Corvette Z06 Payments at 21 yrs old?

In my opinion, your income does not matter. What matters is your savings.

My suggestion would be for you to sit down, create a spreadsheet, and include the following:
1) What have your monthly savings been for the last xxx period of time? If your life has significantly changed in the recent past (you got married, got a new job, et cetera), then the historical data you have may not be relevant to your new situation. Be careful about just going on the last few months, because you may miss expenses which only occur on a yearly basis, not a monthly one. Be sure to subtract out ALL your monthly expenses over that last xxx period of time. Again, be careful of expenses which are yearly in nature (for example, be sure to include things like paying extra AMT taxes in April, going on vacation, et cetera).
2) How much money do you need to put away on a monthly basis into retirement, emergency funds, and other things? Remember that $1 put away now will mean more at 62 than a $1 put away at 30 years old because of how much that $1 can grow over the next 9 years for you.
3) See what is left over so far on a monthly basis. Then subtract a generous fudge factor. It is better to be safe than sorry.
4) How much do you have left over for other things?

If 4) will cover your monthly payment on a Z06, and if you want it, then do it.

By the way, either make sure you pay for it 100% out of your own money (not your wife's or the family fund), or, if not, then make sure your wife is 100% on board and wants it as much as you do.

At least, these are my thoughts.

Best wishes,

-Rodney

As someone who is much older than you I would like to advise you as if you were one of my kids. When I was 38 I was going through a divorce and all my life I wanted a corvette. I always had nice cars but the corvette was my dream car. I purchased a brand new C5 in 1998 no money down. (STUPID MOVE). I so loved this car. I made very good money (not 300K). but it always kept me broke. L ess than two years later I wound up trading it in. Since than I have learned to be smart with my money and save and invest it. Our last couple of cars have been paid in cash and we have 0 debt. Nothing in life feels better than owning everything you have. I have been saving for several years now and will be purchasing a new C7 next year, all cash.Anything can happen in life. What if you lose your job, or your income drops badly, or God forbid a divorce. Trust me save for it. Making that kind of money it won't take you as long as you think. Listen to an old mans advice, you won't regret it.

There is not one single best formula for financing the necessities of life, whether it be saving and paying cash, finding excellent credit rates, or any combination therein. The best advice in my opinion, is to make sure you are comfortable with your decisions, and understand that any unforeseen changes in your financial situation could require changes in your assets. Remember to prioritize your desires before spending on them. When I say desires, those are specific to you. No one on this forum or anyone else for that matter can tell you which is more important, or should be. The order you put a house, spouse, children or toys, is really up to you. Just make sure you are totally honest with yourself when prioritizing those things, so that you will have no regrets later in life. If you do this successfully, you will be happy with your decision, even if it means that you don't end up buying the Vette.

Just my .02

alechilliard5 said:

What are your payments, what did you put down, etc?

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His situation may not be relevant to yours.

The following is not meant to be relevant to DR. Z06. I have no idea how old he is, or what is financial situation is. Rather, below I will just make up some hypothetical character and discuss him.

Let's say some guy named Abe is 80 years old. All of Abe's kids are financially self-sufficient, and his wife has passed. Abe has decided that he does not expect to live more than another 15 years, and that he has done all he needs to for his kids. His cash and marketable securities total 1.5 million. He has decided he will leave his house to his kids, but he is going to spend every last dime that he has of cash and marketable securities.

It is totally okay for Abe to spend $100,000/year MORE than he draws from his retirement (after taxes). Actually, that is exactly what he SHOULD do, if his goals are those outlined in the paragraph above (although he should reevaluate his situation at least each year to determine how much longer he expects to live, and what his newest financial situation is).

Now, let's look at someone 21 years old. Is it okay for them to spend $100,000/year MORE than they clear after taxes? Well, if they expect to live a long time, and if they don't have something like $8 million in cash and marketable securities already saved up, then, no, it is not okay if they want to be financially responsible.

I know I tend to be much more financially conservative than most (that goes back to me being raised in a coal town in Appalachia where many families were in poverty as defined by the US government), but, if I were you, I would save up for a little while and be in a position to pay cash for it (even if you decide to keep the money and invest it in a way that will return a higher percentage to you, after taxes, than what you can get a loan for). But that is just me. Do whatever you feel comfortable with.

Finally, the only downside I see to the last paragraph above is if you have an untimely death. In that case, you should have spent whatever to make you happy while you were alive (as long as it would not put your wife or family in debt after your passing). However, I much prefer to make plans assuming I will live a long time than to make plans assuming I will die soon. Again, that is just me.

Best wishes with whatever you do, and may you look back in many years from now and say, "I did the right thing."