12% are paying $1,000+ a month for car loans ...

billt460 said:
Individually you're correct. It doesn't matter..... Up to a point. Until you get an entire nation of debtors. With the majority of people carrying more and more debt. Because, well, everyone's doing it. Much like the attitude we're seeing now.... "$1,150.00 car payment?... No big deal!".

That makes us less financially secure as a nation. If anyone needs a good example of this type of financial foolishness, you don't have to look any further than our own government.

Their current "print and spend" mentality, along with giving everyone handouts for everything from Covid to college debt, has driven this country into a financial hole, that even the current crop of millennials grandchildren are not going to be able to dig out of. Then what?

At some point, someone is going to have to pay the piper, or all hell will break loose. It's happened before. It can, and will happen again. History has a very ugly way of repeating itself.

When interest payments start consuming the bulk of your labor, you're no longer working to get ahead. You're working just to be able to keep what you have..... Because you don't own it. The bank does. And when you factor in that it's going for a depreciating asset, it gets even worse.

That weakens us as a country. And when you have the bulk of the citizenry doing much the same, it can become dangerous. Remember, it was the whole, "Everyone's doing it!", free spending lifestyle of the "Roaring 20's" that led to the Great Depression of the 30's. All credit and paper, and no actual wealth, is very dangerous ground to stand on.

And for anyone who thinks I'm exaggerating any of this, This should scare the hell out of you.

https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/per...really,unforeseen $500 expense without worry.
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None of that will be my problem. The smart people like myself will look for ways to further profit from that impending disaster. Rich get richer. Poor get poorer.
 
10WSmuckers said:
None of that will be my problem. The smart people like myself will look for ways to further profit from that impending disaster. Rich get richer. Poor get poorer.
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True. That's most always the case. But the problem is we now have too many that, because of their own foolish financial actions, will be crossing over to the, "poor side". Not directly because of the "disaster" itself. But because their actions en masse helped cause it.
 
billt460 said:
But the problem is we now have too many that, because of their own foolish financial actions, will be crossing over to the, "poor side".
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Some people need to live and learn lessons the hard way, and even then they fail to learn the lesson. 🤑
 
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GMFan said:
Some people inherit large sums of money or make windfalls on stocks.
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I know someone who inherited about $50k from his grandmother. He immediately used the money to buy a brand-new car. I guess that would be OK if he weren't on SSI (disability for people who don't have enough work credits to qualify for SSDI, it pays about $800 a month) and didn't have the proverbial pot to pee in. Not even a year later, his roommate (really his landlord, though I don't think he was paying any rent) had a bipolar episode and took the car and totaled it by driving it into the side of a chicken coop on the roommate's property. The guy claims that insurance wouldn't pay for it, and that they never paid him anything for the car. (I'd think he'd be entitled to salvage value at least).

He's one of those people I mentioned elsewhere that would be homeless if he didn't have someone to sponge off of. Last I heard he's living with his uncle.

I don't want to know people like this, believe me. I went to high school with the guy. I tried to help him out, what a huge waste of time that was.
 
Yep sad when you look at the stickers of vehicles now and think oh 60k that ain’t bad these days

Obviously the quick math says that’s 1000+ a month

It’s a normalcy anymore through out most of the middle to middle-upper class

That’s what new and used cars cost

Some of these same people are dropping 500 a weekend on traveling sports for their kids too
 
brianl703 said:
I know someone who inherited about $50k from his grandmother. He immediately used the money to buy a brand-new car. I guess that would be OK if he weren't on SSI (disability for people who don't have enough work credits to qualify for SSDI,
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By the way, one reason seemingly-poor people drive pricey vehicles is because often various welfare doesn't count one home and one vehicle in their ability to get welfare. And they are only allowed to have so much in cash or investments, etc. (generalizing here.) So you'll see people with a fancy vehicle, and perhaps a fancy home, while at the same time they are on welfare.

Also, the attitude of "I'll still be ok when all the people wasting their money catches up with them" sounds good until remembering the big push for "equity" lately. It's going to be a big problem.
 
What we don't know is the percentage with $1,000+ payments, say, 3 years ago, before the pandemic. A direct comparison with that 12% figure would be useful.

The reason is we've seen most new-car dealers sell cars for well over MSRP since supplies became tight. Most buyers have to finance. I wonder how much of that $1,000+ payment is for the dealer's added markup. The guy who paid $80,000 for a new $40,000 Bronco because of dealer gouging might wonder too.
 
DejaVue said:
By the way, one reason seemingly-poor people drive pricey vehicles is because often various welfare doesn't count one home and one vehicle in their ability to get welfare. And they are only allowed to have so much in cash or investments, etc. (generalizing here.) So you'll see people with a fancy vehicle, and perhaps a fancy home, while at the same time they are on welfare.
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Yea. I'm aware of that. It didn't occur to this guy to use some of his inheritance money to pay off some of his creditors and maybe do something about that 400 credit score...
 
HowAboutThis said:
Even if I had the money, cars are stupid to spend money on. But we're the USA and you can't stop a bunch of entitled narcissists from making poor financial choices.

It won't matter, until it does matter. You can just feel the impending doom in the world. Just hanging over your head like clouds rolling in. And wondering if there will be a little thunder and rain or if it's a tornado.

If this war and geopolitical stuff get much worse, you'll see "free trade" and the supply chain get weirder than now. Especially in countries that import necessities, like food, it'll be super bad. In countries like the US there will be riots because Cindy can't get the cinnamon for her pumpkin spice latte and had to eat beef and bread, even though she's vegan, because the packaging for her soy meat was held up in a pirate attack when being shipped from somewhere in the world.
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If you have lots of money-you can spend stupid money. AND it's not up to us to suggest what people do with their EXCESS "stupid" money.
 
there is a saying in the industry; a brand new car costs about $1200 monthly on average taking into consideration, its payment, insurance, depreciation, maintenance, gas etc etc...
 
brianl703 said:
I know a guy that drove a 1984 Chevy Cavalier (sometimes) and a 1998 Nissan Frontier (mostly) until he passed away last year. He also was investing in Mobil stock back when it sold for $8 a share, because he worked for them.

That guy? My dad. He most certainly had enough money to go buy a $100k pickup truck and pay cash for it, but he didn't. Born in 1939, he grew up on the South Side of Chicago, dirt poor growing up, and I think for him, it was far more important to have money in the bank and invested than nice wheels in front of the house. I can only remember him buying three cars in my lifetime: That 84 Cavalier (new), an 86 Ranger (used), and the 98 Frontier (used). The ONLY reason he got the Frontier is because the engine on the Ranger developed some sort of knock.

And every single one of them is/was a stickshift. He didn't like automatics, for some reason.
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Definitely my type of guy Brian. If people like your Dad ran this country we would have a balanced budget and no worries about excessive government spending. Just stability, a strong middle class, and pensions.
 
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