How much does an A7 owner earn?
08-05-2011, 04:04 PM
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08-05-2011, 04:15 PM
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It sounds weird when you are making 250K to 300K a year, and you have doubt about a 70K car...
I don't know if the OP has a lot of other expensive expanding per month that he'll need to think twice for this car, but even then 70K car should still be nothing for his salary range (if that is true)
He even mentioned he's living in a relatively low cost area.
But this is how I feel, if you have to think twice, you probably can't afford it or can't afford it comfortably.
I don't know if the OP has a lot of other expensive expanding per month that he'll need to think twice for this car, but even then 70K car should still be nothing for his salary range (if that is true)
He even mentioned he's living in a relatively low cost area.
But this is how I feel, if you have to think twice, you probably can't afford it or can't afford it comfortably.
It's a lot of money no doubt but I dont find his concerns that crazy. Thats why I asked if he was a single earner.
I look at it this way... $250k for a single income family = same as (2) $125k earners. Not exactly crazy money.
You're in the highest tax bracket, add in state tax (assuming he has state tax, for me its 10%) and half of your pay is now gone. So the $20-25k/mo (gross) is now $10-12k/mo (net).
Say you finance (2) $60k cars = $2000/mo(or more). Mortgage (in my case $2500 + $1000/mo for property taxes). A few thousand in misc monthly expenses (food,gas,utilities,clothes,insurance,kids,etc). Not too much of that $12k left over to save.
Pretty valid concern IMO (though I probably have it worse in NJ as far as income and property taxes).
Last edited by CharlieSlasher; 08-05-2011 at 04:18 PM.
08-05-2011, 04:36 PM
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08-05-2011, 05:18 PM
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I 100% understand the angst of the OP. Indivduals who just barely crack the highest tax bracket are consistently overcome with money paranoia.
Earning 250k-500k as a household means you live in the wealthy neighborhood, and hang out with the truly wealthy, when you not really wealthy. There isn't much you can't afford, but you always have one eye on the future and retirement.
All of those advertisements about financial planning are for this group. Literally 60-70% of consumer financial instruments are directed at these people. They (we) have made it to the working wealthy level. As an aside, this is the most vocal group (in my experience) when it come to taxes, because if they are very close to the tax jump, then making more money actually makes them poorer.
I'm a surgeon, and my wife is a surgeon. We have one kid and live in Texas, which is basically dirt cheap in terms of cost of living. We bought a house that was 1/5 of the maximum "affordable" amount. My wife had an x5 that was paid off and worth about $13,000. I've contemplated buying an R8 and she could have paid for her A7 in cash, and despite all that....She STILL fretted over the cost of the car...for months. Almost canceling her order.
To the OP. Don't sweat it so much. Life has been good to you. You are looking at a car that is not outlandishly expensive and almost a bargain for what you get. Enjoy it.
But as another bit of info. I bought the rs4 when I could not afford it. Not even close. Had to take call as a fellow, just to make the payments. But I wanted it soooooo bad.
Earning 250k-500k as a household means you live in the wealthy neighborhood, and hang out with the truly wealthy, when you not really wealthy. There isn't much you can't afford, but you always have one eye on the future and retirement.
All of those advertisements about financial planning are for this group. Literally 60-70% of consumer financial instruments are directed at these people. They (we) have made it to the working wealthy level. As an aside, this is the most vocal group (in my experience) when it come to taxes, because if they are very close to the tax jump, then making more money actually makes them poorer.
I'm a surgeon, and my wife is a surgeon. We have one kid and live in Texas, which is basically dirt cheap in terms of cost of living. We bought a house that was 1/5 of the maximum "affordable" amount. My wife had an x5 that was paid off and worth about $13,000. I've contemplated buying an R8 and she could have paid for her A7 in cash, and despite all that....She STILL fretted over the cost of the car...for months. Almost canceling her order.
To the OP. Don't sweat it so much. Life has been good to you. You are looking at a car that is not outlandishly expensive and almost a bargain for what you get. Enjoy it.
But as another bit of info. I bought the rs4 when I could not afford it. Not even close. Had to take call as a fellow, just to make the payments. But I wanted it soooooo bad.
Last edited by b45H1r; 08-05-2011 at 05:21 PM.
08-05-2011, 05:38 PM
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I have absolutely fallen in love with the A7, but am having a hard time thinking about paying nearly $70,000 for a car, particularly when I only drive about 20 miles/day. I have been driving my current car (an Acura TL-Type S) for 10 years which has about 120,000 miles and am just tired of it even though it still runs well.
I know that this might not strictly be on-topic, but how do you determine how much is too much to pay for a car given your salary. Personally, I make about $250-300k/year and live in a relatively low-cost mid-Atlantic city, but it still feels a little extravagant to drop so much money on a car.
It would be helpful for me to understand how others have made the decision of how much is too much to spend on a car and, if you don't mind sharing, understanding what percentage of your income you're willing to spend on a car.
I know that this might not strictly be on-topic, but how do you determine how much is too much to pay for a car given your salary. Personally, I make about $250-300k/year and live in a relatively low-cost mid-Atlantic city, but it still feels a little extravagant to drop so much money on a car.
It would be helpful for me to understand how others have made the decision of how much is too much to spend on a car and, if you don't mind sharing, understanding what percentage of your income you're willing to spend on a car.
Threads on investment forums obviously had different advice than car enthusiast forums. A lot will depend on whether you have a family and what your other debt obligations are. Since you mention having a single-income family of 4 with a modest mortgage, I think you'd be fine with the A7. The more conservative answers I found to the question of "How much car can I afford?" often recommended one should not spend more than 20-25% of gross income on a car. If you are at $275k or so, that would mean you could afford the A7, and that estimate is VERY conservative. I found a very old list of what car buyers' average income is, and I've attached a link. It is old, but you will see that back in the late 90s, there were many people at your income level buying far more expensive cars than the A7.
http://www.csparks.com/bmw/CarPriceVsIncome.xhtml
I'd be VERY curious to know what the income of the average A7 buyer is. Audi has publicly stated that the median A8 buyer will have an income of over $500k and a net worth of over $1 million, and that car is 100k well-optioned (source: http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/re...mentid=1132672).
08-05-2011, 06:43 PM
#16
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I 100% understand the angst of the OP. Indivduals who just barely crack the highest tax bracket are consistently overcome with money paranoia.
Earning 250k-500k as a household means you live in the wealthy neighborhood, and hang out with the truly wealthy, when you not really wealthy. There isn't much you can't afford, but you always have one eye on the future and retirement.
All of those advertisements about financial planning are for this group. Literally 60-70% of consumer financial instruments are directed at these people. They (we) have made it to the working wealthy level. As an aside, this is the most vocal group (in my experience) when it come to taxes, because if they are very close to the tax jump, then making more money actually makes them poorer.
I'm a surgeon, and my wife is a surgeon. We have one kid and live in Texas, which is basically dirt cheap in terms of cost of living. We bought a house that was 1/5 of the maximum "affordable" amount. My wife had an x5 that was paid off and worth about $13,000. I've contemplated buying an R8 and she could have paid for her A7 in cash, and despite all that....She STILL fretted over the cost of the car...for months. Almost canceling her order.
To the OP. Don't sweat it so much. Life has been good to you. You are looking at a car that is not outlandishly expensive and almost a bargain for what you get. Enjoy it.
But as another bit of info. I bought the rs4 when I could not afford it. Not even close. Had to take call as a fellow, just to make the payments. But I wanted it soooooo bad.
Earning 250k-500k as a household means you live in the wealthy neighborhood, and hang out with the truly wealthy, when you not really wealthy. There isn't much you can't afford, but you always have one eye on the future and retirement.
All of those advertisements about financial planning are for this group. Literally 60-70% of consumer financial instruments are directed at these people. They (we) have made it to the working wealthy level. As an aside, this is the most vocal group (in my experience) when it come to taxes, because if they are very close to the tax jump, then making more money actually makes them poorer.
I'm a surgeon, and my wife is a surgeon. We have one kid and live in Texas, which is basically dirt cheap in terms of cost of living. We bought a house that was 1/5 of the maximum "affordable" amount. My wife had an x5 that was paid off and worth about $13,000. I've contemplated buying an R8 and she could have paid for her A7 in cash, and despite all that....She STILL fretted over the cost of the car...for months. Almost canceling her order.
To the OP. Don't sweat it so much. Life has been good to you. You are looking at a car that is not outlandishly expensive and almost a bargain for what you get. Enjoy it.
But as another bit of info. I bought the rs4 when I could not afford it. Not even close. Had to take call as a fellow, just to make the payments. But I wanted it soooooo bad.
Now the question is, why didn't you buy the R8? I am sure you can afford it, new or used, but is it because rationals are kicking in?
To the OP, buying a car is not an investment. So to say it is a depreciating asset means that the car is not worth 70k to you. It's all about how much value you see within the object. Some can pay top dollars for a watch, but a watch is a watch to most because an expensive watch is not worth it. It has no value in their eyes.
Is it worth buying the A7 because you only commute 20 miles a day? Is it worth that much to you even though the car is beautiful, drives well, has power and technology? Maybe not.
I once bumped into Bill Gates who was having lunch with Melinda and their kid at the California Pizza Kitchen in Bellevue, WA. As the waiter handed him the check, he went over the items very very carefully perhaps to make sure there was no mistake. Why? Because it was worth to him to do that, even though he could even buy off the restaurant right there. It was worth his time to go over his check carefully because that's him.
08-05-2011, 07:50 PM
#19
Some of the numbers quoted by the manufacturers, are skewed. Someone making $1M a year, has to drive something. They don't all drive a Ferrari, even though they could afford one. So they buy an everyday car - an S Class or an A8, maybe a Bentley - now the manufacturer tallies that a buyer "making $1M a year" bought one of their cars. But that isn't typical.
08-05-2011, 09:48 PM
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I'm definitely living within my means, in fact, I think it's because I am a pretty frugal guy that I'm looking so closely at spending $70,000 for a toy. Our mortgage is less than $2,000 and we don't have any other debt. I am the sole breadwinner in the house and we have two kids (public school).
That aside, you're still talking about dropping $70,000 into a rapidly depreciating asset. With that, you could buy two pretty damn decent new cars.
I guess I was just trying to figure out whether everybody on this forum, so many of whom seem to act as if money is no object, are just ballers or whether they are spending a large percentage of their income on their cars.
That aside, you're still talking about dropping $70,000 into a rapidly depreciating asset. With that, you could buy two pretty damn decent new cars.
I guess I was just trying to figure out whether everybody on this forum, so many of whom seem to act as if money is no object, are just ballers or whether they are spending a large percentage of their income on their cars.
I get the concern too---My SO could very comfortably afford the car but regardless I was still worried about the cost (part of the reason I was reconsidering getting it and buying a A6 instead).
I agree with what some of the others have said...life has been good to you--go for it. A lot of people ask my SO how he felt about paying for the R8...his response is always the same "you live once and you can't take the money with you when you die."
b45H1r--Thats really awesome that you and your wife are surgeons. May I ask what kind?
I'm in the medical field too, except definitely not that far advanced just yet
Watched a few surgeries the other day, loved it!
Last edited by AudiR8A7; 08-05-2011 at 09:57 PM.