NVRANUF

Bottom line, it's really whatever works for the individual to get to the end result... Pcar ownership.
The folks in here have enough smarts to spin everything else into very convincing "personal truths", as is evidenced by this thread.

JHD

AMEN

noahark2

I got my 997 in 2005 as soon as I was made a partner in my medical group. I had just turned 28 at the time without any family to take care of . I used most of my bonus about 25000 as down payment on a base launch carrera. Was it the smartest financial move? No. Was it the best puchase I ever made? Yes. It was my dream to get a 911. If you are asking if you should fiance it versus pay cash I think there is another answer. You could drop dead, become diabled or have other adverse event strike you if you are young or old. Long before you have enough to pay cash for the car. You could also end up divorced and lose the money. So if you can get the car and you want that badly, you should get it. If it turns out you can not afford it, you could always sell it.

MMD

LOL! Too too true!

Marsellus Wallace

My own rationale when it comes to buying cars(especially luxury or sports cars) is pay cash and do not finance and dont spend more than you will miss out of your bank account(ie you should buy the car for cash without it affecting any other financial area of your life)

Carbon_Ted

Ideally, yes-- but Porsche sales would drop 50%! ask a finance mgr.

fast1

I believe that you chose an ideal time to buy your Porsche. When you have a family, children will place a large burden on your financial resources and on your time , so enjoy your car now.

caf

I'm just curious what you did a residency in. There aren't many residencies you can complete by age 28, much less complete AND pay your dues to become a partner in a group. The youngest members of my group come in at age 29 or 30, and have to do two years to become a partner (and that's pretty short by most standards). Maybe we're screwing them over?

S4to911

Well, you could do a six year college-med school program out of high school, graduate that at 23-24, three years of internal medicine residency to 26-27, then 2-3 years to partner at 28-30. That's the minimum.

In my part of the medicine business, most fellows graduate at 32-33 and make partner 3 years later at about 36.

boolala

These discussions always wind up the same way. Exactly. There's the "you only live once crowd" and there's the "put your financial house in order first and then you can worry about the pcar crowd". I'm in the second category and have deferred some things in life and I'm kind of hoping that I don't only live once.

ronmart

While I could afford to pay cash and the purchase represented a single digit percentage of my net worth, I chose to take advantage of the low interest rates and finance $65,000 for 10 years to come up with a $750 month payment. I own my other vehiciles out right (from day 1) and if I weren't so paranoid about all of the "what if's" I would have just paid cash, but I decided that it made sense for me to finance a portion.

I did it as a 2nd mortgage (because I own about 75% of my luxury home) so I get a tax break for my 911. I also have a auto deduction out of my paycheck so the money is always there for the auto payment of the note. As my income increases (still recovering from 2000 where $1.8 mil vanished) I'll pay more as I have no intentions of having the loan more than 4 years. Less if things continue on their current track.

I did this same thing for my first Mercedes and I kept the loan for about a year before bonuses and other unexpected income (good investments) allowed me to pay it off.

allegretto

Yes, but not many in IM drive Porsches these days

fpb

Worst thread ever.

Imagine walking into the dealer and asking: "Can I afford this car?"

SilverSteel

If you can't pay cash, get another ride. There's no need leveraging yourself for a car, a fine car, but a car. Keep your priorities straight and work hard. Your dream car will become a reality.

ScottS

You know there are intangibles. None of us know how long we will live and what lies ahead. I was a lowly resident and got very sick. Thought I was dead. Seriously. Got better. First thing I did when I was really better? Bought the 928S I always dreamed about. With 180K in student loan hangting over my head. Smart? No but I needed it. Had things gone the other way, I would have had some real regrets.

Dying ( or thinking I was- I am not kidding) crystalizes a lot of things. Money, the future, not for all. One's approach has to do with risk comfort, future earnings, security- all of which are personal. So are you willing to work for another 5-10 years instead of early retirement to make up for the TIME VALUE OF MONEY placed into the PCAR instead of the 401K or safe investment.

So, for me, started working in a practice at 35. Paid off my student loans ( all 200K by then), sunk money into the market, and into savings. Guess what, market tanked. Became partner and ordered my new PCAR.

SO, I bought my 2002 C4S with enough downpayment to hedge the depreciation. Paid it off in three years ( no wife, kids). Smart, maybe not but now its mine. My risk profile was fine.


BTW how many bought their car NEW? Smart many is alwyas the second owner- in cars, business ( think fiber optic networks a la Thomas Friedman). Before we criticize there are always better ways to do things which are retroproven by the outcome. Leasing? Not everyone can use the deduction- think AMT. If you don't know what that is , you are lucky.

The difference between courageous and foolish- the outcome. And never confuse brains with a bull market.

My 0.014 cents ( depreciated).