I think the general rule is to spend 3 months salary on your car. I could be wrong though.

I am just old school - buy house with garage and then when you can afford it, buy Porsche. It all depends on how soon you want to be financially independent.

I'm one of those people that believe that if you can't pay it with cash you shouldn't buy it. Then again I'm old and I do plan on keeping this car for at least 10 to 15 years. When I hit 60 I will probably rather have a luxury sedan.

And my girlfriend loves the looks of the new and old cayman better. But since I have a GTS, I feel like it would be really hard to part with a very special car. At least to me it is.

That's just silly. That means that until you have an 80k a year job you will most likely never own a new car. With a good APR (around 3%) you can finance a 20k car easily without issue on a 50K salary. Of course that would be if you dont have any other major debt payments to speak of.

I don't really agree with that, tho I truly do see the value in the idea. The problem is we spend most of our lives in some sort of debt. And buying a car would be the biggest issue for people. On an average income its would take you years of savings to just buy a Honda Civic.

I do see more of a point in not financing an expensive cars like a 911 or nicer Merc/Audi/BMW. But even at that, car companies would go out of business if people only bought them when they had full purchase price cash in hand.

However, I strongly think that your car should be the last thing you sink money into. A stable home that you can support or at the very least can support with a partner, some type of future financial savings, and a quality monthly buffer of excess cash should always be your top priority.

I thought I recently read that your car monthly payment should be 10% of your monthly gross.

I had my Porsche and my toys in my early twenties. Bought a house mid twenties and 2 kids (almost 4 kids actually). I guess the bottom line is that if you can afford it, go for it.



p.s.,
Marry someone rich and you should be okay. jk!

Do you have a financial adviser and a secure portfolio established yet?If not invest in yourself first the toys later!

Iam 40 and have thought many times when in Sport plus that Iam glade that I didn't have this car in my 20's.,I don't know if I would have the discipline that I have now!! If you are mature and can handle the power then go for it!!. Just remember what happen to Ryan Dunn in a GT3.

+1.

I do this for a living. It is heartbreaking to sit across from someone who has not saved enough during their good working years and trying to figure out how NOT to outlive their savings in retirement. This is why you are getting a lot of advice about paying for the car in cash (=when you have the money) instead of hanging an $80k loan on your neck. I wanted a Porsche since I was a teenager, but it wasn't until 20+ years later that I was able to buy it without retarding my retirement.

I urge you to think through this carefully. Assuming you retire at 67 and live until 90. You have 23 more years to live without a paycheck or social security. Will you have enough money and don't regret spending your hard-earned money on depreciating assets during your working life?

Time is your best asset. Put your money away now and allow it to compound over time. When your nest egg becomes big enough, take some out to pay cash for a Porsche.

My 2 cents of free financial advice.

Ugh, I saw this was an old thread after I posted it. Maybe this advice came too late....

I'm 22 and currently own 2 911's (997 and 3.2 carrera). Both are owned outright but with that said money is so cheap now financing does make sense even if you could stroke a check for it.

If you can afford it then do it. Penfed has very low rates as does PNC

It just depends how you want to allocate funds. I work a lot and the majority of my pleasure time is spend in a car to and from work so for me my modes of transport are very important to me whereas my living situation doesn't matter so much as I'm not home to much (smaller house with 3 car garage).

With that said, if you live at home/live with a roommate you should not own a car like that. It's just embarrassing.