Gotcha. Congrats on the California...beautiful cars

 

You forgot real estate.

 

HAHA there is no real estate in Cleveland

and as well, very good points everybody!

 

I considered a 308/328, when I got my 993 hence I feel qualified to answer your question. It's pretty much been said, but two factors that influence my car buying are amount of disposable income & spousal support. If she doesn't like it, you're not going to enjoy the car as much. That's why I sold my '89 Carrera Targa & bought a 993. Not having kids really helps with the disposable income thing. And spending a large amount of money you are comfortable spending is a big factor. If the benefit of owning an Fcar outweighs the cost, you're golden.

 

Yeah I agree with you. As a programmer forget about it unless you want to live in a scumhole and put all your money towards your car. I run the IT consulting business for my company, which produces $35m directly and $90m towards bottom line. And I'm expected to grow it to $100m in 5 years. So yes, you need to have a senior job. For reference, my title is basically "Director of WW IT Consulting."

 

i had them all and with 7 figure net worth, i still wasn't comfortable with long term ownership...that's why i'm back to P-land and very glad i came back

 

LOL, I have heard that from a lot of guys. Especially one who had a 308. He said the best thing to do with it is park it in the driveway and look at it. Don't drive it, just look at it. That's what it's best at.

I think I'll stick with my 993!

 

This thread has so much wisdom anyone would ask!


Less is More.
Sure I'd like to drive a 599 and a Rolls Royce or even own them for sometime. But not really a fan of having cars I don't use much or for show purposes.
Something like a Carrera 4S is all I really need

I really hate pampered cars that shouldn't really be even clean. People waste a lot of money on those.
Nothing looks as beautiful as a dirty Evo or Cayenne <3

 

I love a dirty car. To me it's a badge of honor. It means it gets driven!

 

The other thing you can do is forget about this website, stop reading car magazines and stop looking at them on the internet. Cure yourself of this while you are still young. Trust me, once you have the bug you will not be satisfied with the car "you really think you want". No matter what, there's always something newer, nicer, faster, etc. so unless you can kid yourself that you are happy keeping what you have, you won't be happy. I envy people who are content with their Altimas or Accords...

 

Absolutely I agree! I wish I could be happy with my cars. I have 4 including a 996 Turbo X50, G550, fully built '77 Ford F150 off-road machine, and modded STi. I bought 3 cars in less than a year the last time I really got the bug (all but the STI), and now that it's been a year since I bought the G550, I'm looking again for a car. It's a serious bug that you'll never get away from if you have the means. Look at a lot of the members on this site like me.

It's not just buying them, it's the mods too. All 4 of mine are in various states of modding and I don't even bother to count the dollars any more. It may be $50k, who knows. I refuse to count. And I'm looking at an engine swap on the Ford plus paint job ($10k+), a new ECU and tune on the 911 plus suspension (another $10k+), and new wheels and tires plus winch bumper on the G550 ($10k+ again). WAY too much opportunity for spending money!

 

GT-R cured me. I no longer want a Porsche or Ferrari. 2 1/2 years, and I still love getting in it every day.

Yeah, and don't use my method - I only make $70k (plus a little retirement), and bought a $73k car.

 

Saw this this morning and there's some pretty good overall advice in here, except some of them are contradictory a bit:
At the prodding of a colleague, Johnson recently published his 10 Commandments of Wealth and Happiness:

1. Thou shalt live like you're going to die tomorrow, but invest like you're going to live forever. Johnson encourages readers to enjoy the experience of living fully, as though every day might be your last. But it probably won't be, so he also urges readers to save and invest for the long term -- and without obsessively fixating on the ticker tape. That, Johnson explains, is what causes people to trade too often, never having the benefit of long-term growth. Johnson points out that had he traded the Apple stock he bought in 2002 every time the media analysts said to, he would have lost out on the 3,800% appreciation it has experienced. He says the same goes for real estate, Buy for the long term, hold and don't sell just because you hear someone on TV say the sky is falling.

2. Thou shalt listen to thine own voice above all others. This one is Johnson taking you by the shoulders, shaking you violently and crying, "Don't do it!" The occasion? Anytime anyone promises they hold the key to getting rich quick and that they'll share it with you for a small fee. From infomercials to Internet scams, Johnson says not to send your hard-earned cash -- to pretty much anyone.

3. Thou shalt covet bad economic times. "Wealth is created when times are bad, unemployment is high, problems are massive, everybody's freaking out and there's nothing but economic misery on the horizon," Johnson believes. Because the investment vehicles in which you can make the most money -- namely, stocks and real estate -- cost so much less when the market is down, to become wealthy, you should shift your viewpoint to seeing recessions as opportunities.

4. Thou shalt not work. This one is more lifestyle advice than financial advice, per se. Johnson isn't saying that jobs are bad; he's just advising you to only while away the precious moments of your life doing work that you love so much you would do it for free.

5. Thou shalt not create debt. Johnson maps out two roads to financial freedom. The first? To make so much cash you could never spend it all, Oprah/Buffett-style. The second, much more easily obtained path is to stay debt-free. Johnson pooh-poohs all the hand-wringing and analysis that goes on around what sort of debt is good and bad, saying "there's way too much analysis and mystery around something that isn't at all mysterious." Borrow only when you have no other option or when the item you are purchasing will appreciate by more than the interest you are paying, and you'll remain free of being a slave to debt.



6. Thou shalt be frugal, but not miserly. It is possible, Johnson believes, to save money without sacrificing happiness, and it's up to us to carve out that balance. He advocates using the web to live at the same quality of life, while saving money, using things like house swaps for vacations, library downloads instead of buying books and watching TV online versus paying for subscription cable. (Who knew libraries even had free e-books? Go figure!)

7. Thou shalt regard possessions not in terms of money but of time. By Johnson's reckoning, that $200 cashmere sweater actually costs you a day of your life if you earn $25 an hour. Time is the only resource we possess that is truly limited and non-renewable, so since spending money is essentially spending the time it takes us to make that money, we should only do it when what we're buying will create true enjoyment -- and not at all frivolously.

8. Thou shalt consider opportunity cost. To continue exploring the time/money connection, the $200 sweater not only costs you the day it took you to make the $200, but also the potential interest you might have earned had you invested the $200. Johnson vividly paints the picture of all the opportunity costs we incur with needless purchases, by advising readers to take inventory of all the junk they have around their homes, total what they paid for it all, multiply that by 7 and, voila-- you have the amount you'd have had by investing that cash at 10% interest for 20 years, rather than buying the stuff you're now boxing up to give to Goodwill.

9. Thou shalt not put off till tomorrow what thou can save today. Johnson joins the overwhelming chorus of financial advisers decrying the evils of procrastinating when it comes to saving and investing, or anything else you count as part of your personal wealth-building plans. He illustrates vividly how the $5 you spend on coffee or snacks everyday can turn into hundreds of thousands of dollars if you learn how to save money and invest it on a regular basis.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors' stuff. OK, so this one was borrowed from the Good Book. But Johnson does echo the Biblical rule against lusting after your friends' and neighbors' material goods, less on moral grounds than because he's witnessed the effort to keep up with the Joneses cost his readers dearly, without even creating any of the happiness that comes from deciding what you do or don't want and aligning your spending accordingly.

Remember, these commandments are not only about wealth -- they are also about happiness. Trees, meet forest.

 

All very good advice. The key is to balance your money. I spend like nobody's business, but I also invest the max in my 401k, have a pension, and have college investment plans for both of my kids. I spend more than is reasonable on cars, but make sure I put away whatever I need first. Have a year's expenses AT LEAST saved in various places no matter how successful you are.

 

I think #4 and #7 are overlooked a lot when you are younger or trying to achieve at all costs. Time is just about the only thing you can't buy (yet), so my philosophy has been to work less and enjoy time more. Obviously, you need to cover the basics in life and some niceties, but remember to ask yourself if working that 5th, 6th or 7th day a weeks is necessary (some jobs yes) or just something you are doing in order to feed "the monster". The monster is that trap many people get into in that the more they make, the more they spend and buy. Then, you want more, bigger, better and have to feed the monster by working. Don't be complacent but learn to be satisfied with what you have and not always chasing a dangling carrot...