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Debt Free When You Bought Your Mustang?

JimmyTwoTimes

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IOW, Jimmy, you're betting that the investments you're making instead of paying off any of that debt won't tank just before you might need or want to liquidate some of them for your next car purchase. You're also betting on job security/employability at a comparable level, something that you may not be able to count on as you get older.
Obviously, age plays a significant factor in that. I'm not going to retire for another 35-40 years (if then; I totally see myself as the work-til-I-die-and-drop-dead-at-my-desk type) so I don't need to worry about needing the money immediately if investments tank. If you're already retired, keeping your money in safer investments is a necessity, and FDIC or treasury-backed investments are currently returning absolutely nothing. Put $100,000 in a 12 month CD and earn $800 in a year, woo-hoo.
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Norm Peterson

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Obviously, age plays a significant factor in that. I'm not going to retire for another 35-40 years (if then; I totally see myself as the work-til-I-die-and-drop-dead-at-my-desk type)
Heh . . . at your age I felt the same way about my employment (when I bothered to think about its future at all). And as recently as three years ago I'd have continued to work on a part time basis well into my 70's like a couple of my then co-workers were doing (work maybe a couple of days a week, maybe half days, come in whenever, etc.). But definitely part time; I'd been through a number of periods of unemployment, which aside from the financial issue also gave me a glimpse of what retirement could be like. I am now fully retired (I'm 67) and in reasonably good health, which makes taking in a track day every so often really easy to do. No more bothering with scheduling vacation, fibbing about being sick, or being expected to put in overtime on a Friday when I'd really rather be taking half a day off for travel purposes.

I can tell you that should you become unemployed after you've turned 50 that the specter of extended paycheck to paycheck living can be very real. Don't let anybody tell you that 'age discrimination' has ceased to exist; it just hides under such aliases as "overqualified". Job security even in the engineering profession is often just a mirage, and to be debt-free and capable of operating on a cash basis is the avoidance of a huge burden.


Norm
 

JimmyTwoTimes

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Heh . . . at your age I felt the same way about my employment (when I bothered to think about its future at all). And as recently as three years ago I'd have continued to work on a part time basis well into my 70's like a couple of my then co-workers were doing (work maybe a couple of days a week, maybe half days, come in whenever, etc.). But definitely part time; I'd been through a number of periods of unemployment, which aside from the financial issue also gave me a glimpse of what retirement could be like. I am now fully retired (I'm 67) and in reasonably good health, which makes taking in a track day every so often really easy to do. No more bothering with scheduling vacation, fibbing about being sick, or being expected to put in overtime on a Friday when I'd really rather be taking half a day off for travel purposes.
All depends on your perspective, I suppose -- and your industry. I'm an attorney; I think I started to realize how much attorneys care about their jobs when I was a couple of months out of law school and was at the office at 4:00 a.m. on a Wednesday night with a guy who was then about the same age you are now -- if you take it seriously, you never get to a point in life where your job isn't all-consuming. Hell, I work on a team with about a dozen other lawyers, averaging about 40 years old, and everybody but the head guy is single and childless because there's no time for family when you've got a career. And my boss has three kids in high school but sleeps in his office most nights because he gets bored when he's at home not working. If you have other things in life that are important to you aside from your job, I could see how you might be concerned with retirement and time off and things like that, but for me there's just my job and my car.
 

Todd15Fastback

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All depends on your perspective, I suppose -- and your industry. I'm an attorney; I think I started to realize how much attorneys care about their jobs when I was a couple of months out of law school and was at the office at 4:00 a.m. on a Wednesday night with a guy who was then about the same age you are now -- if you take it seriously, you never get to a point in life where your job isn't all-consuming. Hell, I work on a team with about a dozen other lawyers, averaging about 40 years old, and everybody but the head guy is single and childless because there's no time for family when you've got a career. And my boss has three kids in high school but sleeps in his office most nights because he gets bored when he's at home not working. If you have other things in life that are important to you aside from your job, I could see how you might be concerned with retirement and time off and things like that, but for me there's just my job and my car.
I find the last part of that sentence funny. Maybe I am taking it out of context? I have a career. An IT executive and I have time for my family. I used to coach my sons travel baseball team for 5 years. Anyone in IT knows you have long nights as well due to the nature of technology and what it means to businesses in this day and age.
 

Farmundeh

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I find the last part of that sentence funny. Maybe I am taking it out of context? I have a career. An IT executive and I have time for my family. I used to coach my sons travel baseball team for 5 years. Anyone in IT knows you have long nights as well due to the nature of technology and what it means to businesses in this day and age.

I don't mean to speak for Jimmy, but I really think it's all about one's priorities. Like Jimmy mentioned, attorneys tend to care about their jobs quite a bit. If your career is your number #1 priority and we're talking about a profession that is as time and stress intensive as the legal profession (no knock on IT, my major in undergrad was IT so I know the deal), then there really is little to no time for a family. Obviously there are exceptions but most young(er) attorneys that I know have put their personal life on the back burner for an extended period of time. It's all about what is important to you at any given point in your life.
 

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SkapeGote

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I would love a job that would pay me enough to save for a Mustang, but there just isn't that kind of money in the work I do. I do hang out here and pretend I have one sometimes.... I need a new hobby

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MagneticA

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I would love a job that would pay me enough to save for a Mustang, but there just isn't that kind of money in the work I do. I do hang out here and pretend I have one sometimes.... I need a new hobby

Skape
It's more about how much you spend versus how much you make. Put a budget in place so you know where your $ is going. Set goals and work towards them by cutting out unnecessary purchases/impulse buys. The hardest part is looking past today so you can see yourself in the future.
 

Tamadrummer88

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It's more about how much you spend versus how much you make. Put a budget in place so you know where your $ is going. Set goals and work towards them by cutting out unnecessary purchases/impulse buys. The hardest part is looking past today so you can see yourself in the future.

If someone was to look at my income they'd tell me I couldn't afford a mustang. But by doing the above im able to get what I want without overextending my budget and I can still put away money in my savings and retirement funds.


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CM581978

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What I pay in minimum payments on my cc, could really be a new car payment instead
 

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GordieBobfish

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I'm not "debt free" but I've seriously debt reduced over the last year and a bit, minus car payments and mortgage.

I carry very little of what I consider "bad" debt ,as in credit cards, and work very hard to maintain a zero balance.

While I could have laid a very healthy chunk of money down for my '15GT it made no sense to me to do so seeing as I was still able to get 0% financing even at very close to immediate family pricing. I'd rather keep that money and lump sum it towards my mortgage.


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jared89

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I had $23k in equity in my old jeep so i financed $10k $170 a month payment ftw. I will probably just do $1k a month to get it over with. Only debt i have is my mortgage, witch i could pay off if i had too. I made alot of good investments too, i have alot of guns.
 
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CM581978

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This shit is just getting more and more frustrating. I havent made any progress and have lost my job twice since May. We had our first child 6 weeks ago which is a gift, but I am so anxious to get back on the saddle. Doing the math, if I want to be debt free in 3 years, I would need to pay around $1100 a month. Maybe I should start looking at Civics lol.
 

Kevin08

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I've been setting aside ~$410 a month since April 2014 and have also included in any gift money and work bonuses to build up my car fund. Currently at $7,000... I made some withdrawals in the past few months for investments and sometimes to tame my CC balance. Target is $10,000 before I consider ordering the car, goal is payments under $400...which hopefully I can comfortably afford once I get this promotion that I feel like should have happened in June. I could afford it on my current salary no problem is I effectively stopped that $410/mo savings, but I never want to put myself in a position where I'm not in the green at the end of the month.

My only debt right now is about $1,200 left in financing my couches (0% interest for 2 years...no point in paying it before). I rent as well, and do not plan to buy a house until I've paid off the 72 month car loan.

I don't know how some of you guys do the house + 2 car payments thing and still enjoy the leisure of life. My only guess is that you're in fairly high cost of living areas, and get fairly large salaries to compensate. Since car prices don't really change by area that much, a $38,000 car in a place where you need to make $90,000 a year to live comfortably in a 2 bedroom apartment can be easily attained. Here, the COL isn't very high, and the salaries aren't very high either, but the car still costs the same. I could be totally wrong, but that is just my perception.
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