Be honest please.

Contigo

Sponsor
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18,376
This is sobering...

Currently, the richest 1% hold about 38% of all privately held wealth in the United States. while the bottom 90% held 73% of all debt.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
I'm in a slightly apocalyptic vein at the moment. I don't like what I see at the moment and what it seems to be creating. I see a big divide big than ever before and the divide only likely to get bigger. I'll do my damnedest to make sure we (my family & I) don't end up in the apocalyptic half!
 

Contigo

Sponsor
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18,376
https://inequality.org/facts/global-inequality/

"More than 70 percent of the world’s adults own under $10,000 in wealth. This 70.1 percent of the world holds only 3 percent of global wealth. The world’s wealthiest individuals, those owning over $100,000 in assets, total only 8.6 percent of the global population but own 85.6 percent of global wealth. "
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
This is sobering...

Currently, the richest 1% hold about 38% of all privately held wealth in the United States. while the bottom 90% held 73% of all debt.

Interesting and doesn't surprise me at all...not in the slightest. Kind of my point.
 
Messages
6,001
Good thread and no right or wrong. You just make a decision based on your own life.
I bought my (used) QP for about £20000 years ago cash because I am not of the credit generation. I saved and bought what I wanted. I had debt once for a Vauxhall Cavalier and hated every minute of the debt so I paid it off asap and vowed never again. My only real debt has been mortgage and I saved to pay that off as quick as I could (11 years or so). I do agree though there has been a shift in the motor industry to leasing etc. I am not against it if it suits your circs just not mine. However there are wider implications for these leasing schemes. Maintenance, fewer older cars the economy the push to electrics ..........on and on.........
Not my world anymore
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
Messages
9,033
The Volvo is the Mrs company car, the Stag I bought 32 years ago, the Maserati the result of a steady change of cars that didn't do much depreciating so was lucky.
So only the BMW is part financed, a result of coming out of a company car due to job change, and now receive a car allowance instead,
The car allowance pays the finance, personal loan with silly low interest.
Could have gone lease or pcp on a new car, but didn't want the commitment. The commitment tied to a lease should circumstances change, and being in a negative equity situation with a pcp until the end of the term.
Best solution was buying a car 1 year old, just over 3K miles so as new, and 2 years main dealer warranty left.
Saved a packet on new price, after 6 months the outstanding finance is less than the 'we buy any car price' already.
So my car allowance is nicely paying for me to drive around in a car of my choice, which I can change at will, and if I keep it until the end of the finance agreement, its all been paid for by my employer.
New car pcp even with commitment to the end of the term you really are, in my opinion, paying the depreciation with nothing left in most cases. You are better leasing if you must have a 'brand new' car.
 

Wanderer

Member
Messages
5,791
It started with the housing market and the car market is going the same way. People are going to go through life with no house ownership, no car ownership, no savings, no wiggle room, no inheritance for their children and no investment in the future. If we don't invest in our future and everyone does the same thing the planet will cease to exist.

I understand people want to live for today and enjoy their lives. However at the expense of their children and their children's children and every generation to come after that. Not sure it works does it. We all can;t be Chris Harris can we.

If you work hard enough, are efficient and save hard enough why can't you save £40k in 3 years? Surely £40k in 10 years is a breeze. That is £333.33 per month. Or 30 boxes of cigarettes.
About 4 years ago I had over £100k in the bank, a bout of illness with a hint of near death I spunked a lot of it on God knows what whilst obvs not earning (self employed) and just going for it cos I didn't give a foook.

Only then I got better and wondered where it had all gone! That's me, build, build and build, something goes wrong and it's gone, gone, gone!

And a divorce c2000 and being left with five kids aged 11 down to 1 didn't help, God I struggled then, living in Scotland and had the Sheriffs round tagging stuff to take, didn't even have car, still living in the 6 bed house I had from when all was good, I literally have hidden behind the settee when they came to put me on a meter for gas and leccy.

Then my dad died.

I really thought about topping myself then, but I turned it round, brought my kids up alone, on a part time job working for Sun, wheeling my little one to Greggs in Annan in her pram and feeding her Steak Bakes, trundling to school back and forth day in day out, playgroup, mother's meeting!

Now they're all adults now, and now my youngest, 18, is looking for a job an Aygo on contract and I say to her get a Pug 206 for £100 first - deaf ears....

Better finish, getting all maudlin....
 

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
Been lucky enough to pay for my last 4 cars. also when I was single bought my first cash,
Its not always been that way tho, when married, mortgage and kids on my squaddie wage, I had no choice, got easier as I got more stripes on my arm, but then you tend to live a bit more, was much the same when I left and was staff, against all my normal "rules" I went contract 4 years ago and haven't looked back really, guess it helps being a pikey, but hey - here for a good time - not a long time,,,,
The thing is, where are all those pcp/lease cars going when the term ends, I love my bangernomics Golf, if i get 2 years, i reckon all in will be £50 a month, would have been less if the son hadn't driven over a concrete planter.....
 

GeoffCapes

Member
Messages
14,000
It's around 85% of new cars are financed. If you compare that to somewhere like Dubai, around 5% are financed, the rest are bought outright. That should give you an understanding of just how poor we have become in the UK.

I don't think we're heading for recession, for what that's worth. Brexit is causing uncertainty while the politicians postulate over the terms. While that is ongoing, people are naturally cautious. As soon as a deal is struck - no matter what that deal looks like - the uncertainty will shift and confidence will return. It happens to blue chip shares all the time, as soon as clarity is achieved, markets rally. Remove a CEO the city likes and the shares drop while he's replaced, get in a new guy and they rally back. Every time.

Add the Labour antisemitism row in and that fuels the problem further. So where we are is in a moment where the business community doesn't trust the Conservatives to get a decent deal for the country but they are far more scared of looney lefty Corbyn and what he could do if he gets power. Solve the Brexit deal and solve Jeremy and confidence will return from the top down.

In the car market, those than can afford 75k plus cars to add alongside others on their drive are not buying right now while they watch these key issues unfold. The middle market from 25k to 75k has been driven down because only those at the lower end are buying and so these cars are now pushing downwards to fit the buyer profile. It's not a new trend, happens in cycles and is directly related to confidence at the upper end of the market.

This was the article I was referring to regarding recession.

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/next...orse-than-2008-crash-economists-warn-11497433
 

JonW

Member
Messages
3,259
Interesting thread - and I think the comment made that this forum is unlikely to be representative of the country overall is spot on.... both in terms of the level of disposable income and willingness to spend that income on items such as cars.

That said, I’ve never really got into the financing / leasing deals for cars - and think that’s a moral hangup passed down to me from my parents.

Plenty of my friends have, and I can remember in the past when they were driving much nicer cars than I could afford because they had got them on a lease deal, with low monthlies and a massive balloon payment...

Nowadays, I’m fortunate enough to earn good money and to be able to finance my cars with cash, but I have started to think whether cheap finance deals means it would be more sensible to keep the cash, invest it in something fairly liquid, and then purchase / lease a car like most others do. Problem is - even if it is financially “sensible”, it just doesn’t feel right...
 

MarkMas

Chief pedant
Messages
8,795
For me it has been brand new company cars handed out with the rations from about 1984 to 2001, and then 2002-present it's been buying a used car (2-10 years old) every 1-4 years with my debit card for £15,000-£25,000 (except the Fiat Punto was about £4,500).
 

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
I suppose there is the other cynical view, in that cars are being deliberately priced higher in order to tempt people into leasing, and therefore stuck in a debt cycle.
An M5 is £100k new....who the #£&* is buying them at that price privately....
Lease company price?
2DD97576-C53B-4542-9DBE-9692FCB893A1.png
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
A grand a month or 100k....jesus wept! Neither sound too attractive to me. You could probably run a new Ferarri for that same 1k per month. Even less if it appreciated.
 

mjheathcote

Centenary Club
Messages
9,033
New list prices are totally unrealistic, with such things as 'dealer contributions' etc.
All these new car discounts don't have any effect on the car tax classifications or P11d values.
 

allandwf

Member
Messages
10,958
Scary stuff. I have also been in the skint, reasonably well off, really struggling (putting it nicely,) then reasonably ok cycle. Live within your means and make the best of what you have, and enjoy life is the best advise I can give.
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
Interesting thread - and I think the comment made that this forum is unlikely to be representative of the country overall is spot on.... both in terms of the level of disposable income and willingness to spend that income on items such as cars.
..

I think this maybe right. I don't know many people who have bought expensive cars out right. Plus when you can get deals at 0% surely it's better to leave your own money alone for a rainy day. After all your money will not depreciate where as the car you pay cash for will as soon as you drive it away so in some cases financing makes sense.
 

MrMickS

Member
Messages
3,951
Interesting thread. In terms of new cars, especially those premium brands, the only way the manufacturers would sell enough is via finance. Who's going to drop 30-40k on a 3 series or an Alfa Giulia?

If you can get a 0% deal on finance then what's the difference between that and buying for cash upfront? You are driving the car whilst doing the saving in my view. So that brings you to the finance costs. Is the interest rate low enough to be able to justify the cost of it?

I'm another that's been up, skint, back up, not doing badly. Finance is looked at very carefully.

A grand a month or 100k....jesus wept! Neither sound too attractive to me. You could probably run a new Ferarri for that same 1k per month. Even less if it appreciated.

You could run one. If you wanted to buy one it would probably be both, £100k down and £1k a month.