458 Am I crazy or not

I don't know much about the US market (so basing my opinion on what car residuals do in the UK) - a 458 Italia value will not drop below a certain price point. 458 Italia values are super strong in the UK (9 year old 458 is the same price or more than a 2018 MC720s). So the cash youre using is not going to evaporate into thin air and you wont suffer much on the future value either. In fact you would lose more money in buying a high end new BMW over 3 years than you would in a used 458.
All cars need to be taxed and all cars need to be serviced - so other members pointing this out is pointless.
The Italia are more or less bullet proof and if you're buying from a Ferrari dealer, you're likely to get a warranty covering you for any unforeseen issues.

 

You might be right!

I actually tried to buy an F40 several times back then, but never pulled the trigger. At one point, I found a slightly damaged one for sale for around $210K (up at Ferrari of SF), but sadly it was sold out from under me while I was driving up to the dealership to see it. I think it had front end suspension damage as I recall - and it might have been yellow, but don't quote me on that. Then several times I considered getting one, but at the time they were selling for $349K, which seemed like too much. And then I bumped into the CFO of Apple computer at Laguna Seca and he had one that he tracked - which he told me he had bought for $250K. So then I decided I would wait and see if they came back down closer to $300K. Of course, within only a few years, they broke above $400K and never looked back.

Sometime later, I remember I bumped into a kid in Monterey (during car week) and he had an F40 parked outside Embassy suite. I walked over and said hello and mentioned I was in the market for one and did he mind saying what he paid for his. He said, "No, I don't wanna say, but I think I clipped the top of the market". At the time, the market on the F40 was around $649K, so my guess is he paid probably close to $700K for it. I remember thinking he had lost his mind to pay that much. However, given current prices, I think he probably made out okay.

I also found a super nice F40 LM at one point. I believe some guy in Monaco owned it. He faxed me all sorts of info. I don't remember the cost, but I think it was pretty much a full blown race car. I seem to remember it had a sequential shifter and full race interior with window nets and a halon fire system. I often wonder who that person was or whatever became of that car. At the time, I didn't really realize how rare the F40 LM was.

Anyway, yeah $288K was a fun trade, but it was actually also sort of a disappointing trade in how it all worked out - and also a very bizarre one at the same time. I don't remember the full details, but the trade went something like this: I remember I bought two very large lots of options on two different stocks. One was AMD and the other was some other tech stock. I had maybe $30K in each trade (so a total of maybe $60K worth of options). I could be wrong, but let's say about that. I was up a bit, then down, then tank city. Both options sank like a rock near expiration and I had no way out; in the final week, they were trading at about 5 cents per contract or something. I had several thousand contracts for each stock, but basically both were worthless - and they only had a few more days left before expiration. Anyway, Cramer was on CNBC talking about Dell and something about AMD and how great their chips were and everyone should buy, buy, buy AMD.

So that got me to thinking.. this guy might be on to something. I thought maybe he was getting wind of some deal coming up or maybe he had seen hedge funds loading up on AMD or something. Anyway, since both my option trades were squarely in the toilet, I figured what the heck.. so I closed out the other options contracts and doubled down on my AMD contracts. So then instead of having maybe 2000 or 3000 worthless AMD contacts at 5 cents, I had something crazy like 6000 contracts worth of about to expire options at 5 cent each. I figured I might as well hope for a Hail Mary or some sort and go out with style.

Unbelievably, the next day, Dell made some huge announcement that they were going to start using AMD chips. Cramer was all over the after hours talking about how this was a game changer for AMD and soon you'd be seeing AMD chips being put into every Dell sold, blah, blah, blah. AMD stock jumped something like $5 in after hours trading. The next morning, pre-market, my option trade went from being worth around $5K or $6K (or something) to indicating gains of ~$455,000. However, just one problem: the options market opens 15 minutes after the equity markets. So I had to sit at my desk watching AMD gap up and then trade off and take my options contracts with it. By the time the options market started trading, my trade was "only" worth $288K and I closed out at the bid as fast as I could. I think I even sold under the bid, just to ensure all 6000 or whatever contracts went at once. Could have been much, much worse, so I was pretty happy to have made anything.

In retrospect, I should have shorted AMD at the open and then covered using my options contracts - but I wasn't thinking fast enough and probably didn't have the leverage to short that much of the actual stock anyway.

Fun times.

As far as buying the 288 GTO... don't forget trading profits are taxed as income (unless you select trading as your occupation w/ the IRS), so that $288K was probably barely just enough to cover the 360 haha

Ray

 

I did say deposit !

 

Lol, I think you are being sensible dude, the others are just getting exited

Sent from my SM-F916B using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

I think people are forgetting that OP said he is retired. Not only retired, but an early retiree. To me, $600K for retirement does not sound enough to put $200K into a depreciating car.

 

it depends. are you healthy? do you have any family left? do they need money if you suddenly pass? how is your relationship with them?

Assuming you are healthy now, but life has its own will and overpower any mortal's, and if you work so hard for it, I say why not? it's not like it is going to depreciate like Lusso now or 812 later? Hey you may even be able to drive it for free couple years. Get a spider though.

 

oh oh, you guys are getting Ray firing up!

 

Defo agree on the spider if you are going to go for it

Sent from my SM-F916B using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

HELOC? YOLO.

 

$600K and newly retired at 61 and you’re thinking of buying a Ferrari?
Are you nuts?
I wouldn’t even buy a new ‘vette, but rather look for a preowned C7.

 

If I was 61, retired and had $600K in savings and not under the prospect of near term death, I would unretire or I would not be able to sleep at night. The last purchase I would make is a $200K car that would not only remove that amount from my investment opportunities it is a depreciating asset that will inevitably be subject to costly repair and maintenance. Just my personal opinion.

 

As long as you have your monthly nut covered and not draining your savings going forward, it's not the end of the world. You can find a decent 458 for 160-175k. They likely won't depreciate much further down. Just consider the sink opportunity cost with having that money not earning or growing for you going forward.

 

In your OP you failed to mention you lived comfortably off your pension, so that does modify the calculus quite a bit. I would say that if you are passionate about Ferrari, and you can find a nice example of a 458, then it may not be a terrible place to “park” some money and enjoy it before the grim reaper shows his ugly head.
If you’re willing to wait until 65, then you might consider taking the money you would have put into the Ferrari and investing it for 4 years.
I’m biased because I spend a lot of time and energy with investing, and thus feel it is always a good idea to try and get your money to make more money for you.

 

You are most welcome.
Btw, and this is just my paranoia speaking, you are on a public site with presumably your real name, and location, and announced to the world you have $600K in the bank....I just wouldn’t do that.
I recommend you change your screen name to something else, and ask a Moderator to redact any posts/quotes that display that information.
Just my .02

 

you need to contact a moderator directly, they don’t read all threads.
Hit the little alert button on the post and explain what you are trying to accomplish.

 

yes, probably better to get it removed

 

Yes. Delete it.

 

As a heads up... There aree is no sales tax in az if you buy private party...

 

I was at my desk searching for hose clamps for my pickup truck and suddenly I found myself swept up into a Ferrarichat discussion lol!

Ray

 

I have a feeling any Banditos will target SoCal first. He obviously has far more $$ in the bank

Anyway, just do what I do... keep a loaded .45 on your desk.

Ray

 

Why don't you go consider renting a 458 for the weekend or something? It's a very fun car, but at the end of the day, owning a Ferrari can sort of be a hassle too.

Anyone who has owned and driven a lot of Ferrari can tell you that the reality of it is a lot different than the fantasy. For one, it immediately puts sort of a "glass window" between you and the rest of the world. You commented that you are just a regular guy - and I tend to be as well. I wear 501's and combat boots around town and usually just a black or white T-shirt. I grew up wrenching on cars and taught myself to weld when I was 16. I joke a lot that if computers didn't come around in the 80's, I would have probably just been a very good welder for a living. Anyway, the point is that one thing you don't realize is that having a Ferrari takes a lot of that away. You are no longer just another guy driving around town when you're in a $300K car. You suddenly become the unapproachable rich guy that people are scared to even interact with. If you are at the Mall, people will sometimes be like "that's the guy in the Ferrari" instead of "hey, nice shoes bro". It's subtle and it depends on where you live, but you can definitely feel that glass wall between you and the rest of civilization in some ways. As much as I like driving my cars, I personally don't care for that all that much.

Also, not everyone likes Ferraris. That means you gotta be a little careful how and where you park. I always park way far away from the rest of cars. For one, I don't want people parking near me and for two, I want to reduce the risk of some ****** walking past and doing something malicious like keying my car or something. Again, a lot depends where you live.

The other thing is some guys think Ferrari = women. It doesn't. Ferrari = teenage boys in Hondas wanting to race you. Sure, I've had a few women yell out "I love you!" or "I wanna marry you" when driving my 360, but I've also had that happen just walking down the side walk - so maybe it's more me than the car haha (I'm just kidding, the sidewalk was in Mexico near a brothel). You get the idea. My point is: if you have any thoughts of your car helping you meet women, that's a flawed notion. If anything, it makes it harder. When I used to be single and dating a lot, I always kept my Ferrari under a black cover and took my truck on 1st and 2nd dates. I figured if I got a second date when driving my fishing truck, then I knew for sure the women was into me, not my car. I remember my ex (who I have kids with) told me she thought I was a bum for the first several months we dated, because I just showed up with my laptop and didn't have a job. Of course that backfired to some degree, because later one she didn't turn out to be a huge fan of Ferraris in the long run (every time I suggested buying one, she has 3 reasons why it was not a good idea). As you can imagine, she's no longer my girlfriend. But I digress.

My point is: you might want to rent the car first and experience what it's actually like to drive it around your neck of the woods. You might find out that it's not as fun - at least in some ways - as you might be expecting. It just depends why you want it and what type of person you are also. If you are like me and don't care what people think and you just want a toy that you can break the tires loose on now and again and/or you mainly just enjoy driving fast, then the 458 is definitely a great choice. If you are a private person and don't want some attention, then a Ferrari isn't a good choice. You gotta be prepared for little kids to wanna check the car out; myself, I always let kids jump in the driver's seat so their Dad's can snap a quick photo. If you can't do that, then buy a Prius and block the fast lane. Just saying.. at some level, when you own a Ferrari, you are an ambassador to the brand when out in public and you need to be aware of that and willing to let people get a selfie or check out your car - even if you are in a rush to get to the bank before closing, etc.

Here's a perfect example: one Saturday night, I was coming home from a date and I stopped at the gas station to fill up my car and get a candy bar. I come out and there's a woman sitting in my car, her hands on the steering wheel, pretending to drive. As I walked up to the car, I saw her and just said, "Hey, you look pretty good in there; you should consider getting one of these for yourself". She turned 20 shades of red and jumped out, but it was pretty cute. My point is, you have to be prepared for stuff like that when you least expect it. Nobody sees your Honda parked and rushes over to look at it or wants to ask you questions like, "How do you open the doors?" or "how fast does it go?". It's just a whole different world.

Anyway, just a thought; renting one for the weekend might be a helpful experience before going in all in.

Ray