Car Loans - keeping America poor?

Someone straighten me out on my thinking. Ill need a new truck this summer, Im waiting for a good deal on a 2016 F-150, 5.0L V8 with a 6 speed transmission.
100-120k miles sells for around $20k. If I put down $5k, and have a $15k loan, my monthly payment will be $300, assuming a 7% interest rate on a 5 year term.
Total interest paid will be $2800 over that 5 year period, this seems like nothing compared to what that cash invested could return in that time period?
I could pay cash, but then I wont be able to pay cash for the utilities that I will put into the chunk of land I just bought, building the equity of the land and lessening the mortgage payment of when I build in a few years.
 
Even the wealthiest folks in our country are driving used vehicles. They aren't buying or driving new vehicles. Even without a loan a new vehicle is a very poor financial decision whether you are rich or poor.
The wealthiest folks are NOT buying used unless it's some rare collector thing. It takes WAY too much time to find the right used vehicle. And time costs money.
 
Someone straighten me out on my thinking. Ill need a new truck this summer, Im waiting for a good deal on a 2016 F-150, 5.0L V8 with a 6 speed transmission.
100-120k miles sells for around $20k. If I put down $5k, and have a $15k loan, my monthly payment will be $300, assuming a 7% interest rate on a 5 year term.
Total interest paid will be $2800 over that 5 year period, this seems like nothing compared to what that cash invested could return in that time period?
I could pay cash, but then I wont be able to pay cash for the utilities that I will put into the chunk of land I just bought, building the equity of the land and lessening the mortgage payment of when I build in a few years.
You do what feels right after considering a lot of things. What are your long term goals? Does working on that land feel with the money make you feel good enough to go into debt? Is that debt a very small amount of your monthly income? Will you be able to pay it off faster than 60 months? Can you do the land thing now and buy a truck for cash or mostly cash next year?

Everyones situation is different and nobody knows yours.
 
The wealthiest folks are NOT buying used unless it's some rare collector thing. It takes WAY too much time to find the right used vehicle. And time costs money.
I said the wealthiest, not your new money millionaire types that think they have more money than they do. We are talking Buffet, Mars, and other multi billionaire types. I promise you they are not driving new cars. Time is money, but money lost to a new car that depreciates as soon as you take it home is a waste. Plus when you are at that level you have plenty of time.
 
I said the wealthiest, not your new money millionaire types that think they have more money than they do. We are talking Buffet, Mars, and other multi billionaire types. I promise you they are not driving new cars. Time is money, but money lost to a new car that depreciates as soon as you take it home is a waste. Plus when you are at that level you have plenty of time.
What you see on the news is not reality. LOL. And 2 celebrity billionaires do not represent most wealthy people.

Just like Buffet telling people to be super diversified. He is one of the least diversified people around.

And Musk having plenty of time? The guy literally sleeps in his office a lot of times because he has no time. And he without question drives brand new Teslas for the most part. He also apparently has a brand new Gulfstream G700 on order.

But none of this has anything to do with anyone on this forum.
 
Someone straighten me out on my thinking. Ill need a new truck this summer, Im waiting for a good deal on a 2016 F-150, 5.0L V8 with a 6 speed transmission.
100-120k miles sells for around $20k. If I put down $5k, and have a $15k loan, my monthly payment will be $300, assuming a 7% interest rate on a 5 year term.
Total interest paid will be $2800 over that 5 year period, this seems like nothing compared to what that cash invested could return in that time period?
I could pay cash, but then I wont be able to pay cash for the utilities that I will put into the chunk of land I just bought, building the equity of the land and lessening the mortgage payment of when I build in a few years.

I would not be at all excited about 7% for 5 years. When most of us were talking about this strategy we are talking about lower rates. Also for a regular investor over long periods 8-9% is normal return rates so there is not much of a spread to work with and your risk of it working out against you is much higher. Im not saying dont do a loan but I would either do a much shorter term or even of a longer term plan to pay it very early. I would not look at 7% for more than 1 year personally.
 
Someone straighten me out on my thinking. Ill need a new truck this summer, Im waiting for a good deal on a 2016 F-150, 5.0L V8 with a 6 speed transmission.
100-120k miles sells for around $20k. If I put down $5k, and have a $15k loan, my monthly payment will be $300, assuming a 7% interest rate on a 5 year term.
Total interest paid will be $2800 over that 5 year period, this seems like nothing compared to what that cash invested could return in that time period?
I could pay cash, but then I wont be able to pay cash for the utilities that I will put into the chunk of land I just bought, building the equity of the land and lessening the mortgage payment of when I build in a few years.
Everybody’s situation is unique, but I would start saving money and get as close to a cash deal as I could. It might take a couple of years, but I’d rather pay cash than 7% for five years!
 
Would you well to do 1% income Roksliders be willing to do donate to a GoFundMe that I have set up that I "promise" will only go towards investments?
 
He is saying that you want to be close to 0 when it comes to owing or getting a refund.

If your taxes are set to 0 deductions, you are having the most amount of taxes taken out of your pay.

If your getting money back on taxes, it means that your over paying and giving the government a free loan.
What about owing as much as possible, without having to pay a penalty when filing taxes? I'm talking about few grand or so. I always owe some. Bill
 
Rent prices keep skyrocketing due to ballooning non owner occupied property taxes, homeowners insurance and repair prices.
Some folks are desperate to own a home vs paying $2500 rent for 1200sf rental.
I get it, really hard to time any market, but it does get frustrating when the fundamentals are all signaling a pull back and yet it never comes
 
What about owing as much as possible, without having to pay a penalty when filing taxes? I'm talking about few grand or so. I always owe some. Bill

Im not sure I would target owing as much as possible but I generally try to owe some. Unless I forget to change withholding on my bonus check but luckily thats usually my last check of the year so at least I get it back fast.
 
What about owing as much as possible, without having to pay a penalty when filing taxes? I'm talking about few grand or so. I always owe some. Bill

My strategy is based on a 0 number line.
If I owe or pay $500 each way of $0 I’m calling it good.
 
May be true for the 85%, but really, really gonna suck for the 15%
15% of Americans are in upper middle class and 85% of them die without spending most of their money. So, about 13% of Americans don't spend as much on their retirement as they could. The reason for this is that they worked their asses off, probably well educated, professional carrer, smart with common sense (very rare and tiny percent of Americans). These same people that worked to get where they are are unlikely to spend it all like a "________" with a credit card would do! In fact these people are afraid of not having enough. I’m above the upper middle class in San Diego in the top 10% and I’m afraid of not having enough money. The more money you make the better the lifestyle. Nicer home, remodels, and cost of living in San Diego is sky high, taxes here and there. I probably pay about $40-$50k in just state and federal income tax, my sales tax is 9% or so, utility bills sky high. Bill
 
Im not sure I would target owing as much as possible but I generally try to owe some. Unless I forget to change withholding on my bonus check but luckily thats usually my last check of the year so at least I get it back fast.
Yeah! well, I’m real OCD in these threads and get carried away!!! I usually owe a few grand at the end, without having to pay penalties and I have the money. I don’t know what the max I could owe without paying a penalty, maybe $7k? However, I don’t want to experiment.
 
Yeah! well, I’m real OCD in these threads and get carried away!!! I usually owe a few grand at the end, without having to pay penalties and I have the money. I don’t know what the max I could owe without paying a penalty, maybe $7k? However, I don’t want to experiment.
I owed an additional 5% of my income in taxes this year and paid a $300 penalty on it. I don’t know where the cutoff is but 5% is penalty range (at least in my case).

The only reason it ends up like that each year is capital gains that I don’t see until February. If I took those out I’d only owe about 1-2% and wouldn’t pay the small penalty.

Edit: based on below google, I only payed 71% if my total taxes paycheck to paycheck. I owed 29% at tax time thus worthy of the penalty.

Quick google shows :
 

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Where I live, I can just drive around the HUD neiborhoods and apartments if I want to look at brand new trucks, boats and snowmachines. It’s like window shopping except you sort of feel sad when you do it.
There is actually a level of logic to this. If your assets (savings accounts and such) become too valuable, you stop being eligible for assistance and start paying more for housing.

Vehicles and expensive shoes can be sold, but don't count against you. Also, ignoring ethics, why would one not buy nice things if saving the money means you have to spend it on the basics?

The current system does more to keep people poor than to help them back on their feet.

You see the same thing with disability and people not going back to work because they will end up bringing home less money. I have personally watched this change good, hard working men for the worst. It is toxic.

The hand up becomes a ball and chain. Every solution quickly gets political, in part because rather than just looking for results, there is an ethical/moral element to how we all feel about it.

Sorry, meant to just share something I found interesting, then started down the rabbit hole.
 
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