OK philosophical question.. When is a stupid thing not a stupid thing?
I mean a Ferrari is stupid by almost all sensible measures.. You can only drive at 65 to 80mph in most places i the USA and you only need say 150hp in almost any sized car to do it.
So is a 220mph/600hp car stupid?.. The easy answer is yes.
But what if you are FIRED with $4m and an annual spend of about $50k.. Would a $1m car that is outrageously over-appointed be stupid in that case? My Wife would argue .. "yes, lets donate that $1m to our fav charity and dig more wells for villages in Africa". A noble persuit but dammit I saved that money and WANT a Ferrari!
OK I don't WANT a Ferrari but the argument stands for any outrageous "want it" item that I have denied buying myself for 35 years.
Disclaimer.. We have about $2.4M, FIRED and I WANT a black Chrylser 300.. Breaking Bad style, but that too is "stupid" based on the definition above.
It is relative and different for everyone....
Can we use a sub-compact car when we travel for vacation with my parents? Yes.
Would we be a lot more comfortable in full size SUV? Absolutely.
Does the SUV suck more gas? A lot more, no doubt.
Can we afford the extra cost? Of course.
What does my wife currently drive? a gas guzzling SUV, because that makes her happy, and happy wife is happy me. imo is a lot more important keeping her happy than trying to save some gas/cash.
Speaking about Ferrari, would I have one? Hopefully later in life, but yes I like to own one. Do I think it is sensible to own one? Yes, because if I own one, I will be taking her to a track where I can use all 600 bhp :) I do not think it is stupid to buy a 50K car when you have 2.4M in the bank. I do think it is stupid to buy 50K car when one is living paycheck to paycheck, but at the end of the day, hey it is your money, you can spend it however you like :)
I am all about saving money and being frugal, but I am also about enjoying life and be comfortable, and I do not mind spending extra for certain things.
I'll happily compromise on my FI date to have an awesome life now - the thing I try to avoid is unnecessary long-term expenses, i.e. getting a nicer house, expensive cars, etc. I could easily live somewhere cheaper and buy cheaper cars than I do now, but I find the happy medium - 80% of the benefit for 30% of the cost, if you will.
+1