Trying to live my dream but how am I going to do it?

[Rodimus_Prime]

Pretty much from as far back as I can remember the first car I ever really loved was the 3rd gen Firebird, mostly because I loved Knight Rider and thought it was the coolest thing ever besides maybe Airwolf and Transformers lol. I used to read car magazines and build models pretty much all through elementary and HS. All I ever wanted was a Trans AM, pretty much nothing else existed to me. My dad did a pretty good job in shattering my dreams as far as getting one when I turned 16. He was like "cant use RWD in the snow and I don't want you with a V8 your insurance is going to be through the roof as it is bla bla bla". The first car I ever had was a 88 Grand Am with the Quad 4 which I promptly raced at any chance I got. I took down more than a few 305 V8s. Quite honestly it was even faster than a 82-84 Firebird like I wanted anyway.

Years went by and pretty much all I ended up getting was gradually faster GM 4 cylinder cars and thats pretty much the cars that I ended up getting into going to meets and shows with because at my age its the only thing they don't rape you for on insurance and really it was almost to the point where I forgot completely about what I really wanted.

I just kinda have always felt like one day, this is going to be the car I would have. The GTA era of Trans AMs has always been my favorite the 87-92 and of course the top of the class is the 89 TTA. I've read about the thing for 20 some years but never once have I even saw one in person. I really hate that there were so few made it makes things alot harder as far as getting one.

So that brings me to where I am today -
I owe 12,500 on my 07 Cobalt SS
I owe 8500 on credit cards
I have a 40k a year job and split rent on an apartment.

Trying to get one right now would not be a smart thing financially, I'm not completely against the idea of getting rid of the Cobalt its just it would be impossible to find a buyer. I love it in its own right 298whp and 30+MPG on the highway, not many cars that can do that. I've put alot into it and as a daily it would do quite well, but I could do with a cheaper daily like a 3000 dollar used cavalier would be just fine if I had the TTA.

I feel like right now is such a good time to get one because the prices arent too bad on them and as we all know in 5-6 years this car might well be beyond what most people are willing to spend for a 25 year old car. I don't want to wait too long that it falls out of my grasp.

 

[WS6]

Let's talk about your finances first. What else is in your debt load? student loans,etc?

Based on what you've written, you should be in your own home with a 30yr mortgage. I take it you're not married and no kids...right? If so that's in your future so factor that in.

The internet is full of toys up in a "fire sale" because of upcoming marriage or child on the way.

Do you have a place to store a second car if your plan works out? or will it sit next to the cavelier,outside.

 

[Rodimus_Prime]

Yup no kids and no annoying ball and chain. Haha I lived at home till like 25, no student loans, im not even sure where all the money went. House is a nice future plan but not right now. I have a garage I can store the TTA at, by no means would I let that thing outside.

My bills -
The apartment 500
electric 100
car payment 350
cell phone bill 100
gas/food - no idea really
credit cards - as much as I can afford to put into them each month

Thats it

 

[TTA976]

Yup no kids and no annoying ball and chain. Haha I lived at home till like 25, no student loans, im not even sure where all the money went. House is a nice future plan but not right now. I have a garage I can store the TTA at, by no means would I let that thing outside.

My bills -
The apartment 500
electric 100
car payment 350
cell phone bill 100
gas/food - no idea really
credit cards - as much as I can afford to put into them each month

Thats it

Hot Rod, is that you? Huge transformer fan:rockon:

Pay off those credit cards first... Then go buy yourself a TTA.

Saving your money is the best advice I could give but OMG, I love my TTA.:drunk:

 

[Rodimus_Prime]

8500 bucks isnt going to go away anytime soon

 

[WS6]

It's very easy to sit here and give advice, and also very hard to read it because you're really not going to read what you want to hear. Especially since your driven to get yourself a TTA.

But the elehpant in the room is your destructive debt. Mainly your revolving CC debt and the rent you pay. If I were you,and I'm not, I'd put all of my extra money in to paying off that $8500 first.Even if it meant sitting at home every Friday and saturday night eatin' grilled cheese in front of the T.V. for the next year or two.

Next I'd start squirreling away some down payment money for a house, and since your single maybe a flat that you could live in one unit and rent the other one out.

I never really saw growth of my personal portfolio till I owned "dirt", it allowed me to leverage equity and showed lenders that I was serious about life. Which in turn helped borrow against my dirt to buy more dirt. And of course buy toys.

It appears your only 28, but time moves too quick to ignore destructive debt.
Cars come and cars go and your priorities will do the same.Maybe 2 years from now you maybe talking about expecting a child...or getting a ball and chain...or whatever.

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy the car you really,really want but I can tell you I really, really, wanted a TTA for last 15 years. And I've only had mine for 2 years.

I'm saying don't forego the smart needs for the foolish wants.



....

 

[Jan Larsson]

It's very easy to sit here and give advice, and also very hard to read it because you're really not going to read what you want to hear. Especially since your driven to get yourself a TTA.

But the elehpant in the room is your destructive debt. Mainly your revolving CC debt and the rent you pay. If I were you,and I'm not, I'd put all of my extra money in to paying off that $8500 first.Even if it meant sitting at home every Friday and saturday night eatin' grilled cheese in front of the T.V. for the next year or two.

Next I'd start squirreling away some down payment money for a house, and since your single maybe a flat that you could live in one unit and rent the other one out.

I never really saw growth of my personal portfolio till I owned "dirt", it allowed me to leverage equity and showed lenders that I was serious about life. Which in turn helped borrow against my dirt to buy more dirt. And of course buy toys.

It appears your only 28, but time moves too quick to ignore destructive debt.
Cars come and cars go and your priorities will do the same.Maybe 2 years from now you maybe talking about expecting a child...or getting a ball and chain...or whatever.

I'm not saying you shouldn't buy the car you really,really want but I can tell you I really, really, wanted a TTA for last 15 years. And I've only had mine for 2 years.

I'm saying don't forego the smart needs for the foolish wants.



....

Can't agree more ... life is too short to mess around and with todays climate savings are worth more then depth that's for sure ... I can only recommend taking a very slow year or two and sort out your finances then you will be in a really good position to have fun with cars or whatever you prefer ...

I've been there and done that but these days I pay cash for pretty much everything I buy specially cars and parts

 

[hhofman]

Ditto from the previous guys. Get yourself on a WRITTEN budget, spend your money first "on paper". Have you ever heard of Dave Ramsey, he is a wealth of really practical financial knowledge. Beans and rice for the next year. Pick-up a side job to get that income up, plus if you are working more you will have less time to spend it. I like your idea of selling the other car and picking up a beater, that will lower your insurance cost and will cut down on your temptation to spend money on the SS. You can put that car payment monthly cash outlay against the CC and drop that sucker like a bad habit. You can do it, but you just have to get mad enough that you will do whatever it takes (legally) to get FREE of that debt.

 

[Rodimus_Prime]

its just so hard when someone puts theirs up for sale on here just today lol, im going to go to the bank and run the numbers see if it will work