A piece of advice someone gave me that I found wise was to remember it is not always how much you earn but what you do with it.
A soup of flour and water, ketchup sandwhiches and Top Ramen Live like you are poor even if you have some $$.
Story of my life... (John D. Loudermilk) I was born in a bunk Mama died and my daddy got drunk Left me here to die or grow In the middle of Tobacco Road I grew up in a dusty shack And all I had was a'hangin' on my back Only you know how I loathe This place called Tobacco Road But it's home The only life I've ever known Only you know how I loathe Tobacco Road I'm gonna leave and get a job With the help and the grace from above Save some money, get rich I know Bring it back to Tobacco Road Bring dynamite and a crane Blow itup, start all over again Build a town, be proud to show Give the name Tobacco Road Cause it's home The only life I've ever known I despise you 'cos your filthy But I love ya, 'cause it's home
Get a good education in an area that will allow you to secure a good paying job,or better yet to start your own business. After you have a house, a daily driver and made a good start on savings for retirement and kids college, buy you a Ferrari to enjoy. Have fun!
Start with the Ferrari, then wife then kids then house, make sure you keep the ferrari through this untill your income rises to the point where you can buy another ferrari. If necessary use a motorcycle, bycicle, beater or train to get to work. Whatever happens dont give up the ferrari, wives are usualy not sympathetic and can have many other uses for the money, just remember you cant drive drapes and once the car is liquidated and the money spent it can take quite a while untill you have earned enough to pay for the basics, schools house wife vacations etc, before you can to buy one again.
Best rock lyrics about making it (or the seedy side of not making it) are by Tom Waits. Here is a collection of his lyrics, I am pasting in "Frank's WIld Years: http://www.lyricsdownload.com/tom-waits-lyrics.html Well Frank settled down in the Valley and hung his wild years on a nail that he drove through his wife's forehead he sold used office furniture out there on San Fernando Road and assumed a $30,000 loan at 15 1/4 % and put down payment on a little two bedroom place his wife was a spent piece of used jet trash made good bloody marys kept her mouth shut most of the time had a little Chihuahua named Carlos that had some kind of skin disease and was totally blind. They had a thoroughly modern kitchen self-cleaning oven (the whole bit) Frank drove a little sedan they were so happy One night Frank was on his way home from work, stopped at the liquor store, picked up a couple Mickey's Big Mouths drank 'em in the car on his way to the Shell station, he got a gallon of gas in a can, drove home, doused everything in the house, torched it, parked across the street, laughing, watching it burn, all Halloween orange and chimney red then Frank put on a top forty station got on the Hollywood Freeway headed north Never could stand that dog
Boxerman got it right--get the F-car FIRST, then house, then kids, then wife, er, well something like that but the car, unlike some of the others, will never diss you and like all inanimate objects eventually succumb to reason. Get it now? No, GET IT NOW, or you never will.....
There are many people who can afford to buy expensive cars. A new 360 Spider will cost approx $195 plus tax. If you are guy earning a few hundred thousand a year, it will take quite a while to save up enough disposable income to part with that kind of money without altering your lifestyle. You don't want to own a 360 Spider, but then have little money saved for retirement, have little or no other possessions and live in a shack. However, on the other end of the spectrum, there are guys out there who make lots of money. For example, hedge fund guru Bruce Kovner earned $600 million last year. That equates to approx. $11.5 million a week in salary before taxes. Assuming his workday is 5 days, that is a gross salary of 2.3 million dollars a day. James Simons earned 300 million last year, Stevie Cohen earned 150 million, etc, etc. Even the lowest man on the hedge fund totem pole earns 1-7 million per year. Guys like Bruce Kovner would have to work approx. 1.5 hours to earn enough money after taxes to afford a new 360 Spider. Of course, you also have the guys earning $300k per year who save & budget and buy a 360, but they live modestly with respect to other toys & possessions. The question is not how do they afford to buy, but who is doing the buying and what does he/she have left!!
There is another way, as recently proved by UK motor journalist Chris Harris. In his case he bought a Gallardo, but the principle is the same. You identify a car that is not yet for sale that will demand a premium on the secondhand market. (The difficult bit). You then get your name down early and buy one when they first come out. You have to have a sizeable deposit, plus be able to finance > £1k per month, but you get to drive a new supercar for 6 months, then sell it at a premium to cover your costs.
JMHO, but if you're still thinking in terms of 'payments', you're no where near buying a Ferrari. Find the poll on here about how many owners paid cash for their cars. If you can't 'afford' to pay cash, even if you elect not to, you're not ready to buy.
In my case, Boxerman got it right...but there are also other pieces that help make up the puzzle. I got my 308 before I got married. I sold a super clean numbers-matching muscle car to get 75% of the $$ for mine and had the rest in the bank. Once I got the 308, I got married. For #2, my wife owns a real estate business that caters to those on the high end. Buy either buying or leasing the next one soon to come, she (ahhh...I) can use it as a business expense. As many have said, there are many many ways to afford one. I have also learned over the years that there any many many people out there who have far more disposable $$ to spend that I will ever comprehend.
How you spend your time is a crucial ingredient for wealth and for success. I read somewhere that the average person in the US will spend 9 years (9 years!!) of their life watching TV. That's not even counting time spent in traffic, spent in line, spent focusing on things that will never matter to them. If you start valuing your time higher than those around you, you'll get alot more done in less time.
This is way too complicated for me. My father died last December & left me some money. I bought a Ferrari. Life is short. http://members.cardomain.com/snapshot1
A 360? Well, that takes income. A Ferrari? Now we're talking. Anyone can buy a 308 with a modest income. You need to make the commitment to the car. You will need to learn how to work on your car because it will be too expensive for you to take it to some idiot that still won't get it right and charge you twice. You'll need to learn to change the oil, belts, brake issues, electrics and lord knows what else, but it can be done. You'll need a garage and you'll have to buy some tools. The support group here will amaze you with expertice and help; you'll need to see who has real experience and who is just chiming in. Make some friends. I knew nothing about cars when I went the sports car route, so I bought a Europa TC. Cool car, simple mechanics. I now know a lot about cars and how they work. Maybe a Ferrari is next for me. You'll need to do that too, but if I can do it anyone can! Be dedicated and focused and things will work out. Ken
Checked out your website, Beautiful Cars, beautiful bike, beautiful guns, Beautiful woman. She yours also?