We already have a 3 bedroom tow home that as bought 5 years ago and it's scheduled to be paid off in 10 years. Wedding is paid for any honeymoon is already taken care of. Buying plane tickets this week.

I've finally made it to a point in my life where I can get a car I want and not buy one that I need to replace and aging pile that I'm tired of working on. I'm probably not buying anything until after the wedding because it would be dumb to buy now unless I got a great deal.

Shut it.

She said it's up to me. If I say yes, she says yes....I think she's doing some sort of Vulcan/Jedi mind trick or something. She did day that she wouldn't mind the top down/doors off part since she misses my Cabrio and she said off roading looks fun.

I need to invest a bit, I've been reading up on it since I'd like to live off of dividend checks by the time I'm 60

That's the other thing, I wouldn't finance unless I'm 150% certain I can afford it. I already have a safety net of three months worth of pay in savings but I'm going to get it to 6 months shortly. Good thing about a wrangler is they hold their value very well and are always in demand unlike any other car I've liked.

I don't anticipate too much of a drastic change.


I suppose I'll just live vicariously through my friends and sit on the side lines like always. I'll keep waiting to get what I want until I feel it's the time, I'll probably be on my death bed by then.

Wedding is paid for??

Good deal.
Sounds like you are in a better position than most people at this stage. Waiting until after is definitely a good idea, better to be safe than sorry.

Personal experience- father in law said he'd chip in on a few costs on my wedding (he wanted to pay for the venue), made plans based on that, went over my wife and I's personal budget since he was covering that (we decided on a better caterer that cost more, but 3 flavors of mico sliders, we had to have it), and ultimately, the money never materialized.

Suddenly we had a muli thousand dollar expense we had not anticipated which caused us to go into debt. I let it go, but my wife still cannot even talk about it she's so angry. Result is honeymoon next year or the year after, weddings cost a fotune

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Weddings only cost a fortune if they're allowed to. One of the best couples that I know got married by a judge in a small Maryland town, followed by a reception at the bride's parents' farm. They did go on honeymoon to South America, though

12 years and three kids later, it still works out.

Yup, but if you want to throw a party and invite a bunch of guests, weddings add up. I went the judge route too, and bribed him with food, great way to save money. He showed up, I gave him his lines, h busted it out, ate, and left

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Hah! But I never understood the "I need the perfect dress sent in from Paris people. It's not always the girl either.

I went to school with a girl from a working-class town in NJ. She moved out to California a few years ago, met this fine example of Orange County gentry. Funny thing is, she'd be happy keeping things simple, but he and his family are pushing her to make a big deal of things, and she complains non-stop to everyone she talks to

Sad thing is that her family are immigrants, aren't too well-off, and might end up stuck with the bill. Asinine. I think that a lot of weddings are all about showing off how much you can borrow.

We only invites 110 people but a lot of then are from out of town so we anticipate only 80 to RSVP. She has been saving for her dream wedding since she started working at 15. We culled our friends for vendors. We have a great photographer( I think I shared the engagement photos), the DJ is doing the reception for 1/4 of his normal rate( look up DJ Elliot , the official Disney DJ), the cake is being done by friends that are just starting their business(Jilly Cakes, if you watch cupcake wars that name should ring a bell). Her mom paid for her dress, I've built all of the big decorations and am paying for all of the table pieces and other decor since in making them all. I'm covering the DJ, honey moon rental car and hotel and some other odds and ends as they pop up.

I would rather do a very small wedding and reception. I have friends having weddings with 3-400 guests. No thanks. I think our 100 or so invites is A-OK. I wanted to invite all of my forum friends but it would put us over! It would be nice for our families to help pay but in this day and age that expectation is not there and is difficult. I believe that you should only so what you can afford and don't rely on mommy and daddy to pay for the wedding.


I pay off my bills with 3/4 of my first paycheck of the month and the rest goes into savings and I use the second paycheck for groceries, gas, and right now, wedding stuff. I put 10% of my salary into my 401k so the check I get is actually after they take out the 401k. Then I put a minimum of $250 into savings. Anything left over at the end of the month goes into savings also. She too has the same financial mindset, is like to start a Roth IRA after the wedding so we can have our savings grow and maybe put a little bit of money into some stocks for the long term.

I try not to spend my money frivolously but every now and then I buy something stupid but it's something I can easily resell. Like my M1 Garand, $625 but I can easily flip it for double. I'm not planning on ever selling it, but if I have to I know it's worth a good amount. I buy everything used or on markdown. My clothes, goodwill and outlet stores. Why pay full price?? Our library, 75% used books unless it's a textbook for a certification I want or a new book that isn't that much cheaper used. Our dog, $75 donation to the shelter. Our cars, $5k combined for both and I do all of the work. My tools, almost all used and found at estate sales, pawn shops, or just really good deals.

The only brand new things I buy are socks, shoes, and boxers.

So I think, by my reasoning I do deserve to get something, slightly new, something finally under 100k miles, heck under 40k miles. With a warranty and not a scratch,sent,ding,rust spot, torn seat bolster, or in need of work.

I see all of my friends getting a car or truck of their dreams. My goal was to graduate college with little to no debt and buy another Delorean once out. I've decided that I never want another Delorean because I'd never take it anywhere out of fear of someone damaging it and the community sucks. I've always wanted a VW beetle but I don't know any people with beetles, it would be a massive undertaking on my part to do what is like but it's still on my list. When I was making my list of top 3 cars I wanted to own when I first for my license when I was 16 the list was 1) Mercedes Diesel 2) VW beetle 3) Jeep Wrangler. So I've wanted one for a while and owning a beetle would be cool but it not that different than what I've owned in the past. A Jeep is so different in what it can do and where it can go. I've been stuck on roads since 16, I would now be able to explore the world off the road and see some cool stuff.

It would be pretty flipping sweet to go off roading in Idaho, where Megan is from, and actually go into the mountains instead of seeing them from a far or explore the real parts of FL that not many get to see. Or I could stay on the Tarmac and look at pictures of things.


But for sanitys sake I'm probably
Just going to wait until after the wedding. Because that's the smart thing to do and the best idea. It gives me more time to save up and establish a cushion. I don't want to jump into this without being certain.


-end rant-

Well, just don't di$count the po$$ibility of a The Don Jr. in a year or two.

I don't want kids. I really don't and she knows that.

Its always scary to see how much debt people are in.......I too follow the eliminate debt ideal. Very soon I will have no student loans left, and nothing but my house mortgage before the end of the summer....which is not even 1/8th of our income....so many people nowadays live on a solid 2 incomes. We live on about 70% of one.

I think so much of it comes from the entitlement movement in how so many kids have been raised in the past few decades. There was an article in the news recently where some spoiled brat 18 year old girl is trying to sue her parents who kicked her out, to get them to pay for the rest of her private prep high school AND for her college/living expenses. Amazing.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

why not?

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dont listen to the haters theDon - there has been enough advice in this thread to do what you need to do. You ask why finance a car ? the answer is simple - so you can afford more car than you have cash to pay.

There is a reason everyone says "minimize debt" and "interest payments are just making fat cat banks wealthier" (becuase they are). These are good ideas. Eating twigs and berries 5x day, grown on your own off-the-grid farm is a good idea too- but you wouldnt get to read the political BS on peachparts every day

Your friends that are buying new cars are taking a risk. That risk may pay off, or it may not. You havent taken that risk and have seen the rewards of such (ie: not having a car payment...) If this situation was totally cool with you- you wouldnt have even asked the question in your first post (you are at least curious)

There will always be something *in the future* that will cost money (house huh ? have you replaced the HVAC/roof/paint/foundation/driveway/furniture/kitchen/water damage/back porch... yet ?). I dont know many people that budget for all of these things (and yet they still own houses)

No one here can pass judgement on the enjoyment you'd get from driving something new(er) or different. most financial people I've talked to have a healthy respect for 'spending money on things you like' - you can paraphrase it a number of ways, but carpe diem seems to work in the movies.

Set yourself a budget based on what you see as reasonable, then go and look (which can be a lot of fun). If your financial situation is as good as you say it is, you can buy a cool car, use it for a while, and if it loses all value, you can still pay off debts incurred and not be permanently financially handicapped by the loss.
...Just dont start buying, old Mercedes or European sports cars (Porsche, Ferrari...), becuase you'll never win at that game

-John

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

Thankfully the HOA takes care of the roof and exterior of the buildings and we recently replaced the Central AC unit in the house. I do have a list of things I'd like to fix around the town home, like the door jambs need some love on the courtyard door and I want to install door jamb armor on both the front and courtyard. I'm always looking at any sort of deal on new kitchen appliances since we might want to remodel the kitchen eventually but by then the place will be paid off and we plan on renting it out so durable, idiot proof, appliances are needed in the future. I would like to freshen up the paint on the first floor since it's a combo of a red and green set of walls and I think the paint has faded and the small carpeted area needs replacing. Always something to do.

The great thing is everything I can replace with little to no involvement from an outside source. If i need a plumber for the water heater, I've got a friend that has his own business that I help out with computer stuff so he owes me one. .

I once toyed with the idea of a 308 GTS, but I'm nowhere financially for one of those cars. I'll stick to what I know. Plus wranglers keep their value very well like TDI's


Not ready

Kids are the most awesome thing there is. I'll tell you this, you're never "Ready" for kids. I just laugh when people tell me that. Seems to be a popular statement these days. People do way too much planning of every aspect of their lives. People need to spend more timing living their life than meticulously planning it.

IMHO there's really no purpose to life if you're just living it for yourself...seems rather pointless.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

You are doing enough things right that a car is not a major issue really. The people less able to afford things have the large expensive weddings today usually.

They spend enough of the money they do not have in the process to put a down payment on a house. I often wonder how those marriages work out.

There are serious flaws in our ways of living. Otherwise I think the divorce rate might be lower. Statistics claim right or wrong that a fair percentage of divorces result over money handling issues. The stress of irresponsible credit use must be a major one today.

Using income as wisely as you can is important to long term well being. Some people scream hard times but are making no effort to change how they do things. In many of the cases there is no shortage of room to improve their outcomes. I see the results of bad decision making every day probably.

Recognizing when we as a couple make one is important and to keep the number of them at a minumin as well. Too many people are just not aware of their misteaks. Or there would have been a better way to reach the conclusion. We all will make some errors in one fashion or another has to be a given.