Champagne Taste and Beer Money Syndrome ?

your missing the point.

You missed mine too :p

Mine was saying that you can run a performance car and say a simple banger for commuting if needed with some effort and planning. Not talking about Ferrari 458s here but mainly 2nd hand cars as demonstrated by my noble example.

I see what you are sayong about multiple performance cars for example. Agree with you there, as along with a house, kids (private school even), demanding wife (wanting kitchens, jimmy choos) then yes it isn't easy and the car is normally the first thing demanded to go!

But it does depend on situations, peoples lifesytle, living arrangements, ball-and-chain-partner/kids etc.
 
I'm sure a few people on here have got plans to own supercars

a very very small minority will realistically ever own one.

You'll find that your projected salaries wont pay for the supercar lifestyle, and a wife and kids and all the stuff that goes with it as well. The supercars and nice cars end up going.

i think everyone knows this, common sense really.

i don't get why owning a supercar is so important to you :/

go travel or something, you'll realise theres more to life than having a black stallion on your bonnet

(that could be percieved in an entirely different context, i know :p)
 
Well, for all those apart from maybe the top 1% that can afford the lot....
It's likely there's quite a bit more than 1% of the population on 118k. Those figures typically only account for PAYE income where as many people get a large portion of their income through dividends
 
I would think it's more likely a house, saving for a decent deposit and then paying a mortgage takes away a huge amount of disposable income.

Well to me at least, that's part of having kids, ok so you would likely do this anyway, but you almost certainly would if you had kids, as you would need the space. Kids are a huge cost, I think it's hard to grasp just how expensive they are until you speak to a parent about it, see some number etc.
 
You missed mine too :p

no i didnt

i agreed with your point. But thats not what this thread is about. I never started this thread to say nobody but the top 1% of the population can afford a nice car.

I'm on about obtaining a certain lifestyle, to afford multiple nice cars at the same time as a wife and kids etc.. There are some that manage this. But your post appears to be implying that im worrying over nothing, and it is possible. But what your saying is possible, isnt what im saying im unlikely to achieve. Make sense ?

i don't get why owning a supercar is so important to you :/

go travel or something, you'll realise theres more to life than having a black stallion on your bonnet

Me either. :(

But i'm already relatively well travelled. I've been canada, america, singapore, spain, france, australia (3 times)

Dont get me wrong, i'm not saying i'm some mega explorer or anything. But its not something i need to do more of. We're going back to america again this summer and going to vegas for a week which will be good. I suspect as fett has hinted at, that if i could got there. It wouldnt be all its cracked up to be. Grass is greener type of thing ..
 
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I don't think people appreciate how much money you need to earn to sensibly acquire a supercar while having a couple of daily run abouts and a nice big house in the country. I do OK however I see lots of people with better cars than me, better houses in some instances more obvious (apparent) wealth so there must be lots and lots of poeple earning more than me....well there must, even if the government tells me I am in a group of less than 1%. Something somewhere doesn't stack up really as I don't struggle, I don't over stretch and I don't have debt other than a mortgage and maybe a car now and again, but there is no way I could go out and sensibly purchase a 458 for example while maintaining my nice house in the country and a run about for when its wet and windy and having a few holidays, toys and things with plugs. I do OK but it always seems to go and it always has and we also don't have kids sapping us for school fees and such like. If I take that at face value it tells me that millions of people in this country are in reality financed to the front teeth, they must be. Cars are an aspirational thing not a must have. Get the house, family and lifestyle nailed first then you can go out and treat yourself now and again to a nice motor, boat or house in France. I bought my first house (a 3 bed detached with a garage) at the age of 21 and struggled for the first 3 years to afford it but I had a company car so didn't need to worry about that and the house was THE most important to me back then and I LOVE cars. So many people seem to have it all while earning, say £100K or less and to me the maths don't add up. I've seen loads of pictures of epic cars on the driveways of houses I wouldn't want to live in but it is all about priorities.

To do it the right way it's £200K upwards........and then some. I know lots of people with serious wealth and most of them are at a level I can’t see me getting close to anytime soon. I also know of people with £20K, £30K and maybe £50k spread on cards earning average wage and to me this is beyond madness, but they seem OK with it and you know what, somehow I think they’ll get away with it and it will all come good in the end. Fact is today you can get most anything you want without really being able to afford it. 25 years ago when I was starting to drive I would go around housing estates and see 1 or 2 nice cars, maybe a nice BMW or Capri 2.8, today most houses have a nice car on the drive, often more than one and when you look at how women shop and dress, how much blokes spend on looking good you realise how superficial this country has become when we have girls who aspire to be a WAG or worse, Jordan and think a silly pout and kissy kissy at the camera is so cool.

When I was driving a Mini I actually knew I’d have a 911 before I was 40. I suggest my mindset is somewhat different on that front and if you believe you can never get there you most likely will be proved right. Health, family, house, job......................then when that is sorted and you have a bit of spare in the bank or left over each month, then go buy something quick, shiny and fun would be my advice.
 
Glad you understand what im getting at housey.

Getting family, health, house, job etc. .sorted first is already done. I've been on the property ladder since i was 21 and have had a child since i was 20. Changed jobs a few times and got promoted a few times along the way to raise my income fairly nicely.

Its obvious some posters here are doing things the other way round, and owning nice cars and then selling them to get onto the property ladder. Just need to start the saving for something nice and fast part next. Sadly, i think a brand new 911 GT3 RS is a way off yet though :(
 
Glad you understand what im getting at housey.
Housey is berating the people with the same problem as yours - champagne tastes with beer money.


Its obvious some posters here are doing things the other way round, and owning nice cars and then selling them to get onto the property ladder.
I see that too - and in lots of cases it is the sensible and measured way to do things. If you stretch yourself to fit in the car of your dreams, do it at a young age without and dependants.


Just need to start the saving for something nice and fast part next.
But once you have saved for the car, if your income situation remains the same, isn't being able to meet the running costs the same problem too?
 
I don't think people appreciate how much money you need to earn to sensibly acquire a supercar while having a couple of daily run abouts and a nice big house in the country. I do OK however I see lots of people with better cars than me, better houses in some instances more obvious (apparent) wealth so there must be lots and lots of poeple earning more than me....well there must, even if the government tells me I am in a group of less than 1%. Something somewhere doesn't stack up really as I don't struggle, I don't over stretch and I don't have debt other than a mortgage and maybe a car now and again, but there is no way I could go out and sensibly purchase a 458 for example while maintaining my nice house in the country and a run about for when its wet and windy and having a few holidays, toys and things with plugs. I do OK but it always seems to go and it always has and we also don't have kids sapping us for school fees and such like. If I take that at face value it tells me that millions of people in this country are in reality financed to the front teeth, they must be.

The 1% seemed off to me a bit, it's mentioned above that this 1% is PAYE sectioned, which makes a huge difference.

You've accounted for two of the main reasons you see a car and owner disparity though...finance and the prioritising of cars over more important but less tangible things. Somebody is doing well out of it and it's not the over-extended owners.

I see that too - and in lots of cases it is the sensible and measured way to do things. If you stretch yourself to fit in the car of your dreams, do it at a young age without and dependants.

If you are already stretched to buy your dream car, buying it young doesn't make much sense if we are talking supercars. You'll be hemorrhaging money you already can't afford and could be consigning yourself to years of vehicular boredom until you can replace it.

Start with the Kia, get a house and save. When you get something approaching what you want, you'll appreciate it a lot more and maybe have a bit more experience to wring it's neck.
 
I might have read on PH or somewhere that it's not a good idea to buy a car that, when brand new, cost too much above your annual income. I'm following that rule with my Z4, or thereabouts.

MrLOL - no-one appears to have mentioned that when you can finally afford your dream car that your missus will pull the plug once she finds out that it needs a new clutch :D
 
hardy ha ha :p

no the dream car will have to wait till we both have what we consider enough cash to spend on maintaining a nice car. Right now i do and could make sacrifices elsewhere, but she doesnt think so.

Couple of promotions or payrises should sort that out though. Just got promoted at work and start my new job in our data centre working for managed services dept in 3 weeks time. Hoping to have something interesting again in another 12 months time or so. Assuming i do as well in my new dept as my old one.
 
Yes to the OP, however everytime I have some serious dough I end up buying stocks or shares with it instead.

I hope one day that they pay off and I can reap the rewards and buy what I want.

I know I would be perfectly happy with something like Jez's Merc, if the running costs were small change to me.

I wouldnt want a GT3, the worries of parking it etc would outweigh the pleasure in driving it.
 
The 1% seemed off to me a bit, it's mentioned above that this 1% is PAYE sectioned, which makes a huge difference..

According to The Office for National Statistics' Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings if you earn over 150K per you are in the top .6% in the UK. Doesn't seem right to me.
 
I got my figures from the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8151355.stm

they too quote figures from The Office for National Statistics' Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE)

but from 2008 as thats all i could find easily.

but even still. 0.6 % of the population is still over 360,000 people. not a small ammount of people to be earning 150k +
 
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Same article...

So does that mean that if you earn £45k that you are in the country's top 10% of earners? Sadly it's not as simple as that. The ASHE is a sample of 1% of people who pay tax via PAYE. It doesn't include the self-employed - businessmen, contractors etc - who make up the ranks of the really wealthy.
 
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