What item could you “afford” but don’t buy?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’ll go first. I could afford a numbered iPhone. Even the latest model! But I’ve always had SE models because I don’t see the value in the numbered models. I’m not a huge photo nerd so the camera piece is irrelevant.

What items do you not buy, but could afford to?

Luxury cars. Anything beyond a nicely equipped Toyota/Honda is a complete waste as far as we’re concerned.

Toyotas and Hondas aren't cheap anymore though.

everything is relative.

Yup! The luxury cars are equally more as well. But they are nice and if you enjoy what they offer and can afford it treat yourself. But if you don't care then yes buy a Toyota/honda and it will serve you well.

I thought luxury vehicles were a stupid waste of money until I moved to the DMV where many of us have outrageous commutes. I'm up to between one and one and a half ours one way to Georgetown from where I live now. Then I drive all the way back. And it's on 95. You know what I've decided? If you spend that much time in your car, get whatever the heck you want, as long as you can afford it. And the smoother ride offered by a luxury vehicle might help your body deal with the toll that comes with being in the car for hours. And safety features can't hurt, either.

In fairness, most of us would rather spend more for a place to live 10 minutes away then live 90 minutes away and buy a luxury car.

NP- One could argue a 800k house further away and a one time luxury car purchase makes more sense economically than a 4 mil house closer and no car.

What about the 2 hours of time you get back every Monday -Fri? And I'd argue you can do that with only a $2m place (not 4). Time is a valuable commodity for quality of life

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’ll go first. I could afford a numbered iPhone. Even the latest model! But I’ve always had SE models because I don’t see the value in the numbered models. I’m not a huge photo nerd so the camera piece is irrelevant.

What items do you not buy, but could afford to?

Luxury cars. Anything beyond a nicely equipped Toyota/Honda is a complete waste as far as we’re concerned.

Toyotas and Hondas aren't cheap anymore though.

everything is relative.

Yup! The luxury cars are equally more as well. But they are nice and if you enjoy what they offer and can afford it treat yourself. But if you don't care then yes buy a Toyota/honda and it will serve you well.

I thought luxury vehicles were a stupid waste of money until I moved to the DMV where many of us have outrageous commutes. I'm up to between one and one and a half ours one way to Georgetown from where I live now. Then I drive all the way back. And it's on 95. You know what I've decided? If you spend that much time in your car, get whatever the heck you want, as long as you can afford it. And the smoother ride offered by a luxury vehicle might help your body deal with the toll that comes with being in the car for hours. And safety features can't hurt, either.

In fairness, most of us would rather spend more for a place to live 10 minutes away then live 90 minutes away and buy a luxury car.

NP- One could argue a 800k house further away and a one time luxury car purchase makes more sense economically than a 4 mil house closer and no car.

False choice. There is a lot of housing between 800k and 4M and cars are not one time purchases.

[Anonymous]

We have one car we bought used, that now is over ten years old with 140K miles on it. We have 4 drivers in our house and live in a suburb. We could afford a second car and will never buy another one. We share what we have. The rest of the time we walk, bike, take public transportation or drop each other off places. We know not everyone has those options, but it works for us. We put the money that we'd use for that second car into our retirement so we can retire a little early. And that car we have? We hope it will go at least 250K miles, maybe 300K.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’ll go first. I could afford a numbered iPhone. Even the latest model! But I’ve always had SE models because I don’t see the value in the numbered models. I’m not a huge photo nerd so the camera piece is irrelevant.

What items do you not buy, but could afford to?

Luxury cars. Anything beyond a nicely equipped Toyota/Honda is a complete waste as far as we’re concerned.

Toyotas and Hondas aren't cheap anymore though.

everything is relative.

Yup! The luxury cars are equally more as well. But they are nice and if you enjoy what they offer and can afford it treat yourself. But if you don't care then yes buy a Toyota/honda and it will serve you well.

I thought luxury vehicles were a stupid waste of money until I moved to the DMV where many of us have outrageous commutes. I'm up to between one and one and a half ours one way to Georgetown from where I live now. Then I drive all the way back. And it's on 95. You know what I've decided? If you spend that much time in your car, get whatever the heck you want, as long as you can afford it. And the smoother ride offered by a luxury vehicle might help your body deal with the toll that comes with being in the car for hours. And safety features can't hurt, either.

In fairness, most of us would rather spend more for a place to live 10 minutes away then live 90 minutes away and buy a luxury car.

NP- One could argue a 800k house further away and a one time luxury car purchase makes more sense economically than a 4 mil house closer and no car.

I guess if you place zero value on your time...which is the problem with most people. However, this thread is "what you could afford" but don't buy, not what is more sense economically.

I hate commuting...I would find a place to live for $800k - $1MM (which is possible) that allows me to have little to no commute. Not sure why I have to now buy a $4MM house (which even today in Georgetown can buy you a pretty nice house).

I'm with you---I'd rather have a short commute than a fancy car and long commute.

I do have a fancy car ($90K+ BMW), and at the 2 year point, it has 8K miles on it. We live in a city and don't use it much. Only really use it for when we go to/from our 2nd home.

But it is nice driving a fun/luxurious vehicle. But wouldn't do that unless we could easily afford it (we paid cash---it was a blip on the radar)

[Anonymous]

I can afford Starbucks, but will always choose a local coffee shop doing their thing. I can afford Chik-Fil-A, but will always choose to go to Eden Center if I'm nearby. I can afford a Lexus, but will choose a Toyota. I can afford good clothes, but will choose... help me out here.

Where does one get Toyota level clothes with a dash of independent coffee house and a splash of Eden Center flavor? Do all clothes suck today?

[Anonymous]

A car
Expensive watch
European vacation
Expensive apartment in trendy DC neighborhood

[Anonymous]

Beach house. I love the ocean

[Anonymous]

Most things really

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’ll go first. I could afford a numbered iPhone. Even the latest model! But I’ve always had SE models because I don’t see the value in the numbered models. I’m not a huge photo nerd so the camera piece is irrelevant.

What items do you not buy, but could afford to?

Luxury cars. Anything beyond a nicely equipped Toyota/Honda is a complete waste as far as we’re concerned.

Toyotas and Hondas aren't cheap anymore though.

everything is relative.

Yup! The luxury cars are equally more as well. But they are nice and if you enjoy what they offer and can afford it treat yourself. But if you don't care then yes buy a Toyota/honda and it will serve you well.

I thought luxury vehicles were a stupid waste of money until I moved to the DMV where many of us have outrageous commutes. I'm up to between one and one and a half ours one way to Georgetown from where I live now. Then I drive all the way back. And it's on 95. You know what I've decided? If you spend that much time in your car, get whatever the heck you want, as long as you can afford it. And the smoother ride offered by a luxury vehicle might help your body deal with the toll that comes with being in the car for hours. And safety features can't hurt, either.

In fairness, most of us would rather spend more for a place to live 10 minutes away then live 90 minutes away and buy a luxury car.

NP- One could argue a 800k house further away and a one time luxury car purchase makes more sense economically than a 4 mil house closer and no car.

I guess if you place zero value on your time...which is the problem with most people. However, this thread is "what you could afford" but don't buy, not what is more sense economically.

I hate commuting...I would find a place to live for $800k - $1MM (which is possible) that allows me to have little to no commute. Not sure why I have to now buy a $4MM house (which even today in Georgetown can buy you a pretty nice house).

I'm with you---I'd rather have a short commute than a fancy car and long commute.

I do have a fancy car ($90K+ BMW), and at the 2 year point, it has 8K miles on it. We live in a city and don't use it much. Only really use it for when we go to/from our 2nd home.

But it is nice driving a fun/luxurious vehicle. But wouldn't do that unless we could easily afford it (we paid cash---it was a blip on the radar)

I’d rather have a walkable commute and no car at all (assuming I work in the city) if it came to that.

With things like Turo these days it’s super easy to rent cars in the city (and many will bring it to you) vs having to trek to an airport or other usually out of the way car rental spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can afford Starbucks, but will always choose a local coffee shop doing their thing. I can afford Chik-Fil-A, but will always choose to go to Eden Center if I'm nearby. I can afford a Lexus, but will choose a Toyota. I can afford good clothes, but will choose... help me out here.

Where does one get Toyota level clothes with a dash of independent coffee house and a splash of Eden Center flavor? Do all clothes suck today?

You search sales. Nordstrom Rack is your friend. I constantly search NR for deals....I know what brands I wear/like and I check weekly for sales. Sure I could pay full price for things, but why? I replace my old things when I find sales.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll go first. I could afford a numbered iPhone. Even the latest model! But I’ve always had SE models because I don’t see the value in the numbered models. I’m not a huge photo nerd so the camera piece is irrelevant.

What items do you not buy, but could afford to?

I still have the iPhone SE 2022, which looks just like an iPhone 6 with upgraded internals! I wish they'd make an iPhone SE 2026! I freaking love this tiny and lightweight powerhouse. I have had the best iPhone Pros (15, 16, and 17) and prefer the SE 2022 over them all. I can appreciate the newest tech but the new top tier iPhones are just way too heavy and bulky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can afford Starbucks, but will always choose a local coffee shop doing their thing. I can afford Chik-Fil-A, but will always choose to go to Eden Center if I'm nearby. I can afford a Lexus, but will choose a Toyota. I can afford good clothes, but will choose... help me out here.

Where does one get Toyota level clothes with a dash of independent coffee house and a splash of Eden Center flavor? Do all clothes suck today?

You search sales. Nordstrom Rack is your friend. I constantly search NR for deals....I know what brands I wear/like and I check weekly for sales. Sure I could pay full price for things, but why? I replace my old things when I find sales.

You aren’t really getting “deals.” The fact that you think you are is how they make so much money.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’ll go first. I could afford a numbered iPhone. Even the latest model! But I’ve always had SE models because I don’t see the value in the numbered models. I’m not a huge photo nerd so the camera piece is irrelevant.

What items do you not buy, but could afford to?

I still have the iPhone SE 2022, which looks just like an iPhone 6 with upgraded internals! I wish they'd make an iPhone SE 2026! I freaking love this tiny and lightweight powerhouse. I have had the best iPhone Pros (15, 16, and 17) and prefer the SE 2022 over them all. I can appreciate the newest tech but the new top tier iPhones are just way too heavy and bulky.

lol, my iPhone is a bit older than yours. I’m too lazy to learn a new one.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Same with a beach house. I would love one but we would not go enough and it would just be a pain.

Same. A wise financial investor friend told me long ago beach houses were the most regretted purchase of many people whose money she managed. Of course there are exceptions, but many feel either tied to going there for their time off because of the opportunity cost or frustrated by the continuous list of chores every time they went. For my money, I'll take luxury vacations to different places and have someone else cook, clean, and re-stock toilet paper.

It's because at the end of the day, they can't really afford the beach house.

So much of this discussion I guess is perhaps what an independent 3rd party would say you can afford after looking at your finances vs. psychologically how someone thinks of their money.

I guess I could afford to fly business or first class, but psychologically I don't feel like I can afford it because I would make adjustments to my other spending.

If I won the powerball tomorrow, I would never fly coach again (and definitely look into flying private using NetJets or something equivalent)...would buy a vacation home, etc. and wouldn't change anything about my life as a result of that spending.

There are many who can easily pay for the beach house but end up feeling tied to it in a way that they don't like. A friend is a Biglaw partner and his wife is a lobbyist and they have a beach house in Connecticut. They feel like they have to go there for at least a week or two each year. It makes no sense to let it sit empty. But they are extremely busy people and can only get away for certain amounts of time and they have found they wish they could spend the time elsewhere doing other things. But that would mean the beach house sits empty. Sure, it's 2026 and one can WFH to a certain extent, but you can't do that when you are at trial, need to be attending a lot of events in DC or meeting with clients or whatever. It's not that simple when both parents have very busy jobs.

I believe PP made all of this up. A wise financial planner told PP their clients regret diversifying their investment portfolio with real estate their family can make lifelong memories at, whole exploiting tax loopholes? Total nonsense. Any planner who told someone such a thing was just sweet talking a low net worth pal or prospect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A car. Our HHI is about $250k, we have three kids, live in a dense neighborhood in DC and do not own a car.

It's so much easier. One less hassle, no trips to the DMV, no need to clean or get gas or find parking or get an inspection. Saves a ton of money. And we end up walking a ton which is good for the body and mind.

For the longest time I kept thinking it would get hard at some point - once we bought a house, once kid number 2 got here, once the kids got bigger - and we'd buy a car. My current one is "once a kid has a travel sport" - that would really break us. And if we need one, we'll get one, we're not absolutists. But it continues to be a delight.

Uber is the best.

Using bottom class modern slave labor drivers at your beck and call via app to cart you around and haul every Amazon and grocery item to your porch every day isn't exactly toughing it out without a car in any traditional sense.