Appropriate salary to buy a Supercar
Discussion
PrinceRupert said:
StevieBee said:
Very much this!
Dividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
I'm sure the partners at my firm could afford one raking in 1 to 3m a year. Technically not salary but the same idea.Dividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
Salaried partners won't be earning that, and neither do they carry the same risk level, buy in or liabilities.
bristolbaron said:
I don’t think salary comes into it as much as net worth. Being able to make the payments and being comfortable losing £70k over three years are very different things!
I tend to look only at the cost of ownership, not upfront cost, and can't see me enjoying any car enough to be worth dropping that sort of amount in a couple of years.StevieBee said:
Very much this!
Dividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
I work in a bank, so nearly all the people I know with high-end cars are funding them from salary.Dividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
Kent Border Kenny said:
I tend to look only at the cost of ownership, not upfront cost, and can't see me enjoying any car enough to be worth dropping that sort of amount in a couple of years.
I am not wealthy enough to finance a supercar. I'll avoid willy waving but the sums themselves are not an issue. The concept to me of putting £1k - £2k a month and not really getting much equity payment in that money would make me not enjoy "owning" the car. Realistically I might take it out for a hundred miles every fortnight or so when in the country. To pay that a month for 200 or so miles just doesn't work for me. Yes, in the last few years some of the supercars and limited editions/classics have bucked the trend and depreciation hasn't been significant and in many cases the cars have appreciated. However, that isn't often the case and going forward I certainly cannot see this being the case. So its £1k - £2k finance payment to break even at the end of it. To be paying that for such infrequent use I would at least want tos ee something at the end of it, not just memories of twice a month having a nice blast.
Kent Border Kenny said:
StevieBee said:
Very much this!
Dividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
I work in a bank, so nearly all the people I know with high-end cars are funding them from salary.Dividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
I don't even understand how someone affords a new BMW M5 tbh. I feel like I'd need to be earning quite a bit north of £100k before I'd feel I had enough spare cash, money in pension, savings etc that the monthly payments would seem acceptable to me.
So a £200k car would be even further away.
So a £200k car would be even further away.
Kent Border Kenny said:
StevieBee said:
Very much this!
Dividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
I work in a bank, so nearly all the people I know with high-end cars are funding them from salary.Dividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
I'm an engineer with an energy company, my husband works for a bank, we earn roughly the same salary and we have a 991.2 GT3 that doesn't cost us anything each month and is still worth more than we paid for it two years ago. Two year service schedules and a warrantee means running costs are just fuel and insurance.
Two good salaries, no kids or school fees and we've been very lucky with central London properties.
I'm not sure a GT3 is a "supercar" but It's a lot more than I ever dared dream of and shows it is possible.
Two good salaries, no kids or school fees and we've been very lucky with central London properties.
I'm not sure a GT3 is a "supercar" but It's a lot more than I ever dared dream of and shows it is possible.
2 GKC said:
StevieBee said:
Very much this!
Dividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
There’s plentyDividends, bonuses investments, sale of business, inheritance..... I can't think of any profession that would afford a basic salary to a level that would enable the purchase (and running) of a supercar without requiring the owner to live in the car itself.
Don't forget that we're talking 'salary' or 'wages'... regular payments of earnings from which all tax has been deducted. But a salary is a very inefficient way to be paid which for most of us mere mortals is not a big issue but when you start earning big, there's more efficient ways to get your money - dividends being amongst the most efficient. This requires that you take a share in the company's ownership but because the value of dividends is variable, it's not considered as salary as such, more as part of your package.
May seem semantic but it's not because with a salary you can say what you are going to earn but with dividends, bonuses, etc, you can only say what you have earned.
I suppose if you are working for someone else and getting paid a salary then you just see the money as doing nothing if you don’t spend it.
I would rather invest it somehow. I have grown profitable local businesses with less than the price of a GT3 and they now give me an income, make my city a better place and provide jobs for people.
It just feels incredibly indulgent to spunk that kind of cash on a silly car.
I would rather invest it somehow. I have grown profitable local businesses with less than the price of a GT3 and they now give me an income, make my city a better place and provide jobs for people.
It just feels incredibly indulgent to spunk that kind of cash on a silly car.
I know someone who was on not much more than minimum wage and spent the £60k deposit he saved up for a house on an older lambo, drove it around for a year and had a blast. Sold it and used the rest for a house deposit. He got some attention being 20 odd with one.. I got a shot so that's all that counts lol
Kent Border Kenny said:
This is the flip side of the other salary question running at the moment, asking how much you need to be happy, as there seemed a bit of a mis-match between the average earnings and the value of the cars that posters have.
So, looking at things in the other direction, and forgetting the occasional outlier who lives in a bedsit and borrows five years' salary to buy one, what would people think would be the low-end salary for buying a lightly used £200k sports car such as a 720s Spider, or a pre-reg M5 at £80k.
I'd have thought that no-one would look at the McLaren (again, other than the odd (very odd) person who'll risk everything and only just scrape together the monthly payments) unless they were on £300k+, but are there people buying them on £100k per year and just accepting that nearly half of their significant post-tax income will go on depreciation and running costs? Again, the salaries that people mention, and the cars that they have suggest that I'm possibly way off on my estimates.
By comparison, I was relatively well paid in my 20s (graduate in an investment bank) on £35k (a long time ago) and despite having few expensive tastes, and a modest flat to live in, still wasn't comfortable spending more than £15k on my first Elise.
It's an interesting question. As someone else as already mentioned, salary is far from the be all and end all these days. It's more about the other financial make-up.So, looking at things in the other direction, and forgetting the occasional outlier who lives in a bedsit and borrows five years' salary to buy one, what would people think would be the low-end salary for buying a lightly used £200k sports car such as a 720s Spider, or a pre-reg M5 at £80k.
I'd have thought that no-one would look at the McLaren (again, other than the odd (very odd) person who'll risk everything and only just scrape together the monthly payments) unless they were on £300k+, but are there people buying them on £100k per year and just accepting that nearly half of their significant post-tax income will go on depreciation and running costs? Again, the salaries that people mention, and the cars that they have suggest that I'm possibly way off on my estimates.
By comparison, I was relatively well paid in my 20s (graduate in an investment bank) on £35k (a long time ago) and despite having few expensive tastes, and a modest flat to live in, still wasn't comfortable spending more than £15k on my first Elise.
I'd say that someone on £100k in their 50s with house fully paid off and good chunks of inheritance and investment income could afford a supercar relatively easily, someone on the same salary in their 30s with a mortgage and kids not so much.
kingston12 said:
It's an interesting question. As someone else as already mentioned, salary is far from the be all and end all these days. It's more about the other financial make-up.
I'd say that someone on £100k in their 50s with house fully paid off and good chunks of inheritance and investment income could afford a supercar relatively easily, someone on the same salary in their 30s with a mortgage and kids not so much.
Exactly. Why are a lot of supercars driven by middle-aged men? It's not some mid-life crisis, if they could have had one 20 years ago they would, but it's only now they can afford it having paid off the mortgage and kids now fending for themselves.I'd say that someone on £100k in their 50s with house fully paid off and good chunks of inheritance and investment income could afford a supercar relatively easily, someone on the same salary in their 30s with a mortgage and kids not so much.
I work in a small partnership (financial trading), total income can vary quite substantially from yr to yr but I always make enough to cover a salary draw which covers my outgoings in the lean yrs, in the good years the bonus can be many times the salary. My share of the trading profits go into my Lim Co from where I pay myself in dividends if and when I want to. I've always looked at car ownership more from the depreciation and running cost angle to see how much it will cost me over 2/3 yrs, I'm comfortable with that cost being approx £10k per annum , it gets u into some really fun cars while not going nuts ( 3 kids keeps me in check!). Dropping 50-60k to own the latest and greatest for 12 months seems like madness to me but I'm sure there are plenty out there who can afford that. On the other hand plenty lose/spend £10k in the first yr on fairly mundane family suv's and saloons.
dimots said:
I suppose if you are working for someone else and getting paid a salary then you just see the money as doing nothing if you don’t spend it.
I would rather invest it somehow. I have grown profitable local businesses with less than the price of a GT3 and they now give me an income, make my city a better place and provide jobs for people.
It just feels incredibly indulgent to spunk that kind of cash on a silly car.
It's a case of whatever floats your boat.I would rather invest it somehow. I have grown profitable local businesses with less than the price of a GT3 and they now give me an income, make my city a better place and provide jobs for people.
It just feels incredibly indulgent to spunk that kind of cash on a silly car.
If you've invested time and money into something, sweated blood and tears and taken risks and it finally comes good and puts some wedge in your bank - and if cars are your thing, the why not?
Some buy cellars of expensive wine. Some buy watches. Some, holiday homes in Tuscany..... Some buy cars that are indeed silly and highly indulgent which is sort of their point.
The thing is that when we're talking about 'supercars' their owners tend often to have all those other things as well.
If your business continues to grow, you've made your city better and provided employment for people... you've paid off the mortgage and got a gold-plated pension all lined up.... you then sell the business that puts a £1m in your pocket... what would you do with it?
I'm a high rate tax payer with no children or wife.
I could afford a super-car. I don't have the balls to go out and buy one/am too much of a tight arse.
If spending big isn't in your nature, earning more money isn't going to suddenly change that. I seem to recall posts on here in the past on these sorts of threads where the wealthiest man at the golf club often drives the old knackered Volvo, not the M3. Conversely the lady I a manage at work is on low £20ks and yet runs a £60 a month mobile phone bill, £900 rent on a 1 bed flat and has multiple takeaways a week and wonders why she can't afford a shed now that her car has packed up.
I could afford a super-car. I don't have the balls to go out and buy one/am too much of a tight arse.
If spending big isn't in your nature, earning more money isn't going to suddenly change that. I seem to recall posts on here in the past on these sorts of threads where the wealthiest man at the golf club often drives the old knackered Volvo, not the M3. Conversely the lady I a manage at work is on low £20ks and yet runs a £60 a month mobile phone bill, £900 rent on a 1 bed flat and has multiple takeaways a week and wonders why she can't afford a shed now that her car has packed up.
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