Rick in Colorado

Very true. However, you would have made a fortune in 6 years.

1999Porsche911

Yeah, only in hindsight. You'll note that fund returns are marketed at 1 year, 2 year 5 year and 10 year. I wonder why they don't show 7 year?

Market indexes and unmanaged funds will never be a good long term investment again. It is too easy and virtually free to get in and out of the market. The stock market, IMO, is no longer a vehicle of investment, but just another table in Vegas. You can make a fortune, but you better be ready to walk away with your profits and don't hang around too long.

TX996

Everyone is different...

I know people who make three times what I make and don't have two nickles to rub-togeather, I read an article yesterday about a guy who never make more than about $11 an hour who retired and donated millions to schools.

I guess how much your expenses are weighs into this somewhere also. My point is if you are asking how much you need to make before getting one, you should probably not have one of anything that costs as much as to make you ask others if you are normal or if it "makes sense".

So many factors.. I guess I would never pay cash because a monkey can make 4.5% on money and the intrest rates are in mid 6% so it is not the cost of money. If it came down to it and I got in trouble I would rather have my $60k earning a couple hundred a month then have a depreciating item like a car.

With the cost of money as cheap as it is right now.... hold on to the cash I say...but then again... I am different also... as you are probably too...

mitch236

Oh yea and one more thing, this thread is now preceded by the thread asking what kind of watch(s) you have!

DRG13

I'd definately pay cash for a watch...

mauijim

Bad assumption fast1. I don't believe I made reference to the "market(s)" you're referring to. There are many ways to invest. And in your reference time frame of four months, I've increased my portfolio by 17% - cashed-in, not paper. There is always opportunity, unless you're too scared to take a risk - what some people politely refer to as the "sleep factor."

Also, in case you haven't noticed, there are all sorts of markets out there and all sorts of ways to make money. I'm not here to give you a lesson in ECO 101, but your "cash only" perspective is very limiting. I expect you're barely beating inflation. The important point is that I (and many others) play with lenders' money whenever possible (it's called leveraging). Why not? - they're always more than happy to give cheap credit! It's the American Way!

Carrera06997S

I think it is funny how this has gone form a simple request for advice on buying a car to, let me tell you how smart I am and how you should invest your money. I dare say and hope that most of us on this message board are smart enough to realize there are tons of ways to make money in this world. I do agree with mauijim, it is always best to use cheap money to invest. However that is not the only way and sometimes it is not the best way. It all depends upon the investment situation.

Having said that we need not lose site of the fact that the simple answer to his question is to do what he is comfortable with and what he knows, much like what a great investor once said.

ds2k1

You need precisely $174,417 in income to buy a 997.

InTheAir

.....and 97 cents. Don't forget the 97 cents.

mauijim

Carrera06997S, I agree: It doesn't matter how one invests or spends their money.
My objection is to the parochial, "holier-than-thou" suggestions that if you don't pay cash for your play things, you shouldn't have them. A recent thread by Rick in Colorado in which he began by describing a Porsche owner's house as tacky (and, basically, shouldn't have a Porsche) was particularly irksome. It epitomizes the attitude that in order to belong to this "club" you must meet certain, mostly financial, qualifications. As far as I'm concerned the only qualification is that you are interested in things Porsche. I don't care how people got their Porsche - cash, lease, rent, finance, gift, inherit, or stole (god bless 'em). Yeah, I may be advocating what works for me (and works for many others), but this view rarely gets the credit it deserves. It's only money and it's only a financial system. I say make it work for you, you only have one life.

fast1

I don't want to battle with you over this issue since my expertise is engineering and not banking, but you alluded to the banks' poor investments in your post, and the sub prime fiasco is the one were the banks took a real hit. Congratulations on your investment. You are in the extraordinarily tiny minority of investors who made any money in the last four months, much less 17%.

John NY-Naples

I haven't read all of the posts, and if I'm repeating someone, sorry. I don't particularly get the point about not investing in a depreciating asset. I hope none of us are "investing" in our Porsches. If you are, you need serious help. In my mind, the Carrera is an expense or liability that we are willing to take on for the benefits of owning and driving these cars. Since the decision already has been made to take on this liability, the question then comes down to what is the least expensive way enjoy the benefits of owning one on these cars. For me, in order to make leasing or financing make any sense, I need to be able to earn significantly higher than the interest I would have to pay for a bank loan or a lease, since I would have to pay taxes on any interest I earn on my investments.

Maybe I need better financial advisors, but my investments have not yielded returns that would be sufficiently higher than the interest rates for a loan or a leas. This is a long way of saying that I think it makes more economic sense to pay cash, which is what I generally do with all or our cars. Having said that, I agree with some of the others here that if you want the car, and you can swing it, just do it, so long as you are not going to have to take money out of your kids' college savings accounts or live in a dumpster to afford the car.

Rick in Colorado

For the love of God, please let this go. I still don’t agree that financial over-extension is a victimless crime – and – clearly, most (all) of Wall Street agrees with me; except the “over-extenders” who aren’t in the market anyway.

BTW, I noticed that fully 1/3 of your 22 posts are in response to threads regarding "how one affords their car" - that seems a bit odd, and strangely telling of why you've copped this defensive attitude - enjoy your car.

Fahrer

You don't need any income. You only need about $100,000 in cash!

blake

True for DD, but certainly not true for collectibles/exclusive Porsches. I would buy a 73 RS as an investment. Heck, my 94 Speedster is worth today what I paid for it 8 years ago (excluding inflation).

I certainly understand your point. Just needed to make that clarification...

-Blake