It's not a good choice for a first car for the vast majority of teens. I don't know you. You may be one in a million. It's not responsible to take every penny you've earned and put it into a car. Not a good start. Why don't you use some of your money to help with your bills and look at a used car in the $15k range. Mustang is a great car with lots of aftermarket goodies available. Mazda is also good. I also like the Cooper.

You shouldn't spend more than 33% of your yealy salary on a car. If you're not responsible with your money you'll end up like our government. Broke.

 

I am the one in a million. I'm not like those teenagers today. I hate my generation, they expect everything to be handed to them. I don't have any bills to pay. My parents are paying because they want me to have the life they never had.

 

You may not expect it but everything is being handed to you. If what you say about being one in a million is true then prove it by not letting your parents pay for everything. It makes you a better person if you make your own way in the world. You're starting off living way beyond your means. Bad. There's more to life than accumulating a bunch of stuff. Stuff won't make you happy. There are a few wise wealth people who have realized the more they just give to their kids, the more damage they do.

Now why do I think I'm wasting my breath here? I have 3 grown boys by the way.

 

This whole thread is rather silly.

Let's say you make $10/hour which is likely on the upper end and let's just neglect taxes which are a major factor.

Unless you drop out of school and get emancipated or something, you can only work on a "work permit" at least in my state if you're still attending high school. (no flames please) continue going to a real high school, don't be stupid and go to continuation school or get an equivalence exam/GED or anything.

Say you work 30 hours per week, you'd have to keep your grades up to do that. Your personal life will not be so cool as you'd have to likely at least work one weekend day to get your 30 hours as you can only work so late on school days. Working as a minor is not the same as an adult. After you've done this, I think you're underestimating how easy it will be to dump every cent you've got into a car, shoot, in this market, I would use that money as a down for a house. I made damn sure I had a house before I bought my corvette, but that's just me.

30 hours * $10 * 52 weeks a year * 2 years = $31200 if you weren't taxed and you saved every penny. Saving every penny would be hard as you need to get to work, take out your girlfriend, buy gifts at Xmas, whatever.

Sorry man, but welcome to the working world, I was working at 16 for $6 an hour and when I left that place at 18 I was making a whopping $7 an hour. It wasn't until I was 18.5 that I got a job making $10/hour.

 

No overtime under 18, not even full time, at least in CA. Work permit, it is at the discretion of your high school counselor.

 

Everything I wanted I always had to pay for myself. When I wanted a computer I had to work for it. Mowing lawns, pulling out weeds, baby sitting, helping the elderly, etc all the jobs people didn't want. I don't demand much to be honest. The stuff I want benefits me in a way, in a way, that not alot of people understand. For example, when I got my first computer I learned how to take it apart and reassemble it and all that good stuff. In AZ, you don't need a work permit when your 16.
I'm a straight A honors student.

 

Not really, your first significant drop in insurance premiums will be at 26 if you get your license at 16.

I think my MS degree dropped my insurance premiums $1.25 a month or something?

 

One thing I learned early when I bought my first car is the cost of ownership. If buying used-price of parts/oil/tires/etc... As most of the people here-I drove the wheels off my cars. You pay to play. Most of my money earned went into my cars. A lot of the time I thought the car owned me.

Another thing-PLEASE spend a couple of $$$ on a driving school to learn how to handle the car.

 

Here is an idea, since you want to be a nurse. Go to college, enroll in ROTC, get scholarship, get your fully accredited nursing degree. Have no tuition bills coming out of college at 23 yo, and start making over 50k right out of school. Plus you're taking care of America's finest.

Just a thought from someone who went that route (minus nursing).

 

ditto

 

I will, i'll ask a couple corvette owners to show me how to handle the beast.
Isn't becoming a nurse/doctor a bad thing if obamacare comes into effect?

 

Richman6, Stick to your guns! The negative feelings and thoughts will always be there to try and hold you back. Don't spent your time atempting to explain yourself to those who want to plan your life for you. It's a waste of your time and energy. Your a smart young man , believe in yourself,make a plan,stick to it untill it fails to work for you ,then if necessary set a new course and just keep Walking On.

 

This thread is beyond reality! All of you more mature folks are beating your heads against the wall with this kid.
He just has to find out for himself what life and cars are all about and all of our admonishing and advising is not sinking in to him! He just has to go do it and face what ever the consequences, be they failure, death, inability to pay, whatever.Indeed he may be the exceptional teen but his parents should be very concerned and wary! I live in an area where kids get BMW's, Mustangs, Corvettes and whatever at 16 or 18, etc. The accident and death rate among these so called privileged kids is the highest of all drivers in the county. The insurance companies know the statistics for the age group and they charge accordingly, and rightly so! He appears to have an answer for everything. So be it. Do what you want kid, it is your life, but some very reasonable people have tried to guide you but you are determined to make your life revolve around a car. What a waste...with age comes wisdom, even if the age is only 25 or 30...but at 15 you are still dreaming and have virtually zero wisdom or experience....

 

I'm not getting a corvette at 18, i'll get it around the age of 21. I will be financially stable by then. I would rather be alive then dead imo.

 

21 and financially stable only go together if you win the lottery.
I'm serious about the ROTC recommendation. You don't know what sort of breaks it gives you, from USAA insurance, to the 25k 2% apr cadet loan.

Plus going to college with out a bill at the end is amazing.

 

Just because you can buy one at 18 doesn't mean you can afford one at 18.

Plus if you put all your money in the bank will your parents give you fun money throughout HS and College. You will spend more than you think just on odd things like food with friends.

Start saving and decide what you can afford when you are ready to buy, no reason to decide right now.

FWIW i bought my Corvette at 26.



Depends where you live, mine dropped at 21 but dropped quite a bit at 25.

 

It's really not. When you consider the median household income is about $50k in the USA, you're talking a years salary for a vette. That's insane. When I was a kid in the 1960's the bagboy at the supemarket drove a Camaro. The owner drove a vette. The vette has always cost twice as much as the average car.

 

IF obamacare goes into effect, would it still be worth it to work in the medical career? Who pays for this obamacare? Look at what free healthcare did to Canada.

 

.
I like the way you plan, I was there a long time ago and my parents helped me with my first car, a 1976 Mercury Montego, I then spent thousands and thousands of dollars throughout my life buying hot rods, breaking them and fixing them. Then GIRLS came along and I spent thousands on them also but not as much as I did on my cars. I now have a family and bought my first new vette in 2008. If I was focused like you seem to be and did not spend all that money on my cars I would have been able to buy a new vette that much sooner.
Stay focus on what you want, save your money and don't spend it all on girls, one day you'll find that special one and you will cherrish it for the rest of your life as your first love..................Im talking about the VETTE.

 

The was in response to the $70K in savings by the time he turns 21........

Did that clear it up for ya ?