Americans are very secretive about their income. Very different from Europe. Maybe you will get a better answer if you would ask the question in the form of a poll. Rijk
I actually found the opposite to be true, at least in Germany. Among my friends, young and old alike, it is considered rude to talk about personal income or salaries. My uncle actually jokes about when he comes to American it is common parlance for people to ask about occupation and income. In the circles in which he travels, that type of conversation is unheard of.
I take offense at that remark...don't you know MY car is THE poor man's Ferrari? Study up, young man.
Not only is it beyond uncouth to ask someone what their income is, I was raised to not even ask someone how much they paid for a coat or a TV etc. It's just rude to ask, and if you really want to know, go to the store.
OK, I agree the way he asked was rude and not the way to go about getting the info he is looking for. But I too and a 21 year old often wonder what exactly you guys do or did to get everything you all have. I don't want to know how much money you guys have or what your bank statement says. I myself look up to some of you older guys and hope to one day maybe be able to work hard enough to achieve a small portion of what you all have. I love all of your cars!
If you look in the archieves, you'll find out what everyone does. And you'll learn how much they charge. Art
Some of the richest people I have ever met have been the ones with the least amount of money. One very good friend of mine is 75. He has spent his life spending every dime he made on traveling. The stories he tells and the enthusiasm he has for life is incredible! I could never be a 'rich' as he is.
Peters just made a very good point! If you die wealthy, but only wealthy, you cant die a happy man. I take a lifetime of discovery and travel over a pile of cash anyday. Having disposable income is nice, if you dispose of it well. Which story would you rather tell your grandkids? "I remember one week I made (x amount) in the stock market, and the next week I found fortune and wealth by getting lucky at the casino, let me show you how..." or "There was a time when every year my family and I would take a cruise vacation to the carribean, and sometimes we would even fly to Italy for a month at a time..." Memories and experiences are more valuable in the end than any amount of wealth could be. As for Ferraris, taking a vacation and traveling in one is the best of both worlds.
Am I rich? Compaired to Bill Gates, no. Compaired to people in a third world country, yes. How do I afford my Ferrari? I do my own mechanical work. I think what the poster is asking is how do I get a Ferrari, and how do I get it now. Well unless your folks are loaded you are gonna have to do it the way alot of us did, wait till you earned it. When I was younger I used to ask people that were driving nice cars what they did. When they would ask me why I wanted to know, I would say "so that someday I could drive a nice car too". I got so many different answers. One guy I asked made his money with outhouses. You know the nasty stinky things you see at a big venue like a rock concert, or auto race. He started with just one outhouse then rented it to farmers. At the time I talked to him he had a couple hundred. He was really making money haulling sh*t. Another guy I met last year makes his money selling bacteria for soil replenishment purposes. I had a small window cleaning business at one time. It was just me and I only didn't it for extra cash. I also got that idea from a guy I met. However if you do big industrial accounts you can make tens of thousands in a couple of days. But you must have a minum of two million in insurance for the smaller commercial buildings, and upwards of ten million in insurance for the big high rises. I looked into this when I had my business. I also met a guy that was an international oil broker, and a father and son that built off shore oil platforms. Another guy made his fortune saving businesses money. He would get a percentage of the amount of money he saved them. But he had a bad gambling problem, and even though he was making millions ever year, he still had his gambling debts that were higher than what he made. A big problem alot of people have is that their money is spread too thin. They have a big mortgage payment, and two new car payments, credit card debt, maybe even a second mortgage, college loans, the normal monthly utility bills, private school for the kids, the baby sitter bill, groceries, gasoline, auto insurance, etc. By the time they pay all those bills they may only have a couple hundred bucks of spendable cash a month. Most people would be surprise to learn that they have more spendable cash than "rich" people. For one simple reason. The more you make the more you wanna spend. I will leave you with this bit of advice. If you aren't in debt stay out of it. If you are in debt get out of it. Live under your means. Are the things you spend your money on making you money? Once you have your money working for you instead of you for it, then you can get a Ferrari without wondering how to pay for it.
Gotta know what rich means to you first. Experience is all you really take with you. Money stays here. You want a full life of people and relationships or do you want lots of "stuff" Many different ways to live life. Gotta decide which is yours and do it. A medium with balance is usually the most streesfree, rewarding and diverse type of life. All eggs in one basket better have a good solid basket.
Utterly filthy rich. Right time, right place you might say.... you see, in the early 80's, I, with my chemical poise, invented aqua-net, and all it took was a couple glam bands, a few perms and BAM i'm sellin' tanker loads of this propelled epoxy all over. with a little more "80's insight" i got into the mirror/glass coffee table biz, and woooooowzzzzerzzzzzz did that ever take off... not until the mid/late 90's did that really fall off, but it's been great ride. judging from the diction in your post, i'd presume that you've used my two ingenious products; however, i think you've got the applications backward; as in, the mirrored coffee table isn't meant to be used to watch yourself huff the elmers glue, nor shoot the aqua-net up your nose... oh well.
Greetings and sorry about the catchy, goofy title. Before I type on, understand that I not trying to invade anyones privacy so if you find the subject personal please disreguard and my apoligies to you.The question- I wonder what kinds of professions and income Ferrari owners have to maintain their cars? I know that anyone who owns a new 360 or F40 is most likely very wealthy but what about the owners of less expensive older V12's, 308's, 328's, 348's, and early TR's. Assuming that you really love these cars how "unwealthy" can you be and still keep them healthy? I understand that everyones situation is different but are some of you running entry level Ferraris and making less than $100,000 a year? Dont get me wrong, I am very wealthy and just doing some research.(yeah right!) Thanks for your time!
Rammer you will find of lots of answers to your questions in the archives. There are tons of threads on who paid cash, who makes payments, who does what for a living and how they got to where they are. Welcome! FYI, most F-cars cost between $2.00-$3.00 a mile to operate.
It sure doesn't hurt. Because you will always be surprised by the operating expenses. I go through a set of tires in 3,000 miles for example. 30 cents a mile just for tires. And on and on......
I wouldnt also look just at the purschase price, but the difference in insurance, parts if needed, normal maintenance, and so on...just like a foreign(but most expensive kind!) compared to a domestic.
It seems like you pretty much answered your questions in your own post My father makes in the high 100k range as an executive at an oil company. Started out as an accountant with low seniority and he just worked his way up the corperate latter. There are far better ways to make money for sure, but Id say he could buy a good 348 right now if he wanted to. That includes the money he has to put away for my brother and I to go to expensive private colleges and many other expenses our family has. Id say that if you make below 100k a year you could still relatively safely buy an older Ferrari. It just depends on your own financial situation though...
I always wondered the same but I never asked, don't want to be laughed at Anyway, I take home after tax about 175k/yr, and I don't have a Ferrari. Sure my dream car is a Modena Spider but I know I can't afford it. The price of the car itself is high already, and the insurance and maintainese is killer, so if you can afford 3 Lexus at 50k each, it doesn't mean you can afford a $150k Ferrari. Also, everyone has a definition for "afford". I am sure if you don't do anything else with your money you can probably push for one. If you have a life style you like to maintain, it is much harder. Using myself as example, I wouldn't want to give up several good vacations per year, fine dinning and bar hopping(hey I am in NYC and the tabs get quite pricey), and etc, for a car that I drive few thousands miles a year. Life is hard, for people that start with nothing and work their way up. You are constantly trynig to achive your next priority or goal. When I got out of college, owning a house was #1 priority, I got that. Then I wanted a decent ride, I got that too. Then I was saving to grow a decent stock portfolio, then I was saving down payment on a 2nd home, blah blah, now I have a nice home, I am renting out the 1st home, I have money for rainy days in my portfolio, guess what, it's about time to have a kids, and you know how expensive have child is, then before you know it you have to save their school tuition, etc etc etc, just never ending. Kinda depressnig when you really think about it Right now, realisticly I am looking at F355, you can get one for 80k now days, hope insurance isn't too ridiculous and maintainese isn't too crazy, I might be able to have one, and figured I can always enjoy few months and drive few thousand miles, and sell it if I must, without much loss, that way, at least I have owned a Ferrari and have the great experience and pleasure.
As a switch, Uncle Sam was told that I made $5k dollars last year. And that is with a 4K refund. My Mondial is on the truck coming to me in 2 weeks. Have always wanted one, and at 41 decided now was a good time. Yes maybe the $ should have gone into a 401K or such, but I beleive in living while you can. Already have the house on Cape Cod, 2 kids, a couple of vintage race cars, so the F car was the natural progression. I am sure to some it doesn't make sense, but.................
No need to be rich, there are plenty of appreciative wealthy females out there Enjoy the Drive, Steven R. Rochlin
The only thing I have to say is if you are willing to work as hard as you can weather it be owning 2 companys or working two jobs to get what you want in life then you have a good chance in getting what you want out of life. A Fcar is only the start. Make a list of goals , start checking them off before you know it you will be checking off the Fcar.
If you are good with tools and can work on a car yourself, a 308 is more than attainable if you make under 100k a year, depending on other expenses. There are so many factors to consider when deciding. Things like mortgages, student loans, and other expenses add up pretty fast though. It really depends on your definition of wealthy.
