Andrew Rodriguez

Wife and I are planning to upgrade vehicles. ⚠ This may trigger those who think they NEED a car payment. First, the background… → Bought my pickup in '20 for $7K It’s an ’07 F-150 w/ 215K miles Put ~$3K in repairs over the past few years. (I’ve yet to find anything a new pickup can do that mine can’t handle) → Bought my wife’s SUV in '19 for $13K It’s a ’10 Expedition w/ 175K miles Put ~$2K in repairs over that time. Both are running fine, but we’re ready for an improvement. Second, the plan… There’s 2 rules we cannot violate: 1. Under absolutely no circumstance will we ever have payments. The average monthly payment for new cars is $726. It’s my opinion that making payments on something that goes down in value is insanity. 2. Our budget can’t hinder our other giving, saving, and spending goals. Rather than find a dream car and figure out how to pay for it, we’re setting a target price and will find a vehicle within that budget when the time comes. Through detailed budgeting, we’ve decided we can throw $2K per month in the vehicle fund. → We’ll upgrade my pickup first, and here’s the financial & scheduled budget: I’ll be looking for a ~$15K pickup in May. Once my pickup is taken care of, we’ll tackle hers: By this time next year (or earlier) we’ll be looking for a ~$25K SUV for my wife. If we have any unexpected income, we’ll throw that in the fund and try to accelerate the schedule. To recap: We’ve built a strategy to hit our vehicle goals. By setting the ground rules and laying out a plan… we can both get new-to-us rides in ~1 year without going into debt.