Tacoma from a teenager's POV

"I'm 18 with a $40,000.00 truck."

Only in America.

 

He's working on grilles. Combined both fields.

Why you gotta rain on the kid's happiness dude?

 

Of course..you're a teenager

 

I can work on girls

 

That’s quite a monologue.

 

He's got a skoop...

 

Damn, 18 and a brand new truck. Good for you.

 

Beep boop, its a skoop

 

Fashion sense... to each their own. My offroad is naked, but hey, who cares.

 

Him being 18 and financing is a great way for him to build credit. Yes he has to pay to build it but he will need good credit for something like another truck, house, business loan or anything else.

 

Hey for all we know he was smart enough to do well in school and so therefore has a scholarship. This may truely leave his only payments being the car loan. Lots of assumptions. At least he’s not another shit head siphoning off his parents or thinking he can get by this day and age without college or a trade, while newly entering the work force. You have no idea how many little 18 y/o dumb asses I had in my last unit before retiring.

Congrats OP. Now wait on all the extra goodies until you are done with college and have a year under your belt on your profession. Stock is the trucks design, some mods create more work or lead to more mods just to make the first work. Think lift leading to tires or replacing needle bearings etc.

 

"I worked for this...I deserve this"

Is one of the lamest excuses ever man. I am being really serious here. 35,000 at a 9% market return over 20 years is way more money than you think.

My best advice to you is to sell that Tacoma right now. Buy a used Tacoma, or manual 4Runner and have fun with that. At least with those vehicles you have decades of Moding experience to draw from on this board and others, and all the boost kits for those vehicles are proven. I get that used toyotas are expensive, but they are still a better value than brand new.

If you have more than 30k in savings, you have such a leg up on your peers. You have the ability to complete school with no debt.... Please re-consider your path forward.

80% of adults wish they could be 18 again, just so they would be a better fiancial position. Food for thought

 

Thank you for taking your time to type this. This actually makes me feel glad. I forgot to mention that Im generally keeping it stock till I finish school. Only big mod that I will do is turbo. But thats years from now and who knows. Maybe theres better options. But thank you

 

I got grant for school. Im not putting turbo until after I finish school.

 

Of OP is making a mistake so be it. He will have to learn from mistakes like anyone else. Go enjoy the truck, you never know what the future holds.

 

I’d never consider a 40k truck loan as a great way to build credit. I started with a $300 secured bank credit card 5 years ago and now have a house and 800+ credit score.

 

I dunno man, my girlfriend has been deans list (top 10%) of all students during her biology degree (before she got into dentstry) and she got MANY scholarships, did honours, and worked in a research lab for 3 years but all in all i dont think she got over 10k in them, granted school in canada is cheaper, but still.

 

Yeah i started with a credit card, used it daily, payed it off daily, took every credit limit increase and my credit score is also at a hair over 800. Now i dont have a mortgage or anything, but im happy where my rating is.

 

Even better. We are about to dive into a recession.

You have more than 30k in cash and 35 thousand dollar highly deprecable asset. Sell that truck, buy all kinds of stock when the market eventually dips, and ride that recovery wave when you are 23-24.

Then 6 years from now you could be driving a Raptor or something even cooler like a Rivian EV, or maybe the newest 4th gen Tacoma TRD pro.

Short term pain... Long term gain.

Think about man.... I am 100% on The freaking real side here.

 

Agree with the second half. But then again some of my most enjoyable years were when I lived check to check (which it doesn't sound like OP is). And yes, that $35k --> $200k in 20 years makes financial sense. But he's gotta have $35k to make that argument work.
<edit> re-read the posts... looks like he does have the $30k in cash so it's his decision.

My advice? You're into it now.... if you can afford it, buckle down and double up on every other payment if you can afford it. Pay it off in 3 and you're golden for the next 10. Just recognize there's a time to start being practical and it's probably around the time this one is paid off.