How did you save for your Tacoma?

Wow

 

As expensive as even 2nd gens are I don't mind jumping in. Don't let the truck of your dreams own you. Buy less than what you think you can afford, enjoy the reliability, and sell privately when you want to move up. You want to have enough extra money after paying all your bills to be able to do trips and enjoy the truck. I've seen too many guys go buy a newish truck only to have 600+ dollar payments for 6 or more years. Pay it off as fast as you possibly can.

 

401K... Retired 3 yrs now. 44 yrs in a steel mill. Wrote a check for my 19 Sport.. My wife whined and I wrote a check for her 19 Cadillac Sport XT4 four months later. Most satisfying think I ever done. My son has no student loans ether. I paid for everything...only child...Worked a lot of extra turns and all 3 shifts My advice is to not Live beyond your means. Now is the time..Max out your 401K...The stock Mkt is playing Nice..Time to spoil the 6yr old Granddaughter. Going to Disney next month on my dime

 

Yeah, like we don't have impulse control problems. He'd be better off asking how to spend money, not save it.

The only advice I've got is prioritize and pay for what is important to you. Only you can figure that out. Remember though, it's only money. You'll make more.
I'd be a bazillionaire if I didn't have an affinity toward 4wd trucks, muscle cars, motorcycles, airplanes, guns, and women. I've had a fun life though.

 

Read “Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey, then you’ll easily be able to answer your own question. I would do anything to be able to go back to when I was your age or younger and read this book.

 

Saved for years to pay cash.

My advice to anyone in your situation is to not buy a brand new vehicle. Buy used. Keep it cheap and modest.
Don’t ever go into debt to buy a vehicle. Pay cash.
Follow the rule where you spend no more than 50% of your household income on vehicles.
So to buy a $40k truck you need to make $80k+ per year.
Also don’t waste money on an upgraded vehicle if you have any other debt.

My Tacoma was the stupidest mistake I ever made with money. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to make the same mistake I did.

At the end of the day its just a vehicle. Your retirement dreams and future stability is a priority that never changes. Its more important to check those boxes than to drive an expensive vehicle.

 

I want to be like you when I grow up

 

Spend it faster than you make it and never look back...
And don’t have kids. Enough of those around already.

 

Invest in an S&P 500 and max out 401K savings. Do not look at it for 25 years and you will be fine.

 

Pay off your house before a new truck purchase. Try to pay cash. I drove a corolla for 15 years before my truck. Great car. My friends laughed, but they are in debt and broke now. Do not underestimate how expensive kids can be.

 

I worked since i was 15, managed to save 10 grand. Spent 4k moving across the country, threw 6k into the down payment...bought an sr5. Currently $3500 into mods

 

Very good start, but of course incomplete. There's more. But it's still better thinking than many have.

Better yet, take the class. Do everything he suggests budget wise for at least a year or two. Once you have discipline, you can adjust a few things, like CC use and how to invest.

If you are an Apple guy, a recent app called PEAK is a good tool to help with savings goals.

It's really a shame they don't teach practical life skills, like personal finance, in high school or college. It would serve the student better than many required general education courses.

Here's the good news. You asked a much better question than many who automatically think trading and financing is the smart play.

 

It was required at my school but it is almost taken way too early for it to mean anything. They had most kids take it freshman or sophomore year when it really should be a second semester senior year course. I remember very little from that course and wish I had paid closer attention to a lot it.

 

Don't buy a house or anything right now. If you're not circling your wagons you could find yourself in trouble. Between the fed repo injections, corona virus, slow freight, falling oil prices, falling commodity prices and the stock market being at all time highs something is not right.

Stack cash because everything is going to be on sale if you wait

 

Yeah but it has to be offered before 16 years of age so people take it before they drop out. Those kids need the finance education the most.

 

That is true. The district I was in has a 98% graduation rate so I guess I kind of overlooked that aspect of it.

 

They actually just made it a requirement to graduate high school in my home state to take Personal Finance, but I agree; most kids do not know any of those life skills and fail to adequately plan for the future

 

I definitely do not like how inorganic things are looking like right now, but I have also learned not to time the market. Time in the market gains outpaces other gains almost every time

 

I think most people here bought their Tacoma’s later in life when they had well established jobs, a house, family etc.

I try to stick with the rule of 3. Don’t spend more than a 1/3 of your annual income on a car. (E.g if you make 60k/yr buy a $20k car.

Whatever you do, max your 401k ASAP. The sooner you max it the sooner you’ll budget around it. It’s much harder to max or build your 401k when you are swimming in debt.

 

I used all of the money I saved from NEVER buying extended warranties, service plans, or any dealer added BS like paint protection, nitrogen air in the tires, etc. After 20 years that more than paid for my Tacoma in full.