donjo

I'll chime in. I'm in my early 50s. Physician, like you. I probably made all the mistakes, so I speak from experience. There is no freedom like having everything paid off. Trust me. The first few years of a physician's career are among the most exciting. If you are like most, you have some debt and your house isn't paid off. Get rid of all debt as soon as possible, and get a nest egg working for you. Sacrifice for just a couple years and you will be glad you did. By my age you should be making more per year from your investments than you do from your job. That is freedom. Get a three year old Carerra S and enjoy it for a couple of years.

SAN997

Honestly, if you are making $380K a year, even with the massive student loans you probably have, you could swing a Turbo S. Also, driving a Porsche helps in the ladies department if you are single. I know a physician who makes good money, but even they could use more help with the ladies (you have to just feel sorry for some folks .

The one thing I would caution you regarding is cost of living and location. If you have large student loans and you live in a high cost area like California or the North East, you don't want to be trapped with a huge car loan. You will want housing that is conveniently located near your work, and that could be massively expensive.

A big factor for me would be that I am a perfectionist. Since you are a surgeon, I figure you might have a similar personality. No matter how much I am making, I can't park a brand new Porsche in a cramped hospital parking lot with a bunch of sleep deprived doctors, nurses and patients bumping into it all night and all day. I am literally anxious and preoccupied all day if I have to park my car in such a location. My commuting vehicle is currently a 22 year old pickup, which is great, because it has so much body damage I don't care at all what anybody does to it.

I'm also going to assume you are male since you are on a sports car forum, but this could be incorrect. My wife is a dentist, still hasn't paid off her student loans, and isn't working, and doesn't want to anymore since having kids. So even if you think this won't happen to you, be careful. You will most likely get the baby urge and your priorities will change.

Another thought is why buy a new Turbo S? Depreciation on luxury cars is so steep, why flush money down the toilet even if you are making a lot? You could buy a 2-3 year old certified Turbo S and save tens of thousands, especially with future depreciation. I can guarantee you that you will no be disappointed for a moment with the experience of buying a certified used Porsche.

SAN997

This is another excellent point I'd like to second. Without getting into politics, ask yourself why you are making almost $400K/yr straight out of school. Who are most of your patients? Is your salary mostly being paid by medicare, medicaid or ACA subsidized insurance plans? Most likely that is >85% of it. I recently read an article that if the government reforms healthcare subsidies, there could be 3 million jobs lost in the healthcare and related industries. Food for thought. $400K/yr could easily become $200K/yr at the stroke of a pen.

TheWolf

The taxman cometh... Maybe an obvious point, but make sure you factor taxes into your income/financial situation. US federal and state income taxes are quite progressive. Depending on deductions and state of residence, you could easily be paying $120-170k in income taxes annually at this income level

But, to answer your specific question. "Yes", you are crazy...but every RLer is a *little* crazy...that's kind of the point, though.

SAN997

One other thing worth mentioning is that I recently spent several weeks around the hospital after my kids were born. Now that I have kids, I'm always at some doctor's appointment or another. Thus, I've had a lot of opportunities to look at the cars parked in the physician parking spots.

What I've noticed is that the vast majority of MDs are not driving really expensive cars to work. The majority are normal commuter cars like BMW 328i, some kind of Lexus, Hondas, Toyotas, etc. One guy had a rather sad looking 996 Boxster (they are all sad) and another guy, probably really old and rich, had a C5 Corvette that was obviously his baby.

I only saw one guy who had a new 911 Turbo S. The other Porsche was a newish 991 base model Carrera. I was thinking to myself "why would you spend all of that money to get the base model??".

Point being, I really didn't see the vast army of high-end luxury cars I was expecting.

Mark Dreyer

Be careful with generalities. My badass 986 is anything but sad. For sure I'm never sad driving her!

ace37

That probably says more about priorities than anything.

Most of the doctors I've met don't care all that much about expensive cars and would rather spend their discretionary money on other things like homes or travel. Some physicians do have the heavy ego and that drives non-car-people to buy expensive sports cars and exotics as status symbols and park them out front at work, but the stereotypical pediatrician probably wouldn't bother unless he or she happened to either be a real gearhead or had first built up a solid net worth and thought it might be a fun indulgence. And until recently primary care has often been a sub-$200k-a-year gig so a new 911 Turbo S probably wouldn't be on the menu regardless. I hear that's gotten a bit better in the last few years; I hope so.

One of my wife's former.colleagues (a physician) has a husband who is a plastic surgeon. He owns a whole fleet of exotics and sports cars. She on the other hand drives a ten year old 4runner or a Prius. To him they're toys and to her they're just appliances.

One of my wife's close colleagues is in his thirties has a net worth well into eight figures. He actually likes cars so he buys fun ones. That means an M2 and Focus RS and he changes them out every year or two. But he spent probably $5M on his house. Priorities...


I'm a aero engineer and a hopeless gearhead. I spend time at the track and love cars/planes/boats etc. We recently had a kid and I had been watching them pass me for years, so I decided to ditch the two seater and try a nice used 911. I really *really* liked it so now I have a new one. My wife, the physician, prefers her Mini Cooper. Because it's cute and... really... it's an appliance.

SAN997

That's true. I'm also an engineer and cars for me are a hobby like electronics, RC cars, model airplanes, etc. Most doctors I know are mostly into traveling. I view experiences, like traveling, as a fleeting waste of money. I can spend $20K on a three week vacation or $20K on a car project that gives me years and countless hours of satisfaction.

ace37

Most of the recent peer reviewed studies on happiness show spending discretionary income on experiences (whatever the kind) is what produces happiness. The hypothesis was you can relive the many memories over and over so experiences pay a lot of dividends.

For me and probably for you as well, cars offer this type of an experience, so they offer the benefits others seek (and indeed often find) in regular travel as a part of a lifestyle. In all cases each specific event or happy moment is fleeting but the memories are not.

jkl

European Delivery. That would check both boxes.

caymannyc

Congratulations on your job.

Personally I wouldn't even consider buying "any" car new unless I had zero loans and paid downpayment on a house.

I make very similar to you, age is very similar (with the caveat that I started earning that amount 8 or so years ago and have remained largely flat).

I bought a house. Property taxes, maintenance and things like FURNITURE, CURTAINS (OMG who knew??), etc. REALLY add up and take a huge toll.

I got married. If the wife works, not a big deal. If you have a wife that doesn't work, OMG. Stay at home wife = shop all the time wife. Good luck with that

I got kids. If you live in any major urban center (NYC, LA, DC), your only option is private school. That's $30K/year. Plus you'll probably need a nanny, especially if wife is working.

As you can see, those three things are extremely expensive. Now if you don't even have money for a downpayment on a house, or you have student loans, then you are going to be in a world of pain.

So are you really sure you want to spend close to $200K on a car? You can easily get a nice P-car used for $100K, and leave the savings for your war chest, which you will definitely need.

Being in essentially the same boat as you, I currently own two homes, have zero loans (other than mortgage) and happily drive a Porsche. I had some other crazy cars (see my sig) but I bought those used and sold them for essentially the same price I bought them for. Many of my colleagues who are my age are still renting, or just managed to buy their first home or still have student loans to pay off. Your 30s are when you need to work hard and save as much as you can.

p.s. The original owner of my 997 was an orthopedic surgeon - great taste in cars you doctors (although my surgeon brother drives a 15 year old Nissan!)

ace37

There is one issue here that's rarely mentioned. Can the OP at his/her own discretion work a few extra shifts at the hospital for more money? If so it changes the picture. Any financial problem --> dang, now I have to work the weekend.

My wife and I are that way - fixed minimum salary levels, unknown and therefore unplanned bonuses, and within known limits an invitation to do more work for more money that will hit the account the same month. Want something extra that we didn't plan on? Work a shift or a few shifts and the finances don't see any impact.

Many of my business owner neighbors have a very long lag between putting in extra hours and realizing a personal financial reward. That produces a very different dynamic - working more becomes a long term trade off between family and leisure time vs income and wealth. And while income stability might be rather good over a long term, it can be quite volatile over any specific quarter. Therefore, for that type of career, larger savings cushions are mandatory before luxury purchases can be contemplated.

SAN997

Yes, but for me, "stuff" is essentially the experience because the experience is my hobby. So RC model airplanes or cars or electronics design or programming is what I enjoy. So I spend money on the equipment and it gives me years of enjoyment.

Mark Dreyer

OP, have you owned a Porsche before? If not, you owe it to yourself to check out the NA alternative to a turbo 911. Test a GT3. That engine sound may seal the deal for you. :-)

SAN997

I find this to be an extremely specious argument. You are essentially saying, "Because your expenses in other areas will always creep up to the point of crowding out any other spending, you should never budget for a new car". By this logic, you can't afford a lousy new car making almost half a million a year. Similarly, Larry Ellison may not be able to afford a new car because he has to buy islands, yachts, etc. Also, as a lowly engineer, I shouldn't even own any vehicle--rather, I should just ride the public bus to work everyday, and maybe also be an Uber driver after work and on the weekends, so I can fund the creeping expenses in other areas.

No, instead what I do is just budget appropriately for all of my expenses and keep them in check. Can I afford $60K/yr for my two kids to go to private school? No, I can't. But I don't care because (1) I purposefully live in an area with good schools and (2) I went to MIT and my wife went to dental school having gone to public school. I see a lot of kids that went to expensive private schools that don't end up going to Harvard or MIT. Sorry parents, if you had to invest $600K just to get your kids into USC or ASU, you are a sucker. A lot of times, fancy private schools end up being a false means for parents with money to try to "buy" brains for their kids. People with money and power just can't come to terms with the fact that you can't buy good genes (yet). My investment in my kids success was to marry a smart wife, not toss $60K/yr at some private school that promises more than it can deliver.