hmmm,

It does feel like Friday because I can't remember what this thread is about...

I just noticed that it's 5/4, which means yesterday my Mini pymnt was automatically paid via electronic transfer. Wow, didn't even feel it. Might as well quit work 15 minutes early, go fuel up the Mini with my cash-back points card and prepare for fun weekend.

I plan to keep my JCW beyond it's finance period & warranty. I'll need to get back with y'all in 30K miles to reconfirm, though. If it's as sweet as my '03 was, I see no reason to not keep it twice as long.

 

Those people shouldn't be on the roads at all!

 

if everyone did that, you would put the banks out of business

But seriously, how many MINI owners bought their car with cash.

Raise your hands and be honest. Who dropped $25 - 35K on a MINI?

 

Ok, I'm a knucklehead...

I paid half up front. If I had found the sweet 3.9% rate, I would have financed all of it!

 

We're getting pretty off-subject, but I recommend to anyone who has an interest in personal finances to read "Your Money or Your Life" (http://www.yourmoneyoryourlife.org/) which changed my whole way of thinking about consumer purchases.

The basic idea is that you don't think of things you want in terms of how much then cost in dollars, you think of how much they cost you in time to work enough to pay for them.

Even someone making good money, say $75K/year, may have a net earnings of only $20/hr or so when you factor in the overhead associated with earnings (taxes, commuting, business clothes, lunches, etc.). So instead of thinking that the new MCS you want to buy is going to cost you $25K, you instead think of it as 1250 hours (nearly 7.5 months). It gives you a whole new perspective on things.

While I'll probably still buy a new Mini in a couple years, thinking about things like this really has me thinking before I check the option boxes for things like metallic paint, lounge leather, and the wood interior. Are these things really worth nearly an entire month of working?

I'm not a spendthrift and I enjoy spending money. Several have piped up in this thread that they enjoy their cars, derive great pleasure from them, and spending the money on a new car every year or three is well worth it. Great. More power to you if you can afford it. But for many, I think they really get drawn into the vortex of very effective advertising, easy financing, and peer pressure to find themselves in a lot deeper than is good for their long-term finances. I firmly belive that unless you're getting some great cut-rate financing or are in a situation where you have opportunites to put your money in investments that are likely to do better than car loan rates, routinely financing a consumer good, even an automobile, is something to be avoided.

- Mark

 

I know this is getting picky, but if you're going to call someone a name it's always more effective to spell it correctly.

 

There are two different things going on here.

First, IMHO, Jenn B is absolutely correct.

Life is far to short to worry about the small sh...t and the cost of a car that makes you happy is small stuff. I have no idea how old anyone may be but I do know as I got older and gained life experience ... the things that make you happy ARE important because tomorrow you could be dead ... very easily dead. For the young, that's probably hard to believe.

If Jenn B wants a new car, its her passion, then that is Fine. JUST like, if playing golf was your passion or expensive bikes or traveling or 4x4s ... whatever. You GET ONE shot at life. That's it. Once the years are gone ... Game over. It took a while for me to understand ... Life is just to short not to enjoy what I like.

The second part is exactly what you mention above. In another thread someone talked about a $35K MINI. I know some ppl have specced $50K MINIs. You get to $35K and above, suddenly your in a total different car territory. Let's be a bit realistic here. At between $18 - 23K stripped, this car isn't even the cost of an average car sold in America (~28K in 2005). You add $10K or more in options ... that might be half the cost of the "car". Many times I've seen people very disappointed when they try to resell and find nobody cares they got ... "all four packages" and leather this, sunroof that. Options are a killer.

The flip side to that depends upon how long you truly are going to keep a car. If your really going to keep it, then life IS too short so why not option it the way you want to. On high end cars, options are a bit different. You buy an expensive car and try to resell, it better have Xenons and GPS and whatever as its just expected.

Life is too short ... enjoy it while you can

 

....and therein lies the absolute truth.

*bows to chow*

 

Here Here Chows4us.

 

+1