http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/retir...mmn?li=BBnb7Kz

She bought fur coats, designer handbags, furniture and, in the 2000s, a succession of upscale cars: BMW roadster, a Lexus 420 SL.

Being an avid Lexus owner, was reading this article and realized there is a Lexus model all of us missed...does anyone here have a 420 SL?? =)

 

I'm a saver and sometimes I wonder. If one is not leaving anything to heirs or charity, then why not just go and pick up that AMG Benz (beside one of them CLS last night, it looked sweet), replace in 2 yrs, and live in a 5000 sq ft mcmansion? We don't have debtors prison. But I guess it's what my folks taught me. Dag I got a 11 y.o. LS instead of a brand new VW Golf R. 90% of the folks out there would do the latter and not worry....

 

That's either supposed to be a MB SL (could be 500, 550, 600, etc) or an LS430.

I agree with you John- I saw a statistic recently that was referring to the average deductible in healthcare currently being around $5,000 (higher deductible = lower monthly premiums). It said that 90% of Americans with a $2,500 or higher deductible would have to sell an "asset" in order to produce $5k in immediate cash. This article is scary as well- saying the average savings account for someone near retirement is $14,500. I just don't know what to say or think when I read statistics like these.

I was reading and participating in an interesting forum in the 4th Gen section talking about a guy who is upside down on a 2011 LS and was asking for forum advice on taking the negative equity and rolling into a lease of a brand new ES. It's interesting to see how people view things differently- for me, I am overly cautious and frugal and would look to escape any negative equity situation as fast as humanly possible. Others had different opinions, some of which had me really shaking my head.

Not to hijack the intent of this thread but found John's post interesting.

 

JR, the first shock I got was back in '09 when cnn.com had all kinds of stories....and one where a gentleman had a salary of over 200k in sales, lost his job, and was having difficulty making his payments.....what struck me was he was leasing an Acura MDX for $799/mo....and I was thinking, leases are less monthly than buying, I wouldn't even think a MDX would be that much putting something down and buying...so something else contributed to that exorbitant payment....I always wonder how people get new cars in not even 3 yrs, like 6-12 mos., and they say they got such a great deal they had to do it. Buddy at work has a '16 535i and looking at '17 550 when it comes out...

 

An MDX lease could possibly be that expensive if it was a short term (24 months). But I agree with you, something seems off with that math. Even more head-scratching is if you're making $200k/year, why are you leasing anything? You have outright purchase power for most/all luxury vehicles...so I have no idea why you would lease.

During my mid-20's I watched all kinds of friends and acquaintances who were doing slightly (not much) better than me financially driving around in new cars- the 5 series seemed to be the car of choice to attempt to impress others. I was driving around in a 10 year old (paid-off) Ford Explorer at the time and thinking "what am I doing wrong"? In reality, I was just choosing to save my money instead of burning it on a car, insane rent, etc. A close friend then introduced me to the term "50k milli" which was meant to describe people making $50k/year but showing off as if they're a millionaire. It's interesting the most common vehicle driven by millionaires is a Ford F150...not flashy at all.

About your friends getting "great deals" on new cars. I just have a different philosophy. There are no great deals on new cars- the great deals on cars kick in when they are 3 years old or older when someone else has eaten most/all of the depreciation. In May 2008 I bought my 2004 LS430 for $22k (think I financed $15k). I get reimbursed for mileage (at the time $.40/mile I think) - and I took every single reimbursement check I got and put it towards my car loan. My car was paid off in February 2009. For these last 8 years I have driven a car with no car payment, had minimal repair expenses, saved all of my mileage reimbursement money and recently used some of that to pay cash for a fun 3rd vehicle. When I go to buy a 4th Gen LS, I'll combine what I sell my LS430 and fun car for and that becomes my cash budget to buy a 460. I listen to Dave Ramsey podcasts sometimes when I drive- and he has "normal" millionaires call in and he always asks them how many new cars they have bought in their life. I'd say less than 10% of them ever have.

As a car lover, it's sometimes hard to not be impressed with folks who have newer, nicer cars than me. I have had enough people mentor me and teach me to never take anything about another person at face value- and things are rarely as good as they seem. My $.02.