Scraping By On $500,000 A Year

[Strider_91]

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Sure. I didn't mean to imply I don't spend money. I view second and third homes as "neutral investments" which means they hold their value over time relative to inflation. This is in contrast to a 75 inch TV or BMW 6 series which end up being worth very little after 10 years.

Many successful physicians own second and third homes in Vail, Aspen, Key West, Maine, Montana, etc and these "investments" have actually done quite well over time.
I can't same the same thing about that AMG Mercedes S Class.

Im on the same page as you and hope to be in your position when I'm your age. I couldnt care less about cars or nice TV's. Most of my happiness in life comes from time spent in nature with my Dog and friends anyway. Thank God that's still cheap.

 

[deleted162650]

There is also plenty of evidence that spending your money on life experiences, rather than material possessions, will make you happier. This is because we remember the experience much longer than the initial excitement of acquiring something. We are also less likely to compare ourselves to other people when we have experiences, compared to when we acquire possessions. Your happiness is also likely to be higher if you spend your money on other people in a way that strengthens personal relationships, or you give money to causes which are aligned with your values. Your self worth is not determined by your net worth, but by the quality of your personal relationships, your life experiences and the meaning you derive from your existence. I think that true happiness comes from having a strong sense of purpose, being clear on your ideal lifestyle, and making work and spending decisions aligned with that vision. Life is far too short to waste time doing things you don’t enjoy.

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Post of the year Blade. Good stuff. 👍👍

 

[Mman]

There is also plenty of evidence that spending your money on life experiences, rather than material possessions, will make you happier. This is because we remember the experience much longer than the initial excitement of acquiring something. We are also less likely to compare ourselves to other people when we have experiences, compared to when we acquire possessions. Your happiness is also likely to be higher if you spend your money on other people in a way that strengthens personal relationships, or you give money to causes which are aligned with your values. Your self worth is not determined by your net worth, but by the quality of your personal relationships, your life experiences and the meaning you derive from your existence. I think that true happiness comes from having a strong sense of purpose, being clear on your ideal lifestyle, and making work and spending decisions aligned with that vision. Life is far too short to waste time doing things you don’t enjoy.

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Spend money on experiences, not things.

I believe this 100%. Buy a $100K car and it's really cool and fun. A month later commuting to work you barely notice and spend most of the car ride thinking about why you are running late and what case you've got first etc.

Take a trip to Bora Bora and you've got decades of being able to look at pictures and remember it and stories to tell friends and if you ever meet someone else that went there and you can instantly get wrapped up in a 20 minute conversation.

Buying stuff is fun, but we adapt to it and it soon ceases being nearly as fun as when you first bought it. The return on investment isn't nearly as great as you'd think considering the lifespan of whatever it is.

 

[Planktonmd]

Sometimes things could be experiences as well... for example if you are a pilot and you finally can afford that Gulfstream you always wanted, this is not just a thing,,, this is an experience or multiple experiences.

 

[Arch Guillotti]

Uhh math, that's why. Putting away 100k like that dude is doing at that age is unnecessary. You can already put away 55k in a sep or solo 401k, plus an hsa, plus backdoor roth, etc. Then let time do its thing. Why don't you do the math on that and see what it's worth when you retire. If you get into your 50's, and you feel you need to sock away more, that's when you use the dbp and go to those huge amounts

The math that lets you sock away a large of money pretax and get a guaranteed rate of return?

Not everyone has the ability to start socking away significant amounts of income at age 30.

Not everyone can open a SEP.
HSA is not all that much.
Not everyone can just go out and open a DBP.

Do the math.😉

My goal is to save as much as I can but still get some nice things, live a little and have some fun along the way.

 

[Strider_91]

The math that lets you sock away a large of money pretax and get a guaranteed rate of return?

Not everyone has the ability to start socking away significant amounts of income at age 30.

Not everyone can open a SEP.
HSA is not all that much.
Not everyone can just go out and open a DBP.

Do the math.😉

My goal is to save as much as I can but still get some nice things, live a little and have some fun along the way.

What is a dbp?

 

[Arch Guillotti]

What is a dbp?

Defined benefit plan.

 

[deleted126335]

The math that lets you sock away a large of money pretax and get a guaranteed rate of return?

Not everyone has the ability to start socking away significant amounts of income at age 30.

Not everyone can open a SEP.
HSA is not all that much.
Not everyone can just go out and open a DBP.

Do the math.😉

My goal is to save as much as I can but still get some nice things, live a little and have some fun along the way.

It is a balance. We are all one doctor's visit or car ride away from disaster. There is no merit in being the richest man in the graveyard.
I have big bucks in the bank. But I regret not taking the trips to Europe when young. I regret not paying the scalper's price for that Rolling stones concert in the 80s. A few other things also. I do like giving away calls and not having to sweat if I will have enough. I like not sweating flying business class. It's OK to splurge. It's about a balance.

 

[doctalaughs]

Spend money on experiences, not things.

I believe this 100%. Buy a $100K car and it's really cool and fun. A month later commuting to work you barely notice and spend most of the car ride thinking about why you are running late and what case you've got first etc.

Take a trip to Bora Bora and you've got decades of being able to look at pictures and remember it and stories to tell friends and if you ever meet someone else that went there and you can instantly get wrapped up in a 20 minute conversation.

Buying stuff is fun, but we adapt to it and it soon ceases being nearly as fun as when you first bought it. The return on investment isn't nearly as great as you'd think considering the lifespan of whatever it is.

Yes.

This is why my vacation budget is twice what that 500k family spends, but my car/ gadget / clothing budget is tiny (I buy a 25k car every 10 years with cash). Not to say you cant take memorable cheap vacations but I'm pretty sure my kids/ family will remember the cool exotic trips as well.

A 2nd home could be ok for the right person but I could never see myself going the same place over and over, and if you don't spend a lot of time there the maintenance/taxes/etc are hard to justify.


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[deleted500612]

Hmmm ... I don't think Canadian anesthesiologists make $100K or use the word anaesthetist, do they?

Where ya from, Newtwo? 🙂

True on both counts. They are generally referred to as anesthetists in the UK-based system (including Australia/NZ), Canada uses the American terminology and salaries are far higher than 100k for any full time physician in Canada. Average anesthesiologist salary in Canada is around 300-350k CAD. Also, in Canada physicians almost always incorporate and thus pay far less than 52% effective tax rate because a lot can be written off as a business expense. Because they are incorporated as a small business, some Canadian physicians I know pay their stay-at-home spouse a ~50k salary as an employee under the guise of them being an "administrator" who helps them with their finances or something bogus like that to help minimize taxation of their income even further. Lots of loop holes like this you can use in Canada.

 

[anbuitachi]

True on both counts. They are generally referred to as anesthetists in the UK-based system (including Australia/NZ), Canada uses the American terminology and salaries are far higher than 100k for any full time physician in Canada. Average anesthesiologist salary in Canada is around 300-350k CAD. Also, in Canada physicians almost always incorporate and thus pay far less than 52% effective tax rate because a lot can be written off as a business expense. Because they are incorporated as a small business, some Canadian physicians I know pay their stay-at-home spouse a ~50k salary as an employee under the guise of them being an "administrator" who helps them with their finances or something bogus like that to help minimize taxation of their income even further. Lots of loop holes like this you can use in Canada.

Why can't you do this in the US? Are salaries to yourr spouse not deductible? Cause i actually know a lot of phsycians with wife as secretaryto their clinic

 

[Wiscoblue]

I know a surgeon who 'employs' his wife as senior office manager and has been paying her a pretty big salary and also 50k to her retirement. She rarely come to the office.


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[aneftp]

I know a surgeon who 'employs' his wife as senior office manager and has been paying her a pretty big salary and also 50k to her retirement. She rarely come to the office.


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Pay my wife. $18k pretax into solo 401k. Plus 25% of whatever salary I pay her. So say $30k salary. $18k plus $7500 into solo 401k. So $25500.

So got 200k in her retirement account over the years. Not bad. And she's 34. This will probably be the last year I do the solo 401k though since I switched to Employed W2. I won't do enough side 1099 work next year to justify the splitting for income in my LLC.

 

[anbuitachi]

Pay my wife. $18k pretax into solo 401k. Plus 25% of whatever salary I pay her. So say $30k salary. $18k plus $7500 into solo 401k. So $25500.

So got 200k in her retirement account over the years. Not bad. And she's 34. This will probably be the last year I do the solo 401k though since I switched to Employed W2. I won't do enough side 1099 work next year to justify the splitting for income in my LLC.

so you paid your wife 30k salary + 25.5k retirement? So you deducted 50.5k from your salary?

 

[aneftp]

so you paid your wife 30k salary + 25.5k retirement? So you deducted 50.5k from your salary?

Yes. The money is all taken from the business side. Eventually what's leftover on business side passed through to person side for tax calculation (s corp).

Now u do have to pay social security and Medicare taxes on that salary I paid my wife plus the employer side. So it can be $3000 in fed taxes when u pay salary to wife. (15.6% self employment taxes of first 118-119k income but u can deduct employer side of the contribution). Sounds complicated but it's not. So it's more like paying 10% taxes in terms of Medicare/social security on that $30k. But if I'm putting $25k in retirement for my spouse. That's like a $7-8k tax savings.

I've been self employed for most of my professional life. I have it down to a science now. I still use an accountant to double check me and file taxes but I can probably do it myself.

But if I'm not generating enough 1099 income. It's not worth it to pay the spouse.

 

[facted]

Yes. The money is all taken from the business side. Eventually what's leftover on business side passed through to person side for tax calculation (s corp).

Now u do have to pay social security and Medicare taxes on that salary I paid my wife plus the employer side. So it can be $3000 in fed taxes when u pay salary to wife. (15.6% self employment taxes of first 118-119k income but u can deduct employer side of the contribution). Sounds complicated but it's not. So it's more like paying 10% taxes in terms of Medicare/social security on that $30k. But if I'm putting $25k in retirement for my spouse. That's like a $7-8k tax savings.

I've been self employed for most of my professional life. I have it down to a science now. I still use an accountant to double check me and file taxes but I can probably do it myself.

But if I'm not generating enough 1099 income. It's not worth it to pay the spouse.

What does your wife do to earn this money? Not afraid of an audit?

 

[deleted480308]

What does your wife do to earn this money? Not afraid of an audit?

Beyond the obvious adult jokes that go here, a spouse can logically be described as doing all sorts of things worth a salary...picking up kids, arranging personal finance and household details, occasional errands etc

 

[facted]

Beyond the obvious adult jokes that go here, a spouse can logically be described as doing all sorts of things worth a salary...picking up kids, arranging personal finance and household details, occasional errands etc

Anywhere I can read more about this online or in tax code? It's one thing to pay a salary to a spouse who works as office manager, filing, etc...

 

[anbuitachi]

Yes. The money is all taken from the business side. Eventually what's leftover on business side passed through to person side for tax calculation (s corp).

Now u do have to pay social security and Medicare taxes on that salary I paid my wife plus the employer side. So it can be $3000 in fed taxes when u pay salary to wife. (15.6% self employment taxes of first 118-119k income but u can deduct employer side of the contribution). Sounds complicated but it's not. So it's more like paying 10% taxes in terms of Medicare/social security on that $30k. But if I'm putting $25k in retirement for my spouse. That's like a $7-8k tax savings.

I've been self employed for most of my professional life. I have it down to a science now. I still use an accountant to double check me and file taxes but I can probably do it myself.

But if I'm not generating enough 1099 income. It's not worth it to pay the spouse.

Can't you also do this w w2 w side business and make same deductions. You prob can't do retirement but salary yes?

 

[aneftp]

What does your wife do to earn this money? Not afraid of an audit?

No. Not afraid of adult.

The key is IRS gives u a lot of leeway if "employing spouse". Like solo 401k includes spouse Solo 401(k) only allows for two participants (either an owner and spouse/family member, but not three different people).

They key is how much TOTAL. federal taxes each business is paying. That's all the IRS really cares about.

Say I'm generating 400k in 1099 income. IRS doesn't care if I pay myself 150k and my spouse 30k. I could pay my spouse 150k and pay myself 30k. It's all the same to the IRS. (In theory).

The max u can put into retirement is limited by the income u pay urself. So if pay spouse 10k in wages. The most she can put away is 10k (employee deferral up to max of 18k but limited to max salary earned) plus 25% of total compensation.

 

[dhb]

No. Not afraid of adult.

Hmm X-rated?

 

[anes121508]

It's way too high. Car payments should be zero for people making $500K/year. No reason not to pay cash up front.

Speaking of cars...I'm a fellow and starting a job soon back home in a city where I'll need a car for the first time in a while. What is the most economical and cheapest way to have a reliable car to drive to work?

Buy? (Cash vs finance? New vs used?, mileage?, brand?) ...what about leasing?

I know the answer is always "it depends"....so for my scenario I have 10k cash if I needed to buy one up front and do not care at all what I drive (all I think about as soon as I get in the car is how soon I'd like to get out).

 

[anes121508]

Childcare can easily run that much. We pay 1500 a kid for two kids and have a nanny as one kid is only half days and then you have sick days, school breaks, snow days, etc. Let's just that without childcare expenses I could probably afford a second home somewhere nice.

Child care in the city where I live is awful (from a fellows perspective). My wife and I are still on the waiting list for the three day cares nearby our workplace/apt....all cost between 2400-3400/month

 

[deleted480308]

Child care in the city where I live is awful (from a fellows perspective). My wife and I are still on the waiting list for the three day cares nearby our workplace/apt....all cost between 2400-3400/month

How many kids/ what ages? Normal city or somewhere crazy like manhatten?

 

[deleted480308]

Speaking of cars...I'm a fellow and starting a job soon back home in a city where I'll need a car for the first time in a while. What is the most economical and cheapest way to have a reliable car to drive to work?

Buy? (Cash vs finance? New vs used?, mileage?, brand?) ...what about leasing?

I know the answer is always "it depends"....so for my scenario I have 10k cash if I needed to buy one up front and do not care at all what I drive (all I think about as soon as I get in the car is how soon I'd like to get out).

Cash unless you get some crazy financing, almost never leasing

If you can find a good deal you can often save money by going a year or two used. If you buy, just plan on driving it till it stops moving. The real money loss is buying and constantly trading in to stay in a "newer" car all the time

 

[anes121508]

How many kids/ what ages? Normal city or somewhere crazy like manhatten?

4 month old Boston

 

[anes121508]

Cash unless you get some crazy financing, almost never leasing

If you can find a good deal you can often save money by going a year or two used. If you buy, just plan on driving it till it stops moving. The real money loss is buying and constantly trading in to stay in a "newer" car all the time

Gracias...is there any type of car out there that is considered a great long lasting vehicle? I bought a Honda Civic during college and drove it to around 220k . Loved that thing. Just looked though and cars are apparently way more expensive than back when I was in college.

 

[deleted547339]

Gracias...is there any type of car out there that is considered a great long lasting vehicle? I bought a Honda Civic during college and drove it to around 220k . Loved that thing. Just looked though and cars are apparently way more expensive than back when I was in college.

The most cost effective way of purchasing a vehicle will always be buying a gently used, reliable car (2-4 years old) with cash. If you can get 0% financing, that's acceptable, but that will psychologically make your budget creep up. It's never a lease.

That's not to say that it's not OK to buy a new car, but it's not the most cost effective way. The whole cash for clunkers thing temporarily changed the calculus, but it's heading back to the norm.

I like what White Coat Investor said about leasing: "don't lease, that's what poor people do."

 

[aneftp]

Gracias...is there any type of car out there that is considered a great long lasting vehicle? I bought a Honda Civic during college and drove it to around 220k . Loved that thing. Just looked though and cars are apparently way more expensive than back when I was in college.

Almost all cars are reliable these days. Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla. ($16-23k range in price)

Depends how long ur commute is. I drive 35-40 min each way. So I like bigger cars myself. If I were in the city or short 15 min commute. I would consider a hybrids. But hybrids don't make much sense for longer commutes since the gas efficiency for hybrids kicks in at city mileage rate.

 

[deleted480308]

4 month old Boston

Boston may be a weird place but that's waaaay out of the norm for standard office hours day care for normal america (200-300wk).

Are you both residents and this is some real 24hr care? Or is this a nanny/aupair? You can pretty much hire your own nanny for money like that, try checking with the local gme office to see if any residents have spouses doing stay at home that take other kids for a charge

 

[anes121508]

The most cost effective way of purchasing a vehicle will always be buying a gently used, reliable car (2-4 years old) with cash. If you can get 0% financing, that's acceptable, but that will psychologically make your budget creep up. It's never a lease.

That's not to say that it's not OK to buy a new car, but it's not the most cost effective way. The whole cash for clunkers thing temporarily changed the calculus, but it's heading back to the norm.

I like what White Coat Investor said about leasing: "don't lease, that's what poor people do."

Love white coat site...does he have an article on this topic? Maybe I missed it On my google search

 

[deleted547339]

Love white coat site...does he have an article on this topic? Maybe I missed it On my google search

Not to my knowledge. It came up in a SDN conversation similar to this.

 

[deleted480308]

Love white coat site...does he have an article on this topic? Maybe I missed it On my google search

I believe clark howard does....less physician centric, but really good on frugal living

 

[anes121508]

Almost all cars are reliable these days. Hyundai Elantra, Ford Focus, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla. ($16-23k range in price)

Depends how long ur commute is. I drive 35-40 min each way. So I like bigger cars myself. If I were in the city or short 15 min commute. I would consider a hybrids. But hybrids don't make much sense for longer commutes since the gas efficiency for hybrids kicks in at city mileage rate.

I'll be a 10-15 min drive. 16-23k will be hard to do all cash for me. I could wait a few months to save some attending pay , but I don't know how I'd get to work in the meantime.

 

[anes121508]

Boston may be a weird place but that's waaaay out of the norm for standard office hours day care for normal america (200-300wk).

Are you both residents and this is some real 24hr care? Or is this a nanny/aupair? You can pretty much hire your own nanny for money like that, try checking with the local gme office to see if any residents have spouses doing stay at home that take other kids for a charge

Boston is a weird place and it's very much the norm. My wife and I have many friends with young ones that are all paying in this range. She is not in medicine. In talking to friends nanny share seems to be the best option but it's hard to coordinate logistically. Cheapest rate nanny is 20/hr. I know a couple of people paying 24/hr. The day cares (not necessarily nice places either because I visited them) are 2400,2800&3200/month for only 40 hrs a week. It's absurd. We haven't gotten in on the wait list for a day care and hired a woman for 20/hr. She only accepted our offer over others 24-26/hr because our location and dates and timeframe fit her schedule best. The nanny will be making more than me as a fellow. Thank god it's temporary till we are out of this city.

 

[deleted480308]

Boston is a weird place and it's very much the norm. My wife and I have many friends with young ones that are all paying in this range. She is not in medicine. In talking to friends nanny share seems to be the best option but it's hard to coordinate logistically. Cheapest rate nanny is 20/hr. I know a couple of people paying 24/hr. The day cares (not necessarily nice places either because I visited them) are 2400,2800&3200/month for only 40 hrs a week. It's absurd. We haven't gotten in on the wait list for a day care and hired a woman for 20/hr. She only accepted our offer over others 24-26/hr because our location and dates and timeframe fit her schedule best. The nanny will be making more than me as a fellow. Thank god it's temporary till we are out of this city.

Does your wife make more than the nanny?

 

[GravelRider]

Speaking of cars...I'm a fellow and starting a job soon back home in a city where I'll need a car for the first time in a while. What is the most economical and cheapest way to have a reliable car to drive to work?

Buy? (Cash vs finance? New vs used?, mileage?, brand?) ...what about leasing?

I know the answer is always "it depends"....so for my scenario I have 10k cash if I needed to buy one up front and do not care at all what I drive (all I think about as soon as I get in the car is how soon I'd like to get out).

Cars depreciate so much the minute you drive them off the lot that a used car is probably your best value. You can definitely find a decent used car that will last for years for 10k. Give yourself some time to shop around and figure out what car will meet your needs. Research the model years online to figure out if any particular year had any reliability issues. Nowadays with YouTube and the internet it is easy to diagnose and repair minor problems that arise over the life of your vehicle.

Also, a minivan (or better yet, a station wagon) is way cooler and more useful than these glorified minivans known as crossovers that the car companies are pedaling nowadays. The crossovers handle like crap, don't have the cargo room of a minivan, wagon, or pickup, and don't have the 4x4 capabilities of the SUVs of old. I can't, for the life of me, understand their popularity beyond just good marketing.

 

[deleted126335]

Does your wife make more than the nanny?

Don't forget the mental health benefits for mom that come with some nanny care. Wish that we paid for more respite nanny care for my wife when kids were younger.


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[deleted480308]

Don't forget the mental health benefits for mom that come with some nanny care. Wish that we paid for more respite nanny care for my wife when kids were younger.


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I get it, i'm probably hiring a few hours worth of maid in residency

 

[anes121508]

Does your wife make more than the nanny?

Depends what our effective tax rate ends up at, but it's not all hat more. However, in order to secure her job once we move back home she needed to start May 1 from a remote office. So it's worth it in the long run. Her health plan is wayyyy better than mine so it helps there.

 

[pgg]

Speaking of cars...I'm a fellow and starting a job soon back home in a city where I'll need a car for the first time in a while. What is the most economical and cheapest way to have a reliable car to drive to work?

Buy? (Cash vs finance? New vs used?, mileage?, brand?) ...what about leasing?

I know the answer is always "it depends"....so for my scenario I have 10k cash if I needed to buy one up front and do not care at all what I drive (all I think about as soon as I get in the car is how soon I'd like to get out).

Used but new enough to be nice and reliable.

Cash is best, but nothing wrong with paying some cash and financing a part of it. There's a world of difference between financing a $55K new car and financing $5-10K to supplement a cash down payment for a used car.

I have found that choosing a short finance term (24-36 months at most) is another good check on the impulse to buy more than you need. And the loan is gone soon, too. 5 and 7 year auto loans are predators' tools.


I bought my son a used Nissan Altima earlier this year, total was about $9K. It's 6 or 7 years old, but in good condition. I expect it'll last with minimal drama while he's in college, and tolerate his absentminded preoccupiedness not changing the oil ...

Last year I bought (for myself) a used 2006 M3 ... to replace the 2002 M3 I crashed 🙁. Pristine condition, 52K miles. First owner tracked it for a couple years and then it sat in a garage. Paid about $20K for it, and the only work it needed was about $400 to replace the obnoxiously loud aftermarket exhaust with an OEM muffler I found on eBay for $200. I can't think of any car I'd rather have for under $50K. I watched autotrader for several months waiting for the right one to come up, and ended up flying out of state to buy it and drive it home.

We also have a beater 2003 Civic we paid $4K for. 140K miles. My eldest crashed it once when he had his learners permit. Completely smashed a Hyundai's front wheel under it, but somehow the Civic survived with a slightly bent bumper. Got a can of paint and a new plastic bumper offf Amazon, good as new, er, 2003.

You can get basic and reliable for $10K, or fun for $20K, if you look and aren't in a rush.

 

[ZzzPlz]

Used but new enough to be nice and reliable.

Cash is best, but nothing wrong with paying some cash and financing a part of it. There's a world of difference between financing a $55K new car and financing $5-10K to supplement a cash down payment for a used car.

I have found that choosing a short finance term (24-36 months at most) is another good check on the impulse to buy more than you need. And the loan is gone soon, too. 5 and 7 year auto loans are predators' tools.


I bought my son a used Nissan Altima earlier this year, total was about $9K. It's 6 or 7 years old, but in good condition. I expect it'll last with minimal drama while he's in college, and tolerate his absentminded preoccupiedness not changing the oil ...

Last year I bought (for myself) a used 2006 M3 ... to replace the 2002 M3 I crashed 🙁. Pristine condition, 52K miles. First owner tracked it for a couple years and then it sat in a garage. Paid about $20K for it, and the only work it needed was about $400 to replace the obnoxiously loud aftermarket exhaust with an OEM muffler I found on eBay for $200. I can't think of any car I'd rather have for under $50K. I watched autotrader for several months waiting for the right one to come up, and ended up flying out of state to buy it and drive it home.

We also have a beater 2003 Civic we paid $4K for. 140K miles. My eldest crashed it once when he had his learners permit. Completely smashed a Hyundai's front wheel under it, but somehow the Civic survived with a slightly bent bumper. Got a can of paint and a new plastic bumper offf Amazon, good as new, er, 2003.

You can get basic and reliable for $10K, or fun for $20K, if you look and aren't in a rush.

Those M3s are awesome. I drove a '97 M3 up until med school in 2009 and I still regret trading it off

 

[pgg]

Those M3s are awesome. I drove a '97 M3 up until med school in 2009 and I still regret trading it off

Love them.

I wish I could say I crashed my 2002 M3 by flipping it on a track or something. Or maybe fleeing a biker gang. But the truth is I rear ended a septic truck in city traffic at all of about 20 mph and put its trailer hitch through the radiator and into the engine. Insult to injury, the cop gave me a ticket too. Sad day.

 

[dhb]

Love them.

I wish I could say I crashed my 2002 M3 by flipping it on a track or something. Or maybe fleeing a biker gang. But the truth is I rear ended a septic truck in city traffic at all of about 20 mph and put its trailer hitch through the radiator and into the engine. Insult to injury, the cop gave me a ticket too. Sad day.

Ouch

 

[mostwanted]

I'll be a 10-15 min drive. 16-23k will be hard to do all cash for me. I could wait a few months to save some attending pay , but I don't know how I'd get to work in the meantime.

10k is plenty for a reliable car. As an attending, driving a 2011 camry bought for under 10k with less than 90k miles. I will recommend 4-5 yr old Honda or Toyota


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[deleted697535]

What about a car for a place that gets a truck load of snow? I'm thinking forester or Impreza? About 2010. Really don't want to spend much on it.

Do you guys ever think about fuel economy when you buy cars? I'm from a place where gas is pricey and you pay massive road tax for bigger engined cars so we usually drive under 2litre cars. And diesel too

 

[pjl]

What about a car for a place that gets a truck load of snow? I'm thinking forester or Impreza? About 2010. Really don't want to spend much on it.

Do you guys ever think about fuel economy when you buy cars? I'm from a place where gas is pricey and you pay massive road tax for bigger engined cars so we usually drive under 2litre cars. And diesel too

The difference in gas used over 100k miles between a car getting 20 mpg and 30 mpg is 1667 gallons. At currrent gas prices that is only ~4k. To me, that doesnt really affect my car choice, but I also only drive something like 5k miles a year.

Get snow tires for winter, and you should be good unless they dont plow and you are talking about >6 inches at a time.


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[GravelRider]

What about a car for a place that gets a truck load of snow? I'm thinking forester or Impreza? About 2010. Really don't want to spend much on it.

Do you guys ever think about fuel economy when you buy cars? I'm from a place where gas is pricey and you pay massive road tax for bigger engined cars so we usually drive under 2litre cars. And diesel too

Good snow tires are much more important than AWD for winter driving. You can buy a set mounted on steel wheels online for cheap.

 

[narcusprince]

Used but new enough to be nice and reliable.

Cash is best, but nothing wrong with paying some cash and financing a part of it. There's a world of difference between financing a $55K new car and financing $5-10K to supplement a cash down payment for a used car.

I have found that choosing a short finance term (24-36 months at most) is another good check on the impulse to buy more than you need. And the loan is gone soon, too. 5 and 7 year auto loans are predators' tools.


I bought my son a used Nissan Altima earlier this year, total was about $9K. It's 6 or 7 years old, but in good condition. I expect it'll last with minimal drama while he's in college, and tolerate his absentminded preoccupiedness not changing the oil ...

Last year I bought (for myself) a used 2006 M3 ... to replace the 2002 M3 I crashed 🙁. Pristine condition, 52K miles. First owner tracked it for a couple years and then it sat in a garage. Paid about $20K for it, and the only work it needed was about $400 to replace the obnoxiously loud aftermarket exhaust with an OEM muffler I found on eBay for $200. I can't think of any car I'd rather have for under $50K. I watched autotrader for several months waiting for the right one to come up, and ended up flying out of state to buy it and drive it home.

We also have a beater 2003 Civic we paid $4K for. 140K miles. My eldest crashed it once when he had his learners permit. Completely smashed a Hyundai's front wheel under it, but somehow the Civic survived with a slightly bent bumper. Got a can of paint and a new plastic bumper offf Amazon, good as new, er, 2003.

You can get basic and reliable for $10K, or fun for $20K, if you look and aren't in a rush.

Why is leasing such a bad option? Especially if you have a substantial 1099 income? Leases offer you the ability to write off a lot of the lease.

 

[InfinitiPSI]

I come from humble beginnings, none of my family ever graduated college. I always thought most doctors were driving 40-70k cars (new MSRP price, not necessarily what they paid). Every attending in my parking lot drives a 1999 Honda Civic it seems, or something similar. One has an Aston. One has a Mercedes S Class.

I'm huge into cars, and racing. I guess I found it odd that doctors don't drive something newer and nicer. Even if they had no interest in cars as a hobby or passion at all, just because they have such a large amount of disposable income relative to the majority of the population/blue collar types.

I certainly won't be buying 20 Lamborghini's. But I'd like to eventually collect 5-10 cars to keep.