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Total cost on truck?
Posted on 1/20/20 at 8:48 am
Posted on 1/20/20 at 8:48 am
Trying to decide how much is too much to spend on a used truck. What percentage of your yearly income should you try to make the total cost of a truck purchase? I have more than half my yearly salary in savings. I do not have a trade in.
Don't know if this changes things, but I am currently renting and saving to buy a home in the next 2-3 years.
Don't know if this changes things, but I am currently renting and saving to buy a home in the next 2-3 years.
Posted on 1/20/20 at 8:58 am to JohnDoe00
Are you buying outright or going with a note? Reading it I assume buying outright.
Posted on 1/20/20 at 9:04 am to tduecen
if its total cost is 25k, outright. Anything higher than that I would take a note so I could still have good chunk of savings.
Posted on 1/20/20 at 9:38 am to JohnDoe00
Dave Ramsey's advice is not to own vehicles more than 50% of your net pay i.e. own vehicles totaling less than $25,000 on $50,000 take home.
Financial Samurai's advice is to not buy a vehicle that costs more than 10% of your salary i.e. $5,000 car on $50,000 income.
My recommendation is to not buy a vehicle that exceeds a certain percentage of your liquid assets. I think this is a better way of looking at vehicle costs than the percentage of income methods I mentioned earlier.
Spending a liquid asset on a depreciating item like a vehicle needs to be as cost effective as possible, especially since you're saving to buy a home.
If you have $25,000 cash on hand and invested that toward a home purchase for 3 years, let's say you stand to earn $2,000-$5,000 on it.
If you spend the $25,000 on a truck you stand to lose $10,000-$15,000 in the next 3 years on the value of the truck plus opportunity cost.
If I was in your shoes, I would make a list of things you need the truck for or need the truck to have. "Need" meaning you cannot accomplish your 3 year goal without it, i.e. if you don't need a high tow capacity to earn your living you don't need to spend money on tow capacity. Then I would buy the least expensive vehicle that will cost-effectively fulfill those needs for as many years as possible.
Financial Samurai's advice is to not buy a vehicle that costs more than 10% of your salary i.e. $5,000 car on $50,000 income.
My recommendation is to not buy a vehicle that exceeds a certain percentage of your liquid assets. I think this is a better way of looking at vehicle costs than the percentage of income methods I mentioned earlier.
Spending a liquid asset on a depreciating item like a vehicle needs to be as cost effective as possible, especially since you're saving to buy a home.
If you have $25,000 cash on hand and invested that toward a home purchase for 3 years, let's say you stand to earn $2,000-$5,000 on it.
If you spend the $25,000 on a truck you stand to lose $10,000-$15,000 in the next 3 years on the value of the truck plus opportunity cost.
If I was in your shoes, I would make a list of things you need the truck for or need the truck to have. "Need" meaning you cannot accomplish your 3 year goal without it, i.e. if you don't need a high tow capacity to earn your living you don't need to spend money on tow capacity. Then I would buy the least expensive vehicle that will cost-effectively fulfill those needs for as many years as possible.
Posted on 1/20/20 at 9:23 pm to Huey Lewis
Good advice. Spend less than $10k. Put the other $15k in index fund.
My current car cost less than 1/30th my base salary.
My current car cost less than 1/30th my base salary.
This post was edited on 1/20/20 at 9:25 pm
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