Patrick1990

I pay the 20$ it cost

CE750

there is no absolute rule of thumb on this.. as I stated, I paid cash for my house to make my wife happy, but it wasn't the smartest thing to do from a financial standpoint.

The smart thing to do would have been to take out a $500,000 jumbo and do an 80% LTV, at 5.75 (the rate we could have gotten in 2003 when we bought). Then take the $2500/mo in interest I pay as a tax deduction, while putting the $500,000 cash I have into my Morgan Stanley which has yielded 16% annualized over the past 3 years.. either way, the house went up in value better than 30% in the same time.. no matter how I paid! BUT NO.. Wife said pay cash! So much for the PAW theory!


the MB was different, I would have paid 100% cash, but the fact is my credit score will be raised by taking on the 12 month payment stream. Credit must be exercised to remain "good" ..and like with anything too much is as bad as not enough. Plus I'm on a mission to break 800 on my Fica! my wife has 816! and I'm at 780! and she doesn't even work!

esport

I got MBCredit here in Puerto Rico I have 15% down and financed the rest and 60 monthly payaments of $1,619.45 which is not bad at a 5.45 % interest rate. Here in Puerto Rico we all pay 40% luxury tax over sticker price and this goes to the corupt goverment we have damn.

alboogiee

O M G! i am sorry to hear that... that really hits the fan!

DWP

Dumping stocks may or may not be a good move, depending upon your age, investment objectives, and time to things like college for your kid(s) or retirement. I wouldn't count on major stock indices recovering to anything like 2000 levels in just the next few years, though. I suspect that we're in the early years of an extended bear market (starting in 2000) comparable to the 1966-1982 period, where stocks overall did about nothing for about 16 years. Needless to say, individual stocks and individual investors can still do well even in a bear market. The trick is to pick that stock or be that investor.

Oh, the topic of this thread .... paid about 50% down for our car in anticipation of the settlement from the insurance company of the driver who ran a red light and totalled our BMW. Fault wasn't in doubt and the settlement came quickly. Financed the balance through M-B Credit and paid it off about six months later when some non-liquid limited partnership that Merrill Lynch had talked me into 20 years earlier finally decided to cash out. Never did understand what it was all about, which is pretty pathetic.

LAZARU5

$20K down, $5K with MB credit to get $2,500 dealer rebate, and $35K on 0% credit cards. The 0% credit cards have 1 year intro rates, no fees of any kind and the banks just keep sending the things. I have to pay 2 to 3% of the balance each month which is about the equivalent of a 4 year payback period. You need a Home Equity account to use as an intermediate account to transfer the balances someplace.

CE750

good idea, but do they send them with big enough limits? The ones I get are $8000 or so... I'd need 7 of them to make a purchase.

TPAbnz

Cash payable to MBUSA (Euro delivery)

theboogers

everything is paid for.

pasto27774

'05 E320 4matic paid with cash.

MBE55AMG

I work, man. I work.


I work my @ss off.

LAZARU5

They seem to range from $6K to $20K. I learned not to request the balance transfer until after I receive the CC welcome kit. Then you at least know the maximum credit line. One thing the banks won't seem to do is quote the credit limit when you are opening the account. Having a bunch of 0% credit cards is probably not the best thing for your credit score. But, you can't beat the rate. You need to read the fine print and avoid the banks who want balance transfer transaction fees. I usually cancel the card at the end of the intro period. That way the bank will put you in the queue for another 0% offer. Eventually I think the banks will come to their senses. But for now plenty of banks seem to have funds to "give" away.

konigstiger

Question, how did you get her to agree to the lease?

Brav

I leased!! but before you stone me:

I got it for 800 a month incl. tax, 39 mos, 2K buydown (to get even 800 pmt..)

I took the 60K and bought a house in Arizona, for 290K. interest only loan, payments were 788. Rents are 1690. So that pays for my lease payment. Methodology was The property would go up a little, pay my car payments, and id basically get a free car out of it. The kicker is, now i have it listed for 620K.... after 18 mos. So i turned the 60k into 360K.. smartest thing ive done in a while.

moral of the story: DONT LISTEN TO SUZE ORMANS STUPID ADVICE. :p

konigstiger

Not for nothing, Bugsy knew it would be worth money one day but in his wildest dreams he could never have imagined the fortunes being made today – in barren, desolate desert dirt!

JamE55

Liver

jhh

Well, I was going to proudly post that I'd paid cash except for the $10k I financed in order to get another $2k off the price, but then I read fgwinn's post saying he got a "$2,500 dealer rebate" for financing a portion through MBC (Doh!), and then Brav's real estate play (Doh again!). Oh, well -- a fool and his "cash" are soon parted.

Brav

Hey, there something to be said for paying cash for cars.. peace of mind, bragging rights, simplicity, etc. However, I dont see a car as a smart investmetn, and I rotate thru them, so I always look at every financial decision with "what is the best use of my money" aspect. I had no idea it would appreciate as it did, expected 150K +/- over 3-5 years. but still, the cashflow alone paid for the car. Just something to keep in mind, when weighing to pay cash or not for anything.

xMBZ

Cash is always king.

All the leasing and the financing is IMHO are just scams to make more money off of you over time. The dealers are basically parasites they want to suck on to you as long as they can to have a constant cash flow over time.

Brav

Financing is only a scam to the uninformed. They can try, but you dont have to let them.

Spartan

I've been giving blood for a while now.....at 5 bucks a quart plus some unnecessary body parts.........

E55AMG99

Exactly! If you can make more with your money than what you are paying in finance charges on your loan, go for it!

xMBZ

When I purchased a Porsche, they told me I could pay by diamonds and jewelry. I started laughing and the finance guy told me in a straight face not to laugh people actually do it. So, body parts should suffice as well. A kidney, lung, ******** (how bout both). You don't need those parts to drive!!!

CE750

It was a surprise for her, she never knew I got it until it was too late... when I gave her my logic for the lease (deduction for my company, since it's of a certain weight).. she agreed to forgive me this time, but said the next car would be a purchase (cash). If I get caught with the 12K note, I'll be in the doghouse! I still disagree with her logic, but she IS the wife.

CE750

so YOUR one of those guys that ruined it for me! I had 3 houses here before these anti-investor policies kicked in due to all of you Cali guys buying "second homes"

Amazing, isn't it when you can buy a house for $200,000, and by the time you close on it (9-10 mo) it's already worth $300,000! And by the time the long term capital gains is up, it's now $400,000! Kaching!