You guys are so lucky.....

Dream Big!

Everyone always said that I was a pipe dreamer when I said that I would have a Ferrari some day and have a big house in the neighborhood that I now live in.

DrewH

 

At the risk of being repetitive, you can have one of these if it matters to you. I didn't get out of school until 36, broke and loaded with loans. I went to work and decided I wanted a Porsche before 40, F-car before 50 as bottom line goals for working hard. I wasn't sure sometimes if I was being reasonable, but as finances got better I realized I could decide what was important to me and pursue those goals. I have no regrets about having bought them, but have been careful to be sure that more important things aren't being neglected. In any case, don't rule out getting what you want-if it matters to you, you will make it happen.

steve

 

With that attitude, you never will. I started saving money when I was 18 for my Ferrari. It was a joke for a lot of years, but it started adding up. Some days I'd work through lunch and realize I had an extra $5, so in the bank it went. I got older and got married and my income increased. I put more away. I promised myself the car for my 35th birthday. I missed it because my wife and I decided to purchase real estate instead, so I changed my target to bday #40. I drove the car home the day after my 40th.

Very few of the people on this board are 'lucky'. They made it happen for themselves.

 

Although it may not seem like it now, there's more to life than owning a Ferrari. Even though it may bring you hours of joy and fun, there are other things in life.

 

IMO, I think the JP Fcar is the NSX, not that the MR2 is trash or anything. Nifty little car, they look nice, they are MR, and they kinda can look like a 355 with the right kits. What gen is it, got any pics ?

 

Spoken like a true "student..non-owner" LOL

 

Ryan just follow your dreams and you will be able to get anything you want. All you need is a dream and a will to carry it out and you can have anything. THIS IS AMERICA! LOL! No but seriously, don't down play yourself. Anything is possible!

 

Ryan, I was 20 (4 years ago) when I sat and got a ride in a Ferrari for the first time. I made a personal goal to get one and it became "the carrot" of my success, something to benchmark and shoot for personally. My grades went from semesters of 3.6 to semesters of 3.96. I got heckled a bit by friends who thought I was just being pretentious and haughty by admitting I "was going to own a Ferrari by 30." In the office I worked at on campus I had a 1:24 550 on my desk, and a 4-foot logo I painted for a class behind my chair. Then I busted my butt and got into law school - and the teasing stopped as I proved that I wasn't all talk. In fact, some people got intimidated once it was obvious I was on my way.

Take these guys' advice.

I will not repeat their good counsel, but add that you should surround yourself with positive, goal-setting, optimists and dreamers who are going out and doing something in their lives. Negative or undisciplined friends and family WILL drag you down and ruin you if that's all you have. If so, move away. Far away. Start your own life and meet successful people at work, school and other social occasions (ie. F-chat, sports clubs, car clubs). I am not kidding. Sometimes you have to get away from those who would drag you down and retard your progress, and unfortunately these people might be relatives. The old lobsters/crayfish/crabs in a pot analogy: when you try and get out of the pot, they will pull you down, and no one gets anywhere.

A telltale sign is anyone who mentions "winning the lottery" in a regular conversation. These generally aren't people who are moving on up on their own, even though they may work hard in whatever job. Dreaming for your future based on lottery winnings is a sad disease that saps the lower classes from actual problem-solving abilities.

 

Ryan, if you're at law school where we think you're at law school, you'll have a Ferrari sooner than 30, wife not withstanding.

 

27 if everything goes as planned. Actually, my wife is cool with me getting a 328 after graduation; although she says she would rather I saved up a few years more for an Azzuro CA 550. Fat chance I'm going to wait though... I'll just end up having both in the long run ;-). Heh heh...

BTW, Sherpa (too many Ryans here now ), are you coming to the FFQC this year with Roland, Markus and others from CO?

 

I will speak for him. He is at the big H. I always joke with him, Enzo will be his first F car. Ryalex is a TRUE Baller just give him 2 more years.

Now that guy is my idol!

 

Hey Ryans, now I'm blushing, really.

 

All things come in time if you really want them bad enough and are willing to make the sacrafice. I was just like you about thirty years ago. I think the important thing is to establish priorities and don't sacrafice your future financial well being to have the toy you want now. Make a plan and then execute it and you can prossibly have both and then the toys become more fun because you own them and they do not own you. Relax and enjoy what you have and keep working towards your goal.
FYI: I started working at a Ferrari dealer thirty years ago sweeping floors while in school and within two years was tuning and prepping the 275 gtb4's and 364 gtb4's coming in new. That was when I started wanting one. After a stint in the military and then school again, I am now fifty and seriosly thinking I will buy one this time. I have wanted one for all this time. After medical school and work over a period of twenty years I almost bought three of them but backed out due to just being too practical with my priorities. Now at 50, I figure I deserve one finally and don't have to feel I am financing my future for one. The moral of this story is that it has taken me 30 years to fulfill my desire, while watching all of my close friends go through every model made.
You will probably have one if you really want one, be patient.
Good luck.
Gary

 

No blushing needed man just being honest. I always thought I would never make it in life..and I still have that fear, even though I have saved all the time, have been very responsible all my life. For some reason I always feel I will be 30 tomorrow, and wake up poor. My goal in life is not to just have a Ferrari, but to have a stable life where I can afford a Ferrari.

However after talking to Ryan (ryalex) I truly was inspired. You totally led me on a path where I can believe I can achieve, and learning about your story gives me nothing but inspiration and a true desire to succeed.

I am proud to call Ryan my friend and I am truly grateful for you helping me out. Talking to you has led to a dramatic change in my self confidence and direction in life. If you are ever in California, lunch/dinner is on me brother!

*interesting note how Ryan (sherpa) and Ryan (ryalex) both share similar names and are both immensely successful at a very young age*

 

MR2 Ryan, I hope you see that these kinds of conversations and interactions are what F-chat can be about, and not flame wars or endless Lambo v. Ferrari battles.

Thanks Ryan Z. But I really think that your story of getting to America and succeeding is more moving. At dinners in the future when you get some award and they mention you came "rags to riches," they won't be exaggerating.

 

I will trade my life story for being able to drop the "H" bomb as you call it anytime


I agree F chat is more about just cars, the people are amazing and the knowledge and graciousness are truly contagious.

 

Hey Ryan,

Cool cars. I also owned a DA for a few years among other turbo H cars
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Nice looking MR2.

I had a 1986 MR2 long ago. I loved that car, but sold it since I was convinved I was going to die in it. I was only 17 at the time.

 

You know what I like? That in all the posts of yours that I haver read, I never heard you drop the H bomb.

I was having a business dinner in Essex, Mass last year. It was a small restaurant and we were trying to close a deal. At the next table, there was this younge college aged guy, a girl, and an older couple. In retrospect, we think that the three people were his girlfriend and her parents. Anyway, just about every other word out of his mouth was the phrase, "well at Harvard..." and he would say it in the snootiest way. And we could hear him every time. His snootiness was seriously ruining our dinner and it was disrupting our negotiation. In any event, it was annoying to say the least.

When we left that night, the guy who's company I was representing looked at me and said, "you didn't get your MBA from Harvard, did you?"

"No."

"Good, that makes me feel better."

It's really something to get on a Ferrari owners' site with presumably very successful people and not only not have a Ferrari but be so secure with yourself that you don't need to drop the the fact about where you go to school to impress people. That's a very big thing to me. Here we are with guys getting on here saying that they own this and that and "retired at 21" and they own their parents' 911 Turbos, etc. and making up BS stories like that and you don't feel the need to even talk about where you go to school, the truth, even though it would put you on some kind of elite status with some people.

Right on.

 

Here here Sherpa!

I agree. If you talk to Ryan live, he is the most grounded normal person I ever talked to. Really changed my view of H as I told him on the phone. Great all around guy, no doubt! Very impressive and nice to see young people with such a strong head on their shoulder.

 

When is it? I guess I'll call Roland and get the scoop. I would be interested, for sure.

 

Thanks Sherpa. You find out very quickly it is a double edged sword, in the exact same way Ferraris are - if you are even minimally ostentatious about it people will resent and hate you for it. Between my taste in cars and my school I could appear a pompus arse very quickly, if it weren't for temperance with it.

Because I have a plan on how to get one, like Ryan Z., John/FutureOwner and other young bucks on the board, I didn't feel too out of place here nor need to prove anything special. I don't bring it up unless someone else asks or it's really pertinent. Of course, it comes up occasionally here, and the conversations move to PM's, email or phone where I can be more candid. If it arises in a social situation and I can read that the person is made uncomfortable by it for whatever reason, the topic is shelved and we talk about what they want.

As a side note, two quotes I try to live by:

"No one knows how much confidence you have, take as much as you want."
-Said to me by a wisened ecclesiastical leader

"What I lack in looks, I make up for in overconfidence." - Me.

BTW- Once Roland tells you about it, you will not want to miss it. Check the Louisiana Forum here for more updates. I know that this year is primarily invitation-only, with the invites going to previous attendees. However, I think they will make the unfilled spots available to a few newcomers after the initial registration deadlines.

 

That's why I don't drive my Ferrari to places. I take it out and drive it. I take it in the mountains, I take it on the backroads, I take on the open road. And when I'm done it goes back in the garage. No going to restaurants, no going for coffee, no cruising for ladies. No one needs to know that I own a Ferrari but me. I didn't buy it to make people turn their heads or look at me. I bought it because I love the car and I love how I feel when I drive it.

I didn't buy the car for others. I bought it for me. And I try very hard to keep it that way.

If I wanted people to be impressed with what I drive, I probably wouldn't drive an old pickup every day.

 

Get luck out of your head and vocabulary. Don't buy another lottery ticket. Poor man's tax. Start out by reading Rich Dad Poor Dad. Then start to read the other books in his series. I was driving a 1991 Buick Century 3 years ago. Now I own two companies, about to be three and I have a Toyota Landcruiser, 03' M3 convertible, and a 99' 355 Spider. But I always knew i would. I told my mom when I was out of college that my next goal was to be well off. Just set goals and work at them with cosistency, believing they will come true and most of them will. Good luck.b