Prestigious cars or retire early

docmatt

Retire early for sure. I bought an expensive car, I’ve had it for a year and lost about 30k in depreciation. Now I’m bored of it.

Don’t waste your money. Enjoy retirement!

fred246

Well I decided to go a bit earlier than I thought so I could enjoy this summer so I've handed in my notice. My spreadsheets were indicating thet I had twice the amount of money that I needed. The problem is that once you've done it you seem to enjoy work more. It doesn't matter what silly idea the management come up with it doesn't bother me now. I am glad I posted on this forum as I hadn't really expected any nasty jealousy. I haven't had any nasty comments but it's useful to know that other people might be. My 14 year old car has just passed it's MOT with no advisories - it's only had two advisories in the last 10 years. Now to plan what I am going to do with all the time. I am thinking of getting another Merlin pass for the summer. Stealth 0-80MPH in 1.9 secs. Now that's what I call acceleration!

Robisere

IMO everyone is an individual, with individual needs, choices (and wants!) from their life. I don't have any envy for whatever choice you make and I don't have any for your relative wealth: just enjoy your life in retirement but make sure you can satisfy the obvious work ethic you possess, by some activity or hobby. You may miss work, I certainly did.

I had a fine career until my late 50's, when injury and disability lost my career, house and ability to build my own cars from damaged, high end insurance write-offs. I had a good few very quick motors and enjoyed them, but now I am limited to rented accomodation and Motabilty cars, for which I have always been grateful. I save for a good deposit in order to get the most comfortable car I can now. After a serious operation for me, and a new hip for my missus, neither of us can enter and exit the large SUV we had, so we are about to downsize. Another facet of Motability for which I am grateful.

fred246, were I you I would make my choice without reference to the opinions of others. No one knows what life can dump upon you, so enjoy your life as much as you can.

motorguy

Robisere wrote: »

IMO everyone is an individual, with individual needs, choices (and wants!) from their life. I don't have any envy for whatever choice you make and I don't have any for your relative wealth: just enjoy your life in retirement but make sure you can satisfy the obvious work ethic you possess, by some activity or hobby. You may miss work, I certainly did.

I had a fine career until my late 50's, when injury and disability lost my career, house and ability to build my own cars from damaged, high end insurance write-offs. I had a good few very quick motors and enjoyed them, but now I am limited to rented accomodation and Motabilty cars, for which I have always been grateful. I save for a good deposit in order to get the most comfortable car I can now. After a serious operation for me, and a new hip for my missus, neither of us can enter and exit the large SUV we had, so we are about to downsize. Another facet of Motability for which I am grateful.

fred246, were I you I would make my choice without reference to the opinions of others. No one knows what life can dump upon you, so enjoy your life as much as you can.

Do you regret having had those nice cars?

Some on here might say you shouldnt have spent the money, but kept extra for your retirement years?

parking_question_chap

John-K wrote: »

It!!!8217;s up there with not having holidays, not having a drink, and not wearing nice clothes.

"Nice clothes" need not be expensive.

Unless to you "Nice" means paying extra to display a brand name on the front.

motorguy

fred246 wrote: »

Well I decided to go a bit earlier than I thought so I could enjoy this summer so I've handed in my notice. My spreadsheets were indicating thet I had twice the amount of money that I needed. The problem is that once you've done it you seem to enjoy work more. It doesn't matter what silly idea the management come up with it doesn't bother me now. I am glad I posted on this forum as I hadn't really expected any nasty jealousy. I haven't had any nasty comments but it's useful to know that other people might be. My 14 year old car has just passed it's MOT with no advisories - it's only had two advisories in the last 10 years. Now to plan what I am going to do with all the time. I am thinking of getting another Merlin pass for the summer. Stealth 0-80MPH in 1.9 secs. Now that's what I call acceleration!

Why would you have thought strangers on an internet forum would be jealous of you?

Everyone has their own lives to lead, theres certainly no point in worrying what others are doing and likewise there is no "one size fits all" plan that we should all have to follow. Whats right for one person is going to be wrong for someone else.

motorguy

docmatt wrote: »

Retire early for sure. I bought an expensive car, I!!!8217;ve had it for a year and lost about 30k in depreciation. Now I!!!8217;m bored of it.

Don!!!8217;t waste your money. Enjoy retirement!

The trick is to buy the right car if you're going to spend big. Lots of Porsches, for example, that can be bought and resold a year later with minimal depreciation.

OR not spend big at all - theres lots of genuinely phenomenal cars around that neednt cost two fortunes.

fred246

I was talking to a young professional person yesterday. "I buy experiences not possessions. I will never own a house. I pay rent, a monthly car payment, a monthly iphone payment and as long as my monthly payments are less than my monthly income everything's fine." Well that's OK I said but you will have to have a massive pension and imagine the landlord putting up your rent when you are 85 and you ending up on the street. "Well your generation have taken our pensions away and I'll never retire". People can have a brand new car every 3 years with a warranty and take no responsibility for it. Never check the tyres, oil, etc. Expect the garage to do everything except drive it. However spending such large amounts of money on an item when it can be done much cheaper will have consequences. However I will take everyone's advice and enjoy my retirement and let everyone else continue working and enjoying their 3 year PCPs etc.

NBLondon

and as long as my monthly payments are less than my monthly income everything's fine.

That is an increasingly common attitude. It started with mobile phones and had spread to cars and other areas. It makes sense as long as the cashflow continues - and means you can always have the latest or "coolest" if that's what is important to you. But for many - they have no fallback plan and if the income stream is disrupted by something out of their control, it all comes tumbling down. If you want the perceived benefits now rather than saving for them - it's easy for many people to get on that rollercoaster. If you're more risk-averse - you won't.

motorguy

fred246 wrote: »

I was talking to a young professional person yesterday. "I buy experiences not possessions. I will never own a house. I pay rent, a monthly car payment, a monthly iphone payment and as long as my monthly payments are less than my monthly income everything's fine." Well that's OK I said but you will have to have a massive pension and imagine the landlord putting up your rent when you are 85 and you ending up on the street. "Well your generation have taken our pensions away and I'll never retire". People can have a brand new car every 3 years with a warranty and take no responsibility for it. Never check the tyres, oil, etc. Expect the garage to do everything except drive it. However spending such large amounts of money on an item when it can be done much cheaper will have consequences. However I will take everyone's advice and enjoy my retirement and let everyone else continue working and enjoying their 3 year PCPs etc.

He has a whole lifetime ahead of him - plenty of time to realise that renting your entire life is not necessarily the best thing. Its a fairly typical view of young people and usually adjusts with time.

I am sure you took your usual bragging high ground approach to this guy - which as you've told us made you so (un)popular in work - however do you think he would swap you? Your 55 year old life and (mostly inherited) bank balance and only your twilight years to look forward to or his 25 year old lifestyle with his whole life ahead of him? Which do you think he would chose? Which would you chose?

I'd say your antagonistic holier than thou attitude and eke out a living approach, cheap holidays on a caravan site, cycle to work on some rusty old bike, stuck under the bonnet of some old car because you dont trust car dealers to fix it and wont want to pay them money anyway and "make do" lifestyle has done nothing to inspire him to change his ways mind you.

"Spend nothing for the next 30 years and eke out a living and you too could be like me son" I'm sure he ran a mile.

It genuinely bemuses me that you have to come on here and brag about this great "achievement" of yours (bolstered up by a large inheritance which you always forget to mention) - do you think it impresses strangers on the internet?

It certainly doesnt seem to have made you happy - you always come across as quite a bitter, resentful person frankly.