to increase, and then buy new

 

If you budget and don't spend your money on uneccessary junk,you should be able to afford it. Of course,since we are Americans,that might be a challenge!

 

you should be ok. you can get an 02 for like 16-17K (good condition). sell your 13K car, finance the rest. you can pay it off in like 1 year. the most important thing is how old you are. the insurance might be high depending on your age.

 

Yeah, what calbear said. My *guess* is that you could do it. 400/mo on rent is dirt. I pay 840 (which is relatively dirt to others here I'm sure).

But there are too many unknowns. What's your monthly payments on your student loan? It's 120/mo for me. And then insurance? 1500-2000 per year? Probable interest rate on your car loan?

I'm guessing you'll have about 2k/mo after taxes, 1600 after rent, 1525 after utilities, 1325 after food depending on how often you eat out, 1150 after car insurance, and etc.

But yeah, I still project you could pull it off.

 

See here, lets try do a quick calculation.

$36k/year. That comes out to a biweekly pay of about $1500/month. No idea where you are from, but lets just assume you take home about $975 after taxes/deductions/whatever.

That means you have about $1950/month.

Lets just round rent together to about $500 even, as you also did not account for random things such as utilities (not sure if you have to pay this), or internet (which I'm sure you will have, more if you have cable.).

So thats $1450/month. I calculated a loan for about $4k, for a s2k purchased at $16k (minimum), 1k for taxes/registration. This equates to a payment of about $125/month if you did a 3 year loan @ 8.00% (guessed again).

Thats $1325/month.

Based on age and record (another thing we don't know), your insurance will be anywhere from $100-250/month. Lets just go with the middle at $175/month.

Thats now $1150/month.

Plus now comes the 15k in student loans. Regardless if they are deferred or not, the rates are normally at ripoff rates, and should be your main priority to payoff. I calculated about 15k over a 5 year payoff, at 15%, which would be about $357/month.

Now you would be at $793/month.

So basically each week you have about $400 extra to cover all food, and gas, and your occasional "fun" things. A few times eating out.. lets say add up to $150 every week for "fun" (lunch/groceries/movies/dinner/whatever). Gas? About one fillup a week? Thats about $60-80~. So -$600 for fun. $140/month for gas.

Leaves you with $53~ a month to either save, buy an R6, or buy more ramen.

I dunno man, it adds up quick. Plus I'm not sure if you plan to finance the bike or not, but add on that payment/insurance, plus all the bike gear, etc.. you are definitely overspent if you go that route.

Of course this is all hypothetical and I was bored.

 

And if you're lucky you should be looking at raises in the future.

 

I dont know... Can you? Just pick up a nice used one for around 15k. Its not too hard, but my advice... Dont do credit. You are too young to get into a hole that is going to be very hard to get out of... Especially when you are in college. If you have cash in hand, you can negociate a lot with people selling the car for cash. Thats what I would do. My $0.02

 

I make the same amount minus the bonuses, pay twice that amount in rent and eat out everyday, buy ALL my own stuff, financed 13k for my S and still have $$$ to save every month. I just dont buy pointless crap and have zero mods.