phttgra

My fiance and i dont want to live in florida....we are just living here untill he is done with school. we are thinking about buying a house up north.

99TL

if you want a 4 door why not look at a 1 year old e60 530i or 525i or an e320 or something? that is if you are worried about getting a smaller car.

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...sp=y&cardist=8

tampamax

Awwwe, Ali you have soooo many tough choices to make. It must be so hard on you. In all seriousness if your fiance is going to be in school for more than 2 years (most likely)then you guys would be better off not being "flambouyant" and live a little more conservatively. You can buy a house in Pinellas, live in it for 2 or more years and take all the appreciation and euity as pure profit. If you threw down 1200 a month on a house payment you could have a nice home with a nice big wad of capital gains when it comes time to sell and move up north. Better yet you guys could take some of that money that you would have been spending on an over priced vehicle and take quite a few romantic getaway's during his hectic school schedule. Would you rather pimp a gas gizzling Escalade(something you don't really need), or would you rather take incredible vacations or excursions with the love of your life. Maybe you would rather travel a bit and build some incredible memories with your significant other? I don't think riding around in a 15-20 dollar vehicle would be so bad if you guys had a nice house that was building up equity, and could go anywhere anytime the mood struck you. But hey, if its an esci and an apt you guys want then by all means go for it.

VIGORstraight5

Rdline1

if i were you, id both get cheaper reliable cars that get good gas mileage, save all the cash and put a FAT down payment on a house, like pay for almost all of it, and shove a ton into an IRA or mutual funds so you can both retire in 15 years. wouldnt it be nice to live for 30 years off of savings?

JonLGT

Why buy an overpriced chevy? I personally hate Escalades but then again, its not my money. I would probably go for the BMW or you could even look into getting like a C230 sports sedan. I think you should keep looking around before you narrow your search to those 2 cars.

phttgra

well,i agree about spending time and vacationing with my significant other...we are going on a 3 week honey moon to st. barths and st. martin. And for those of you who havent guessed YES! I am a trust Fund baby, my dad passed away when I was three and left me witha very large amount of money that was then investeed into stocks, I HAVE LOST ALOT of money due to september 11th but so did everyone. My money is being released to me in 3 and a half months when I turn 21. I have close to 500grand. My plans are to get married and have the wedding of my dreams go on a ridiculous honey moon buy a car I really really want and maybe dont need, do what i want to it,Live in a nice apartment for 2 years, then pick up and leave when I want and move and buy a house where ever i want. And invest 50 grand into a CD. It may not be the smartest thing to do with it, but I dont think that there is anything wrong with having a little fun and then settling down. And you cant tell me if someone was giving you 500k dollars you wouldnt splurge for a little bit and do things you want, before saving it. I mean I could go buy a MUCH more ridiculous car with that money, but I set a budget, because I can't imagine spending more then 40 on a car, nor can i see myself buying a house more then 300 grand.

tampamax

Oh man, girl your head is sooooo in the wrong place. One thing to keep in mind is that you never lost any money cause technically its never yours. As far as from an investment stand point you will never lose or gain any money in the stock market until you "cash out".
I hate to sound like a parent, but when your in your 40's (and realize that you will HAVE to work until your at least 60, and you wasted such an opportunity when you turned 21 all because you wanted to "live" a little) you will have only yourself to blame. Take it from some people who have lived and experienced a bit more than you. 500K is nothing, right now. And if you think you can just up and move up north to find a nice house for yourself....think again. The more north you move the more rediculous the prices get. And with the little bit of money you didn't spend you will not be able to find anything that even slightly resembles what you are dreaming about in your head. If you go the path you have already chosen that's all it will be, a dream. You really need to find a good quality financial advisor to help you plan for your future. You are about to come to a crossroads in your life that will affect every single thing for the rest of your life. You can either make wise (often times not the best feeling) decision(sp?) or follow that little devil on your shoulder telling you to live a little. Trust me you have plenty of living to do, so make sure you don't live with regret. You follow your path now and i promise you this exact same screen will pop up in your head when you are later on down the road and realized you should have gone the other way.
To plan for your future is not easy, nor is it fun, but you must realize that if you don't do it you have no future. Don't be like 99.99 % of the American population that spends 300 times as much time planning their yearly vacations rather than focusing some time better spent on retirement. You are about to recieve one of the greatest gifts a parent can give to their child, so don't be foolish with it. I know you are young and want to do all kinds of stuff and have all the things your heart desires, but could you stand in front of your parents 30+ years later and tell them how you handled the money?
You are going to be spending at least 2 years in the area anyway, so look at it this way. Over that 2 years you will have spent 28,800 JUST on rent. That is money you will never ever see again. If you can moderate your tastes only slightly and slid into a home for a 2 year period you will not only get back the 28,800 but you will more than likely make a healthy profit from property appreciation that will all be tax free. So basically you can throw away 30K and live in an up scale apt. complex, or you can live in a nice home in a nice neighborhood with a nice yard and nice neighbors AND GET PAID FOR IT. Then when and if you guys move up north you will have more than a nice down payment on the house YOU want not the house your finances decide you get.
Another thing that you MUST do is start searching for a finacial advisor, a CPA, and a good lawyer. All are hard to come by. You will have a lot of money in your name and you need to do everything you can to protect your assets. I can not emphatically express that enough. Trust me on this, i have lost more money than some people will make in their lifetime because i didn't have or follow the counsel of above professionals. Let me put this into some perspective. I hope i have the figures right..... If you take 300K and invest that in any investment vehicle you want you will have the following in JUST 25 years.

250K *ror 10% = 2.7 million
250K *ror 12% = 4.25 million
250K *ror 15% = 8.2 million

300K *ror 10% = 3.25 million
300K *ror 12% = 5.1 million
300K *ror 15% = 9.875 million


* ROR stand for Rate Of Return
The figures listed where based on anually compounding formulas


Those are VERY conservative ROR's, and with good counsel and with you taking a proactive part in your own future you should be able to see better returns on that money. Now, how would you like to have all that money and not have to pay the government a cent of it. Or even if you did decide to structure your finances in such a way that you would have to pay something you could drastically reduce the amount you would be required to pay. That is where all the good counsel comes in dear.
Truthfully in 25 years that is not going to be a lot of money. It will provide you with one thing though. Having that money will allow you to live life they way you want to instead of having to live like most people and have your finances dictate how you live. Instead, all you have to do is just enjoy life.
Now here's the kicker....leave the money to compound for 40 years. At the age of 60 you could easily have 80.4 million! You get all that just for leaving it alone to grow.

So please take heart in the realization that you are about to be in way over your head, and it would be in your best interest and the interst of your loved ones, that you take a some what more practical approach to this opportunity.

phttgra

WOW! Ok, I cant belive you took the time to type all that, I appreciate what you had to say, and you made a lot of valuable points. I do have a lawyer and a CPA, I am about to fire my lawyer though. He over charges and screwed me on my last annual statement. I agree with a lot that you had to say, I have been searching homes for sale as well, Im just not quite sure what I want to do yet. But one thing I want to do is buy a car I really want and it be a BIG present to myself. I dont see any thing wrong with that.

tampamax

I just want you to see your options from a different perspective. From someone who has no vested interest in your well being and is completely objective about the situation. Don't forget, i was once your age and went through the same feelings you are going through. I know its hard to resist the urge to break out so to speak, but i wish someone would have said something like this to me when i started to make tons of money. When you come into money its very difficult to get it right the first time around unless you have someone elses hind sight to guide you.
On a side note you may want to be looking elsewhere for counsel. More often than not i have seen the friend of a friend, or friend of the family, or family "________" get more and more unscrupulous with each passing of wealth. The old saying "the love of money is the root of all evil" is so true because greed is something in the accounting, law, and finance industries is hard for many to resist. Just be cautious, that's all.