Luxury cars hard to tell. I had a beautiful BMW late model 5 series I bought during 2008 Financial crisis wholesale but was same price as a new Toyota Camry.

I haven't read everything but I always remember what a criminal law professor told me. Poor people as well as rich people both have the freedom to make stupid purchasing decisions. (This was in the context of police profiling people in certain neighborhoods driving fancy cars and assuming they were in some kind of illegal business. But I think the logic still applies to OPs Q.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make less than third and have a pricy car. OP, I doubt you will return to respond to follow up questions despite asking.

How old are ou guys and what’s your net worth?

OP here - We are early/mid 40s. I haven't calculated net worth before, but if you include 401ks, Id say over 1M.

You make $600k and year, and are in your 40’s, kids in public school and you think you have $1m net worth?

Is your income level new? Did you have massive school loans to pay? Need to see a budget, it sounds like you like spending over saving.

Well how many 30 year olds do you know making 600K a year?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make less than third and have a pricy car. OP, I doubt you will return to respond to follow up questions despite asking.

How old are ou guys and what’s your net worth?

OP here - We are early/mid 40s. I haven't calculated net worth before, but if you include 401ks, Id say over 1M.

You make $600k and year, and are in your 40’s, kids in public school and you think you have $1m net worth?

Is your income level new? Did you have massive school loans to pay? Need to see a budget, it sounds like you like spending over saving.

When I saw a fancy, expensive new car on the road I used to think that person must be really good with money. Now I know that they are pretty stupid with money.

the auto industry is turning car loans into mortgages. people can buy more because they're taking out loans that go on forever.

We are likely considered ultra high net worth but I’m not a car guy. I drive a six year old Porsche Macan demo I bought with 5k miles and about a 30% discount. But I fly first class so I’m not terribly frugal. My wife drives a Subaru SUV.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My lease on a 60K car is $500 including everything. That’s what my car payment was for my Honda accord five years ago.

Sometimes people aren’t paying as much as you think.

Was your Honda leased? If not, that is not an apples to apples comparison. Turn in that 60K car after lease and you have nothing. After you pay off the Honda, you still have a car.

No, the Honda was not a lease. I own it. That was my nice but reasonably priced car that I purchased trying to maximize value. (I still have it.)

The lease on the luxury car was to try out something new for a couple years and partially for fun. (Husband and I need 2 cats for work but obviously, nobody “needs” a 60K car)

The point is OP says they have no idea how people can afford these cars. I was just giving an example that these cars aren’t a crazy expenditure. I’m aware that this is not the way to “maximize value” but neither is going out to eat, or going to a concert or any number of small luxuries that I most definitely can afford.

A record number of Americans are paying over $1000 a month for auto payments. The reason you see so many is debt. Car manufacturers and dealerships realized the massive grift usury is and have cashed in so the guy making 145k a year can pay 750 a month so the bmw gnernal manager can service his yacht.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make less than third and have a pricy car. OP, I doubt you will return to respond to follow up questions despite asking.

How old are ou guys and what’s your net worth?

OP here - We are early/mid 40s. I haven't calculated net worth before, but if you include 401ks, Id say over 1M.

You have a 600k income and your NW is below 2M? You have a spending problem. You are an underaccumulator of wealth, and the fact that you were even thinking about buying a luxury car with that little in savings is ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Audi A3 is $35k. Audi A4 is $45k.

OP here - I wasn't thinking the low end models like A3 or A4. FWIW, I'd much rather get a Rav4 than either of those. My general comment was that I see so many VERY expensive cars on the road and don't quite fathom how there are that many people buying such cars.

It’s pretty easy to lease a car, OP.

And leasing is 99% of time, a really dumb financial decision. But then again, plenty of people buy homes with 5% down that they really cannot afford (and definately don't need), take fancy vacations that they can't afford and don't save enough for college/retirement. Most Americans don't know how to budget and plan

Leasing isn't dumb. It's an easy to have a new car every 2-4 years. It's an expensive luxury, and not one I would chose, but that's different from dumb.

OP, I just paid a similar price for a musical instrument for my kid (sound is so much better and we all appreciate it), and I spend that much on tuition every year. However I think all cars are ugly and drive a cheapie one around, because why pay more for something just as ugly?

People have different priorities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We make less than third and have a pricy car. OP, I doubt you will return to respond to follow up questions despite asking.

How old are ou guys and what’s your net worth?

OP here - We are early/mid 40s. I haven't calculated net worth before, but if you include 401ks, Id say over 1M.

At that age and with that income trajectory, you should have much more than $1M NW. So it would seem you have a spending issue. You spend on lots of other things, but could easily budget/save and afford a nicer car if it mattered to you

For us, we like driving nice cars. We can afford it, so we do it. We also keep them at least 7-8 years (sometimes 10+) and we pay cash.

Not in this area she doesn’t. Maybe her income is new and everything here is expensive. She’s just honest, unlike the liars who claim they’re mid 30’s with 250k HHI and 7M net worth who also drive luxury cars.

Well those are liars, but no, the OP should have more than $1M at age 40. Not saying $7M, but should have more than $1M total. But most likely they were not contributing fully to retirement at age 25. And given they think they cannot afford a $60K vehicle tells me they are spending more than they should and have an elevated lifestyle, so most likely not saving properly, despite the fact they easily could.

The key is when you go from $100K to $150K, you put 50%+ into savings and don't let lifestyle creep happen. You don't allow your budget to include spending 100% of the increase. If you do that with each salary increase, OP would have much more in savings and still living a good life.

Anonymous wrote:OP is worrying about spending 10% of his annual income on a nice new car? Which he can drive for 10 years without a problem?

Not getting the feeling they are worried, but just not comfortable with spending that much and wonder how others are. I wonder this too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My lease on a 60K car is $500 including everything. That’s what my car payment was for my Honda accord five years ago.

Sometimes people aren’t paying as much as you think.

Was your Honda leased? If not, that is not an apples to apples comparison. Turn in that 60K car after lease and you have nothing. After you pay off the Honda, you still have a car.

+1. And most likely a car that will last you another 4-5+ years before there are any real issues. And even then, you will still get 5-8K+ for the vehicle.