Schultzlt1

I probably wouldn't buy one brand new. I bought a brand new GT350 and kicked myself for not spending $15k less a year or two later. Number would be even bigger on a ZR1.

I dont do anything fantastic to make money. Work a lot. I was a college dropout but I became a great electrician. I worked hard in the field for 10 years and then joined my family company. We sell commercial laundry equipment. I take care of operations for them over there.

I took what you can consider the road less traveled these days. Working with not only your mind, but also your hands. Learned a valuable skill. I have so many people asking me to do work for them, I could afford a ZR1 on side jobs alone. Tradesmen are well paid and scarce these days.

09Z06pj

I've got some work for you. Where are you located?

supermetroid

I'm curious about the second part here, what's the bad part of wanting to have your house paid off early? The way I look at it is that if I pay the house off in 10 years instead of 20+ that will save a ton of interest and in those years(when I'm 40-50) I can put that money towards retirement instead of a mortgage payment ideally.

HPT

The value of that money compounding over time can be far greater than mortgage interest which is practically nothing. Reducing your tax liability on top of that is a huge bonus.

Dave80C3

For me to afford to buy a new ZR1 with all the options, I would just have to stop putting 15% of my income in my 401K, and quit investing an additional 1000 a month into my future. I could then pay for the 140K car on a 5 year loan.

I do not see me doing that. I could get rid of a lot of my other toys as a different way to do it. Don't see me doing that either.

I'm a highly skilled Tradesman.

Mr. Gizmo

Suns_PSD

Also the home mortgage interest deduction is all but gone for most with the raised standard deduction.

For me, my income varies a lot and other investments are not nearly as consistent as some make them out to be. Me, from 2009, has assured me of this.

supermetroid

My situation is that I make pretty good money as a commission only business owner(really buying a right to a territory to sell products in that area) so all the expenses are on me, with the only benefit being some tax write offs. I have no idea about the stock market(or much interest in it really, kind of feels like a gamble where you don't really put in work to make the money), so I think paying off any debt early would benefit me more than anything. Thanks for the input

UnhandledException

I paid 59k for my GT350. I daily drive it (including snow) and put over 1500 miles/month. I drive it every day, multiple times a day, to the beach at the weekend, and I still, still cannot get enough of it. I have 24.5k miles now and it is by far the least boring and the most satisfying car I have ever owned and I have owned lots and lots of 6 figure german cars before.

23/C8Z

^^^^ but... say you 100k today on a low interest loan (any length more than 7yrs... that principal in 5 years will be lower and inflation will make it even less so. if you invest wisely (with a little luck, not much it's all about timing) the compounding interest will far outweigh "paying a loan off early" if the interest rate's remain where they are.. lenders will continue to benefit as they raise the rate slowly as has been the case since the crash.

I did however hedge my bets because "timing" is everything and switched to a 15yr mortgage.. had I known what i know today? i wouldn't have done that and put the extra 1k a month into my portfolio (I love craps no roulette, may more options and the odds are better, more controlled. can tell a lot about someone by what table game they enjoy lol).

such a symbiotic relationship this economy... have to pick your spots and be willing to alter strategies overtime no matter how painful and aggravating (went through this in 2008, my only mistake was not dumping EVERYTHING i had and borrowing to buy more stocks than i did) a mistake i won't make again.

or a better example are student loans vs investing in an IRA... only one chance at compounding interest.. the loan debt decreases naturally buy just paying minimum on interest as the value of a dollar continually degrades. I would rather invest more in an IRA and less on the student loan (it's a mental thing, having that debt "over your head". get past that and you'll be rewarded the rest of your [later] adult life imo).

like others, i could at this point pull money out of non-retirement savings and almost completely pay for a loaded ZR cash. but my investing mind would NEVER let me do that with the hopes of being able to reap the benefits of compounding and enjoying maybe a "C9" one day and owning two homes (paid off).

I could have made more money working for myself but truth be told, i watched what owning a business and being successful brings. too much lost time. if you make it "to the end" you win... but a lot can happen and nobody's health or their loved ones are predetermined.

I'll take my leisure and recreational family time not to mention - guaranteed pension, health benefits, 4 weeks vacations and 15 sick days a year (banked) 2500sqft house and not have a 5k sqft house i get to enjoy maybe once a month.

supermetroid

Maybe I have a weird mindset when it comes to stock market and cryptocurrency(don't know much about this). But it would just feel off to me to for example to put 10k of my money into something and it booming to where I'm well off some time later(I know this is the exception, not the norm). Like, what did I do to deserve that wealth? Have some inside knowledge somehow or get extremely lucky either way it wouldn't feel like I've earned it.

And yes I agree about the stresses of owning a business, as I mentioned earlier that I'm a bit tired of working all the time with no free time or vacations. I can sell off part of it or hire someone but bottom line I think it's worth it to make less in exchange for more free time. I do have a hard time believing someone saying they work 80-100 hours a week as that would be destruction to the body and mind. Reminds me of some of my management when saying how many hours they work when 80% of their "work" is sitting around or at a laptop sending emails.

spearfish25

I'm a urologist. Most of my day is spent removing clogs, either stones or prostates.

Mr. Gizmo

spearfish25

My wife routinely asks me how I can tolerate doing my job.

Mr. Gizmo

spinkick

This is me, haha.

Boyeraz

So are plumbers when your **** backs up.....

AORoads

The best advice I ever heard (and one that I might have followed) came from a really very poor, ghetto kid who was working where I was and going to college.

His dad was a brick layer. He said to him--and took him with him on jobs every weekend from the time he was in grade school---mostly to teach and keep him out of trouble in what is now called "the 'hood:

"If you know some trade that takes your hands and your brains, you will never be hungry." Meaning, college and learning are great, but there are always "bad times" or "lean times" or "Great Recessions."

But, there will be a need even in the worst of times for someone who can, and does work with their hands whether as a primary or secondary "job." He, and his father, were right IMO. I only used my brains and work ethic, and a bit of something from somewhere else.

Suns_PSD

Yah, I'm a business owner as well, and it's really tough. I do work 7 days a week and frankly have been unable to find someone nearly as smart or capable as I am to take some of the load off, at least in the pay range that I can provide. Being a business owner has frankly reduced my expectations greatly of what the average human being is capable of.

In addition, I work another job for the health insurance, 401K, stock buy program, and some commissions (it's a straight commission job) somewhere around 25 hours per week. I can manage both quite well but the mental switching back and forth makes it challenging as I do both simultaneously throughout the day.

I made more money and had a much better quality of life as just an employee.

I'm on the cusp right now, I could end up worth a few million in another 3-7 years, or I could just as easily make not a lot of money for years for absolutely no good reason at all. All I would have gained was missing my only kid growing up, missed lots of vacations, and missed 7 figures worth of wages.

Being rich and self made use to be pretty important to me, but I realize now I had everything a man could want just being an employee. A beautiful wife and family, great paid off home, nice things like a $10K mountain bike and so on. No, I could never comfortably afford a ZR1 but honestly, that doesn't bring me as much joy as just having my kid sitting on my shoulders in the pool.

I will tell you, that studies show that no human being can use their brain at max capacity for more than about 6 hours a day and still perform. It's possible to do a job where your brain gets rest, like say truck driving between loads, or factory working, or even a plumber driving between jobs. But 100% high level focus non stop for a dozen hours a day isn't possible. That's why I don't feel bad screwing off on CF.com, the brain needs some R&R to continue to perform at such a high level.

kdm123