Quote:
Originally Posted by 0utlier
Suze Orman is far from a "financial guru". My wife, with an MBA (emphasis Finance), Masters degree in Finance, and a Ph.d in Finance is a Finance guru. She thinks Suze Orman is an idiot. Same for that Dave Ramsey guy. Both give extremely simple minded advice. That should ruffle a few feathers.
Suze's premise in the article is people lease to get more car for less payment than they otherwise could if they were to buy. I'm sure that may be true for some, but that is foolish blanket statement to make. I (and I'm sure most here) can easily afford to buy a $50K dollar car. However, I like to drive a brand new car every couple of years, I don't rack up the miles, and I don't modify my car very much. Why would I buy a car if I'm just going to sell it in 24 months? I can keep my money and do other things with it than have it "invested" in a depreciating asset. If you are leasing because you want an expensive car, but you can't afford it otherwise, you're probably already in over your head in other aspects of your life too. It will all come crashing down eventually anyway for those people.
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Buying a 50k car means buying a 1,100,000 house instead of 1,350,000 house in reality, because home ownership is a leveraged position. That's why even though people in my neighborhood own the latter, they drive minivans and Honda Accords, etc., for the most part. They also have kids and usually park at the train station, so the car sits 10-12 hours per day in a commuter lot. I dunno what easily afford means to you, because a conscious decision is made that when buying a 335, and financing it, many times an Accord could have been purchased outright with cash. Saying that most here can easily afford a 50k car has got to be the most naive statement I've seen in a long time. Did your wife get her degree at a top-tier b school? If so, be proud of her and mention her alma mater. Just wanted to clarify that it wasn't obtained online or something crazy like that.