I think I grew up a little bit today. Sad happy and proud all at the same time.

[kb9nate]

First a little background on me.

I'm 36 years old and have been working in the electronics industry for about 15 years with the last two years of those as an Engineer. About 15 years ago I went to tech school for my associates degree in EE but never finished (only had about 4 core classes left). Fast forward to about 5 years ago I started working for a software company as a technician troubleshooting electronics and helping with the design of them. As part of my job I work closely with software engineers and took an interest in embedded programming/engineering. So I started taking online classes on edx and amassed a pretty good collection of certificates. I managed to learn several programming languages such as Python C C++ and Java. My employer saw all the hard work I was putting in and promoted me to an Associate Engineer about 2 years ago! I was ecstatic about it! My whole career I wanted to be an engineer and now I finally am one. Although it comes with quite the added responsibility.

Now to the reason for this post.

Back in 2017 I bought the car I wanted so bad. A 2016 Dodge Charger. Although not the trim level I wanted it in I was still overjoyed to be able to get it. Most of my vehicles before this one were just beaters that I paid less than or around $1000 cash for. This beauty was only a year old at the time. Even though I had listened to The Millionaire Fastlane by then I still went against the advice and bought this car on a loan. I wanted it so bad I didn't care and I can afford the payments so I figured why not.

Now the last month or so I have been searching day and night for an "upgrade" to my car. I have been wanting to get an R/T model in a particular color. Well last week I finally found it! Fully loaded and in one of the colors I wanted and at a pretty good price! Today was going to be the day I got it. I had everything all set. I just had to go over to the bank and sign the paperwork for the new loan (another 6 years of debt slavery). On the way there I had so many thoughts running through my head about if I was doing the right thing or being foolish/selfish because I just wanted a faster "cooler" car. Thinking about how even though I know what The Fast Lane preaches I was going to sign up for a new loan anyways ( I should easily be able to finish paying off my existing car in the next 2 years or less if I really stick to it). Many other thoughts too about the economy and wanting to buy a house in the near future and stop renting. Would I be potentially setting myself and my girlfriend up for an unnecessarily rough time financially if something bad were to happen?

Anyways I get all the way to the bank and decide to say F*ck it and call it off. I couldn't deal with the stress of starting over on a 6 year loan again even for as bad as I want that new car. I called up the lady at the bank and told her I changed my mind. Same thing with the car salesman who was equally surprised. I drove home sad that I wasn't going to get my new dream car but proud that I made a more responsible decision. And thinking to myself maybe I just had to go through that mentally stressful time to "grow up" and make the wiser decision.

I just got off the phone with my girlfriend (of 5 years) on her way home from work and she was just as surprised as the salesman that I didn't get it lol. But at the same time glad I thought it through.

No I am making it a point to myself to really focus on getting my fast lane plan going. Back when I bought the car I have now I also bought a few domain names and started a website. A website that I worked on for about a month before I got the car and then...There it sat. Nothing done to it in 3 years! It should be making me good money by now or at the minimum bringing in customers! I lost sight of the plan because I got distracted with the car. I don't totally know what my fastlane path is yet but I am now dedicated to making some sort of progress. I welcome any thoughts and feedback from the forum. I can still change my mind and go get the car. And man is it hard not to!

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

You need a loan for the car = You can't afford it.
You need a 6 YEAR loan for the car = You can't afford it.

The mental gymnastics tells you all you need to know.

Become the type of person who can afford the car and pay cash ... do so and something unusual may happen ... you may learn the person you've become won't want it. But if you still do, the joy of truly "EARNING IT" will far exceed faking it with a 6 year servitude loan.

 

[sparechange]

Make enough money to go back and buy 10 of them *in cash* (all different colors)

 

[biophase]

The fact that you had write so much in this thread justifying buying a car really shows you that you can’t afford it.

Here’s another post to look at.

NOTABLE! - How to Buy A McLaren for $20K

So this thread was started by me in 2011. NOTABLE! - How to Buy A Ferrari for $20K Now it's 2018 and the title should probably be changed to How to Buy a Mclaren for $20k. I have a progress thread on the inside and I'm going to copy and paste excerpts that are relevant to this post. Posted...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

To give you an update on this thread I bought my Mclaren in Dec 2018. It is now July 2020. This business I started brought in about $85k in 2019. My Mclaren cost me $125k. The business paid off the car about 4 months ago. Now I can buy a second Mclaren if I want at no cost to my lifestyle and a 3rd one in 2021. Isn’t that crazy?

This is the power of growing a business and also making good choices. It gets you ahead in life, and doesn’t put unnecessary debt and strain on your finances.

 

[Runum]

Congrats on growing up and making that decision. However, your mind has not given up, the desire is still there and you are doing your best to suppress it. Knowing that you have that weakness you need to develop strategies to keep you on track and not give into weakness.

New car fever is HARD to overcome. I know, I have had it and my wife has had it on different occasions. Crazy how the mind works and the power of suggestion.

Good luck in your personal battle.

 

[Rabby]

Cars get you from point A to point B, and back again, preferably safely. Buy cars out of necessity when it's actually necessary. Buy cars for luxury out of passive income.

 

[Mutant]

I got to this bit & I was like "man, this dude is really trying to justify getting this new car"

1. The car I have now I will likely be paying on for another 2 years at least. Maybe 18 months if I really pay extra on it. (Current payment is about $330 a month). The payment on the car I was going to get today would be about $400 a month. The credit union will let me refinance as often as I want and there is no charge for doing it. So I can put extra money from side hustles toward it and then refinance to get the monthly payment lower. (Not necessarily always refinancing for the same amount of time though. Over time I would shorten it). They also gave me a very good interest rate on it.

It's only $70 more p/m! And it's a good deal! And if I do manage to make any extra money in the future, I can make it even cheaper!

Questions to think about:
How much do you have in emergency savings? (obviously you do not have to answer these on a public forum)
For many months could you cover your necessities with no income?
If $70 p/m more is not significant to you, is $330 p/m less going to make more of an impact?
Or even $400 p/m less (seeing as you could be affording to pay that, why not save that?)
If you make money at a side hustle, is arranging lower monthly car payments the best use you can think of for that money?

2. The warranty on the car I have now ran out last year. So about 2 more years of payments and if something goes wrong then I am footing the bill. The car I almost bought today still has 9 months on the bumper to bumper warranty and 33 months or 49000 miles on the power train warranty. (I really like that safety net).

If something goes wrong on my current car, I will have to pay money. Instead, I could guarantee paying more money now & if certain things go wrong on certain time frames I won't have to worry about paying for them!


Not berating all instances of this, insurance or guarantees or whatnot can be a smart move. Still, I have questions:

Oh, you like safety nets? So again, how much do you do have in emergency savings?
Do you have money to pay for when anything goes wrong with your car or would you have to use credit?
If something went wrong on your new car 10 months in & it wasn't the power train, how annoyed would you be?
- "not very" could indicate that this is more an excuse you're making to yourself to help justify the car
- "really, really mad" could indicate that you don't have enough in emergency savings for you to feel unbothered
- other options are available, just trying to help you work out your own mind

On of my main concerns is because of the uncertainty of the economy right now and not knowing what the future will bring (I realize there is always uncertainty though even before these times). But in either case worst case is the bank gets the car back and/or I sell it and buy a cheaper car if I need to. (I do currently have a second vehicle that is in pretty rough shape but it is paid off and primarily my winter vehicle). This just comes down to an ego/pride thing that it would be embarrassing to have to give the vehicle back if a worst case scenario happened.

Cool cool, you know that slowlane living is always precarious (you only have to be fired by your one job & -bam- all your income disappears) & you've been paying attention to 2020 & know that everything is even more precarious right now, & probably will be for a number of years - who knows how many!?!

And you want to take out a six-year commitment on a depreciating asset now why?

I know you want a cooler car. That is not the answer to the question I'm asking. Look again.

Now correct me if I am wrong but isn't part of the purpose of the fast lane to enable you to live the life you want and get the things you desire? I know the goal is to do it debt free so as to not be a debt slave. But what if the thing you want (in this case the car. I have always been a "car guy" even since a little kid) you can afford to get now at the cost of some interest and if everything works out then you just have it anyways. I was talking it over with my SO tonight and even she is of the opinion that she would rather I buy it now and have it worked into a budget and have a good chunk of it paid off before we potentially get married and have kids. It's something I know for sure I want and is one of my goals anyways.

You know the slowlane can get you nice things too, right? I mean look at that lawyer or executive or whatever in their fancy house with their sweet-a$$ car, kids in private school, etc. Lots of payments to make - mortgage, car loan/lease, school fees, etc. but they can afford it! I mean sure they have to work a bunch of hours every week, & maybe they even have to ask permission to go on their allotted amount of holiday, but if it all works out (eventually! It is the slowlane after all) then they get to keep everything!
You don't have to choose the fastlane if you don't want to.

Also - just checking - you do know that you can work stuff into your budget before you buy it, right?
It means you have access to all your capital - for any eventuality - right up to the point where you buy! At which point, you get an even-more-up-to-date & cooler model than the one you would've already gotten bored of!
(might be wrong, just assuming from your comments on your current car & drone hobby)
Could you be paying $400 a month to your current car instead? Could you pay that off sooner? Then you could be socking away $400 a month. How quickly would that rack up?!

And all these questions so far - ALL THESE QUESTIONS - aren't even taking into account fastlane possibilities. I'd be asking the same damn things to a committed slowlaner friend.

I also have the thought of no one knows when their time will be. I have had a few friends or people I went to highschool with that have already died and we aren't even that old! How do you guys find that balance between living life but at the same time not totally ruining your long term future. I am not trying to go full "YOLO" but at the same time it seems to kind of take some of the enjoyment out to just totally be business focused.

Yes indeedy, no one know when their time will be. But what to do about it?

Live for the moment (& wake up broke)? Nah, that's sidewalking bs.

Live only for your long term future (if you get one)? Nah, that's slowlane bs.

There is balance to be found.

It's called the Fastlane.​

I know this sounds like a lot of rationalizing...

Hell yes.

...but I am just trying to get some input from those of you that have a better view of the picture. For me the car is one of my hobbies not just a piece of transportation to get me from A to B. I take great joy in it. A few years ago I was big into drones which were also expensive at times.

Look around this forum. Look at the original book! There's nothing wrong with being passionate about cars & wanting to indulge that. For some people though, the cars in their profile pics are cars they own. Bought outright in cash. They can not only do that, but do it again when they get board. They can buy drones if that's what they're into this year. It's also not the end of the world if something breaks.

You can sign on the dotted line (easy) & get the car you want (for now)

Or

You can succeed at the fastlane (admittedly harder) & get whatever car you want when you want it that no one can take away

Your choice.

Ok enough of the long rant. I just wanted to put it out there and appreciate any input.

Enough of a rant from me too lol. I'm not even get started on how "being able to get a nice thing when you want it" isn't even the biggest prize of fastlane success. If that's all you think it is, then no wonder you think you might not need the fastlane. You're right, you can just take this loan & get that car. I'm guessing you're here though cos you know there's more to it. You're correct. Stick around and stay open to some serious mindset shifting...

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Part of me still thinks maybe it would pump me up and motivate me but I don't think it would compensate for the added stress.

It would motivate you, at least until all the "ooohs and ahhs" from your friends disappeared which by the way, would happen within weeks. And then a few weeks later you get your first payment due, and only 71 remaining. Just writing it gives me anxiety.

The truth of the matter is that this car serves to fill a void in your life. You know what it is.

I'm telling you to fill that void with what matters, with what's meaningful, and suddenly the car won't matter ... or it will matter as a simple gift, a gesture to yourself for a mission accomplished.

Good luck.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I don't have 20k to buy websites

Ha Ha, but you just jumped through hoops so you could buy a $60,000 car. That wasn't a problem was it?

But now you claim you can't find $20K?

This right here is your problem. The car is important to you. The idea of a business is not. (Not suggesting buying a website is the answer, just the idea that $60K for a car = easy, 20K for a business = hard.)

Until this headspace is resolved, there probably won't be any traction on the entrepreneurial career, especially since first- and second-ventures tend not to succeed, but tend to be learning experiences.

Not trying to be abrasive, just pointing out an obvious, divergent flaw in your headspace.

 

[kleine2]

I appreciate the replies from everybody! I have been back and forth on this all night wondering if I did the right thing. Even went out to wash my car and it just didn't feel the same lol.

A couple things that jump out at me that have me questioning if I made the right choice or if I should call them back tomorrow and see if it is still available.

1. The car I have now I will likely be paying on for another 2 years at least. Maybe 18 months if I really pay extra on it. (Current payment is about $330 a month). The payment on the car I was going to get today would be about $400 a month. The credit union will let me refinance as often as I want and there is no charge for doing it. So I can put extra money from side hustles toward it and then refinance to get the monthly payment lower. (Not necessarily always refinancing for the same amount of time though. Over time I would shorten it). They also gave me a very good interest rate on it.

2. The warranty on the car I have now ran out last year. So about 2 more years of payments and if something goes wrong then I am footing the bill. The car I almost bought today still has 9 months on the bumper to bumper warranty and 33 months or 49000 miles on the power train warranty. (I really like that safety net).

On of my main concerns is because of the uncertainty of the economy right now and not knowing what the future will bring (I realize there is always uncertainty though even before these times). But in either case worst case is the bank gets the car back and/or I sell it and buy a cheaper car if I need to. (I do currently have a second vehicle that is in pretty rough shape but it is paid off and primarily my winter vehicle). This just comes down to an ego/pride thing that it would be embarrassing to have to give the vehicle back if a worst case scenario happened.

Now correct me if I am wrong but isn't part of the purpose of the fast lane to enable you to live the life you want and get the things you desire? I know the goal is to do it debt free so as to not be a debt slave. But what if the thing you want (in this case the car. I have always been a "car guy" even since a little kid) you can afford to get now at the cost of some interest and if everything works out then you just have it anyways. I was talking it over with my SO tonight and even she is of the opinion that she would rather I buy it now and have it worked into a budget and have a good chunk of it paid off before we potentially get married and have kids. It's something I know for sure I want and is one of my goals anyways.

I also have the thought of no one knows when their time will be. I have had a few friends or people I went to highschool with that have already died and we aren't even that old! How do you guys find that balance between living life but at the same time not totally ruining your long term future. I am not trying to go full "YOLO" but at the same time it seems to kind of take some of the enjoyment out to just totally be business focused.

I know this sounds like a lot of rationalizing but I am just trying to get some input from those of you that have a better view of the picture. For me the car is one of my hobbies not just a piece of transportation to get me from A to B. I take great joy in it. A few years ago I was big into drones which were also expensive at times.

Ok enough of the long rant. I just wanted to put it out there and appreciate any input.

Idea to consider. Promise yourself that car as a reward when you reach a significant milestone with your business. Maybe not even the full price of the car but something significant.

 

[Runum]

Making your first dollar from your business is a great and powerful feeling. Making your first dollar while you sleep is euphoric. Having multiple paydays a month is amazing.

 

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[kb9nate]

I think @MJ DeMarco should of named The Millionaire Fastlane "The Red Pill".

I have been back and forth on my decision all week. Talked to a few friends about it and some even said I should of bought the car. Well I had said to myself if it was still there today then I would probably go and buy it. I in a weird kind of way was actually hoping it would sell just so I wouldn't be thinking about it.

Today it was still there. I called up the bank and got the loan all set up. Called the salesman back and told him the deal was back on and to send over the purchase contract. One more time I drove all the way to the bank nervous and questioning my decision just as much as before. But I "deserved this" and I wasn't going to "pussy out" this time. As I got closer to the bank I thought to myself WTF am I doing. Buying a car is supposed to be enjoyable and I should be totally stoked right now!

So guess what?

Once more I turned the car around and headed back home. Called the person at the bank and told them I changed my mind again. Then emailed the salesman when I got home. As you can imagine he was not thrilled but took it better than I thought he was going to.

I couldn't help but think that I was lying to myself. Is this really what I wanted? I mean yeah I want one of them so bad but do I really NEED it that bad right now that I'm willing to set myself back that much more. Part of me still thinks maybe it would pump me up and motivate me but I don't think it would compensate for the added stress.

On the way back home I came to find happiness in my decision. Being content with the already really nice car I have and knowing that if I really put my mind to it I will be back buying an even better car possibly with cash. At a minimum a significantly higher down payment. If I put my mind to it I can easily pay of the almost 10G that remains on this car in 12 months.

This has lit a new fire under my a$$. I am going to sell all distractions that don't get me closer to my goal and focus on what I want.

Thanks to MJ I don't have that new car sitting in my driveway tonight.

But in a few months to a year I plan to be blaming MJ for a much nicer car being in it.

Now I'm off to go cruise around town and blast some hair metal \m/

 

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[kb9nate]

The truth of the matter is that this car serves to fill a void in your life. You know what it is.

I'm telling you to fill that void with what matters, with what's meaningful, and suddenly the car won't matter ... or it will matter as a simple gift, a gesture to yourself for a mission accomplished.

Yeah it's probably a combination of things. The older I get the more I want a louder faster hotrod lol. Makes me feel "young" again and brings me a lot of joy. But I want to be able to enjoy it whenever I want and without worrying if I can afford it if something goes wrong.

A few hundred dollars dumped into creating a business system will be a more efficient use of cash.

NOTABLE! - How to Buy A Ferrari for $20K Good read

I started reading that thread the other night when Sparechange commented on this post. That got me wondering if maybe I have been thinking about this all wrong. Or maybe not exploring all the options. Not that I have 10s of thousands of dollars to be buying a website and taking a gamble but who knows what might be out there. The thought of buying something that is already making money and then just using the money from that never really crossed my mind.

Since I don't have a lot of money saved up to do something like that I will still have to do some side hustles but it gives me other things to think about.

I am a numbers guy and for the most part tend to think pretty logically about most things. Tonight when I was out driving around a thought occurred to me. What if I challenge myself to see if I can make 10k or even 5k in 30 days. 5k is only about $167 a day. Surely there has to be some way I can apply myself to do that. Even if I aim for 5k and only accomplish half of that it would be a success.

 

[James Klymus]

Just writing it gives me anxiety.

Amazing a millionaire, who probably wouldn't even notice $600+/month leaving his account, gets anxiety thinking about car payments. So why is it that brandon working down at the local amazon warehouse making $35k/year so willingly signs an agreement for 72 months of $600 a month payments?

I agree with you MJ, I get anxious just thinking about a car note.

 

[sparechange]

I'm a car guy to, but a Ferrari and Honda Civic are basically the same thing if you think about it. You are a huge doofus if you actually fiance a box with wheels. Drop your ego and get some crappy $500 - $1,000 car.

Like I said, make enough money to buy anything you want in cash. Refer to MJ's writing about buying exotic cars like a bubblegum transaction, I think it was in TMF

A few hundred dollars dumped into creating a business system will be a more efficient use of cash.

NOTABLE! - How to Buy A Ferrari for $20K Good read

 

[Runum]

Obviously in the end you have to make the best decision for you. Part of the freedom, unscripted , is to be able to live independent. If your investments and business provide the funds for the payment then you are independent. If you rely on employment to provide the funds for the payment then you are dependent.

On the forum, in the past we talked about changing the thought pattern on something like this. Right now you are at "Maybe I can't afford this."

You could change it to "How can I afford this. What could I do or build that would create the money to pay for this.?" Then you could have the car be the carrot that keeps you motivated. You achieve the goal and then buy the car.

To me, to enter into an agreement, with the intention of not following through is disingenuous and dishonest. Yes you should have contingency plans, but to talk about giving the car up and you haven't even bought it yet... Entirely my opinion, each of us has to do what is right for us.

Good luck with your decision.

 

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[biophase]

I did start reading that thread the other day when someone shared it in here. What kind of funds do you think a person needs to be able to do that? I don't have 20k to buy websites that are already making money. Is 2 to 3k enough to even think about doing something like that?

I think the point of the thread is not whether you have $20k to buy a business. But it is more about using assets to purchase toys vs. trying to justify spending money on toys. That type of mentality will never get you ahead because you are constantly talking yourself out of saving money or investing money.

In this thread, you did grow up a bit by not buying the car, but then you regressed by going back. You have a battle within yourself right now. If you make the better decision today, you will be able to afford alot more things in the future.

So I have to ask you this. You are 36 years old and work as an engineer. Why don't you have $20k saved in the bank? I think this is the next thing that you need to tackle.

 

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[kb9nate]

I appreciate the replies from everybody! I have been back and forth on this all night wondering if I did the right thing. Even went out to wash my car and it just didn't feel the same lol.

A couple things that jump out at me that have me questioning if I made the right choice or if I should call them back tomorrow and see if it is still available.

1. The car I have now I will likely be paying on for another 2 years at least. Maybe 18 months if I really pay extra on it. (Current payment is about $330 a month). The payment on the car I was going to get today would be about $400 a month. The credit union will let me refinance as often as I want and there is no charge for doing it. So I can put extra money from side hustles toward it and then refinance to get the monthly payment lower. (Not necessarily always refinancing for the same amount of time though. Over time I would shorten it). They also gave me a very good interest rate on it.

2. The warranty on the car I have now ran out last year. So about 2 more years of payments and if something goes wrong then I am footing the bill. The car I almost bought today still has 9 months on the bumper to bumper warranty and 33 months or 49000 miles on the power train warranty. (I really like that safety net).

On of my main concerns is because of the uncertainty of the economy right now and not knowing what the future will bring (I realize there is always uncertainty though even before these times). But in either case worst case is the bank gets the car back and/or I sell it and buy a cheaper car if I need to. (I do currently have a second vehicle that is in pretty rough shape but it is paid off and primarily my winter vehicle). This just comes down to an ego/pride thing that it would be embarrassing to have to give the vehicle back if a worst case scenario happened.

Now correct me if I am wrong but isn't part of the purpose of the fast lane to enable you to live the life you want and get the things you desire? I know the goal is to do it debt free so as to not be a debt slave. But what if the thing you want (in this case the car. I have always been a "car guy" even since a little kid) you can afford to get now at the cost of some interest and if everything works out then you just have it anyways. I was talking it over with my SO tonight and even she is of the opinion that she would rather I buy it now and have it worked into a budget and have a good chunk of it paid off before we potentially get married and have kids. It's something I know for sure I want and is one of my goals anyways.

I also have the thought of no one knows when their time will be. I have had a few friends or people I went to highschool with that have already died and we aren't even that old! How do you guys find that balance between living life but at the same time not totally ruining your long term future. I am not trying to go full "YOLO" but at the same time it seems to kind of take some of the enjoyment out to just totally be business focused.

I know this sounds like a lot of rationalizing but I am just trying to get some input from those of you that have a better view of the picture. For me the car is one of my hobbies not just a piece of transportation to get me from A to B. I take great joy in it. A few years ago I was big into drones which were also expensive at times.

Ok enough of the long rant. I just wanted to put it out there and appreciate any input.

 

[xy2_]

One of my hobbies is arcade video games. But it's really expensive and takes a lot of time.

I haven't even touched a game for the last year however, because I'm busy designing my future life: one where I have freedom to do whatever I want.

Now correct me if I am wrong but isn't part of the purpose of the fast lane to enable you to live the life you want and get the things you desire?

I agree. But that requires you to take action first.

 

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[sparechange]

great post by @Mutant

man, you have 2-3 months of savings? and want to fiance a NEW CAR jesus christ did you just completely ignore all of MJ's books? You are virtually bankrupt! Start a business and buy it cash after a few months or year or two. Make it a goal, Dodge Chargers are only 25-30k for a fairly new one.

 

[James Klymus]

First a little background on me.

I'm 36 years old and have been working in the electronics industry for about 15 years with the last two years of those as an Engineer. About 15 years ago I went to tech school for my associates degree in EE but never finished (only had about 4 core classes left). Fast forward to about 5 years ago I started working for a software company as a technician troubleshooting electronics and helping with the design of them. As part of my job I work closely with software engineers and took an interest in embedded programming/engineering. So I started taking online classes on edx and amassed a pretty good collection of certificates. I managed to learn several programming languages such as Python C C++ and Java. My employer saw all the hard work I was putting in and promoted me to an Associate Engineer about 2 years ago! I was ecstatic about it! My whole career I wanted to be an engineer and now I finally am one. Although it comes with quite the added responsibility.

Now to the reason for this post.

Back in 2017 I bought the car I wanted so bad. A 2016 Dodge Charger. Although not the trim level I wanted it in I was still overjoyed to be able to get it. Most of my vehicles before this one were just beaters that I paid less than or around $1000 cash for. This beauty was only a year old at the time. Even though I had listened to The Millionaire Fastlane by then I still went against the advice and bought this car on a loan. I wanted it so bad I didn't care and I can afford the payments so I figured why not.

Now the last month or so I have been searching day and night for an "upgrade" to my car. I have been wanting to get an R/T model in a particular color. Well last week I finally found it! Fully loaded and in one of the colors I wanted and at a pretty good price! Today was going to be the day I got it. I had everything all set. I just had to go over to the bank and sign the paperwork for the new loan (another 6 years of debt slavery). On the way there I had so many thoughts running through my head about if I was doing the right thing or being foolish/selfish because I just wanted a faster "cooler" car. Thinking about how even though I know what The Fast Lane preaches I was going to sign up for a new loan anyways ( I should easily be able to finish paying off my existing car in the next 2 years or less if I really stick to it). Many other thoughts too about the economy and wanting to buy a house in the near future and stop renting. Would I be potentially setting myself and my girlfriend up for an unnecessarily rough time financially if something bad were to happen?

Anyways I get all the way to the bank and decide to say F*ck it and call it off. I couldn't deal with the stress of starting over on a 6 year loan again even for as bad as I want that new car. I called up the lady at the bank and told her I changed my mind. Same thing with the car salesman who was equally surprised. I drove home sad that I wasn't going to get my new dream car but proud that I made a more responsible decision. And thinking to myself maybe I just had to go through that mentally stressful time to "grow up" and make the wiser decision.

I just got off the phone with my girlfriend (of 5 years) on her way home from work and she was just as surprised as the salesman that I didn't get it lol. But at the same time glad I thought it through.

No I am making it a point to myself to really focus on getting my fast lane plan going. Back when I bought the car I have now I also bought a few domain names and started a website. A website that I worked on for about a month before I got the car and then...There it sat. Nothing done to it in 3 years! It should be making me good money by now or at the minimum bringing in customers! I lost sight of the plan because I got distracted with the car. I don't totally know what my fastlane path is yet but I am now dedicated to making some sort of progress. I welcome any thoughts and feedback from the forum. I can still change my mind and go get the car. And man is it hard not to!

Wow I went through a really similar situation with the same exact car!

I had a 2011 charger V6 and had the itch to get one with a hemi.

I started looking and went out and bought one, financed of course at some crazy term, like 8 years I think. My payments were 400 a month.

I think you made the right choice, it’s better to not even get into the situation than to get into the loan and have to deal with maintenance and depreciation (and man do dodges depreciate)

After the transmission went out after only 60,000 miles, I realized that owning this car was like shackling my self to a boulder. I decided to sell it and get a used 4cyl Toyota.

I love cars, and I want to buy a hellcat, but I’ll wait until I can drop $60k and not have to think twice, not having to do mental gymnastics over loan terms and figuring out if I can afford it. You made a good decision.

 

[sparechange]

You can ''invest'' the 3k in a product to sell, say a computer mouse, (I am just making up numbers) if a mouse sells for $1 from a factory, you could buy 3,000.

Sell them at $20 and make $60k revenue. Ah....sounds so easy right? Then you can buy TWO Dodge Chargers

 

[Sethamus]

You do have $20k....
You were ready to finance a new vehicle with a $20k + debt. You argued that is was ONLY $70 more a month....on a 6 year term. Your decision to not buy a vehicle gives you $70 more a month saving power for the first 2 years it would take your current car to be paid off and $400 a month for the remaining 4 years.
$70 × 12mo x 2 yrs = $1680
$400 x 12mo x 4 yrs = $19200
Take that money and save it while looking for opportunities and make some more smart decisions to increase your net savings and you could have $20k to do with what you wish. Buy a car, a new tv, or maybe start that fastlane business.
Good luck!

 

[Conscripted]

You are working as an engineer and already have your own product that you are selling. That alone puts you ahead of many of us on here.

Can you sell more of your product or improve it? Is it possible to make it for $2? Could you create an e-commerce site to sell it on? You could do that while continuing to sell them on eBay. How much would it cost to set up the site? How much could you learn about the process?

Can you use the same skills you used to create your product to solve a different problem?
I'm not in the fast lane yet. I too have a lot to learn. One of the themes I keep hearing is that money will follow value. If you have a solution to someone's problem you will naturally attract money.

Best of luck!

 

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[biophase]

I'm not familiar with getting business loans but I assume to get one requires to have a pretty solidly laid out plan to show to the bank. Something that has a pretty good guarantee of getting them their money back. Could a person really show up at a bank asking for a 20k loan to buy a website?

You can get a personal loan pretty easily. You didn't hear it from here. But you can apply for a car loan, they will deposit the money directly into your account and then just not buy the car. Google light stream.

 

[Conscripted]

My product is a circuit board that can be retrofitted into an old piece of equipment that lets it be compatible with newer equipment. The thing that it goes into was THE most popular accessory back in it's time so there are quite a few of them out there.

This makes me think that you are converting one communications protocol to another. Perhaps converting RS232 or Parallel ports to USB. Are there other pieces of equipment that you could do something similar for?

I do already have a couple websites that I planned on setting up as ecommerce sites to sell them on but have no idea how to make an ecommerce site. I had started watching some YouTube tutorials on it and then got sidetracked.

What's the first step that needs to be accomplished that you know how to do? What's the next step after that one? Sometimes the path reveals itself.

Maybe instead of learning web developing or watching hours of tutorials to figure it out I just go on Upwork or Fiver and pay someone to do it for me. Then I can better spend my time thinking up other things to sell.

This is always an option. You will be the one to decide on the best value for your time. If you rolled your own I'm sure you could find someone to give you a few pointers.

Maybe an execution thread? It will give you a place you can document your progress. Some find them useful for accountability purposes. People who have the experience with what you are trying to do are more likely to point a guiding finger once action has been taken.

 

[ramonorencio]

Good job, a new car isn’t worth the stress of having to pay for it.

 

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[sparechange]

I did manage to create a product last year that has a very small niche market but it has gotten great reviews. I sold 33 of them and then just recently ordered more parts to build another batch. The problem is the market they are for is so small that it doesn't justify having the circuit boards built by machine and instead I end up building them by hand which is fairly time consuming. Never the less though it allowed me to put something out there and get a feedback loop going. And once I build a bunch of them up they are just ready to go and make money. Whenever one sells it makes me happy but after this batch I probably will discontinue it due to the time and small market it is for. But I look at it as getting a taste of what it is like to have a product out there that I made.

I have no idea where to put your money, but if you have some product ideas maybe it would be wise to see if you could order / make some and sell enough to buy 10 dodge chargers

 

[kb9nate]

Questions to think about:
How much do you have in emergency savings? (obviously you do not have to answer these on a public forum)
For many months could you cover your necessities with no income?
If $70 p/m more is not significant to you, is $330 p/m less going to make more of an impact?
Or even $400 p/m less (seeing as you could be affording to pay that, why not save that?)
If you make money at a side hustle, is arranging lower monthly car payments the best use you can think of for that money?

My thought with getting the payments lower is just to have more money available for doing other things with out of my check. Admittedly I am not great at putting money into savings if it's just here and there small amounts. But if I did some side hustles and just right away put the money into paying the car off then I don't have it sitting there waiting for me to spend it on other stupid shit I don't need. I do have a budget figured out and have accounted for some "worst case" scenarios to an extent.

Like right now my girlfriend and I live together and split some of the bills. If we were to break up I made sure I still have worked into the budget enough money that I could afford my own place (Utilities also taken into consideration).

And if I were to loose my job I do have some money to fall back on that would probably get me by for about 2 to 3 months (If I did absolutely nothing else but sat on my a$$ for those months. Which I wouldn't do).

And even with those things taken into consideration I do still have some extra money left over to put into savings.

One thing my girlfriend pointed out to me too is in a little less than two years I will be done paying child support on my daughter and will have a big chunk of money put back into my budget. If I re allocate that money for only a year and put it towards the car payment I would have the rest of the balance at that time paid off in a year.

Oh, you like safety nets? So again, how much do you do have in emergency savings?
Do you have money to pay for when anything goes wrong with your car or would you have to use credit?
If something went wrong on your new car 10 months in & it wasn't the power train, how annoyed would you be?
- "not very" could indicate that this is more an excuse you're making to yourself to help justify the car
- "really, really mad" could indicate that you don't have enough in emergency savings for you to feel unbothered
- other options are available, just trying to help you work out your own mind

If something major happened to the car I have now like a blown engine or transmission I would be pretty hard pressed to some up with the money right away and would likely have to figure something out.
If something went wrong on the new car that wasn't the power train there is a pretty good chance I could fix it myself and the only cost would be the parts. Aside from the engine transmission and the PCM and TCM most of the rest of the parts are not to insanely expensive.

That was part of my justification of getting the car I have now back when I bought it. I have always owned cheap cars prior to this that I bought with cash (aside from one car that my grandma gifted me) and drove each one of them pretty much into the ground and then just bought another beater. I don't mind working on cars a little bit here and there but to me it just seemed like more peace of mind to have something newer that is mechanically sound and I am not frequently putting money (and more importantly time) into to repair every time it breaks.

Enough of a rant from me too lol. I'm not even get started on how "being able to get a nice thing when you want it" isn't even the biggest prize of fastlane success. If that's all you think it is, then no wonder you think you might not need the fastlane. You're right, you can just take this loan & get that car. I'm guessing you're here though cos you know there's more to it. You're correct. Stick around and stay open to some serious mindset shifting...

Absolutely there is more to it than just buying things. It's about getting your freedom back and being able to do what you want when you want. That is my ultimate goal. My short term goal is to get some things going to generate passive income. (Even if the passive income is just enough to pay for the car or a house payment that would be a huge milestone to me). I have worked jobs before that I absolutely dreaded going into work and don't want to end up in that situation again (Which spurred the "lose my ego and give the car back or sell it" thought if it ever came down to that). One time I even quit a job I had been at for four years to pursue a different offer I got and after 3 days in decided the new job wasn't for me. So I ended up living off of some money I had set aside for about 4 months and tried to do my own side business repairing electronics. It wasn't fast lane by any stretch but the freedom I had to work when I wanted to was nice. The big down fall being some weeks were busy but many were slow and just waiting for work to come in. I knew it was not a long term plan. Then I landed the job I am at now which I enjoy very much. I have been fortunate during this whole time to be able to work from home and have only occasionally needed to go into the office.

I think the biggest thing holding me back from figuring out my fastlane or at least a passive income stream is getting distracted with things or loosing motivation. I get overwhelmed with ideas and have a hard time deciding which one might be worth pursuing. I know I can improve in this area though if i just put my mind to it.

Thanks for the thought you put into your response. I appreciate you and everyone else that has read my whole rant taking the time to reply and try to help me sort this out.

 

[kb9nate]

To me, to enter into an agreement, with the intention of not following through is disingenuous and dishonest. Yes you should have contingency plans, but to talk about giving the car up and you haven't even bought it yet... Entirely my opinion, each of us has to do what is right for us.

The talk of giving it up I only meant as a worst case scenario in the sense of if hard times struck and I just couldn't make the payments. I absolutely intend on following through with it if I did buy it. But I get what you are saying.

 

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