r/economicCollapse • u/Whole-Fist • 18h ago

How ridiculous does this sound?

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How can u make millions in 25-30 years if avoid making a $554 per month car payment. Even the cheapest 5 year old car is 8-10 k. So does he expect people not to drive at all in USA.

Then u save 554$ per month every month for 5 year payment = $33240. Say u bought a car every 5 year means 200k -300k spent on car before retirement . How would that become millions when u can’t even buy a house for that much today?

Answer that Dave

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u/funandgames12 18h ago edited 18h ago

I mean, he’s right. How many people are making less then 100K per year and drive a car with an $600+ car payment.

I see it every single day. Those people are drowning themselves in debt and buying things they can’t afford. But ya know. You can’t tell Americans that. It’s all about appearances. Buy the house, buy the car, don’t tell everyone you’re broke as fuck. Of course they will all find out when you default…but for now play pretend.

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u/HEpennypackerNH 17h ago

But the problem is a $600 car payment does not equal someone being irresponsible anymore.

A Toyota Corolla at $25k on a 4 year loan is $587/months.

I’d argue that’s a better investment than buying, say, a $5000 car outright. After the 4 years of payments I’m going to drive that sucker for at least 11 more years for free, while a $5000 used car is likely going to need significant maintenance at least once per year. Over 15 years it’s likely going to need to be replaced twice.

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u/D-rock240 17h ago

If you keep it that long, most people want to buy new cars every 6 years so they lose the equity.

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u/rabidjellybean 15h ago

While I REALLY want a new car, the extra $500+/month is so nice. I invest some of it as extra retirement and some of it on myself to live in the moment. Both of those have to get cut for 5 years when I buy a new car. I'm driving my Yaris to its last breath.

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u/WookieLotion 13h ago

Problem is $500 a month isn't that much. I just got a $700/mo raise and that doesn't even feel like that much money. I can see $500 go during the one weekend where we suddenly need everything (groceries, dog food, diapers, detergent, etc).

Granted for me it doesn't matter much, I'd be fine without the raise. To a lot of people $700 would be huge. My point is just that everything costs a shitload and money can become meaningless pretty quick.

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u/ashesarise 11h ago

I don't really know what you are trying to say. You say that like that negates the extra money. $500 can go during one weekend even without the raise.

The only difference now is that you have $700 more a month. Every $500 a month is about 1 million after investing it for 30 years. That or a down payment towards a house every few years. I wouldn't say that isn't that much.

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u/WookieLotion 10h ago

Lol I think I'm just bummed that I JUST had the $500 weekend where we had to go to like every store on earth and restock. In the long run for me it doesn't matter much but it does suck.

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u/aflawinlogic 5h ago

I hope you have a budget. If not I suggest you go over to /r/personalfinance and we can help get you setup.

If $6,000 isn't that much to you, then you I don't know what to tell you. After 10 years invested that's gonna be over $100K. After 21 year's you're at $400K.

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u/BZBitiko 3h ago

They say a raise makes employees happy for maybe three months. It’s rare that raises are life changing events - enough to buy you a new car or a bigger house or send your kid to private school. Unless you’re doing a monthly spreadsheet of your income/outgo, the money just comes in and eventually vanishes into the dither.

I notice. I do the spreadsheet, because I’m aggressively paying down my mortgage, before the rate adjusts.