Cayenne Turbo is an awesome car. I drove my buddy's and we raced a BMW M3 on the highway, and the Cayenne Turbo was dead even with the M3, which is saying a lot for an SUV. I'm partial to Porsches though since I drive one myself (911 Turbo) The VW you're referring to is the Phaeton. Amazing buy right now since it didn't sell well and has depreciated to shit at this point. Lotta car for the money.
I'm with you on that! Can't take the money to your grave. But at the same time, I wouldn't buy something I couldn't truly afford. By that, I mean, if the payment is something I have to think about or even slightly stress about, I won't purchase the item. Most of the toys are purchased in cash, or with 50-60% down so the payment is small. Freedom above all else! I hate debt/payments! The more I make, the more financially responsible / conservative I become. At this point, the focus/goal is total financial freedom where I can get up in the morning and say "fuck it" if I don't feel like working that day -Fast
I agree with coolweb. Everyone has a point where they reach a critical mass of assets that they can start to splurge. Some peoples is very low, and blow money easily. Some peoples is very high. As a greedy capitalist bastard trader, my critical asset mass is very high! Cant afford to spend too much money yet.
I agree, there is a forum for everything, and ET is not really the place to discuss these things. this is so true...I admire people who make a lot but don't show off. I can only hope that IF I ever start making 7figures+ my lifestyle won't change too much. From what I see many successfull traders live way below their means, and this is a good thing, however I used to have trouble with this, but working on it....also, when I'm asked where I got the money to afford this or that I tend 'blame' my other job
I think Nas said it the best "Not enough car factories to manufacture new vehicles sedans and vans When they do make the whip you like ya chips ain't right, by the time you could afford it the car ain't important "
I can't speculate on the motives of others, but I did just start a Ferraris, Porsches & Penthouses thread the other day Personally I would never buy a new car over 50k, it's just a huge waste of money IMO. I did that once and lost about 20k in just over a year. Since then I buy cars near the bottom of their depreciation curve e.g. I just sold a car recently for 20k that I paid 25k for 7 years ago, and I just bought one for 45k that will probably be worth that amount in 5 or 10 years. Ditto with expensive watches - I don't even wear a watch. The only expensive thing worth buying is a decent-sized house or apartment in a good area. Everything else flashy/expensive you should rent. One thing to consider is that trading earnings are extremely volatile. Even if you made 500k one year, the next you might lose 100 or 200k. Also remember the effect of compounding. If you make 20% per annum, the 10 year opportunity cost of a 60k Porsche is over 300k. So buying a 100k car or 30k watch is a pretty dumb move, when you might really benefit from that 30-100k next year - either because you were up 50-100%, or because you lost a truckload and need to bolster your account. IMO you should spend 5% max of your liquid net worth on a luxury item like a nice car. So to buy a 50k car, you would need 1 mill cash in the bank. Otherwise you are just incinerating money that could be used for better purposes. In trading only the paranoid survive. It's a very cyclical business for most. The type that makes a good amount, then blows a chunk of it on bling, is the type that gets washed out in the next market downturn or changing cycle. The more paranoid types will always want to hoard money way more than most - that's why they survive environments like the current one. Just like with one of their trades, they are always looking down at the worst case scenario, not the best. In life, even if you are very rich, you are one bad piece of luck away from the poorhouse. Good risk managers make sure their safety buffer is as big as possible, that way most of the slings & arrows of outrageous fortune can't take them out.
Simple truth - the more of your earnings you spend, the less likely you are to hit your financial goals, and the more likely you are to go bust.