Actually, I'm not in the military. I am just a regular guy with a decent white collar job working for the state making around $40,000 gross (before taxes) per year. My wife works, but she works part time and only makes around $10,000 GROSS per year. I would say that I am the sole breadwinner in the family because I make 4 times as much as my wife does. I don't have any children. I own my own home and have owned a home now for 10 years. My home is a multi-family so the rents that I get pay the mortgage. I only owe a few hundred dollars on my credit cards. The only debt that I have are on my short term current monthly bills which I pay in full each month. These bills are the regular every day bills that we all have like gasoline, mortgage, heat, utilities, auto insurance, auto payments, food, cable, miscellaneous, ect.. I pay all my bills, but I am very used to having only $230 to $290 per month auto payments that are 3 to 5 year long loans. Currently my car payment for my 2001 GT is only $288 per month. And my other car payment for my wife's car is only $230 per month. My wife's car will be paid off in 6 months and my GT will be paid off in 1 1/2 years. I currently owe about $6,000 on the 2001 GT. I usually put down anywhere from $3,000 to $7,000 on a brand new vehicle. I would like to be able to get away with putting down AS LESS AS POSSIBLE. This means putting down a minimum of $3,000 to a maximum of $5,000 and no more than that. I would also like to be able to use a trade which means that I will probably be trading in my 2002 V6 Mustang to buy a new Cobra. Currently I do not owe anything on my 2002 V6 Mustang. It's been paid off. The 2002 V6 Mustang has about 19,000 miles on it. I drive around 15,000 miles per year. APPROXIMATELY what is the 2002 V6 Mustang worth today and what will it be worth in 2006 when the new Cobra comes out? I am trying to figure out whether it's better to trade in my V6 Mustang right now for a new Cobra or to wait until 2006 or 2007 when the new Cobra body style comes out. I do NOT want to trade-in or to sell my 2001 GT. I really want to keep the GT. I would rather sell the 2002 V6 Mustang instead. And I defenitely want to buy a NEW Cobra and NOT a used one.
Currently, I don't really see myself making any more money from my current job. I will more than likely be at the $40,000 annual Gross income level for a long time. One guy in here who owns a Cobra said that he cleared $60,000 from his job. If the $60,000 figure is NET AFTER TAXES then he must be making between $80,000 and $90,000 GROSS per year. Realisticly, how much do you think that one has to really make to be able to afford a brand new Cobra?? How much do you truthfully have to make to be able to afford a $500 to $600 per month car payment on a 4 to 5 year auto loan?? Give me an approximate annual GROSS INCOME range. I don't beleive that one should buy a vehicle with a high monthly auto loan payment and not be able to pay his other monthly bills. I am very conservative about this. I would like a realistic and down to earth honest breakdown of the diffferent GROSS (before taxes) annual income brackets and the realistic affordability figures of the various auto loan payment levels for each GROSS (before taxes) income bracket. The GROSS annual income brackets which I am interested in are: $35,000, $40,000, $45,000, $50,000, $55,000, $60,000, $70,000, and $80,000. Please be realistic with what each income bracket can afford regarding the monthly auto loan payments for a 4 to 5 year auto loan.
I am getting the impression that a $40,000 per year gross salary is LOW and it is not enough to sustain even a $400 per month car payment let alone a $500 and $600 a month car payment for 4 to 5 whole years. Especially when there are other monthly bills involved which have to be paid each month which are other normal living expenses.
I am hoping that the people in here who read this post can give me detailed information regarding the breakdown of the different auto loan payments that one can afford for a 4 to 5 year auto loan with each gross income bracket which I have listed above here. I hope that you can help me out so I can decide what is the best and shrewdest route to take. Thanks.