Income needed to afford a ferrari?

Congrats. That's very good.

I'm early thirty something also but have owned my own businesses since I was 18.

I don't work more than 50 hours a week these days, and I've got some nice toys.

But I don't want my employees to see me driving a Ferrari to work LOL

When I hit $10 mil I'll sell the business and do something else.

 

"Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness."

Sun Tzu- Emptiness and Fullness- The Art of War

As long as you are looking to Sun Tzu for inspiration, little grasshopper.

And perhaps this: "To win without fighting is best" Sun Tzu (Art of War)

 

Are you making $250k per month or per year? If you are in either range and want to own a Ferrari, you can certainly afford one. If to you nothing less than an Enzo will do, perhaps you should wait until you are wirth $10m. Personally I like Ernie's take. When you can pay for the car you are buying and not worry about a $5-$10k repair bill, then you can afford it. I went for the $50k car type, and have been happy with it. You really have no place to drive that fast around my home, so getting an F40, or Enzo would probably be more frustating for me to have all the power, but nowhere to use it.
BT

 

Is she cute and is she married?

 

Ok, lets follow your logic. $2k/mo=$24k/yr. You now have shelter. Would you like to eat? Use electicity or natural gas? Let's add another $500/mo. Now we're at $30k/yr, just to exist. With a $50k salary, you'll be bringing home maybe $38k after taxes. Or less. You now have to purchase and maintain a 12 cyl Ferrari on $666/mo. You also have to insure it and put gas in it. I'd also guess you need to have another car to drive regularly. It also needs purchased, fueled, insured, and maintained.

Vacations? Forget it, you have a Ferrari. Night out on the town? Forget it, same reason. I also hope you like the clothes and shoes you currently own, you won't be getting any new ones for a while. All of the above has to assume you're single, no way it could even be discussed with a family.

I don't see it.

 

IMHO, if you can't afford to pay cash and have PLENTY of money and other assets left over, then you can't afford it. Ferraris have always been for the select few every since Enzo was making road cars for the vested gentry around the world. Credit/leases has allowed people who really can't afford them to buy them, but then can't afford to maintain and/or repair them. Like my sage daddy always said..."...never finance a toy..."

 

Preston,
The bottom line is that if it's in your uncle's garage, he can afford it, or, at least, a finance company thinks so. Buying a modern Ferrari is never a financially prudent thing to do unless you get a 430 at MSRP and flip it right away. So, the question comes down to if one can afford one without hurting their family or their nest egg. No one here can answer that on someone else's behalf.

Dave

 

These threads may keep coming up, but they always get plenty of posts!

DAve

 

Its doesn't matter how much net worth you have, many I've known have high value assets and net worth but are cash poor, you need to be liquid, you need to have at least $30K available for a 12cylinder in case of a major failure in addition to paying for cash for the car, those that don't many times lose big time owning a Ferrari when something expensive goes and they can't afford to fix it and the mechanic puts a lien on it and sells it for unpaid bills or they just sell it for what they can get.

 

Get 1 million available in liquid cash, then start looking for your Ferrari. Any less than that (excluding other assets), and you're making a very poor financial decision. If you have say, 300k liquid cash, and buy a ferrari, that's 300k that could be earning you huge interest.

edit: and if we want to be totally honest here...if you've been savvy enough to get 1 million in liquid cash, then you know better than I that the 250k or so it will take to afford a ferrari puts a huge dent on the amount of money you could be earning if that money was in an investment avenue.

At 3-5million, that 250k isn't quite so significant.

 

did someone say you need to buy a 300k ferrari? how about a 308, 328, or 348? the workin mans ferrari ...

heres my rule of thumb , if you want it , and it will add pleasure to your life, but if it totally blows up and disappears and left you paying for it or without the money you spent on it, and you can still live the same , pay the bills , put food on the table,..etc. then do what your heart tells you , life is too short. I know many people who are gone way too early saving up for retirement .. id be happy retiring in a hut in mexico without a cent to my name knowing i lived my earlier years as fullfilling as i could... besides the richest days of my life lie ahead . my inheritance looks pretty good!

 

Hello everyone. First time poster. Been reading alot. I agree with just about everyone. Pay cash, and whatever it costs, put that much aside just in case.
Oh, if you're not married yet, tell your bride to be, or girlfriend that a F car is
a future dream of yours. It'll prep her after you buy her a nice home.

 

I have lived the retirement life since I got out of high school bought a Ferrari right then, what good is to work all your young years to then retired old and start living life at large, if so... I rather live to the fullest now, young, healthy and when I'm old, if I then have to work until I die, well good because life was fun. A lot of money when I'm over the hill means aquat to me, I will sin now and by then I will pay and repent, so then I'll work like a pig but lived my youth like a king.

Thats the way I lived, but now I'm 34 and a baby son is coming... So soon things will change. Life is too short, play the game smart and buy the Ferrari when your gut feeling says so, future plans aren't what life is all about, live the day and make it count.

 

In acquiring a Ferrari if it does not break your bank account, imposing on your family both at present and in the future then go ahead. I would prefer to say that if you can't afford to pay cash then you shouldn't own one just yet but some people do manage their income very well being mortgage, kids funds, cars and others.

 

Well, she is definitely 23. I don't think she has enough 'experience' for you. Although being a stripper, she might have enough 'experience' to seem like a 70 year old.

BT

 

My thought process is totally on your level!!

 

its a fine line. there is no default forumla. I could AFFORD a ferrari, but I dont own one. Affording it is not really the question, its whether its prudent or not. Well I suppose my car would cost as much or more than a 355. But I guess for me the only car I'd look at would be a 360CS which is $200kish. I dont make 400k. I dont really know what I make actually. But It hasnt been over a long time since I'm only 24. I have a few investments, mostly real estate. My only expense is my daily driver lease, and thast a write-off. No other debt. I have positive rents. So my debtload is minimal. couple grand on CCs. I supose I could have put the 100k for the noble down on a 360CS and financed the rest, and delt with it. but I drew the line somewhere. Plus the Noble is faster

For someone like me who is young, single, and little debt is much different for someone who has a family, more debt, tuition etc to pay for, which will probably be double or tripple of my current expenses.

Then, its about priorities. I dont think you should spend it all now and worry later. should be a balance. you cant take it with you. I know some older guys who penny pinch their whole lives and are at the age to spend it and still dont. and i know idiots (especially in Orange County) who are upside down in net worth and buy 70-100K MBs.

If I could change it, I would have financed the noble and bought more real estate with the $. But hard to do given the nature of the car.

You should also budget for stupidity. If you are smart with $ then you can assume you can give yourself more leeway. If you are retarded, then budget a higher net worth before you plunge.

 

The best is only buy the car when you can pay cash for it. Then again, life is short and you never know when it's your time so the answer is when should you get a Ferrari (360CS)? the answer, when ever you can manage it and still eat and pay your bills.

 

Plan for tomorrow, but live for today. absolutely. tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. I don't think I'll be able to get out of my car when I'm 70. much better to have it in your late 30's. but the flip side is you don't want to be living under a bridge a 70 either. I see know point to scrimp and save to retire at 50. let me enjoy life and retire at 60. I'm ok with that...

Much like everything else.... everything in moderation.

 

Funny how so many say this, yet I talk to several friends who sell Ferrari's and say 90% of the Ferrari's he sells includes some sort of financing.
Some put big downs, some little, some none!
Many can pay cash, but choose not to.

 

Yep, why use that cash when it could be making you more money elsewhere.

 

Thats exactly the point, if you need to make more elsewhere with the money and financing makes so much more sense because you think you can make more with the cash you can't afford the car its that simple, most Ferraris cost much more than the purchase price.

I know a guy who had a brand new 996 Turbo and financed it, he made a few bad investments in real estate and now is broke and the bank recently repo'd the car.
Now he's driving a POS, so much for his lifestyle.

Its called living beyond your means and these people usually end up broke.

 

I have read these posts before & I personally think that may be many are missing the point of the question. I too used to ask owners that I'd meet when I was a teenager (40 now) because I was curious about what type of a career field enabled people to acquire these wonderful machines. I figured that MAYBE if would be a field that held interest to me that I might be spurred on to follow a similar path of another to realize my ownership dream one day. Cut the person that asks some slack....NO ONE is asking your income or trying to invade your privacy; they just want to know how YOU got there as in what path did you take.
Being on this chat forum & intermingling with a concentration of so many owners can make it seem a little paradoxed like it is commonplace for everyone, BUT YOU, to own a Ferrari/Lambo/ etc... Kinda like reading a Playboy can give you the complex that everyone, BUT YOU, in America is getting laid by a hot babe tonight. (Don't even start the 10th grade jokes here, I'm being serious about this answer). A person can start to get the idea that

"Hey, everyone has one. It must be easy to get one. What am I doing wrong, or simply not doing right? I know, I'll just ask how they got theirs!"

Simple in theory, but remember that there are more people in prisons than own a Ferrari....but more people own a Ferrari that are on death row...interesting stat I read out of Maxim or some mag...I can't vouch for its accuracy.

Anthony Robbins preached for years that "if you simply duplicate the steps that another took, you SHOULD get the same results, right?" Eh, sort of.....

I, personally just wanted to know did the owner get there by:

a) Started own business (doing/selling "X" product or service),

b) Got in on the dot.com boom early, got stock options given to them, & cashed in at the right time,

c) Inherited the money (trust fund babies included),

d) Took a "traditional route (became a doctor (what field?), lawyer (again, what type), or some other "normally assumed high income profession" path,

e) Earns money in illegal activities (drugs, mafia, inside trading, politics, etc...;

f) Discovered & patented a new product, process, or whatever widget & made a fortune selling the invention or rights to such,

g) Saved EVERY penny, living like a pauper, for years on end just to realize a dream;

h) Picked up a rough, older, model car, fixed it up & traded up & repeated again & again;

i) Worked hard to claw your way up the corporate ladder (what help, luck, or breaks--if any--did you get along the way?)

j) Bought real estate & sold at the right market time;

k) Worked/working in a business that it simply pays to work your rear off (read LONGGGGG hours) in blind pursuit of constant sales goal of production where the income potential in unlimited & you don't even need a high school diploma (Ex: Car sales, insurance, banking, financial advising, etc...)

l) Stole the money (any successful criminals out there?)

m) Won the lottery;

n) Are a celebrity or famous sports figure being paid insane amounts of money;

o) Or what-ever-the-crud you did.....????

People just want to know. Either for curiosity (get a life) but most likely as an inspiration to themselves to not give up & that the goal IS attainable. Kinda of like anytime you hear a success story...it makes you feel good. Ever worked for a company that INSISTS that each shares any "success stories" with the rest to "spur" them on?

Hell, a man with a "good" (read ANY enviable/enjoyable car) need not be justified (yeah, I know, it's from a movie..I just can't remember which one right now), but if I see a guy in an Enzo & find out that he does the same line of work as me--but worked hard--that gives me inspiration that I too, can reach that goal. If the only guy's I ever see or meet that have Enzos were the Sultan of Brunei or a high profile mafia "Don", then that too puts a realistic perspective on my striving....better decide to settle for a nice F430 instead... Whatever, I hope ya'll get my point of the reason that ANYONE asks these questions.

So come on. Either answer (truthfully) the question...only if you WANT to share...or just keep quiet (maybe you have SOMETHING to HIDE. Got a smart-aleck answer? No need to reply, we've heard them all before.......

Just my 2 cents.....

 

George, that's a very fair assessment.

In that spirit, here goes.

I'm a poorboy, by the normal standards here. I own a 328. It's financed via PeopleFirst. It was only a couple hundred more a month than my pickup, so when my truck was paid off the choice came down to A) trade my truck in on another new one or B) keep driving the pickup and get my Ferrari. The car's almost paid off now; the truck has 195,000 miles

Realistically, almost anyone can afford to purchase a Ferrari. Maybe not a 360CS, but certainly a Mondial or 400 or 328. These cars don't cost much more than a good bass boat, and are certainly cheaper than a 6X6 dually diesel longbed. When you factor in depreciation, it's actually cheaper to own a Fcar than either the boat or truck. (When you factor in maintenance, the numbers change )

What makes this work for me is that I can do much of the work myself, and I bought a really well sorted higher mileage 328. I run the wheels off it, and the smiles have been worth every penny of the finance charges. Sure, I could have saved and bought the car cash by just about right now, but life's about living.

What do I do? I work in IT at a commercial real estate firm. I'm really good at what I do, and while I'm not pulling in millions a year, I like my job and the people I'm with. I wouldn't be a landshark just to own a newer car.

 

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