Thats just the thing, there are always compromises, and people always temper their desires by their means or by what they want to spend. If money were no object I'd have a loaded S550 or a Bentley Mulsanne, money is ALWAYS an object, people just have different levels of tolerance for cost and ability to absorb cost.

As to where does the money come from...I mean, families out there make a lot of money lol. If you're somebody who is driving a $80,000+ car, you (or at least you should be) making $250,000+. If you have two high level government workers as an example, or two professionals in a family that are working, getting to $250,000 isn't that hard. If one spouse makes $150k and the other makes $100k, there ya go. If you're in business or sales or you're a doctor or a lawyer, $250,000 as a personal income is not terribly high. So if you're bringing in ~ $21,000 a month, ~35% of that is going back out to taxes, so that leaves $14,000 a month to live. $3,000 mortgage, $1,500 in car payments, $4,000 a month to live and buy groceries and such, $1,000 a month for other misc. expenses utility costs, etc, thats $9,500/mo. So, you have $4,500 a month left to save, fund investments, etc. If you have one member of the household making $250,000 and the other spouse works and makes $90,000. then you're at $340,000 or ~ $28,000 a month. If you have people that are self employed they're likely taking advantage of tax strategies that allow them to pay out dramatically less than that amount in taxes also. People may not have daycare costs (my wife stays home, so no daycare), and if they do, thats for a set period in their lives. Perhaps thats not the time in their lives they want to be spending so much on a car...

Now, it depends on priorities, if this person is paying $4,500 a month for a house, then obviously something has to give somewhere else. If they're paying a bunch of money for private education or daycare, etc, something has to give. But you can see if you are making that level of income, theres room in that budget for a boat, or a second home....perhaps not at $250k but at $350k...and certainly if one is willing to compromise on car expense to have that...and surely beyond that in income. It all also depends on where you live. ~ $3,000 a month is more or less a $650,000 home with 20% down. Thats a reasonable, not flashy home here in a 2-3 tier location. The key is having a monthly savings and investment fund target and meeting that, "pay yourself first", and then the rest of it is mine to use as I see fit IMHO. And the earlier in life you start, the less you have to save going forward on an ongoing basis to meet your financial goals. If you're 45 and have nothing saved, you are behind and need to put a larger % of your income away to meet your goals.

Its like people who are running down leasing are assuming everybody who leases is somebody out there making $90,000 and paying a $1,000 lease payment. If you do that...you're nuts. But, if you're making $250,000 plus, or even less in lower cost areas of the country that expense is not extreme and depending on that persons other obligations doesn't impact them negatively financially.

 

Instead of leasing or buying new, how about buying gently used car? Let someone else eat the initial depreciation.

 

Because I don't want a used car, I want a new car.

 

Who cares who farted in the seat cushion first. lol A two year old car will drive just as good as a new car without taking the massive depreciation hit.

On a side note, everyone's finances are different. But it's been calculated a billion times that purchasing a car and holding it long term makes most financial sense.

For those that have the money (and perhaps some that don't) to burn and like changing cars every 3-4 years leasing makes more sense.

 

You can save even more money by getting used Civic for $10k and drive it for 10years.

Life is too short, buy things you enjoy as long as you can afford it.
The worse thing you can do is be 80years old with a cane and a million bucks in the bank and a bunch of regrets of what you could of done.

Be smart with money but you need to also live for the present.

 

Exactly. I don't care what "makes the most financial sense" because I have dollars in my budget allocated to my enjoyment and I spend them accordingly.

 

As someone who occasionally listens to some of the financial advisors/talking heads listed in this thread, IMO they put down leasing because most of the people who call in, listen, or watch their show fall into this category quoted above. They're just talking to the majority of their audience. I occasionally download a Dave Ramsey podcast or two and it's really eye opening to hear the predicaments people are in- so I think these hosts always bash new car buying or leasing because they try to help the people who can't afford a new car understand the math working against them. Those who have a good ratio of expenses vs. net income are in a totally different boat.

I read every post in this thread and actually enjoy the varying views (even though it wasn't really the purpose of the thread to begin with!). Admittedly, I have always been an anti-lease guy and like to buy used as depreciation plateaus and slows down. As I have gotten older I have become more financially conservative on most material things as I now prefer to save and spend money on vacations and experiences.

I never fully understood the mentality of leasing, but after reading this I gained a different view and appreciation to why folks would consider it. I also came to realize the reason I never understood the mentality is because my conservative financial nature doesn't lead me to being interested in a brand new car. In the end, sometimes it's hard for people (myself included) to understand why others make choices different from the choices they would make... As a sales guy, I spend most of my time advising and counseling folks in an effort to convince them my solution is the best fit for them. The act of convincing someone to change their mindset can be pretty exhausting. One thing I know for sure is I don't want to spend my free time convincing folks my thought process is the best fit for them.. I do that enough for work! To each his/her own.

 

Well said above...

I too have gotten more conservative as I've gotten older, Cars for me not so much but in other areas of my life. I don't spend nearly what I used to on "stuff", clothes, tech items, shoes, so on and so forth I just don't care about it like I did when I was younger. Cars though are my biggest passion, can't imagine I'll ever compromise much there.

 

At the end of the day, the person making the decision, likely worked pretty hard for the money that gets spent in the decision. The only bad situation is if someone is getting taken advantage of, then, I think a knowledgeable person can step in and say, hey, you're doing something totally wrong! For example, I just renewed my internet, to simply save $22.80/mo., plus a $50 incentive. I can tell you that I was presented with getting a new router for $149.99, renting it for $10/mo., or continuing with my current router and pay $2.80/mo. extra for support since it's end of life. When I did nothing, they gave me the router for free. So if you were facing the same decision, I feel I could rightfully say, hey, don't pay $149.99, don't rent for $10/mo., and don't buy for $90 on eBay, because they're going to give it to you for free.

If you were to say, hey, I got money, and I want to burn $149.99, so stay out of my business, jerk! Then, I would say you're wrong. But on these things we've been talking about, it really comes down to preference and what one wants to do. Heck, if I can get through kids' college, I think I do want to get some outrageous car, if I can afford it and cars are still available by then....

 

I agree 100%, I certainly don't waste money, and I don't pay more for things than I have to. I always pay bottom dollar possible for cars, I too rework my utilities and all routinely to make sure I get the best deal. In fact I'm considering right now dropping cable and going to an all streaming solution like DirecTV Now or Play Station vie to save about $60 a month in total.

But im not for instance going to do without TV to save money like some might lol

 

I was trying to switch to Comcast and save some money, but didn't work out. I was so happy to get the free "quantum" gateway (ordered on Sun. 4/16, and it was delivered Tue.)....now we have 5 ghz for the devices that do AC, and even a guest network can be setup. We're probably a few years late to the party but I love the free part! Yeah wouldn't it be nice to simply cut the cable altogether...

 

All we can get is Comcast, other than Dish which I don't want, they've got me. They hike up the internet to $100 a month too if you have no cable,tv...

 

Lol I just use internet and watch everything on iPhone/iPad. I haven't turned on the TV for myself lately since kids watching cartoon all the time, and I haven't even had a chance to watch a movie at all.
As new vs used, to each of their own, I used to buy used cars, but now I only buy new and won't even consider used, because I want brand new cars.
but I don't buy houses new since I don't care, and I know a lot of my friends only buy new houses cuz they can't stand to live in someone else's home. It's all what you want and what you can/want to spend.

 

not going to bother answering some of the questionable posts here, but i am glad that there are few here who truly understand lease and the pros/cons/dos/donts to help educate other people. i have no problem someone doesn't lease because it's just not for him/her, i have problem when some people are just purely ignorant with a mission to put down lease

there must be something beneficial about lease to make sense for the huge number of high end luxury customers to lease

 

I sometimes buy gently used cars with low mileage depending on the savings (e.g. my used GTR had 153 miles on it). Before I started leasing I would look at lightly used Lexus' and the savings were minimal when considering the negotiated selling prices of new ones. Using MSRP sure it looks like a decent savings but when getting a substantial discount on MSRP, the savings aren't there for me as a few grand to me is immaterial when considering new vs. used.