What do you do to afford your cars...? If it's not too rude.

[Man of gas]

I spend my day injecting people with drugs and then shoving a large rubber object into their throat. To think that I get quite well paid for this is a bonus!

[zb]

Worked hard and saved up for first car. No loans, no finance and it wasn't flashy or cool. I played long game, knowing that anything decent was going to cost too much until I had about 5 years NCD and I was older. I kicked my heels for that time, until I could get what I wanted.

[Jimmy Recard]

dme123 said:

My brother does this, he runs an LPG converted Saab 9-3 from 1972. He is also the most content man I know. I hope it's working out the same for you.

This thread is going to descend quickly into the typical boring dickswinging :-(

I didn't realise it until recently, but it is very satisfying. I met an old school friend who's an insurance broker for a pint a few weeks ago and in the pub I noticed a nice table that had been made at work (not by me though).

He said forlornly that it must be great to see the actual results of your work in use when you're out and about. It really is nice when I notice things like that.

[Jimmy Recard]

valiant said:

No one likes a show off.

I'm actually a billionaire but choose to run a Volvo as I don't like attracting attention from young,gold digging, airheaded blonde bimbos with dubious morals. It's working a bit too well...

Giggle

[Sir Lord Poopie]

MitchT said:

The caveat where working hard is concerned is to be self employed. Working hard for someone else simply guarantees you a lifelong tenure in the boiler room shoveling coal. The only people I've seen appear to do well as employees are those who brownnose their way up the ladder and do very little actual work

+1

The 'brown nosing' phenomena I find interesting, good identifier of the weak members of a population. Could never do it personally but it seems to work.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Save up. Buy car.

Don't have anything flash. Rather losing interest in that side of cars to be blunt. Its the technology and the engineering that interests me. As an automotive based engineer, I don't earn loads, but don't do badly either (certainly my brother makes the same money working for a bank simply telling people, no they can't have a PPI payout because their claim is dubious...but thats a dull way to make a living).

Prefer really to spend money on the house, good food and spending it on going places. Really like to travel and see different places and I get more out of that than driving cars. Ultimately I'll be able to do the best of both worlds in the not too distant....a driving holiday.

I enjoy my free time and being able to still put a lot of time into my swimming and gym work. Of course that doesn't pay, quite the opposite, but I get a lot of satisfaction from it. I've seen plenty of people who work all hours (often for someone else to boot) and whilst they have more money, I don't envy the rest of their lifestyle. Really, I don't want to spend a minute longer than I have to at work, but its a balance as you need to earn some money in order to do these things with your free time.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Saturday 18th February 13:31

[benjijames28]

I don't have any flash cars, I bought my current Audi a3 by trading in my ford fiesta and putting 3 grand on my zero interest credit card, aka a loan.

I did own a house, now I got divorced and don't, wife got majority of equity, I've now got a bit of cash in bank, no where permanent to live and I'm trying to work out what to do with my life.

I also have a kid and a girlfriend.

As for work, I earn about 20k a year, but I get loads of time off and work with a good bunch of people in a varied role. I would love to earn more money, self employed on the side. I have no intention on working my arse off for anyone else.

Some of you have mentioned the brownnosers, and it's true, my work has plenty of them, they do the least but get the furthest. I turned down an interview for promotion on the principal I didn't want the company to own even more of my life for an extra 30p an hour.

[g3org3y]

darthmarmite said:

some very nice cars

Thanks for noticing.

g3org3y said:

BMW E36 328i Touring

That's what 6 years of med school and 5 years post grad training gets you.

[daemon]

golfdsg said:

23, and I am in the Real Estate industry. I have been fortunate enough to buy a C63 (No finance) only a few months after I started trading.

Looking to upgrade to a supercar next year.

Out of curiosity, of the three "win the lottery, have a silver spoon (funded by family for example) or work hard" - which would it be?

I'm curious if you've really went from Zero to Hero as it were in five years. Fair play if you have

[daemon]

And to answer the same scenario myself of "win the lottery, have a silver spoon or work hard", its been work hard.

Anything i've got its been on my own wicket. In fairness our "fleet" isnt particularly exceptional by PH standards, but our focus has mainly been in building our own home of recent years which is now complete.

I just wish i'd been born rich instead of so good looking though....

Edited by daemon on Saturday 18th February 14:55

[blueg33]

In my case, work hard and be good at what I do.

I started my own business, but sold it age 30. I work for someone else but generate heaps of profit so am well paid.

Its not luck though, its about graft, seeing opportunities, getting the company to buy into those.

The last opportunity I presented has turned £4m into £100m of asset in 3 years. Company likes that and bonus is good

[daemon]

blueg33 said:

The last opportunity I presented has turned £4m into £100m of asset in 3 years. Company likes that and bonus is good

Surely with those sorts of abilities the REAL money must be in finding a way to do it yourself?

If you turned £4m into £100m into 3 years, i dont care what "bonus" you got, its not enough compared to the fortune you could be sitting on if you'd done it for yourself.

With that sort of a track record surely somebody would bankroll you rather than you being in a PAYE job?

[blueg33]

daemon said:

blueg33 said:

The last opportunity I presented has turned £4m into £100m of asset in 3 years. Company likes that and bonus is good

Surely with those sorts of abilities the REAL money must be in finding a way to do it yourself?

If you turned £4m into £100m into 3 years, i dont care what "bonus" you got, its not enough compared to the fortune you could be sitting on if you'd done it for yourself.

With that sort of a track record surely somebody would bankroll you rather than you being in a PAYE job?

The problem is getting the £4m. It wss totally at risk.

Forgot to add, I am a property developer and investment manager, I started as an estate agent after my degree, within 2 years I put my house on the line and set up my own agency, took over another firm so had 5 offices, when I was 30, I sold out and started with a housebuilder as a land manager buying sites. By the age of 35 I was land director earning £80k plus bonus, then became managing director.

I am now Group Main Board of a developer building homes for disabled, elderly, market residential, hospitals and large health centres.

In true ph fashion, I am on the Board of 14 companies (some are funding spv's), but I loathe red bull and am fat rather than powerfully built.

I am now 51, still get up at 5am and often don't get home until 7pm

I love my job and would recommend property development especially land buying to anyone. Every day is different, its rewarding. I pay 25 year old development managers a min of £40k, an experienced land manager can expect to earn £100k pa

Edited by blueg33 on Saturday 18th February 19:35

[Jaguar steve]

Sell nice car to pay deposit on rabbit hutch on ghastly Chav housing estate.

Work 2 jobs. Drive Sheds. Buy/sell/fix cars for cash.

Sell rabbit hutch for x2 the purchase price.

Buy big run down house in posh area. Work through night at weekends on renovations. Carry on driving Sheds.

Work overtime. Bullst and kiss arses for promotion then take redundancy and start own business.

Buy nice car and boat.

Sell renovated big posh house for x4 the purchase price.

Buy tiny quaint cottage in countryside. Invest surplus and retire.

Keep nice car. Keep Sheds. Sell boat.

Easy...

[Muddle238]

I worked extremely hard with the aim of ending up in the pointy end of commercial airliners, it was a dream I had since the age of about 6, luckily for me the hard work paid off and I'm now working at my second airline earning far more than I actually need. I didn't decide to do the job because of the money, I did it because it was what I wanted to do. Luckily my career path just so happens to pay well, I'm lucky to have that advantage.

That being said, I bought my DS5 at just under two years old for cash, I'm very happy with it and plan to run it to at least 200k miles. I have no interest in chopping it for the latest Jones-spec A3/A4/Beemer/Merc/VW every three years.

[CS Garth]

Man of gas said:

I spend my day injecting people with drugs and then shoving a large rubber object into their throat

Me too although I prefer it when they just pay up first

[rayyan171]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/s...

Thrifty, love it!

[anonymous-user]

As i work in the Automotive industry i don't need to pay to own 'nice cars' because i actually get paid to drive them!

However, after over 20 years in the industry, i really don't care that much any longer for having a nice car. IME, these days the only practical difference between a Ferrari 488 and a Ford Focus is that the Ferrari looks better on your drive. And also, IME, the vast majority (not everyone) of owners of this sort of car can't actually drive a greasy stick up a pigs a**e, they just buy the car to try to make themselves look good.

[turbobloke]

Max_Torque said:

the vast majority (not everyone) of owners of this sort of car can't actually drive a greasy stick up a pigs a**e

In that sense neither can the vast majority (not everyone) of owners of Vauxhords, Peugaults, Hondyotas and Volkissans. While it's not excessively demanding to drive a road car on the road, there are plenty of people who pass their test of basic competence but still find it tricky. Racing on the road is unlawful in any case.

[renmure]

Into Banks.
Late at night when it is quiet and nobody is looking.
So far, so good.