Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

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Only useful advice I can give you is buy used. Do not buy a brand new car.

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buying a new car isn't all bad, although i agree buying a 2-3 year old car with 25-35k miles is the thing to do.

Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

i think you'd be better off spending less, than more. some hot saab 9-3, or bmw, or something, while nice, won't give you the value you need here.


in australia, you can get a shitbox for under $1k, something drivable for $3k, and then something decent for $15k or so (all $A).

i think that once you pass the $A15k mark, your returns will diminish - at around that point, you can start to get something nice, reliable, solid, with all the standard modern conveniences with around 50k miles (80k km). you're not going to get an awesome sports car, but you will get something that is reasonable.


obviously, the US car market is different, but that's my impression of cars, and it is what I've done.

Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

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However, there is the thing about "I only live once"

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And this attitude is the reason most young people get into financial trouble. Invest the money and bust your ass in the coming years. Before you know it, you will have plenty of cash to buy that flashy car without jeopardizing your future. Or you might realize that a flashy car isn't all its cracked up to be.

Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

I wouldn't recommend spending over 25K on the car. 15K-20K is probably a better idea. Things like insurance and maintenance add up pretty fast, cars have a lot of expenses outside of just the purchase price.

Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

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Clay, I dont know [censored] about cars or anything else, but if u make sub 100k next year id be very surprised.


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My first thought too. No reason you shouldn't make 200ish/hour and no reason you can't put in 500 hours when most people work like 3-4x that much in a year.

Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

I'd get something around the Acura TL zone if you choose to get one. Less is pretty meh and more is inappropriate/not many additional features/luxuries.

Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

Are you filing as a pro? If so, then you have a higher chance of "balling" out on your car since you can claim it as a business expense. Don't get too excited though, since you can only claim part of the total cost of the car as depreciation each year, not the whole amount right away.

One thing I don't understand is why you only set out 5k as your new bankroll when you can set out 20k for a better chance of higher return. There shouldn't be that much of a skill difference b/w 1/2NL and 2/4NL right?

Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

How can he claim a car as a business expense?
The IRS only lets you do that if you use the car for business, not just if you use it to commute to a casino.


Put me in the "Buy something reasonably nice, invest the rest" camp. When you get my age, you'll wish you'd had all that compound interest working for you.

Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

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How can he claim a car as a business expense?
The IRS only lets you do that if you use the car for business, not just if you use it to commute to a casino.

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The casino is where you do your business. You need to get there somehow. Any moneys you pay so you can get there to conduct your business is considered as expense, which is another reason why one should keep records of one's mileage [for gas].

You will not obviously claim 100% of the car's payment. However, you can claim a percentage of the car. The simplest way to claim more percentage of the car as a business expense is to drive from a place far to Vegas, like Texas. If the round trip takes 2,000 miles and you only drive 4,000 miles on the year, you can claim up to 50% of the car's payment. Since Clayton is going to be in a college area/town, it is doubtful he can rack up a lot of miles, thus indirectly increase his business's percentage use of the car.

Re: How much to spend on a nice first car?
 

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However, there is the thing about "I only live once"

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And this attitude is the reason most young people get into financial trouble. Invest the money and bust your ass in the coming years. Before you know it, you will have plenty of cash to buy that flashy car without jeopardizing your future. Or you might realize that a flashy car isn't all its cracked up to be.

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^Pretty much exactly what he said.