How long did you finance for?

Financed it for 60 months. Paid it off in 39. I now have zero debt.

 

People often times forget who Dave’s major demographic is. Those individuals cannot be trusted with credit cards or car loans. There’s a reason they are in severe debt. I think Dave makes great points, but when he promotes not using credit and the like, I have to remind myself who he’s really talking to.

 

Zero months.
Cash for the Taco and FJ. Matter-O-fact, cash since 1988.
Mortgage free for 12 years. Zero debt.

Been a saver all my life and lived within my means.
Not that I'm a tightwad, I only bought what I needed and didn't buy junk when I did.
Managed to squirrel away as much as I could, and hopefully it will be OK when I retire in less than 2 years.

 

I never wade into these threads with actual opinions, but here we go.

I believe everything has to be a balance. I don't subscribe to the idea of scrimping your entire life so that you can retire at say 50-55, or the idea that you should spend every single dime you own. There is a comfortable middle ground where you can save, have a nice nest egg and have some toys.

It's easy to call out young people, or flex about what you do or don't have. However, a lot of the younger engineers at my company are coming out of college with 100k plus in loans and outlandish monthly payments. Couple that with huge differences in real estate costs across the country and you have a recipe for disparity in what people can and cannot do. The cheapest apartment in the complex I lived in after college which wasn't nice, but also wasn't stabby is now $1,700 / mo and that's still an hour train ride from the city.

I know there's always the financial flex "I bought my first Ferrari at 17 in cash with the money I made from my paper route and two years later bought my house in cash with money from my second job at 7-11." For some people in some areas of the country, that's possible. In other areas, it simply isn't.

There are too many variables out there for what people can and cannot afford, especially in terms of regional differences. For example, my child care for two children is more than my mortgage. In other areas of the country, both my child care and my mortgage would be significantly lower. My company has an office in the Northeast as well as an office in Houston. For giggles I checked real estate in Houston. For what my home would sell for (a nice, but hardly large 1,800 square foot home) I could get a monster 3,500 square foot home with a movie theater for probably $50,000 less. An equivalent house to mine would be easily 50-60% of the cost. A quick Google shows my child care costs would likely be closely half. My income doing the same work in the same location would likely be the same. So sure, if I lived in Texas I could easily throw down that much more on a vehicle.

The flip side to paying off everything in cash early...at some of these exceedingly low interest rates, yes there an incremental cost to finance, but there is also value in having the extra cash in the bank, too. I came out of college right into the middle of the mid-late 2000s recession. I've been on the last day of a two week notice for almost a decade now. Sometimes having that extra $5,000 liquid for a few hundred over a few years is worth the mental sanity. It's the same general concept on stretching payments or not. If the incremental cost between say 48 and 60 isn't bad, but it gives you flexibility to pay less on a month if something stupid comes up, cool.

I've never gone to full term on anything I've owned, but for me there's value in knowing that on a given month, if I spent an extra $100 because something in my house broke and I don't feel like hitting savings, I can just cover it.

 

I think in discussions like this, it’s more that Dave’s hardcore followers forget who they are. If you are irresponsible and can’t manage finances that well, his strict rules might be great for you. For people who are responsible and disciplined with personal finance, things aren’t as black and white as Dave Ramsey’s rules. I think it’s great that some people have found success with him and gotten on a good financial path but it’s certainly not the only way and in many cases, not the best way.

 

Exactly. That's why I always refer to it as the cult of Dave Ramsey.

 

It’s no different than any self help group. I have multiple friends recovering from substance abuse issues. Most of them are fun to be around but my one buddy is the type that gets all preachy and judgmental. We need to remind him that we don’t need to follow those rules because we can have some drinks and not ruin our lives, he can’t. He doesn’t always recognize that his path is not the only path.

 

60 months at 0%

 

No doubt. Battery powered Tacoma's are not going to be cheap.

 

60 months at 0% too.

 

When I bought mine it was for 60 months at .9%. Only a few bucks a month for financing. I did however pay extra and paid it off in 36 months.

 

60 months @ 1.8% still owe roughly 9,000. Bought dec 2017

 

Our company had the same issue. They started automatically enrolling new hires at the company match amount with the employee increasing their contribution 1% each year. They gave employees the option to opt out, but few have.

 

assuming that was through toyota? i saw the deal and they wanted me to pay per amount financed and at first glance it looked like just another way to sneak in financing cost per month

 

We have it as well. Don't understand people that don't enroll for at least the full match amount. How do you pass up free money?

 

Please please tell me where I can get 10% on my investments.

 

That a serious question? EVERYONE I know made 17-22% last year, I do my calculations on 7% which tracks historically but 10% is by no means a stretch...

How about SPY if you’re looking for a Tip that’s just an ETF that tracks the S&P 500, I’m not into high risk stuff but lord in my lifetime 7-10% could be attained by virtually anyone.

 

60 mos @ 1.99
Some people think debt is the anti christ. Come on folks. At auto rates this cheap, you'd be silly to pay for it in cash. Guess where I put the 30k instead? Some into TSLA. Some into the rest of the market. Some into buying solar for the house.

Guess how much my tesla stock made me. Heck of a lot more than the measly 1.99 it cost me.

 

Cash. Bought used.

No payments, warranty bugs worked out, Recalls performed.

Now, its only fuel, maintenance and insurance.


Wife's '19 CRV was a cash buy.

Nice to have NO vehicle payments during this time of upheaval economy.

 

10 is pretty low for retirement accounts. I made 23 last year in retirement accounts. You should read up on strategies.