hankcah

Not much action over on Gen Disc, so posting here. Sorry if this doesn't belong.

Looking to get into a daily driver Porsche 997 2005-2008 between $30-34k, and want some advice. Maybe I'm overlooking something.

I make $64k/yr (before taxes). Monthly take home AFTER taxes is $3726/Mo. So new car will be about half of yearly salary, but only financing about $18k including sales tax.

After I pay my bills for future PORSCHE @ $338/Mo, Cellphone, Netflix, Hulu, 1 weird healthcare bill, rent.........total bills are 1172. Meaning I have $2554/Mo leftover. OR $638 available PER WEEK for groceries or entertainment.

$340/mo is the max budget I want to pay so I figured in a higher end, but I think I can get for $318 - 320/mo. I love negotiating and won't settle for higher than $340/mo at 60 months. OR another way to look at it, yearly P-car payments would be $4080 a year

All college bills are paid off. I have NO credit card debt. I have the opportunity to work out of my home office 3-4 times a week which definitely helps to cut down on gas. But when I do need to meet with clients, my commute is only 8 miles 1 way (twice a week)

Tidbits - My rent is only 15.2% of my monthly take home. My projected new P-Car payment would be another 9%. So that's 24% of take home for car + rent.

My current BMW e92 335i has over 100k miles, and I need a new windshield,new rear tires and new brakes, which I'm not sure if I want to dump more money into it prior to trade in.

CONS: I rent. (but I do have a nice garage) but my rent is only 15.2% of takehome. I'd like to move into condo or house with my GF/Future wife. I used to have a 401k setup but planning on adding $100/mo into it again. Another thing....my BMW is currently paid off! Going from 0 car payments anymore to $320 ish is a big jump. Even though I will be financing with a nice rate around 2% it's still for 60 months. But I paid off my BMW earlier but 1.5 years projected. Another con would be judgement by others, and the fact that I may get out of the Porsche at 120k miles and get back into a BMW 335i again, since having a Porsche with 150k+ miles on it may be a money-pit and hopefully babies on the way by then...(did I just say that?)

Maintenance: I will do my own brake pads/rotors, oil changes, transmission fluid, waterpump (possibly), suspension, AND spark plugs/coils, in which I do on my current BMW.

Do my finances look okay? How much in savings should I have at least in case of losing job (heaven forbid)? But if this did happen I'd instantly look to sell the P-car, while looking for new jobs. What other bills should I expect from maintenance (are those dealer prices OR indie prices?) Would I be a douchebag rolling up for work in a Porsche while 29 years old?

RECAP: Total bills including Porsche $1171. Have $2254 leftover for the month @ $638/Wk. Will do most of my own maintenance.

Random Sidenote: I just called AT&T and negotiated from a $90 iPhone bill/Mo to $67/mo....saving me $275 over 12 months. Kinda proud. YOU SHOULD CALL! And I didn't even have to threaten to go to TMobile.

kthung

I think it depends not so much on whether you can afford the payments, but how comfortable you are with the possibility of an emergency. Do you have enough money set aside in savings in case the unimaginable happens? How quickly do you think you can sell the Porsche? It seems you've done a lot of the math, I think 10% of your income after taxes doesn't sound too bad.

Nice job negotiating the cell contract, and good to see no student loans or credit card debt. Maybe you can look to cut out some other expenses as well. Netflix AND Hulu? I would cut out Hulu, why pay a subscription if you're still getting ads? Or split the cost with someone (I have Netflix, my brother has Hulu) Netflix now allows separate accounts so that makes things easier. Thats another $120 over 12 months (or the equivalent of upping your P-car budget to $350/mo).

Also regarding rolling up to work in a 911, kinda depends on your work/managers. I can't verify this but I've read about higher ups that won't give raises if they think you're already loaded but who knows. I'd say don't worry about it, worse case scenario, park nearby and walk into work.

Perk10

You and I are in similar situations as far as work and age go. I was considering purchasing a 32k Acura TSX before ultimately getting into my Porsche and what I had come to realize is that a Porsche is really a means of transportation after all.

Yes it sucks when family members and neighbors look at you funny because you have such a seemingly expensive car at such a young age but it's really all BS.

I can almost guarantee that your neighbors ALL pay more per month on their Camry and Explorer leases. It's all just coming down to image at this point. In your current financial situation can you afford a 30-35k car in which you will complete most of the maintenance? YES. Does that mean you wont have to deal with a couple of inevitable cons, NO. You have do decide - HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY CARE?

I drive my Porsche and am proud to have my dream car at a young age when I'm not barely able to get into the seat or have a bum knee that causes me to have to drive a tip instead of a manual. Just go for it.

John

--PS, congrats on the phone bill

Lance-AR

I have 82k miles on my 05 and consider it to be valued in your price range.

The one thing you're not taking into account here is risk. The value of the car is dependent upon a 20k engine and 14k transmission. If either of those go, you're toast.

I'm doing Blackstone analysis every 3k miles and if a problem presents itself, I'll be praying for an 8k rebuild opportunity.

grkmec

I hate to be a downer, but I would not entertain a p-car if I made 64k a year unless the following had been done:

1) zero credit card debt
2) build 1yr cash reserve for emergency
3) max out 401k
4) max out Roth IRA
5) save 30% downpayment for house

Then if you leftover cash buy whatever toys you want.

PasPar2

what grkmec said...

gabe2006

What grkmec said.

The decisions you are making now are going to have a big impact down the road. Your $32k PCar will be $25k by the time you change the oil a couple of times. Adding $320/mo to your 401k or IRA is going to save your skin when you need it most.

Blu311

Looking at the math from a bank/credit union perspective... you'll easily be approved.

If you are comfortable with the payment and potential risk, go for it, just be aware of the risk. You will likely have to buy a car in the 50-80k mi range... and that car will likely go over 100k mi before you pay it off. While its possible nothing major happens, its also possible to see $2k+ in repairs in each of the first two years and then a $10-20k motor issue in year 3... all the while having 2+ years of loan payments left... GULP.

I'm all about driving a nice car, but a poor financial decision, or bad luck with a car that results in a tough financial position, can cripple your finances for years. I've seen it happen to too many people. I'm probably only 5-7 years older than you and I've spent the past 7 years dumping as much into my 401k and IRA as possible... I recently put 20% down on a house... I have paid off my student loans... I have no CC debt... I have some cash set aside and the flexibility to make a car payment on a 997 but in the end I'm just too risk adverse. (That and the fact I'm stashing extra cash for my 1 yr old daughters future)

But with every year my savings goes up, my income goes up, and one of these days I'll pull the trigger.

destro

+1 on what grkmec said...
and...

I bought my dream car at a relevantly young age as well (31), and have a few friends around my age with nicer cars as well. No matter how you act, people will always be judging you and thinking you're over paid. If you're meeting clients they will think you or your company is are charging them too much money. I hear those stories from all of them. Basically its human nature to "player hate". I even know one guy whose DD pick up truck broke, and met a client for a 2nd time with his 911... they commented "oh you drive a 911", lost out on the contract since they thought his company was charging them too much.

It also depends where you live. In Toronto (where I live) or San Francisco (where I travel for work often), luxury cars are a plenty and housing prices are crazy. So often people can't afford to buy a house but drive BMWs and Porsches. So its the norm.

Another thing to think about... is do you want to DD a 911 ALL THE TIME. The greatest car luxury, is a car you don't care about. If I am going to the gym or out at night and need to park on the busy street, I take my wife's civic, cause if anything happens to it... then whatever. And if anything breaks, then I am paying Honda prices not Porsche prices to fix it.

And last point. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder", its not nice to be stuck in traffic or do boring drives with the car you love. If you eat your favorite ice cream every day, would you still long for it?

GSIRM3

+911

myw

funny we just covered this a few weeks back on the cdn forum. some good insights over there.

https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...afford-it.html

dasams

At $64k per yr, you're not there yet. Just not enough to cover the inevitable surprises while also saving for retirement. Trust me, you do not want to be someone that lives paycheck to paycheck because retirement will be real ugly.

Does this mean that you have a nest egg of $12-16k? If so, congratulations and don't spend a dime of it on a depreciating asset. Instead, invest and start a separate slush fund for your future P-car.

Buddhamonk

The car you want to buy may be < 40K now but still has the maintenance cost of an > 80K car.

Buy house and max retirement before "toys".

Plenty of really nice brand new < 20K cars out there with the maintenance of a < 20K car.

Lvt19672

It'll work if you go on a cup o' noodle diet.

kthung

Excuse the hijack but this logic seems strange. Everything you buy is a depreciating asset. A house is a depreciating asset, a toyota corolla is a depreciating asset, every single car is a depreciating asset (if you plan on driving it). So yes I get the idea that, if you've got a decent chunk of change lying around after all of your expenses, you should look into investing it instead of spending all of it on a "depreciating asset" but at what point do you say, ok my investments have grown enough that I can start spending some of it?