20 years old, willing to handicap myself financially to own a Tesla Model S.

For you to be even asking this question makes me pretty certain that you will never attain the financial stability necessary to purchase this car.

That kind of debt at your age is ruinous.

This purchase could literally be the defining moment that destroys your life.

Back away slowly.

 

Spend the money on trips. It makes you a much more interesting person.

 

My heart breaks for the poverty in this thread.

 

No offense OP

But how the hell you manage to live in NYC at $17 per hour? Are you still in school?

I don't think it's sustainable in the long run. I hope you're working on a degree or a business plan that will pay you 6 figures soon

 

Managers at McDonalds make $20 an hour. Can you imagine them driving up to work in a Tesla? lol

 

Why buy a car at all in NYC?

 

this is why personal finance needs to be taught in schools

 

smh at this thread

 

The biggest mystery of this thread is how the OP managed to save up $13k making less than $40k in NYC by the age of 20?!?!

Maybe he isnt as dumb as we think....

 

Are you saying he's Pablo Escobar? haha

a) He doesn't care to shop, party, drink, eat at expensive restaurants

or

b) He's been working since the age of 14/15.

 

Agreed! - Repped.

Seriously, at 20yrs old. If you REALLY want a car, spend 5K and get a beater. Put the other 8K in a mutual fund - but learn what a mutual fund is first - do the research and only invest in ones that have been around for years and have a good track record.

Or better yet, put that money towards getting some kind of training. In NYC, you'll need to make a whole lot more than $20 an hour to survive. Your dads (hopefully) not going to let you live there rent free forever. take some financial responsibility for yourself.

If you do buy the car, you WILL end up regretting the purchase. Cars are the most expensive thing people buy that will go DOWN IN VALUE 99.9% of the time. Its never a smart purchase if its an unneeded purchase. Put your money in to something that will go UP IN VALUE. Mutual funds, technical training/college, etc.

 

Aside from the obvious financial pitfalls, I would not buy the Tesla. Musk is great and all, and the innovation of the car is impressive, but it has taken the greater auto industry decades to get the experience they need to build quality vehicles, and arguably some still have not got it right. The pure "car" part of the Tesla is what concerns me, and I suspect they will continue to have big problems - the fan boy owners seem happy to live with the problems they are having for now.....

 

Can't emphasize this enough. Once you have that lady (meaning a serious relationship) by your side suddenly there will be all kinds of expenses you never anticipated. And what's the natural end result of that? Marriage. What's next? Children. Hooo boy. Now the costs are REALLY sky rocketing.

And that could be as short as 5 years away. That could all come to fruition before your car loan is even paid off. Struggling to figure out how to pay for a wedding because you've got to make your $1000 car payment every month. Just don't do it, man. I guarantee you the longest you will be happy about that decision is 8 months...MAYBE a year. And you could potentially regret it for decades.

 

LMAO. You had me at "heart".

 

Umm, yeah, it's an incredibly bad idea. Fortunately, I don't think anyone would lend you the money to do it without a cosigner. Hopefully, no one is willing to cosign. And the insurance on that thing at your age!

Besides all that, is this the signal you want to send to your father? 'I'm a grown man now, but can you please subsidize my living expenses so I can spend a ****-ton on a stupid car? Oh, and your electric bill will go way up because you'll be paying to charge the batteries.' It sounds like your father will be paying for the car in the form of free rent and free electricity, not you. Are you at least going to let him drive it?

 

Lol ive never heard somebody that age lusting over a electric car. Its usually over a intoxicating rwd. Yea dont do it

 

I had that kind of funds at that age, and I only worked low paying jobs for my Dad and Wal-Mart. Plus I had always been a saver.

It is easy when you are living on your parents' dime.

 

You didn't have to start the thread title by saying you're 20 - we gathered you were that age, or younger, by the rest of the title.