Reply to The balance: saving too little vs saving too much. AND Tesla

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "The balance: saving too little vs saving too much. AND Tesla"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My parents saved very little (good income, good life, generous with others but very little left). My in-laws save too much (in the last couple of years, they gave their kids 28K each due to estate planning but argue about taking a few hundred dollars flight because it is too expensive).

I am hoping to strike a balance. Enjoy our life now, save enough to enjoy retirement. My husband is more like his parents (he keeps adding oil to his 10 year old dented Civic, sticking two kids back there despite the two doors model and claims it is fine).

Our finance:
We are both mid thirties
240K HHI
200K equity in our 900K house
80K equity in our 230k condo rental
760K in our 401K/roth IRAs (we contribute 47K to these accounts each year)
20K in 529 for 1 and 3 year old (we contribute 10K to these accounts each year)
100K in saving/bonds/general-investing for Emg/whatever
cars are paid but oldish (10 and 9 year old).

My husband is wonderful and he is not into worldly goods/or cars. But he keep talking about how nice the Tesla "concept" is (he did not say he wants one because "the Civic is good for at least another 2 years!"). He commutes 45 min-1 hr each way. I think he will enjoy the Tesla and financial we can take it (80K!) but close.What say you DCUM, should I talk him into it? or am I veering toward spending too much?
[/quote]

I am eerily similar in many ways:

my parents are struggling with retirement after living the good life for years and I have always been determined to save and spend wisely
DH's parents are much more disciplined (less so than your DH's - but still on the "not living life in perfect balance" side)
240 HHI
200k equity on 900k house with 28 years to go at 4%
slightly more equity on the rental house, slightly less in the 401ks
similar 529 savings with slightly older kids
larger emergency fund, but if it weren't for the old house we would be directing more of that to 401ks like you
cars are 4 and 7 and paid off

DH is also not particularly into worldly goods, though cars would be the one thing to get his notice.  We've both been driving Hyundais for the past 15 years, so when he said he wanted to put in a deposit for a Tesla I told him to go for it.  When it's available in a couple of years we can reassess where we are with our current cars and our liquid savings, but he also has a 45 min - 1 hour commute (though only 3 days a week) and we're a couple of engineering geeks we agreed that it wasn't a crazy idea.

DH's co-worker was an early adopter and DH has driven his Tesla a number of times over the past year or so and absolutely loves the car.

I don't think your should talk him into it, but if it's something that he decides that he wants I see no reason not to support him in it.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics