freeman727

I hate the old salary and car threads.

What is probably more interesting is occupation and 911. Is there a relationship? I'm in radiology and work with guys who could afford a new one every year for over a decade but drive boring cars such as Subaru Legacy, Toyata Prius and base BMW 5 series. In fact most radiologists I know drive very mundane cars. My surgical friends are different: one of the orthopods I know drives a Karma Fisker and another urologist drives a mid level Cayenne.

Sometimes the want must and the ability to afford is greater than the actual ownership. That is likely the reason some people who can't afford a Porsche drool over one when they see one. I mentally drool of bringing one on a track.

I must say most of here on the forum are car enthusiasts and would have bought a 911 if they were making half as much as they do now.

Being a younger guy, I do feel strange driving a 2017 911 4S as my daily but once I turn on the engine all the awkwardness disappears!

96redLT4

Hard to generalize completely, but it does seem that most of my physician friends drive Hondas, Toyotas etc. Around here, most of the Ferrari, SLS Mercedes etc are owned by our dental friends. One thing that always seems cool to me about the Porsche brand is how many engineers like them.

Jim

porscheconvert

Car love is inherent...and professions can be argued the same. I'm not in medicine, so it would be haughty to make any observations. But, radiology doesn't seem like it has the same level of ambiguity as other disciplines. My gut would say if there is a corelative, maybe it's in professions where there is lots of ambiguity or low locus of control. Porsche's brand to me is control. There's a certainty when you drive it...example is throttle response...when accelerator pressed, it is instant feedback. I hated my wife's escalade and now her qx80. Turn steering wheel and truck follows you a few seconds later. Ha!

My profession has low locus of control and tons of ambiguity. I see lots of guys in my world dig deep in hobbies that give them surety.

LexVan

Similar here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/991/7787...b-and-age.html

systemr

I work in Silicon Valley and having a nice car or any other conspicuous consumption isn't considered to be a good thing. In fact I drive a Prius to work everyday for this reason and b/c I have an 80mi highway round trip. But the other thing to note is that a 911 is pretty common here, hell I see several ferrari's and lambos just parked on the street in Palo Alto.

NoGaBiker

I have a 2-door Wrangler and a Porsche at all times, have for years. Any time I need to "make a statement" that I'm a regular Joe (which I am, by the way, I just happen to have gotten lucky with a successful first business) I make sure to drive the Wrangler. Heck, I drive it at least half the time regardless -- it's every bit as fun as the Porsches, in a different way of course.

As for profession -- I don't have one. Sold a business two years ago and I'm still a part-time landlord, but have pared that down to 5 houses so it doesn't take much time. Not sure what I'll do next. Any suggestions?

dawgsontop

I've always wanted to drive a fire truck...

silberma

Being able to afford a Porsche to some people is not a consideration as they are very practical and don't see the value in buying an asset that loses half its value in 3 years. Some of my friends fall into this category and buy modest practical cars like Hondas, Toyota's and Subaru's. They put their money into being able to retire earlier, buy second and third homes, go on more vacations and cherish memories more than material things. Also they tend to be older and buy cars like Jaguars, MB, Bentley's and BMW's. However, being a car enthusiast seems to override all these considerations. Once you figured that you can't possibly spend all the money that you have some decide to splurge on 911's as an additional toy car for their garage.

TSOS

Oral Surgeon. I always loved cars. Runs in the blood. I keep thinking I'll get something rational like a truck for my daily. After I drive one for a bit then I'm right back to something fun.

freeman727

Funny thing is the Porsche has become such a status brand. I hate it. To me the 911 is less flashy than my e90 M3. The Porsche symbol instantly elevates the car in other people's eye.

cug

You must work in a different Silicon Valley than I do. When to drive through the parking garage of one of our larger office complexes, there are a few hundred cars in there, tons of Teslas, about 10 or 12 911, about the same number of Boxster and Cayman of all years, some Maseratis, Bentleys, two or three R8, two McLaren, and a metric ton of S3, S4, S5, M3, M4, M5, M6 ... and other fun cars. I'd say easily 20% of the cars are in that group. And sure, that's offset by another 30% or so of Prius, Chevy Volt/Bolt, eGolf and the rest is then the typical American metropolitan mix.

freeman727

My financial adviser would say buying a 911 towards the begnning of my career is ill advised but I don't think I'll enjoy a 911 as much today as 15 years from now.

kuma1416

There is more truth to that than you may realize. Want to know who the highest paid healthcare provider is in most towns? Cardiac surgeon, neurosurgeon, orthopedic surgeon? Nope, its the orthodontist. Physician pay schedules have been slashed almost every year for the past 2 decades. Dentists on the other hand, have far greater leeway in raising fees and can balance bill. Cost for braces 25 yrs ago was around 2000$. Today its 5-6000$. The most common Medicare surgery on the other hand , cataract removal, reimbursed 3000$ 2 decades ago. Now its a little over 600$. Similar trend for things like colonoscopy and cardiac caths. A lot of those physicians you see aren't driving Hondas because they're necessarily frugal- it's because they have 250-300K in outstanding loans, a couple kids and decreasing pay every year.

Selo

Within medicine there's a definite difference in the cars that specialists drive vs primary care providers. The guys that do procedures still seem to be living a little higher on the hog than those that don't. Then again, and I mean no offense to primary care docs and hospitalists - their jobs have largely turned into shift work, and they get paid as such. Hospitalists, er docs, pcp's which are increasingly owned by large corporate entities - they put in their hours and then they go home. The specialists I know are still more likely to work a more grueling schedule, or to have an ownership share, both of which bring more income......for the time being anyway.

Johnny5Alive

I'm 35 and for the last 10 years I've been a wealth management advisor. I now run a private client services team of 8 at one of the largest firms in the industry. I have:
2016 C4S
2017 Panamera
2013 Raptor
2012 Boss 302

I put a ton of money away and my fascination with cars is something that I know will never make sense financially.

That being said I work mostly with business owners, physicians, etc and I tell them all the same: so long as you're on track for your goals that you care about spend your money in ways that make you happy. Who cares what other people think. If you've done the work, save 20-30% of your income, and have your affairs in order who is someone else to judge you on how you spend the other 70-80%?