Can you buy luxury car with 50% down

[Brendon]

I guess it's all relative. I make 150K a year and could buy a 60K car if I wanted. If I had a 30K bonus it would be a 30K loan that I could EASILY afford and STILL max out my 401K and put money in the bank. Guess what? I didn't get a 30K bonus and I'm looking at cars in the 35K range so this guy is ahead of me so I MUST be very BAD at making financial decisions.

There's nothing wrong with payments especially if you can write off the loan and you can invest your money elsewhere to make more money.

Not everyone has lost money in their investments. Luckily my father taught me well and my investments are down 5% over the last year. Not bad for a poor money manager who's about to buy a 35K car with 0 down.

Logan

I can appreciate what you are saying, I just feel differently. We are planning to purchase a vehicle this fall, after the new models come out and will pay cash for a $20-$25k used Sequoia or Tahoe. I earn a little bit of change myself so its not a stretch for me to do so with a little planning. I just don't want to make payments if I don't have to. You see, I just don't think that affording the payment is the same thing as affording the car. I invest in a 401k, I have a roth, and am making extra payments to pay down the remaining $200k on my mortgage. Everyone has different philosophies on managing money, but I will never advocate taking on debt if you don't absolutely have to. I have been through bankruptcy after my business failed and it sucked...royally. Had I not taken out the business loans I did, I could have weathered the storm and made it through without bankruptcy. I will be the first to admit I was a little greedy.

I once thought debt was a tool. Now I think debt is a terrible burden...Just one man's opinion who has taken on $0 debt in over 3 years, while earning over $125k a year....If you have the money to do what you want, you don't need my advice. I wish you the best of luck in your finances.

[HHM]

This is actually a dead post.

I understand that those making "more" money can live a lifestyle above those making $60,000 a year. The real question is at what point can you be frivolous; i.e. what exactly is the definition of affordable? As I mentioned in other posts...for a 60K car, that should be no more than 1% of a persons net-liquid-worth, or a car payment should be no more than 5-7% of a persons gross monthly income.