Happy belated! I did the same thing with that 96 and like I said I would take every penny back if I could. I may be able to have a new bathroom or kitchen right now if I had saved that money. I didn't care about a kitchen or bath when I was 21......

 

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh. My mistake

Simple answer?
Worked hard as a waiter from age 16-18, saved my condom money, had a perfect credit score by 20, loaned 10k, invested on top of my already existing stock, sold and made lots of money to hit the ground running by age 21.

 

I was raised by a single mom and choice of insert loser here. My first car was an 86 chevette with two pink racing stripes and pink windshield wipers. You're telling me about humble beginnings. haha It made me the man I am today.....tough and independent.

I am self employed, and have been my entire adult life. I have a brand. I don't work the hardest though. You'll never catch me bragging about how many hours I work or how many jobs I have to go to and half *** to keep up on my March Madness picks.

I can see where A/0X4 took offense. I didn't and I understand the outlook many old timers have on the younger group. Most of the younger guys have earned it. Myself and AoX4 aint got time to be reminded half our generation are losers. They make my job much more lucrative being themselves. I know I'm a young punk but I'll put my work ethic and value system against any old man I know. No I don't respect my elders just because they are elders. Resect is earned never given. All this said, I may a little older than your demographic here but Old guys still call me young so I'm claiming it.

All I can say is eyes on your own paper. If a rich kids dad buys him a SD its none of your business. Id like to have been said rich kid or even you when you were younger. A truck as a gift...... not bad at all there sir. Dang sure didn't happen at my house.

 

I think we overlooked the topic for this thread..... it said Humble beginnings...

Thank you for that good sir!

You know, although I don't think my hobby is going to change anytime soon, I sure have been thinking about a house Maybe I will be changing up my numbers in the near future

Cheers!

 

Just tell me you have a picture of that car......

Also I'm not that old (less than 40) and I don't care about the rich kid and don't blame them for being rich. Rich kids don't talk about working a few more weeks to afford the new (insert mod here) they just have it all at once. I, and yes I can have an opinion, laugh when guys have trucks and mods worth a monthly rent but live in their parents basement for free.

As far as the gift my parents paid more for my sis and bro to go to more expensive colleges. I chose a little cheaper route and my father is the fairest person you'll meet so the trade was I got the truck vs the higher tuition. We all paid half for undergrad but I paid full boat for graduate work. As far as my humble statement when I see the trucks on here owned by the same age as when I had that F150 I'm just stumped. But like you said you've worked all your life. So have I and I still couldn't afford these trucks on here! Ha! I just invest in my house and family more.

Also everyday at my career I'm constantly surrounded by the 18-21 generation. And all they do is say "Where's mine?" without doing a thing so sorry if I have a sour feeling for the group.

 

So the idiot kid that works at daddys shop doesn't have to wait for a payday? maybe not. Dang I hate that kid!

No unfortunately I have no pictures (evidence) of that car. It was a real POS though. I swear navy blue with two bright pink racing stripes and of course the big ole pink windshield wipers that were popular. A 5 speed with terrible carb issues. When Id stop and turn it off it would usually backfire blowing the muffler and tailpipe off. haha Once nearly killed a grey hair man walking behind. I was still happy to have that car though and my wife married me anyway.

Im not quite 40 myself. Im just hard hearted for my age I guess.

 

No need to explain, I get it from you story......

 

I said less, just not how much less....

 

Ehh, I get to act out my fatherly nature telling you younger bucks there's more than trucks in life. Ha!

Or is there?

 

And part of this that hasn't been talked about it the kind of trucks in general being made today. It's difficult, if not impossible to find certain styles sitting on the lots anymore. No matter how they end up with them, younger people today won't end up with what some of us would consider a "first truck" that's comparable to what we had because they aren't around like they used to be.

My grandpa had an '86-ish F150 that was (if I'm remembering right) a Lariat single cab. I looked at Southwest Ford's website; out of 218 F150s on the lot today only 21 are single cabs, and every one of them is an XL. You can find some SuperCabs, but starting at the XLT level pretty much everything on the lot is a Crew Cab. I don't consider an XLT to be hoity-toity rich kid territory, so short of custom ordering people are being funneled into what appear to be higher end trucks from the get go. Combine that with the Lariat now being a middle-level trim and not the highest like it was 20 years ago, and it works out to be that someone buying a CC Lariat F150 today is buying what's on par with a single cab F150 XLT that had an A/C in 1986. Today's XLs can have power accessories, and have AC and a stereo standard, but that trim level wouldn't even have come with a heater from the factory as late as the 70s. Throw in the astronomical cost that failing accessories add to today's decade old trucks compared to 20 years ago, and cost/benefits start changing quickly. Some people might rather handle coming up with $500 a month than wonder which gizmo is going to fail this week and deal with fixing it.

 

Very Interesting topic, eh?

Heres how i look at it, its not my place to pretend to be anyones money advisor so i try to leave that part alone.

Secondly everyone has a story...nobody has had a perfect life. It doesn't matter if you have money or not.

Now i'm not going to defend my personal choices or how i use my money because its mine to do with whatever the hell i want. (and no i'm not taking offense) but heres a little of my story.

My parents divorced before i was old enough to crawl and At the age of 6 my father was rendered disabled, my mother soon after that. Luckily i had very loving and generous grandparents that helped and i'll admit spoiled me. But i learned from a very early age you have to work for what you want in one way or another it will not be given to you. At the age of 14 i started my own business and made great money as i had no expenses. not long after i had saved enough money to buy my first truck which was my '96 explorer that i paid $5,000 of my own money for and put over $12,000 into mods after that until i was 19. I got my first loan to buy my '04 excursion at that time with my grandma co-signing with me and i had that paid off in a year.

I have worked for the same company for 5+ years now and worked my way into management from being a guy turning wrenches i'm pretty proud of that now that i'm about to turn 25 in a few months. Yes i still live at home and do you want to know why? I have to take care of my dad daily, make sure he takes his meds, make sure he eats...ect ect I had to grow up very fast as the parent/child roles have reversed somewhat. I can't move out without leaving him hanging and i'm not about to do that. I help with the bills and keeping the house stocked with food and everything you need to keep a household running. so yes i live at home by choice but i'm not "sucking off the teet" as some put it its because i have responsibilities and i need to fulfill them.

Do i spend alot of un-necessary money on my trucks? Your damn right i do but it makes me happy and its something i'm proud of. I'm on the verge of buying a newer $30k truck and i'm excited but not looking forward to the payment because its going to make things a little different then they have been..but i feel i've earned it

 

All good stories.

Russ, you're a good man for what you do. I've heard your story either here or on plowsite. And you started with a $5000 explorer, not a $30,000 super duty.

Also I know most of the familiar names on here and I wouldn't necessarily put you in the group I'm thinking of. But man some of you make me think I should've sold truck accessories. You'd make me rich.

I just didn't and still don't have this $500 everyone keeps mentioning laying around each month for a truck payment. More like $600-$700 depending on down payment or trade for new. And if you're 21 or older this isn't so much related to you. You're in the working world feel free to buy. I just know as a family man with a house and many bills my fixed expenses are about 10 times that payment..... I just chose the 3/4 acre cul-de-sac quiet neighborhood over a truck payment. This place will actually appreciate, although I never intend to sell. But I wasn't thinking of that at age 18-20.

So calm the testosterone down and the original line was a comical one. I was nearly asking "Do you have a really good job?" or "Are you a bum who lives in the basement?" wink wink.......

I wasn't saying you're bad for owning an expensive truck. I just know some of the people on this site, young and old, must have a quite lucrative living to have a beautiful home, loaded to the gills truck, and a 40 ft toy hauler..... It's if I started the topic "Man I drove through this neighborhood today, I wonder what those people do for a living? Or are they trust fund babies?" wink wink.....

 

I'm sorry I misinterpreted your post. To me it said "kids 21 and under are either living off mommy and daddy or are making way too much money. either way they didnt earn it" because thats the usual sort of thing people say, and you wernt far from it with the original post the way I read it.

 

I think any of us young guys would take this thread wrong at first, lol

 

Yea you young guys are crazy. Ha!

Been there done that NEVER want to be that age again.

But yea this never was a "you don't deserve" and more of a "why, how do you have?". Compared to what I had. That's all. You young guys need to have a few and chill out. Heck if you were close enough if have you all over to relax a little. But it's BYOB.