How would you feel if you made this bad financial move?

Question

You are 21 years old.
You have $11,000 saved up from working very hard at McDonald's, and years of being a total miser by never having fun with your money when you were 16, 17, 18, 19, or 20 by always saving.


You make the stupid mistake of spending it ALL on a car. Instead of getting a old, reliable car from a private seller who was an auto mechanic who took care of the car and then you need $1,000 from you mom to take of the total cost of $12,000 after tax.

Think about it,

You're financially powerless.
You're at the mercy of others all over again.
You have no savings in your bank anymore.
You can't buy anything else.
You can't spent it on anything from EBAY.
You can't spent it on "kinky fun".
You can't spend it on anything fun.


Had you spent $2,500 on a reliable old car, you'd have $8,500 left over and could have fun with $2,000 savings the other $6,500 in the bank for your future.


How would feel in this scenario?
You're suddenly finacially powerless.

Answer 1

I say learn from this mistake and move on. You already know that you have the ability to discipline yourself to save so now you can start anew. You are certainly not financially powerless - you have your financial self-discipline!. Perhaps you can sell the car and get a lesser used one. Anyway, you have time on your side. Imagine if you were in your 60s and lost everything in some "fantastic sure-fire deal" or fraud; there would be no time to recover. Good Luck!

Answer 2

What mistake? Okay, you could have made a better move but this isn't so bad at all. Look at the positives. You now have a car that will last a lot longer than that old one you were talking about. In the long run it may come out cheaper. You're driving a nice car which is a nice thing. Financially powerless? Bull Excrement! Your power to earn is still there and even stronger than it was when you first started to work. You've proven that you're very capable of earning and saving substantial amounts of money. You still are. You are at the mercy of no one. You can do what you want. You didn't do anything horrible. Now, what can you learn from this? One of the best pieces of financial advice I've ever gotten was "you can't have it all." Prioritize. You can have a lot of little things or one or two big things. What's more important to you? Next, I recently lost my beloved kitty after 18 years. She never and I mean never ate the last bit of food in her dish. She made sure she would never starve. From now on take a little bit if whatever you get and save it. It is to make sure you never feel the way you feel right now ever again. Not for cars, trips, clothes, toys or anything else. It is for the most important thing money can provide. Peace of mind. Now go out and rebuild your savings. You did it once and you can do it again. You're okay even though you think you're not.

Answer 3

I'm thinking this is a true story, right? So okay, look now at the positive for a moment. If you bought the car for $12,000, and owe mom $1000, you are not making $300 car payments for the next five years. And if you take care of the car, change oil, do minor repairs, and don't get into stupid accidents, and no tickets, then you are almost debt free for now. You still can work, and buy your gas, insurance, and enjoy the rest of your money. Your car may even last six to 10 years more, so you may have done yourself a favor. The downside of selling it now, may be that you lose some or allot of your money. That would be an insult to injury.I find living debt free gives me more money to spend instead of less, by paying all that interest. Just a thought friend.

Answer 4

Feeling some regret are we?

Personally, it wouldn't bother me too much. However, I probably wouldn't have bought the "newer" car...I'd have gone your last scenario.

Incidentally, with the "debt" culture growing in North America and Europe right now, very few people are in any kind of control of their finances right now.

As for the car sales story...if the person has a license to sell, you generally have 30 days to obtain a refund. If (s)he is not licensed, and you are feeling buyer's remorse...you have a calendar year to return the (intact/undamaged) car for a full refund.

Answer 5

I'd say if I only saved up 12,000 in 6 years of having no fun and buying nothing bur the necessities then I would need to get a better education in order to get a different job...or they better make me a manager=)