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2Addicts | BMW 2-Series forum BMW 2 Series (F22) Forum 2 Series Pricing, Ordering, European Delivery Life/Financial Advice on Becoming a 2 Series Owner

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      06-27-2020, 03:04 PM   #23
fast5
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Originally Posted by AleksanderSuave View Post
I just turned 30, so I might have some perspective to share with you.

Unless you own property, and your current car is giving you trouble that you cannot fix for an amount lower than the car's worth, you dont need this car.

Your job situation is likely not as stable as you imagine it to be during this Financial crisis.

If your current car isn't paid off (or worth reasonably more than what you have owed on it), you're not strong in a position to buy another, financially, so you'll be rolling over old debt to get into new debt.

With the car payment, you will also have insurance, maintenance (tires and modifications arent free).

That will easily eat the $1000/mo income surplus you're saving now.

Buy a house. Rates are historically low. I'm on house number 3 now. The only thing I've ever regretted is not buying a bigger house, when the market was prime for it, because when I sell any house Ive owned, Ive always doubled my money.


If you have 6 month's worth of living expenses saved up, you're doing solid. True living expenses. Cost of everything you pay for now, monthly.

Double that to a year's worth and keep it safe. Use that money to build a secondary stream of income or equity. Then buy whatever car you want.

TLDR: Economy is uncertain now, you have decent income, but thats without knowing relatively what your expenses are. Job can disappear and getting hired now for good money is close to impossible.

The only loan I would sign for (and currently am) would be to refinance down any interest rates on existing debts.

Cash is king.
Thanks so much for this comprehensive reply. Really appreciate the advice. Also, congratulations on the milestone.

No trouble as of yet with my current car, aside from the fact that I'll be moving cities for an indefinite period of time and the shipping will cost me nearly $2k - a new development I've been thinking about. My car is probably worth $2-4k more than the debt on it, depending on how it's sold.

Just to clarify my earlier statement, the $200 incremental payment includes the increase in insurance.

As for my savings, I recently calculated it and I have around 1.5 years of living expenses in liquid assets.

You're totally right, I've been looking at opportunities to buy a house or a condo. However, at least in the markets I'm in, it seems like the low interest rates are supporting home prices along with the limited amount of supply. Any thoughts as to when the distress will start to materialize in home values?

Anyways, as an alternative to shipping my car or overextending myself on an M240i, I found a '16 M235i online for $24k. My main concern is that it's not CPO and I'm not familiar buying from a private party. Any thoughts on this?
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      06-27-2020, 03:13 PM   #24
fast5
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Originally Posted by 335xi Beast View Post
Some good points. Better yet become an Ins broker and get 30 sales folks working under you. All 1099. They make you tons of money, Covid-19 proof industry to work in and the great thing is your income goes up every single year for life! Granted several good companies you represent, 90% + retention or better, service is great. No brainer imo. Yes, I'm an Ins broker. Work hard in the beginning and cruise afterwards. Spend most of my time on the golf course working on larger deals with company owners, etc. Find the people who OWN EVERYTHING is key. That's where the money is.
Sounds like you've got an awesome gig and are living the life. Thanks for sharing your secrets to success. I'm enjoying the industry I'm in so far, but will definitely consider your route if I'm looking for a change. If you don't mind me asking, how many years of hard work did you have to go through to get to your position?
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      06-27-2020, 03:50 PM   #25
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Originally Posted by fast5 View Post
Sounds like you've got an awesome gig and are living the life. Thanks for sharing your secrets to success. I'm enjoying the industry I'm in so far, but will definitely consider your route if I'm looking for a change. If you don't mind me asking, how many years of hard work did you have to go through to get to your position?
I started in 1993. Didn't know shit. Fortunately golf got me the gig. I knew a guy who owned his own agency and asked if I was continuing my pro golf career. I said after 2 years of grinding it out on several mini tours, living out of the trunk of my car basically, i couldn't shoot 65 every time I teed like the other players. Dreams were shattered so Plan B evolved.

Learned a bit from my first agency, got hired to run my own gig on a 3 year stress program. Got through it and the rest is history. Hire great people I find is the key over the years. Have excellent agency processes and structure and it becomes a juggernaut so to speak. The business is just like compounding interest. After a few years it starts to mushroom as far as commissions. Keep hiring , 1099 mostly, a few w-2's for admin and service and its off to the races. Don't get me wrong it takes a while to figure out what works and what doesn't which you have to go through. Luckily enough I found a few mentors who "made" it and I begged for help. I basically mirrored their play book and rolled with it. Tweaked it to my liking but the foundation they layed out for me. Without that I would have failed miserably.

I worked my ass off in the beginning and smarter as I get older. I hunt for whales and let me sales crew keep writing the small stuff every day, every week, every month so they are focused based upon the commission structure and bonus opportunies. Keeps them hungry so they make good money and I get my cut from all of them. That's the beauty of this business. I worry more about my next golf trip and business golf outings these days.
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      06-27-2020, 03:51 PM   #26
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We've always spent/bought/borrowed, based on if we both lost our jobs and had to temp, could we still pay bills.

$200 additional a month with decent income is not that much. Sounds like if you lost your job and went and made $75K, you'd be ok.

Get a great deal (so if you need out of in year its no issue) - you looking for auto or manual ? Auto have been cheaper (some will try and argue otherwise here lol)

I have a 16' 235i with low mileage CPO, and its nice security. (you are paying a premium for that warranty btw...warranties after used are much more expensive then when buying new...their cost about 3x as much)

Few on CPO site out your way - check for paint or wrecked, CPO does not guarantee that. Nice white RWD in San Antonio.

Good luck
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      06-28-2020, 06:24 AM   #27
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Think about this: if you had the $35K in your savings account now, would you still clean it out to get the car? Or would you use it as a deposit on a nice property? Or a year off going 'round the world on a budget? Or negotiate 6 weeks off work, unpaid, to do a European Driving holiday? Or buy that custom MTB you always wanted and take a 3 week holiday doing trails in the Rockies? Or even give you the option to tell your obnoxious new boss to go **** himself and quit, without worrying about paying the bills. And so on. Having money in the bank means you have lots of choices. Borrowing money means you have lots of constraints. I'm not saying any option is right/wrong, but perhaps it's worth thinking more broadly.

Swapping cars is going to cost you what, $20K over 3-4 years? Even if you borrow to spend it all, is driving the car for that time better than taking a year to Globetrot or whatever other option you could go for?
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Last edited by msej449; 06-28-2020 at 06:35 AM..
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      06-30-2020, 07:34 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fast5 View Post
Thanks so much for this comprehensive reply. Really appreciate the advice. Also, congratulations on the milestone.

No trouble as of yet with my current car, aside from the fact that I'll be moving cities for an indefinite period of time and the shipping will cost me nearly $2k - a new development I've been thinking about. My car is probably worth $2-4k more than the debt on it, depending on how it's sold.

Just to clarify my earlier statement, the $200 incremental payment includes the increase in insurance.

As for my savings, I recently calculated it and I have around 1.5 years of living expenses in liquid assets.

You're totally right, I've been looking at opportunities to buy a house or a condo. However, at least in the markets I'm in, it seems like the low interest rates are supporting home prices along with the limited amount of supply. Any thoughts as to when the distress will start to materialize in home values?

Anyways, as an alternative to shipping my car or overextending myself on an M240i, I found a '16 M235i online for $24k. My main concern is that it's not CPO and I'm not familiar buying from a private party. Any thoughts on this?
Interestingly enough, the real estate market has not felt the full effect of COVID yet...which I believe is yet to come.

People need to start running out of money first. Once unemployment starts running out, we will be seeing it.

For the time being, Im willing to bet that most mortgage activity is in the form of refinances currently..so home values will not be falling immediately.

However, COVID has created previously unheard of unemployment rates. The odds are that a certain % of the workforce will not be returning to their usual job, or to any job at all as they look for work.

its also possible that the government will step in and create some kind of preventative foreclosure measures to stop 2008 from repeating..so I wouldnt be banking on falling property values to find a deal anytime soon.

bringing this back to car discussion..I prefer the 240 over the 235. The B58 engine is worth the extra money. I came from a 335 so I didnt want another N55.

My personally, I'd pass on that. Some guys wouldnt feel the same way.

If you're gonna spend the money on a depreciating asset, get what you want, not a compromise
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