Should I or should I not. Need advice

I'll give you my vehicle history, and what I learned.

I bought my first truck from my Dad in 2006. I was a 2002 GMC full size regular cab. He sold it to me for pay off, $10,000. His company had given him a car and he had another truck for the farm and I had been in the service right at a year and needed transportation.

Well, this was a HUGE benefit to me only problem what I had to have my mother co-sign on the loan. She did and felt confident about it, being I would have a check posted ever 1st and 15th of the month for the following three years.

I paid that truck off about 3-4 months before my loan ending. This was great! Felt great, truck was in great condition and only had 80,000 miles on it.

Heres the part where I got the "itch" to get something new. Granted i've been raised to "never buy new". However, I found a 2010 Nissan Maxima, in 2010, LOADED, this thing was the cat's pajamas! I rode down to the dealership, test drove it and just could NOT leave without it!!! This was my fatal error. Many hours later and a $400+ car payment, I began to dig my hole.

Long story short, life changes and I needed a truck. I ended up selling the Maxima to my soon to be wife, thats another story about "her first car". So, I still have the car in the family and she loves it. (so do I, still do to this very day).

Here's the lesson. Had I kept the truck and maintained it, like I was raised to do with ALL of my things. I could have around $35,000 to $40,000 CASH in my savings. I could just about walk downtown and buy anything I wanted, or at least have a super low payment for a decked out truck.

Here were are though, I have a 2013 Tacoma, absolutely love my truck. It amazes me just about everyday with all I can do with it. I do side work out of it, I pull a boat with it, its used around the farm for various things. Any extra money I make from ANYTHING I do goes to paying towards owning it. I'll do every thing in my power to NEVER have a car payment again. It's one of the only things That from day one you pay the same price the whole time with depreciation quickly added up faster than the payments you are throwing at the vehicle.

So, my $.02 to you is hold on for a couple of year or five years and save the money you WOULD be throwing at a new truck and go down with a pocket full of cash, pick out what you want and leave knowing its YOURS. (Easier said than done I know, but if I had to do it all over again.....)

 

Just bought a 2016 Tacoma!

Noo lol I'm going to wait it out and make sure I'm ready. I really don't want to struggle financially. That's one huge thing I don't want

 

Most young people don't realize how fast time goes by. The reason is, for example, five years to a 20 year old seems like a long time, because 5 years is 1/5 th of their life.

5 years to a 40 year old is only 1/8th of their life.
Point is time goes by super fast. Save for things that count.

 

Not at all. The excise tax the first year was crazy, second year better than the first.

 

When I bought the truck I worked full time for a commercial land clearing company. Only made $12/hr., but worked 80-90 hour weeks and received comp from working long distances from home. Started as a tree feller, moved up to being a heavy equipment operator. I now work part time and go to school full time, studying Forestry at the University of Maine.

 

good point enjoy life
thankyou

 

oh geez.. yea im not ready for a new truck.. damn it

 

Awesome! i have a few friends up in maine. I worked at solarcity and worked 80 hours a week.. it was crazy. i got out of it while i could because thats all i ever would be is an installer. and it was in mass an hour away from my house so i said screw it. now i start my new job and hope to take and pass all needed classes.
thanks for the insight! sweet truck!

 

a 2014 or 2015 will still be very close.
I got a 2011 two years ago with 34K. Still in great shape.
You have plenty of time.

 

Just make sure if you are going to have a truck payment don't make the mistake of being truck poor!
That is, don't have so much of a truck payment that you can t afford to have some fun or that you are forced to live off Top Romen!

 

thank you for that!
at least the maxima is still in the family
thats one of my main goals is to pay cash for a vehicle. I would love to have no payment and just pay the man. So i think im going to wait it out, even though it sucks and would love to own it its just not realistic right now for me in my situation. I dont really want to dig a hole at a young age to effect my future. thanks for the insight

 

exactly what i dont want!!

 

Its a Toyota, so it's a pretty safe purchase. Buy what you want if you think you can handle the payments. They hold their value so well that if you have to unload it at come point you're not going to lose your shirt.

It's not like you're buying a GMC Sierra Denali or anything like that where the drive home from the dealer costs you 10 grand.

 

Either way, wait. What other people did with their financial risk has nothing to do with what you could do with yours.
i like that alot and will remember that. that really hit home. Thank you for taking your time to write this. I will be waiting, saving and working hard

 

So at 14 hours, you'll be looking at $29k/year. According to the tax tables for 2016 the government is going to take $4k of that. That leaves you $25k or $2,080/month.

$30k loan at 2% can be paid off over 5 years with a ~$525/month note. That would give you ~$1500/month to live off of but you would end up paying ~$1,550 on interest.
$30k loan at 2% can be paid off over 2 years with a ~$1276/month note. That would give you ~$800/month to live off of but you would end up paying ~$630 on interest.

I'm 22 and got a quote for insuring a ~$35k 2016 Tacoma just a couple of months ago... they wanted ~$1600/year if I insured it by myself. If I tagged along under my parents insurance they wanted ~$750/year. So that's either ~$135/month or ~$60/month.

My advice is to run the numbers for your life.

How much are you spending a month?
What monthly payment can you reasonably afford?
Are you willing to pay the amount in interest that will be incurred by a loan that will financially work for you?

Do not max yourself out month to month. That's a bad idea. Leave yourself some extra to put into savings, retirement or into the loan to pay it off quicker than originally planned.

If I were in your shoes? - I would not be considering a $30k truck with a yearly income of $25k. I'd be waiting, saving my pennies or if I absolutely needed a new vehicle because my current one was not operable, I'd go used and try not to take out a loan.

 

mr Jwebb94, that fact that you are 21 and asking questions you are asking and listening to the benefit of people with all types of different experiences says you will likely make a really good and informed decision that will be ideal for you. Best wishes with whatever you decide and Welcome to TacomaWorld!

 

Thank you!

 

Agreed. I kept my Journeyman's card renewed for years after I left the electrical field. It DEFINITELY comes in handy. Being an electrician was overall the best job I've ever had, loved it.

 

what made you leave the trade if you dont mind asking? I really hope I enjoy it.. im 21 and feel like electrical is where I want to be, but I dont have a back up plan.. or a degree. So im really stressed about life.
Sorry I am off topic

 

I feel like I am wasting time and every day I think about where I should be at my age.