All through my twenties and thirties it always bugged me that friends who made the same as me had a better lifestyle (nicer cars, houses, faster women, etc.) but little by little the pay as you go thing started to make a positive difference for me. Now at 48 yrs old, I have passed most of them by and am paying cash for my Challenger. You free spirit types can see your future. Just look at all the miserable old folks on Social Security that never saved a dime. I'm going to run the heck out of this car for several months and then try to sell it for a small gain or no loss. Then it's off to the new camaro.

Happy Payments

 

I understand your point about those who save and what have you...and when I was younger, I used to hold a little resentment toward these folks as well, and mostly out of petty envy.

Now, that I'm a little older, I see that what each individual does in their youth can have both merits and detractions.

However, just because it doesn't work for me necessarily to have debt such that I may afford things I can't pay for outright, doesn't make it bad. I think where the bad comes in when a person doesn't know from want, but knows everything from being deep in debt. Youth is for mistakes in the form of women, cars, etc....each can be a painful but valuable lesson.

I will not denigrate free spirit types, or jibe at them with threatening prognostications. It's not my place; and who's to say? the free spirit types are the ones who are typically brash enough to risk failing enough times and not be thwarted until eventually they succeed. (read entrepreneurs who finally make it).

As far as the new Camaro.....OK I guess but at the end of the day, you're in a Camaro....not a Challenger...and all you'll have at that point is a Camaro AND the regret that you no longer have the sweetest homage to revisionist retro muscle car-dom, the Dodge Challenger.

As for success in your life, I congratulate you. It's a good thing to have. One suggestion related to it, find the intrinsic value in it and judge it's worth by the happiness it brings to you more than sadness others have by not possessing it. You may find you will value it more.

 

sticks and stones can break my bones but, words will never hurt me. You said it all DSkippy.
Honestly if you ask me it sounds like your friends had a lot more fun with there life than you did with yours... but anyway it's your money do with it what you want, work hard, play hard, maybe drive hard Shoot im 23 and Im trying to buy my second HEMI, and second BRAND NEW CAR. So what if I should pay 50 or 60 or even 70 dollars less a month to "live within my means" WELL YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE brother. I don't plan on dying of smoking or drinking, but i might die at the pump.

 

My wife is resigned to the fact that I will be spending $40K+ to buy an SRT Challenger.

But here's the catch...her mother is permanently moving in!! [:@]

Is this a good deal? An SRT for a mother-in-law 24 hrs. a day?? [&:]

The way I look at it, I will be spending most of my spare time driving the Challenger so I won't have to hang around the house with her.

 

Fortunately for me my Mother-In Law is the greatest.

But here is a thought, just take here on a hair raising ride in your Challenger and get the enjoyment of seeing her eyes the size of saucers.

Just be sure to have some Depends on her seat.

 

maybe I was a little hard on you "free spirits". It is your business, but unfortunatley as your debt leads you around like it has a hook in your nose, people like me end up subsidizing what you do. (taxes, health care, insurance etc.) Public schools have taught everyone that payments are a natural part of life and payments are what you base your spending on but the problem is that life flies by and while you are paying interest through the nose, you are not in position to take advantage of situations that might make you wealthy. As far as pisssing all your money away and being Mr. Goodtime at 23, you are exactly the kind of employee most businesses want because you won't have the resources to control your future. Your boss will.

 

Let me make something perfectly clear.... I totally understand what your saying man... as being in debt locks you into a certain spot in life or certain job where as if your not in debt you can get up and move for no reason at all point taken. Im at a point in my life where im 23 like in your case i make more than a teacher, a cop, a fireman, postal employee yada yada yada... I work with my hands im quick on my feet and very creative amongst being a strong leader. Ohh yeah and a "free spirit" Please explain to me why would want to "out source" my job??? So then the rest of your "team can mutiny your business" Please man don't get that big hairy cheesiness with me. I've seriously thought about moving to Orlando and working in Epcot or maybe going to Manhattan and working in what is the Epicenter of our culture. If I can buy this car in little old St. Augustine Florida don't preach to me about how it will hinder my future, because the places I intend on going pay substanialy more money. I for that reason don't want to buy a house and get a mortgage just cause I'd have to worry about selling it and with the market now if a job came up where im looking and it could be there now how would I then be able to leave??? A car will take me places... get it?? Im only 23 no reason to "settle down now" yeah im happy I love what I do, but i know there's so much more out there, on top of so much more money. This car is a toast to all my hard work and a celebration to what's to come. Yeah I am the exact kind of employee every business wants, not most. Yeah people "like you" subsidizing everything, so are you like Bush and want to "Privitize school to" do you think that is a good idea??? I work for millionaires i've learned a lot. I've climbed up the tree and had it cut down from under me, and im only 23. Nothing will stop me. What you've said does hold true in 99% of people out there. But at just about any given time I could open a restaurant of my own (if I wanted to) But that's for the future. That's for when I meet the guy like you who has millions and wants to invest, in me. Not "subsidize" me. No hard feelings at all and please don't take this with any undertones. I respect your opinion. I thank you for it too, but you don't try to stop a train by jumping in front of it. Quality of work and quantity of work is priceless it can't be subsidized. I play the numbers game to every single day, every week all year long. Food cost, labor cost, overhead, waste, cost out recipes....etc....etc....

 

I must admit you sound like you've got things together (for 23) and I understand being single without the responsibilities that can come later. You're probably the youngest person around that has put themselves in position to buy this car and I applaud you.

 

GPMAN,
Not all us "free spirits" live out of your pocket.
Life is marked with pleasures the whole way through, or why live it? When S.S. decides to give me that baby check at 65 I just dont see myself buying a Challenger.
Life is today.... Can not live in the past, and the future is foggy. I wont spend the next 20 years building an Ark, only to find out it was the lava I should have prepared for. No excuses still! If you can't afford to pay then do not play. Affording is not always paying cash.

 

unless you plan on living in your challenger its not a good deal