Our "high consumption lifestyle"
 

Discuss.

Do you feel this is a fair statement? Just based off what I've seen on this forum with the number of "financing" threads and "can I afford this car" threads, I'm going to say it's absolutly true. People are just getting out of college, haven't even estabished themselves and are buying new cars and sometimes even homes. These in themselves aren't bad at all, it's just the timing is crazy. They live on top romen and drive an old pinto for years, then get out of college, get a job and all of a sudden are living on the top of the world….well, as long as their credit cards will allow.

IMHO, the "you only live once" phrase has become a cop-out for being irresponsible. I think that it has some good ideas in it as in "go for your dreams" and "shoot for the moon" but I think it's been perverted into something that leads people to make STUPID decisions that hurt their finances, their health, and their future.

This is a bit of a rant, I know, but what do you guys think? I am ABSOLUTLY guilty of this, so I am not pointing the finger at eveyone else and forgetting myself. I think just having myself realize this is a huge step. Anyone else just step back and go, "what in the hell am I doing buying crap that I don't need to impress people I will never meet?!" The idea of "the things you own, end up owning you" feels very familiar right now.

I think listening to Drake is a stupid decision too.


As for the finance thing. People are quick to get the things they want. We live in a instant gratification society. I am guilty of this. I could have waited another half year and just bought a twin. Instead I chose to finance and have the car now.

Of course it is true. Look at these people spending thousands on mods and then they have a for sale thread for their car stating they need to sell it due to financial needs. Really?

I used to not understand why people would get offended if you asked about their finances since I have no problem talking about mine. But I guess it is kind of embarrassing if you are making one poor decision after another.

On the one hand, you ARE only young once (dementia doesn't count), and it's a lot easier and more rewarding to do some things when you're younger. You can't really spend hours in a racing seat when you're 65 and the seat makes your back hurt and you can no longer bend your knees enough to get into the car. And there's no guarantee that you'll make it to 65 anyways, so why not have fun when you can?

On the other hand, it needs to be done responsibly. You need to make sure you're in a solid place in life before you sign your life away to pay for a new house or a shiny new car. You need to make sure you can live before you spend money on frivolities that you may not be able to afford. For myself, I bought my car when I did because I have five years left in the military, so I have a guaranteed paycheck for five more years. I don't want to be scrambling for a job in five years because I have payments I need to make.

Also, people have forgotten that the Declaration of Independence says "preservation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," not "preservation of life, liberty, and a guarantee of happiness." Too many people think they're entitled to a big screen tv or a brand new car or a well-paying job. They don't realize that they have to pursue those things and that it doesn't always work out like they want it to.

Goes back to the thread where they discussed having some sort of finance class as part of general education in High School.

I forgot the thread, but people seem to short sighted when it comes to finance in general these days. There are too many programs to bail out people who make poor financial choices in this country in my opinion.

To the extent that people are not necissarily afraid of making them. No longer are questions like "What if I lose my job?" and "What if we get pregnant?" and other of the sort are really taking seriously and given the proper weight.

AGREED! It's taken me TWO YEARS to just clean up my habbits and I'm still living outside my means based on past decisions. It's crazy. I'm just now at that point that I'm comfortable talking about my finances because I'm headed in the right direction. This is not just a simple "clean up," it's still going to be a couple years before I can say that I am "doing well" when it comes to money.

I agree!! Balance! It doesn't mean you can't have it, just be patient for it. Make sure you have all the other areas of your life covered, then go for it. Why not? Your future shouldn't suffer for your present.

I absolutly think this needs to be a class. Most people coming out now don't even understand the idea of compund interest. When I explain it to them and show them numbers their eyes literally look like :confused0068: Problem is that usually, they have already starting living in their means and have little to no money to throw into anthing avenue making them money using this idea


My goal right now is to get my monthly spending down to under $5k/month. Even that is pretty insane to me, getting "down" to $5k/month

I, too am very guilty of spending way to much of my time, mental capacity, and budget on this car. I think a lot of the root issues have been discussed above. While I do think cars can be enjoyed responsibly, it's very difficult to do so in a pure way.

I have quite an extensive education in business and finance and yet, I still find myself in this irresponsible cycle of spending. I think a lot of us, myself included, idolize our cars. One of the things I'm mentally trying to get past right now is trying to keep this thing pristine. I really shouldn't care but man it demands so much of my attention - for example, I scraped the underside of my bumper pretty bad on a parking stop (mental blank when I was pulling in) and my mind is still drawn to that blemish and I feel like it's preventing me from enjoying the car.

Overall, it's a work in process, trying to get out of this funk. It's definitely a lesson learned and will be applied to future aspects of life.

I do what I want

As you wish guys, the key is balance. Like Master Oogway said: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called a "present".

I personally make irresponsible purchases, but not financially irresponsible purchases.

In a previous post I stated that I could have waited 6 months and not financed the car but I chose to finance it and have it now. That decision was because I had already waited a year waiting to see what would happen with the car, and didn't want to wait any longer.

That decision was irresponsible, but not financially irresponsible. Financing the vehicle resulted in a 20% loss in my monthly discretionary income. It in no way affected the money I needed to sustain my lifestyle.
Same goes with the aftermarket part purchases. Those purchases only dipped into money that was already discretionary.

Those purchases were all irresponsible though. Irresponsible in: 1) Did I need to buy a car like this for 30 thousand dollars, or could i just ride out my scion for another 5 years? The responsible thing to do would be to just keep rockin' the scion.
2) Did I need to buy those parts for my already irresponsible purchase? Again the answer is no. I could have used that money for something useful, like solar panels for my house.

The point I am trying to make is: Irresponsible purchases are not necessarily financially irresponsible.

But you can't take it with you, and lets face it. We all want to have fun.

Because YOLO

I dunno, I feel like cars are the thing that really get people. I can't bear spending money on most things, but I will dream all day long about what to spend on my car given some budget, and I'll also dream about how to edge that budget up given some level of income to afford something newer and shinier. Sure I know people out of college who rent super nice apartments in the city to the tune of 3k a month, people who can burn tens of thousands going out, but the demise of most young people is the fancy car, because everyone wants one. If I went to some kind of job paying a solid 100 something k out of college I'd probably not hesitate to grab myself a 2 year old Porsche 911 and then do a motor swap on my MR2 even though it'd be financially idiotic lol.

By the way suaveflooder, 5k a month, that's pretty impressive. Glad you're living it up :D Living the college student life my expenses are about 1.2k a month all in, car, apartment, and other.

I thought this may help bring things into perspective.

Lol, spare some change buddy?


I have to agree with many of the opinions above. With some caveats. For example if you can, buy a house. Don't look at it as a reckless choice but as an investment. There's never been a time with such promise for the housing market. If you're young and it won't bust you get that FR-S. Keep it. Drive it into the ground. Enjoy it. Who knows, someday you might be able to take your grandson out to the garage of the home you bought today and say "There it is boy, a first gen. FR-S." Then watch as his eyes pop out and he says back "WOW grandpa, sure glad you didn't buy one of those pos BRZ's."