How much to spend on a new car for new grad
I’m graduating from my Masters program soon and moving to the Bay Area. I really want to get a nice new car as a gift for myself...I’m mainly looking for a nice SUV. I’m really tempted to spend 50k on a car but I also feel that it’d be too much money wasted on a depreciating product. Offer: 120k base, 350k RSU, 100k Sign-on @Google
How much debt do you have right now? If any, pay that first, then splurge on the $50k car since your sign on bonus alone will cover it.
Get a nice used SUV. You'll get it 10-20% cheaper than new even if it's only 1-2 years old.
Get a nice CPO car. Don’t spend $50k, maybe $25k. If you want to give a gift to yourself, keep the $25k in savings for when the market starts to rebound so you can make $$$. Or keep $5k of that for a baller solo vacation to somewhere in 6 months.
You Indian or what? Lol. I had some Indian friends before who splurged on their first car. I still have my 8k car from grad school. If you have a family, sure get a Pilot or highlander or odyssey. Otherwise, stick to low cost low maintenance car. You can buy Mercedes but make sure you’re ready to pay 600$ or an oil change or something. Haha
Dude, why do you think op is Indian? I can point to pretty much every race for people who buy more car than they can afford.
At least 120k...
As little as you can!
350k rsu for new grad is awesome!
Ya how did u negotiate OP?
I spent 48k on a car after working one year and had MS and my only regret is I didn’t spend 55k to get all the bells and whistles on my Audi (I’m 25 now). Took out a 3 year loan at 1.79% at the time so I also regret putting down 18k cash instead of getting a larger loan. 10/10 would do again, financially you’re only responsible for yourself right now (assuming you don’t have a family) and can choose what you do. At the end of the day you’ll make back that money. If you’re looking at German luxury cars see if they have courtesy vehicles for sale which they provide to people when they get their car serviced. My car had 5500 miles and I got it for 20% off msrp and also got it as certified preowned so warranty was 6 year/100k miles instead of 4 year/50k miles.
Buy a used dealer car with 18-25k miles on it. Buy it with cash if possible. No sense in financing a depreciating asset that goes from 30k down to 10k in 4 years. The average car payment in the US is $506. It’s a colossal waste of your income when that income could be going towards a college fund, 401k or mutual/index fund.
Why pay with cash if it’s 30k? A loan still makes sense so you can invest the cash now
For starters, there’s no interest you’re paying. You tend to not upsell yourself into luxury options you don’t need like you do with financing since your cash price is fixed. And even after buying the car you have the $500 extra per month to dollar invest cost average into the market. At the end of depreciation period your car is worth the same, you didn’t give money to the bank, and your new investments bear the market fluctuations better than a lump investment at T0.
No, 6’4 guy :/