I heard something yesterday that pissed me off a bit. Now, I’ve been trying really hard to not judge people on their financial decisions, but I feel they deserve my scorn on this one.
I recently heard that someone I know just got a new Mercedes SUV.
Some background: this person already has a car (which they did not sell or trade in) and they have a house that they are currently putting into short-sale or foreclosure or something (since they paid way much for it than they should’ve, it’s now upside down, and I guess they can’t or don’t want to afford it anymore). So I know that this person isn’t exactly swimming in money. As for the new car, I have no clue if it’s leased or purchased (although I’m hoping it’s leased), and I have no clue how much they paid, but even if it was cheap, I don’t understand why they’d go out and get a LUXURY SUV when they don’t even have room to park the cars they have now in front of the house. (Really, there’s one for their daughter, one for their son, his wife has a car, he now has two cars, and his other son often is over to visit. They have two spots to park.)
Anyway, why on earth would they buy a new car if they already have one that’s in good shape? I asked that to the person who relayed the news to me, and their response: well, it’s almost paid off.
WTF?!! Since when is paying off your car reason to get a new one?! One would think that paying off your car would be reason to maybe take really good care of the one you already have and pocket the money you’ll soon be saving….NOT go out and get yourself a higher car payment!!
So yeah, while I’ve been trying not to judge others, this is just plain stupid. This isn’t the first dumb-ass move they’ve made (I suppose that’s only my opinion).
As a side note….if they ever try giving me money advice (as he has in the past…..trying to get me to invest in buying a $300k house 100 miles away, and countless other money schemes), I’m going to give him a nasty look and walk out.
QuarterLife Finances 
December 9, 2009 at 11:53 am
QL,
The best thing you can do is leave that person to their own devices. Only [a bad] experience will fix that kind of mentality. It kind of p-ed me off to, but then I was like, wait, I don’t know this person. If anything, just be happy that you aren’t in that situation.
December 9, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Oh, I know better than to try and interfere, but yeah….I have to vent somewhere, don’t I? lol.
December 10, 2009 at 9:43 am
Some people feel like an auto payment is just something you have for life, much like mortgage/rent, electric, natural gas, etc. I know some people like that. I’m still paying off my car but when it’s paid off I’ll drive it until it goes. I drove a 88 Dodge Shadow for many years until one day the side of the engine cracked (I guess it was rusted) and all the oil sprayed out causing the engine to freeze up.
Real estate is a good investment. I’m actually looking at buying a rental property. The difference is that I’m looking at buying houses under foreclosure. There is a duplex for sale a couple blocks from my house for $12k. That’s a fraction of what your friends paid for their car and people will pay me $300-$400/mo to live there (times 2)! But yes, beware of the “$300k house flip”.
December 10, 2009 at 10:01 am
Simon has it right. An old boss once confessed to me that she had resigned herself to always having a car payment. This was just after I’d paid my Corolla off!
Ultimately, it’s up to them if they want to be stupid or smart with their money.
And maybe he’s just a jerk because he knows his credit will be trashed once the house goes into foreclosure. So he’s getting the car loan while the getting is good.
December 10, 2009 at 3:28 pm
Good points, and I almost agreed with you on the last point PA….and then I remembered: the house is under their SON’S name, so it will be HIS credit they are trashing. (Ugh, that just got me pissed again….)
But yeah, I guess it’s easy for people to forget that there CAN be life without car payments. And if that’s the case, I can see how you could see paying off one car as a reason to get a new payment.
December 10, 2009 at 5:57 pm
Here’s an awful thought: once I get irritated about someone’s willful-seeming poor financial choices, I think, well, at least I can write about it and vent at the same time. Double win. For ME. 🙂
December 10, 2009 at 6:34 pm
I get frustrated by other’s financial mistakes as well. A girl I know constantly talks about all the stuff she buys and then last week sent out an e-mail asking us to donate money to her for her dog’s surgery! HUH? (She got over $600 in donations too! None from me!) And of course today, she talked about something else she bought. Grrrrr…
December 11, 2009 at 6:29 am
Reminds me of a ‘pity this family’ story in the paper the other day. Borrowed for their wedding, got a 100% mortgage on the credit of their parents, hire purchased appliances as they had no cash, then got a car loan as their old one was costing them $1000 a year to keep fixing. Sigh.