Do you think there's something as "too much money"?

[eric42434224]

Eric, quit baiting.  I told you from the get-go that I was not interested in debating the issue or trying to persuade anyone.  There is no "behavior" issue here.  I am not interested in debating you.  T

hat said, I did say I would "retract" (not further debate), but only IF you could provide a specific example from your personal experience.  You didn't.  You provided a hypothetical.  When I pointed that out, you again failed to provide a specific example from your own personal experience and instead provided an example of a client.  I have no idea whether you are intentionally avoiding providing what I asked for or simply don't understand the request, but either way, I'm not interested in debating it. 

Not sure why you are so intent on debating someone who has no interest in debating you, but I find it to be very odd behavior.  So going back to the "behavior" issue that you mention above, declining to engage someone that a forum member does not want to engage is not in any way looked down upon.  On the contrary, when someone insistently pursues another forum member who does not want to engage or be pursued, the general advice we give is to try to ignore that user and/or to use the "block" feature, if applicable.  Unfortunately, as forum admin, I have to be able to keep track of all things going on on the forum, so I don't have the luxury of blocking forumers whose posts I find harassing or out of bounds.  That's just the way it is.

I’m not baiting. 

If you don’t want to debate, then don’t ask someone for proof of their position, then move goalposts, then just ignore valid and verifiable facts.

I thought you might actually be interested in information that could change your mind.  If you want to remain ignorant of debt tools used by business, that is your perogative.  I will not engage with you further on the subject. 

[The Walrus]

EDIT: Nope, nevermind. Just nope. 

[Dublagent66]

LOL, I can't believe people have the time to argue such nonsense.  Paragraph after paragraph.  I'll just give a definitive answer to the subject question by saying no.  There is no such thing as too much money because the more some people have, the more they want.  Even millionaires who live beyond their means will always want more.  It's just that simple.  However, there is too much greed.

[eric42434224]

My opinion is yes.....If the amount of money you have is directly causing more bad than good in your life, then you have too much money.  That is an assessment to be done on an individual basis in regards to ones own wealth.

In a vacuum, I would say no, as there is no fact based amount that is too much

[cramx3]

My opinion is yes.....If the amount of money you have is directly causing more bad than good in your life, then you have too much money.  That is an assessment to be done on an individual basis in regards to ones own wealth.

In a vacuum, I would say no, as there is no fact based amount that is too much

Yea true.  Everyone is different, it comes down to how you handle the money you have.  Mo money mo problems, but if those problems are becoming too much, then maybe you have too much money.  I'm just really speculating though, I can't really imagine a life where money became somewhat meaningless, but I can only imagine things change immensely compared to how I live my life and what I am used to/understand.

[ReaperKK]

My opinion is yes.....If the amount of money you have is directly causing more bad than good in your life, then you have too much money.  That is an assessment to be done on an individual basis in regards to ones own wealth.

In a vacuum, I would say no, as there is no fact based amount that is too much

I couldn't of said it better myself.

[TempusVox]

No. Never enough. It's what you do with your wealth that matters.

[Anguyen92]

Well, my family just bought a new car and this topic came to mind.  Costs around $23k or so.  There's no way we can keep that amount of money at once and pay it upfront.  We can only put $3,500.00 as a down payment and set our monthly payments at $370.00 a month for 60 months to get it paid off.  So yes, we created a debt for ourselves but it is something that I can pay off myself month to month without any issues, but at least, we got a car that we really needed that should last more than five years, so it all works out in the end.

[bosk1]

There's no way we can keep that amount of money at once and pay it upfront.

Well, you could.  But I think you are confusing "it's hard and would require a drastic change in our lifestyles and spending habits" with "there's no way we can."  I can't remember the last time we had a car payment, and it has freed up a lot of money, not to mention freeing from the stress of making ourselves slaves to a lender.  We have bought quite a few cars during that timeframe that have lasted longer than five years, with one exceptions (and I knew we were pushing the envelope possibly a bit too far by going with a $3700 2004 Civic, but we rolled the dice).

[lordxizor]

Absolutely you could. I could pay cash for a $23k car. Not meaning to brag, but just pointing out that a single income family such as us, who prioritizes saving over spending, can have significant savings. Now, I wouldn't pay cash for a $23k car because it would drain my emergency fund. I would also never pay $23k for a car, but that's another story. I fully intend to never take out an auto loan ever again once our last one is paid off in a couple years.

[bosk1]

Oh, certainly.    Yeah, the cars we have bought in that timeframe weren't near $23k either.  They may have been if new.  But we paid nowhere near that.  Nor would I, for the reasons you mentioned. 

[lordxizor]

My vehicle now I bought from a family member is a low miles 2005 Ford Escape and I paid $2000 cash for it and put another $1000 into new tires and a couple minor repairs. So that shows my priority with vehicles. We buy newer (but still used) and nicer vehicles for the family mini-van so we have at least one very reliable vehicle. But even then I will hopefully pay cash for in 6-8 years from now when we need a new one.

[bosk1]

Yeah, sounds about like our approach.  My oldest is almost old enough to get his permit, so we need to start thinking about a car for him.  Our deal is, whatever he saves up for a car, we will match.  I think that is a good compromise for him to have some skin in the game and take ownership rather than just getting gifted a car, but helps him shoulder that financial burden at an age where he couldn't probably do it himself.  I am hoping to find something along the lines of what you mentioned--something fairly reliable and inexpensive in that price range.

[lordxizor]

That's a really good idea for paying for your kid's car. I may have to steal that one in 7 years when my oldest is at that age.

[lordxizor]

Along the same lines of "it's just not possible to save enough money to pay cash for a car", I'm very much surprised at how many of my fellow 30-somethings have already resigned themselves to the fact that they'll never be able to retire. Or at least that they'll be working into their 70s. And these are mostly two income families. It just blows my mind. I want to yell at them "the ability to retire someday is 100% within your control. Just stop buying shit you don't need and start saving!". I always feel like I'll be taken as being holier-than-thou when I tell them I should be able to retire by 60 at the latest, probably in my mid-50s. I make pretty good money, but a two income family where both people make average money makes more than me. And I know some of these people do far better than average.

[Podaar]

We always had an extra car (2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee that I bought for $2500 bucks with 100,000 miles on it) available that the kids could use to go to work with and the occasional night out, but it was always our car. They had to ask permission. We had an agreement that if they used the car, they had to spend time with me on the weekend going over maintenance and cleaning of the car. Maybe an hour at the most.

I liked our system because it gave them access to wheels so they could earn money to buy their own cars, I was able to make sure it was safely operational and insured (for my peace of mind) and they learned how to take care of a car (or at least be mindful of its needs).

I kept the car after they all grew up and moved out. It's come in handy for when they may need to have a vehicle to borrow for a while

[King Postwhore]

I've driven the same Toyota Corolla since Nov, 2007.  I only want one car payment and the wife's is up in a year.  She'll drive her car for 11 or 12 years.  I will finally get a truck.  I want to climb in and out.  Never owned one but for me, I want something with more leg room and more height plus the bonus of hauling stuff to the dump ect....

[Stadler]

I've driven the same Toyota Corolla since Nov, 2007.  I only want one car payment and the wife's is up in a year.  She'll drive her car for 11 or 12 years.  I will finally get a truck.  I want to climb in and out.  Never owned one but for me, I want something with more leg room and more height plus the bonus of hauling stuff to the dump ect....

I've taken to this strategy:  I drive a 2006 BMW X3 with 125k on it. Fun car, does what i need it to do, reliable as all get out and I can do most of the repairs myself (or with my stepson's help; he is/was a BMW tech).  I also have a '99 Dodge Ram (before that, a '98 Toyota Tacoma) that I use for the dump stuff, and if the kids need a set of wheels.   Same amount out of pocket (roughly), no car payments, and maximum convenience. 

[cramx3]

The problem with car debt (and I had some myself before finishing paying off my Civic) is that unlike a mortgage, your value goes down a lot once you take it off the dealer.  So besides your interest, the car drops in value, so you are really paying a lot at the end of the day for a new car loan.  However, I am not a car guy.  I don't want someone else's problem and I'd rather pay off a car over 5 years that allows me to get to work so I can make those payments and more. 

That same civic, I bought for 15.5, but after all said and done, paid close to 19k with interest back in 2010.  I am still driving it and getting close to 150k miles and just made a lot of money from my stock options that I can now pay for a car in cash if I wanted to.  Yet I haven't and don't plan on it.  So even with stating what I said above, I think this was a good money decision at the end of the day since it allowed me to get to work to pay it off (one year early) and then I have a low cost vehicle for the life of it while being able to just hold onto and save that cash I recently received.

[lordxizor]

Certainly car loans aren't terrible if you're willing to pay them off and then drive the car for several more years until it becomes unreliable. They're generally pretty low interest, so they're not the worst type of loan available. That being said, I'd greatly prefer to never have a car loan again.