Income Demographic in order to offer STi
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Income Demographic in order to afford STi
Hi there,
I want to see what is the average income an STi owner earn, so I can determine if I can afford one or not...I really love it.
I'm 19 years old, work as a Foreclosure Specialist for a law firm, have a salary of $25000, with no bills to pay.
Thank you for all of you who can advise me here...
I want to see what is the average income an STi owner earn, so I can determine if I can afford one or not...I really love it.
I'm 19 years old, work as a Foreclosure Specialist for a law firm, have a salary of $25000, with no bills to pay.
Thank you for all of you who can advise me here...
Last edited by ChinkM3; Jun 17, 2003 at 02:34 PM.
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This summer I'll probably make 5-6,000 and maybe 1500 will be for an audio system, then maybe 400 or 500 for a new watch because I lost mine but the rest is going towards the STi. Parents are footing the bill in the mean time, and next summer I will also be helping pay for the car.
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Please take the following as friendly free advice:
At 19, the last thing I would recommend you do is run out and acquire a $32,000 car. I own an STi, but at 31 years of age I have the means to comfortably add it to my garage without negatively impacting my family, lifestyle or future.
You mention you make $25k per year. That amounts to about $2,083.00 per month. After taxes your take home pay is, at best, $1,666.00 per month. If you WERE able to secure a loan for a $32,000.00 car it might be at a high interest rate given your age and income level. It is very likely you could have a $600-700 monthly car payment assuming you could put $3000.00 down. Then you would have to factor in insurance, which at 19 would be at least $2000.00 more per year ($166.00 per month).
In short, buy a nice used car and spend the money on college tuition or a down payment on a house so you can earn some equity.
Again, just my $.02.
At 19, the last thing I would recommend you do is run out and acquire a $32,000 car. I own an STi, but at 31 years of age I have the means to comfortably add it to my garage without negatively impacting my family, lifestyle or future.
You mention you make $25k per year. That amounts to about $2,083.00 per month. After taxes your take home pay is, at best, $1,666.00 per month. If you WERE able to secure a loan for a $32,000.00 car it might be at a high interest rate given your age and income level. It is very likely you could have a $600-700 monthly car payment assuming you could put $3000.00 down. Then you would have to factor in insurance, which at 19 would be at least $2000.00 more per year ($166.00 per month).
In short, buy a nice used car and spend the money on college tuition or a down payment on a house so you can earn some equity.
Again, just my $.02.
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Originally posted by FlyingDutchman
Please take the following as friendly free advice:
At 19, the last thing I would recommend you do is run out and acquire a $32,000 car. I own an STi, but at 31 years of age I have the means to comfortably add it to my garage without negatively impacting my family, lifestyle or future.
You mention you make $25k per year. That amounts to about $2,083.00 per month. After taxes your take home pay is, at best, $1,666.00 per month. If you WERE able to secure a loan for a $32,000.00 car it might be at a high interest rate given your age and income level. It is very likely you could have a $600-700 monthly car payment assuming you could put $3000.00 down. Then you would have to factor in insurance, which at 19 would be at least $2000.00 more per year ($166.00 per month).
In short, buy a nice used car and spend the money on college tuition or a down payment on a house so you can earn some equity.
Again, just my $.02.
Please take the following as friendly free advice:
At 19, the last thing I would recommend you do is run out and acquire a $32,000 car. I own an STi, but at 31 years of age I have the means to comfortably add it to my garage without negatively impacting my family, lifestyle or future.
You mention you make $25k per year. That amounts to about $2,083.00 per month. After taxes your take home pay is, at best, $1,666.00 per month. If you WERE able to secure a loan for a $32,000.00 car it might be at a high interest rate given your age and income level. It is very likely you could have a $600-700 monthly car payment assuming you could put $3000.00 down. Then you would have to factor in insurance, which at 19 would be at least $2000.00 more per year ($166.00 per month).
In short, buy a nice used car and spend the money on college tuition or a down payment on a house so you can earn some equity.
Again, just my $.02.
Lets hope 'ChinkM3' and others hear what was said.
- Janq
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Here is my organized plan of purchase...At this moment I am planning on buying the STI. I make the same amount of money as chinkm3 does. I have acquired 15,000 so far which I am planning on using to purchase the STI. Well, the other half will be furnished by my folks which I have to pay them back asap. ( I will be working my *** off). So no loans or finance charges here. I am also a full time university student with projected graduation in 1 1/2 years. I have no college loans taken out, so I am clean there. I do need a new car, but do not want to purchase a used one. Now, knowing that I will graduate soon and I will find a decent job with a BA degree earning between $35,000 to 45,000, I can pay back my parents and start saving up for a house. Oh did I mention that I am goin to a graduate school after that? 
As dutchboy mentioned, maybe I should as well consider putting the 15,000 I got towards a house or the graduate school...hmmm...should I base my decision on my future income?
As dutchboy mentioned, maybe I should as well consider putting the 15,000 I got towards a house or the graduate school...hmmm...should I base my decision on my future income?
Last edited by nuke; Jun 18, 2003 at 09:19 AM.
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There is a poll on NASIOC toward this created a month or two ago as I recall.
Generally my rule of thumb for 'affordability' of any depreciating expense is to calculate the ownership costs for 5 years and then if that number is less than 33% of my cash savings (excluding retirement funds & college savings) within the year of purchase then I feel okay about going forward.
Further I always try to minimize my intial purchase cost(s) as much as possible which reduces my overall depreciation during ownership resulting in increased affordability at time of purchase as well as over the term of ownership.
My rule applies to _any_ non-necessary and/or toy purchase whether it be a rare watch ($4.5K value/$2K paid), rare handmade custom bike ($5K value/$2.2K paid), tourney paintball equipment ($4.3K value/$2.9K paid), finishing my basement ($32K value/$17K paid) or wood floors for my wife although there is nothing wrong with carpet ($3K value/$1K paid), and then of course a month later she wants 'carpet' to "protect" the wood floors and "add color" to the rooms ($900 msrp/marked down to $375).
I'll never understand women or irrational thought patterns, but one thing I do know are budgets & budgeting. With cars I have never paid 'retail', as I negotiate everything including the finance cost/rate, and I focus on a rule of 'buy low & sell high or h hold'. Even if the STi will be your only car my rule applies as its still a 'toy' and not a necessary expense as viable & fun transportation can be had for several thousand bucks via the vibrant used car market.
When I was younger & dumber (20) I bought my first car new while still in college at $13K ('92 Subaru Legacy AWD L+) which had a monthly payment of about $200/month @ 60 months and it nearly bankrupted me! Thank goodness I had no concept then of 'bankruptcy'. What I did have a concept of was skipping meals (eat once per day) so I could buy gas to make it to work & school, sleeping in my car and 'crashing' with firends as I was homeless due to not having money for my rent, storing my clothes & 'stuff' in my trunk as I could not afford a storage unit due to maint. costs of the car, driving around sweatin' like Saddam as I had not budgeted money to keep my insurance up to date and let it lapse for months...but 'Roger' the finance guy 'approved' me for the loan and told me I could afford it! Worst, I bought the car at 'employee cost' from a Subie dealer I had worked with since high school and the finance manager knew exactly how much I made & that I was in school and he was my 'friend' (Not!) and let me drive away without paying them a deposit for 30 days so that I could "save it up" (which I never was able to do due to other expenses like food & gas & rent & school books) so I borrowed the d/p from my old boss who paid it out of his own pocket and basically bought my 'vig' which took me another 6 mos. to come up with the cash...and the story goes on for another 2 years. Until I grew up, got my head out of my a$$ and decided something had to be done to stop living 'paycheck to paycheck minus $200'.
A decade later I have since gotten married, bought a couple of homes, had a kid, started a business, owned/leased nine or ten cars, got myself out of debt (and stayed that way!) and learned many hard lessons including the fact that just because you can get a loan for something doesn't mean you can afford it. I also learned that saving a little each month goes a long way every year. Further I have learned that all cars are 'optional' and that no option should ever be the focus of your life as otherwise you'll have no life at all.
Now this may sound like a sad story, but don't take it that way as if I had to do it all again I would. That Legacy was one of the best 'values' I have ever found. It got me laid several times as often I was the only guy around with a car that worked albeit the trunk was full of dirty clothes, the passenger seat my bed and the back seat the 'entertainment center'. Its saved my *** more than once during extremely bad weather (snow and rain) and to this day its my wife & I favorite car and we talk about it more fondly than our dog which we have had since we met a decade ago.
My point is to let you know that one mans affordable is another mans bankruptcy. Also what one man makes per month has _zero_ bearing on what they can or will afford. There are plenty of broke 'rich' people flossin' in M3's, 911's and I suspect STI's. While there are an equal amount of 'wealthy' people pushing Echo's, Prius', and every other 'budget' car you can think of. You have to decide on your own what you can and _will_ afford then 'get in where ya fit in'.
Don't use the neighbors finanicial situation and monthly paycheck as a gauge for your personal needs, as your neighbors won't come to your rescue when you fall upon hard time$.
- Janq
Generally my rule of thumb for 'affordability' of any depreciating expense is to calculate the ownership costs for 5 years and then if that number is less than 33% of my cash savings (excluding retirement funds & college savings) within the year of purchase then I feel okay about going forward.
Further I always try to minimize my intial purchase cost(s) as much as possible which reduces my overall depreciation during ownership resulting in increased affordability at time of purchase as well as over the term of ownership.
My rule applies to _any_ non-necessary and/or toy purchase whether it be a rare watch ($4.5K value/$2K paid), rare handmade custom bike ($5K value/$2.2K paid), tourney paintball equipment ($4.3K value/$2.9K paid), finishing my basement ($32K value/$17K paid) or wood floors for my wife although there is nothing wrong with carpet ($3K value/$1K paid), and then of course a month later she wants 'carpet' to "protect" the wood floors and "add color" to the rooms ($900 msrp/marked down to $375).
I'll never understand women or irrational thought patterns, but one thing I do know are budgets & budgeting. With cars I have never paid 'retail', as I negotiate everything including the finance cost/rate, and I focus on a rule of 'buy low & sell high or h hold'. Even if the STi will be your only car my rule applies as its still a 'toy' and not a necessary expense as viable & fun transportation can be had for several thousand bucks via the vibrant used car market.
When I was younger & dumber (20) I bought my first car new while still in college at $13K ('92 Subaru Legacy AWD L+) which had a monthly payment of about $200/month @ 60 months and it nearly bankrupted me! Thank goodness I had no concept then of 'bankruptcy'. What I did have a concept of was skipping meals (eat once per day) so I could buy gas to make it to work & school, sleeping in my car and 'crashing' with firends as I was homeless due to not having money for my rent, storing my clothes & 'stuff' in my trunk as I could not afford a storage unit due to maint. costs of the car, driving around sweatin' like Saddam as I had not budgeted money to keep my insurance up to date and let it lapse for months...but 'Roger' the finance guy 'approved' me for the loan and told me I could afford it! Worst, I bought the car at 'employee cost' from a Subie dealer I had worked with since high school and the finance manager knew exactly how much I made & that I was in school and he was my 'friend' (Not!) and let me drive away without paying them a deposit for 30 days so that I could "save it up" (which I never was able to do due to other expenses like food & gas & rent & school books) so I borrowed the d/p from my old boss who paid it out of his own pocket and basically bought my 'vig' which took me another 6 mos. to come up with the cash...and the story goes on for another 2 years. Until I grew up, got my head out of my a$$ and decided something had to be done to stop living 'paycheck to paycheck minus $200'.
A decade later I have since gotten married, bought a couple of homes, had a kid, started a business, owned/leased nine or ten cars, got myself out of debt (and stayed that way!) and learned many hard lessons including the fact that just because you can get a loan for something doesn't mean you can afford it. I also learned that saving a little each month goes a long way every year. Further I have learned that all cars are 'optional' and that no option should ever be the focus of your life as otherwise you'll have no life at all.
Now this may sound like a sad story, but don't take it that way as if I had to do it all again I would. That Legacy was one of the best 'values' I have ever found. It got me laid several times as often I was the only guy around with a car that worked albeit the trunk was full of dirty clothes, the passenger seat my bed and the back seat the 'entertainment center'. Its saved my *** more than once during extremely bad weather (snow and rain) and to this day its my wife & I favorite car and we talk about it more fondly than our dog which we have had since we met a decade ago.
My point is to let you know that one mans affordable is another mans bankruptcy. Also what one man makes per month has _zero_ bearing on what they can or will afford. There are plenty of broke 'rich' people flossin' in M3's, 911's and I suspect STI's. While there are an equal amount of 'wealthy' people pushing Echo's, Prius', and every other 'budget' car you can think of. You have to decide on your own what you can and _will_ afford then 'get in where ya fit in'.
Don't use the neighbors finanicial situation and monthly paycheck as a gauge for your personal needs, as your neighbors won't come to your rescue when you fall upon hard time$.
- Janq
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"While there are an equal amount of 'wealthy' people pushing Echo's, Prius', and every other 'budget' car you can think of."
That would be me! I drive a my01 Toyota Echo. I owe roughly 3K on it and it is my only car. I bought it because of the excessive driving I do with my Job. The car gets close to 45MPG on the Highway and I am payed $.32 per mile. Insurance is next to nothing.
Let's just say I have made a little over $42K this year so far and with this car, I'll be laughing all the way to the Bank. I put most of my income towards the principal on my House.
I might buy a used STI in a couple of years. Or maybe not. Depends on how bad I want it and if I want the extra payment.
I am 25 Years old and I will make over $80K this year.
That would be me! I drive a my01 Toyota Echo. I owe roughly 3K on it and it is my only car. I bought it because of the excessive driving I do with my Job. The car gets close to 45MPG on the Highway and I am payed $.32 per mile. Insurance is next to nothing.
Let's just say I have made a little over $42K this year so far and with this car, I'll be laughing all the way to the Bank. I put most of my income towards the principal on my House.
I might buy a used STI in a couple of years. Or maybe not. Depends on how bad I want it and if I want the extra payment.
I am 25 Years old and I will make over $80K this year.
