6 ms·

While an interesting examination, the problem with articles like this is they have lots of graphs and math to maximize dollars without any consideration of valu

• agnokapathetic 17y ago
  Buying new cars is financially crippling. http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/lms/drive_free/player.cfm http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/lms/drive_free/player.cfm
  • patio11 17y ago
    He's overly optimistic about the long-term returns to stocks, but the basic plan works.
    • tyn 17y ago
      Plus he doesn't take inflation into account
    • thismat 17y ago
      I think his optimism comes from what he has experienced as an average annual growth over the life of the market, I haven't checked the figures myself though. I often wondered why Dave Ramsey wasn't more popular with HN, he promotes starting businesses like a startup needs to start, work on the side, build your business logically, work your tail off and run LEAN (though he goes a little further and says pay cash for everything).
  • xexers 17y ago
    A car costs about $10-12k per year on average (including gas, insurance, payments, repairs). If you live in a city with great public transportation, an annual pass will cost about $1200. Taking taxis and renting cars to fulfil those other trips won't add up to much. You can save even more money this way and go green at the same time :)
    • timr 17y ago
      Yes. I sold my car and motorcycle before moving to SF. Now I use a Zipcar occasionally, taxis a few times a month, and mostly rely on my feet, public transit and my bike. In SF, a transit pass costs $60 a month for an adult. I probably spend $60 a month on Zipcar (at most), and maybe $30 on cabs. So that's $150 a month on transportation. When I lived in Seattle (a cheaper place than SF) with my beater car, I paid that in auto insurance and parking alone. Even though I didn't drive that much, I was easily spending $300 a month on the car. I've done this for over a year now, and I really don't miss having a car. Services like Zipcar really make it convenient for those rare occasions when I need a vehicle. The rest of the time, it's incredibly nice not to have to think about it.
    • randallsquared 17y ago
      If you used taxis and rental cars like you'd use a car you owned, it would be far more expensive, even in the cases where it would be possible (want to run out to the store when you discover you don't have any X while Y is cooking? You're out of luck in most places, unless you have a car). I just spent a year and a half without a car, and it was a nightmare some weeks. It basically means no spontaneous trips unless you happen to have an extra half an hour to get there, on average. Oh, and the choice between spending several hours a week grocery shopping (mostly in walking to and from the store) or paying 15% extra to have most stuff delivered isn't fun. I think if you put an hourly price on all the inconvenience, a car comes off as the less expensive option.
      • igrekel 17y ago
        I wouldn't base that large an expense on something like the cooking problem. I just try to plan better, improvise, have someone cooking for me or just eat out (not these days tough). The problem exists even if you have a car but live out of town. As always, you need to look at your life and make the appropriate choices. I spent many years without a car and I look back to it as a good time. The trick is to look at things globally and then not sweat on the small expenses (like the grocery delivery charge and taxi fares) if they were budgeted as a way to afford bigger costs.