Keep it or not?

You'll never get more money for it, then right now.

Sell, something will come up for the kids, in 6 years cars and trucks will be very different, then what we have on the market now. The taste's of the new generation may not be internal combustion at all.

 

i think its cute that older folks still think kids can "save up and buy" a first car from the revenue generated from entry-level jobs.
They probably think folks can still live off their low/middle class income in today's world, and that homes are still barely 100k! LOL

 

LOL

Things are definitely not like they were in the 70s/80s.

My first apartment was a US Air Force dorm in the summer of 1986 when I got to my first Duty Station. Before that, I lived with over 30 Airman in a large Bay Area where we had surprise visits from TI's (Training Instructors) and wake up calls before 6am.

Fortunate that I made the military a career once I met my wife in England and we had our first daughter in 1990. From there, the USAF provided housing at all my location assignments...which was 7 different permanent duty stations. (I had 8 overall including my swinging single first duty assignment)

My point is...lots of adult children are living with their parents right now. Our eldest did while her and SIL were going to college and then made their break!

Youngest and her hubby are living with us now and both are going to school full time and part time working.

I feel for those adult kids who don't have good relationships with their parents. Hopefully, a close relative is possibly making some room in their home.

We don't want our kids to end up on the street but we don't want to hand them everything without knowing the value of working for what you have.

My girls never expected dad to buy them their first vehicle. They knew I didn't make that kinda money. lol

 

You definitely have a point. It is NOT at all like it used to be. I have two daughters in their early 20's (22 and 21). Both are college students and both still live at home. They pay for their own cars and insurance, but I handle the cell phones and do not make them pay into the house. They both work as much as they can with school and all, but I have no idea how they could possibly survive in today's world without my wife and I. At their age I was on my own for almost 5 years and had it pretty good. I'm only 50, so this wasn't that long ago! I am fine with them being around for as long as it takes for them to get to the point where they are self sufficient.

 

Exactly. You gotta feel some empathy towards the kids nowadays, it truly is a complicated and much faster paced world now. The scary thing is those of us who grew up a few decades ago can't even imagine how we'd make it today. And when then kids ask us for advice we can't really help on that front..because we just haven't lived it like they have/will. Good on them for keeping their spirits high tho. Never give up, I say.

 

I live in a very rural part of N.W. PA. with lower than average living costs and the employers are advertising $20.00 an hour starting out with sign on bonus's, quick pay advances and full benefits. Now, Micky D's is $15.00 an hour with a $1500 sign on bonus posted on the front door. Heck, with two degrees it took me almost 20 years to get to $20 an hour... oh, how times have changed.

 

^^This. My father always used to say as long as you are in school that is your job, and that is how my daughter was raised. If she wanted "extras" like her own car she had to pay for that, but as far as necessities she didn't have to worry about anything except studying and graduating. Of course you don't throw them out on the street, but I don't think handing them everything does them any service. That's all I was saying

 

I'm fine with my girls being around as well. We have the room and they help out around the house and are going to school.

But I disagree that times are so different today that it is significantly harder. Starting pay at "low-paying" jobs is way higher now -- most people make in the $15/hr range. That's $2200 take-home a month, enough to cover rent/food/bills in most places even with no roommates. Certainly not enough to raise a family on, and not a lot of extra cash to blow on Starbucks. Get a college degree and start at a low $48K per year (which works out to like $23/hr), and that's enough to afford rent in some of the more expensive places, have a $300 car payment, and still sock away a good chunk into savings.

Maybe expectations are a bit different these days? I'm not sure when people started expecting to be able to afford a home and car and have the latest iPhone and drink overpriced coffee while working part-time at an entry-level job. This has never been the case. Starting wages have matched inflation, it's really not that different.

 

While I definitely agree with the sentiment, I think your numbers are a bit ambitious. Using where I am in Florida as an example where there is no state income tax, a single wage earner making $48k a year would take home approximately $1,680 every 15 days....that's deducting statutory taxes only, nothing for other deductions like employee cost of medical or dental insurance. A mid range, 700 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment here goes for between $1,800 - $2,000 per month. So in essence about 60% of their net after taxes would be going only to rent. Add to that utilities, deductions for medical & dental insurance, groceries, and transportation, and what you have is a young person living paycheck to paycheck with no ability to save or have reserves for a financial emergency. Forget being able to afford a car payment and auto insurance.

 

Cheapest 1 bedroom my son could find around here was $1100 a month. That's half of that $2200 right there.

Times are significantly harder....

 

You're out of touch. 15 bucks an hour may have been fine 20 years ago but today its not. Wages haven't kept up.

15 bucks an hour works out to about 2100 per month. Here's the averages for renting a shitty 1 bedroom apartment across the US.

Rent 1129
Gas 225
Insurance 100
Utilities 200
Food 340
Cell 75

All of those are on the cheaper said and assume a car is paid off and never breaks. This person has a whole 31 dollars to "blow" each month. But you're right, the issue is expensive coffee, avocado toast and new cell phones.

 

If folks could make it on $15 per hour no one would be complaining about how tough times are.

 

Dump it. In 6 & 9 years neither kid will want to be seen in an old truck like that.

 

Maybe I am out of touch, but the math doesn't lie. If you look at inflation rates, rent prices, and wages, things really haven't changed significantly over time. People didn't start at $15/hr 20 years ago. People weren't able to work an entry-level job and afford to buy a house and a car 20, 30, 40 years ago either. I actually lived back then and drove shitty cars and had roommates and very little disposable income. I worked multiple part-time jobs, had no health insurance, and rationed cans of green beans. It doesn't really sound that much different to me, and the numbers match my personal experience.

I'm not saying the situation is fine, only that it isn't as different as it might seem.

Look, I have daughters that are facing this reality as well. When we do the math, they start to understand why they need to get a college degree and find a good job at a good starting salary in a place with a reasonable cost of living.

 

It's a whole lot different. Mainly because back in the day you could get a decent job without college. So there is a whole generation of kids starting out saddled with student debt. That by itself means things are harder now.

That's not even factoring in the rise in college costs vs inflation and starting pay after school. Tuition has risen far more than inflation and in relation to starting pay after school. So even going to school is harder than it used to be.

You need to pay for a degree just to get a job these days.....that wasn't always the case.

Plus, back in the day college grad dept was often less than half their salary. Now debt is just about equal to salary and in some cases exceeds yearly salary.

So it's not always all about the paycheck.

 

Agreed.

 

Gasoline isn't going anywhere. Next admin will undo the current admin's work.

 

Either choice works but has consequences. Keeping it adds insurance, operating costs, maintenance, and taxes. The only real advantage it has is no car payment (according to you in a later post). Highly unlikely it would be taken except maybe by a thief. Selling it and investing it can go either way depending on how you invest it. You might consider banking (low risk, easy to liquidate investments) the money for emergency funds if you don't have one. Things are not ideal and won't be for years to come whether we turn the oil spigots back on or go full EV.

As a side note, I expect EVs to become an option at the dealerships instead of the replacement for ICE for the next several decades until someone comes up with something better than batteries and the ICE. There's too much investment by the car companies to not get some kind of ROI on the EVs now. Once a better than ICE, portable (as in installed in the car) power source comes along to replace the ICE that generates electricity (instead of storing it), and we get politics out of the way, I expect EV adoption to be incredibly swift.

You never told us why you bought the car though you did make reference to the back seat being small for the kids. I will assume that the reason you bought the car is for comfort. Now, you have twice or more taxes, insurance, operating costs, and maintenance. Yes, I know cars generally get better mpg but a car payment can buy a lot of gas even at $100/tank. A saying I say to myself whenever I'm about do buy anything is, "You can't win. You can't break even. You can't even quit the game. All you can do is minimize the damage." All you can do now is decide how best to minimize the damage. Keep in mind that minimizing the damage includes the option of taking the bath on the new car and liquidating it. That would be option C. I suppose option D could be sell your significant other's vehicle (assuming you're still married or at least living together), give significant other the new car, and you drive the Tacoma. Then do a hand me down to your son when he turns 16 and get your significant other to do a hand me down to your daughter when she's old enough to drive. Think option D, if you can swing it, is your best option.

 

This is incorrect. Trade jobs pay great and often come with benefits that college degree jobs do not. And often you can get paid to learn instead of accruing debt for a degree in a field that may not be financially beneficial.

 

Sell, sell, sell! How often do you get to make a profit on a vehicle????