When, financially wise, did you buy your ferrari?

You can sleep in a car, but you can't drive a house!

Nah, seriously I would go the house route and forget the Ferrari until you can afford it.

 

Bought my 1st Ferrari when I:

1. Could pay cash
2. Could afford to pay cash for the maintenance and inevitable repairs.
3. Diudn't have to worry if I ever recovered my "investment"
4. Had money put away for my kids' college educations.
5. Made back what my divorce cost me.
6. Closed a good sized deal on a property and had banked 80% of the proceeds.

But, I'm a VERY CONSERVATIVE MONEY GUY.

Also, I think there have been several threads about this. You could probably dig up tons of information with a search on "first Ferrari", or a similar phrase.

Welcome aboard.

DM

 

Ok, I suppose I did things 'the wrong way round' according to some, but here is my opinion. 50% of your spare cash shuold be spent on cars, I think thats a safe percentage, the rest is invested - cash etc. Ive never owned a house and probably wont till im 30.

If 50% of your savings account will buy you a 360 when you get home - do it and enjoy life. I have no regrets and bought my first Ferrari at 24 and first Porsche at 22 - if I hadnt of done this I would probably be twice as rich as I am today , but who cares!!

 

I firmly believe you should never finance a toy. I saved and saved but in my case the right car came along when I only had about $20k in the bank. I grabbed it and financed the other $14K but I paid that off as fast as I could. I think it took about a year.
Another thing I did was to keep putting money into a MM account just for it (it really has it's own little bank account). That way when it's time for repairs or upgrades I have cash ready. No debt this way.

 

I was stupid. Bought my first for $24k when I was officially making $16k a year off a PhD stipend.

But it all worked out in the end.

 

Never buy a car such as a Ferrari until you have a house and your retirement plan well funded. And remember, NEVER finance a toy!

 

But wouldn't it be fun to have a Ferrari while you are still in your 20s?

Do you work for a bank in London?

 

Buy it now, why you still can.

If you don't buy your Ferrari now, next thing you know you'll be engaged, and need to spend all your savings, and sell your car to buy a ring for the fiance good enough to compare to her friends'. Then you'll be married, have a huge mortgage, she'll want kids, etc., etc., and that Ferrari fund will be long gone. Then if you try to work extra to pay for it, you'll feel guilty about being away from the kids, and the wife will constantly remind you of it. Then she'll want a divorce because according to her all you care about are Ferraris. You wont have the money for a decent lawyer. She'll get 50-75% of the assets you payed 80-90% of. You'll be forced to pay enough child support to take care of the kid, and buy both of you a Ferrari. Your ex will buy one just to spite you. You will be paying the child support till the kid is 18 (or older in some cases). Your wife will not have saved any of the support you were sending, and you'll be taking out school loans for your kid's education. Then if your kid is a girl, she'll get engaged in college, and you'll have to take out another loan to pay for her wedding. 10 years later, when the loans are paid off, and 35 years after your first desire for a Ferrari you finally get to buy one. (assuming you dont have additional kids, or get married again).

There are always going to be smarter places to put your money than into a Ferrari.

Of course, if you get filthy rich, then - nevermind.

 

Tommy, I love this idea I think I'll open one for mine !

oh yeah, I bought mine when the Mrs. ok'ed it, 2 cts. worth of diamond earrings helped

 

I like the way he's thinking.

Why not go for a 328 or something a little older than a 360? I'm not familiar with NZ pricing on Ferraris, but I know STi's certainly aren't cheap there.

 

This is what I hope to do as well before I acquire my first Ferrari. If I'm financially successful before my dad passes on I would actually prefer to hand him the keys to a fully restored '56 Chevy before I buy my Ferrari. It's the car he dreamed about as a kid and had money for but his dad told him no. I want to do this as a thank you to him for all he's done for my mom and myself.

 

Yeah, high car prices are one reason it hurts living in Aus/NZ. 328's in the US go from the high $30k's to ~$50k.

There might be another consideration: that getting an older Ferrari would help get you established in the NZ Ferrari club and you can meet up with a power core there in Auckland. But you're right, there seems to be a general disdain for wealth accumulation and entrepreneurship (or at least successful entrepreneurship) in NZ. Not unlike many parts of Canada.

 

I am conservative. Paid cash for my first Ferrari. Only had a small mortgage at the time. In a couple of months, I will be buying Ferrari #7, a new 430, also for cash. We have 0 debts now. BTW, we also have an STI. It's an animal of a car.

I don't have any regrets. There was something special about rewarding myself after years of hard work and saving, especially since I started with nothing. It was a great feeling going into the dealer, writing a check, and driving home with the car AND the title.

Having said all this, if I lived on the south island of NZ, I might have thought differently. One of my fantasies would be to spend a month driving south island roads in a Ferrari with immunity from the local police. It's no wonder NZ has prodiced so many road racers fro such a small country!

Dave

 

I first bought a house, then a good family car, then a good work car, THEN I bought the Ferrari. However I'm married and have responsibilities that were seen to first. Like the others I also say that a Ferrari isn't the kind of car you finance. However I do see a way you can have your cake and eat it too.

Since you are in the U.K. right now why not buy the Ferrari there? You can find 355's going from high 30k' to mid 40k's. Plus it will be right hand drive. That way you get a Ferrari, and you can still get a house when you go back. Just pay to have the car shipped back, when the time comes for you to go back to NZ. The car will already be yours, so I would think you only would only have to pay a small tax to bring it home with you. The other benefit is that when you get back if you decide to sell the car, you will get what the price is in NZ, which I assume is higher. Then when you go to get a 360 you'll have more to go towards the car. But in the mean time you'll still have a Ferrari, and you can buy a house with the money from the rentals.

 

Everyone says wait until it's easy to afford, etc., but I've known too many people who deferred enjoyment then didn't live as long as hoped to really capitalize on it!

Like with any car I'd recommend you lease it or do a pre-paid lease, if you really love it you can buy it out after the lease but otherwise you'll find yourself getting rid of it for something else later and regretting the sales tax, upfront capital costs, repairs, and depreciation associated with actually owning an exotic. Take the rest of that money you've saved and buy a house, now you have both at the same time! Save paying your hard earned cashola for things which will profit you over the coming years, Ferrari's aren't one of them.

 

Whenever I buy a car I usually spend 80-90% of my savings, however I am patient and I wait until I get a great deal. For example right now I'm looking to get a 355 but I'm waiting for a deal to come along, whenever I find a great deal I'll buy the 355 and have very little money leftover. I'll put the car on the market at a higher price and I will enjoy the car until it sells and make my money off of it. Then I look at it as an investment I had a great time with. Some people think it's a headache but so far I've had great luck doing it.

Just another alternative.


Forza,
Kevin

 

The ideal time to buy one is when your finance is secured in every respect and you have surplus funds to enjoy and fulfill your dream.

 

I am pretty young myself, not even 30. I got married pretty young and have two children which is great. I am planning on buying a Ferrari this year. Already my home is pretty much paid for, along with my other cars. I will only buy my Ferrari with cash. I won't do any type of financing or leasing. A car like a Ferrari you do not finance of lease, it is something you buy. Buy one when you know you can go to the dealership and pay cash. You should buy a Ferrari when you really feel good about it. If you feel hesitant about it, then don't. I guess just like a few people on this chat, I am trying to be conservative with my money, but personally I think we are just being smart.

 

Everyone is different and has a different set of limitations put on them (whether it be financial or otherwise) For me, I paid cash for my condo after MANY years of saving and then used the last bit of savings to buy my car when the doctor said the word "Cancer".

Life suddenly got very short and my conservative mentality changed quite quickly...

Again, we all have our limitations and hurdles to jump over in life. How about going for a less expensive (and less expensive repairs) car like a 308 or 328? You can always trade up in years to come but still have a Ferrari and ENJOY it! Life is too short!

 

I would go for the house first without a doubt. Put a big down payment on it and then if you so choose you could use a home equity line for the car purchase. Like some stated, I am of the mind toys should be paid for in cash. Then enjoy and appreciate them. Good luck with your plan, whatever you decide. I really enjoy NZ, just watch out for the sheep!