When Ford came out with the new '96 Taurus/Sable, they priced it at like $22k plus. It didn't sell well, in part because it was ugly (but a very nice car--my wife drove a '98 Sable Duratec for many years). Over the next few years, they yanked content, cheapened the interior, and moved the price down to $18-19k, and had to offer bigger incentives...plus they sold a lot to fleets.

The availability of cheap used (and new '08) trucks will drive either sticker or real-world prices (or both) down pretty quickly on the '09 and future trucks. Anyone with money in the stock market (virtually everyone with 401k money), anyone with houses, has just lost a TON of net worth, and nobody is going to buy $40k trucks except for very well to do folks...and even those folks have major headaches about all their stock losses. Bad for Ford; their cash cow F150 is out the window. What might sell in good volume right now is a 25 mpg, $20-25k F150 (or maybe the F100).

The '09 redesign is wrong time, wrong vehicle. Even the Flex, as nice as it is, is just too big and expensive to sell as Ford hoped it would. Too bad they didn't get the Fiesta to us sooner--they could actually sell a bunch of those now. A new Ranger would be cool; the Transit Connect would be good to have now as well.

George

 

I believe Ford and their competitors were blind-sided by the rapid change in the market. A new F150 is a multi-year project and once the billions are committed its difficult to change course. Ford, however, to their credit, did extend the life of the Ranger because of the rapid change in market conditions. Now, its just a matter of time to see what else they can do, and if they can do it quickly enough.

 

I hope this is the right move for ford. The new one seems weak. So i hopes its not to over priced.

 

As an owner of 3 Rangers, the only complaint I had of them was the need for an updated interior. Not enough cupholders, the need for overhead storage, an on top of the dash storage tray (like the f150). I still like the body design. Long live the Ranger! Bring back the FX4 Level II!

 

Well I am sure you do. I find some folks have it easy with money if you know what I mean, not that that is typical of folks here at FTE. I work too... 12 hr shift rotaion (1 week of nights, 1 week days, 1 week both nights and days, 1 week on call, etc). Between my wife and I we make over 100k but even with a relatively cheap house, kids, etc. I still would be struggling to even pay 25k for a new vehicle. Though I have always done only a 3 or 4 yr loan, unless your getting a 0% apr or something I think it silly to be paying an a vehicle as long as some do. Last thing we bought was a used RX300 with ~50k miles and we got it for just under 15k out the door, should be paid off next year and thats when I'll replace my truck. Id get something slightly used now, but to get a relatively base truck the way I want it will probably have to order from factory. But i'll be avidly watching the local lots and auctions for that stick shift gas Scab XL 4x4 SD with full manual 4x4 and lockouts, but not holding my breathe .

 

The way i see it i work hard to have the stuff i want. I wanted a new truck. I wanted my own house, i wanted a 4 wheeler. So i got it! Thats my priorities. O and i still have a very nice savings. So work hard, play hard!

 

Often its not the income - its maintaining a below your means lifestyle no matter what you make. Never having credit card debt (not a dime of carried balances between 4 cards), cheapest cell phone plan, cheapest satellite plan, TVs that won't impress the neighbors, drying clothes outside, turning off all lights when leaving rooms, raising thermostats, not going crazy on the holidays, rarely eating out (and when my wife and I go on a date we try to make it a lunch date because it costs half as much), shopping at Aldi instead of Kroger/Walmart, buying as much as we can through online discounters, I read a ton of books and buy them all used either locally or through Amazon's used marketplace and resell them on Amazon when I'm done reading them, buying meat in bulk and storing it in a deep freeze in the garage, and a ton of other things has enabled our household to put a child through a private prep school, live in a nice home on a nearly 2 acre wooded lot, have 4 Fords in the driveway (one of them a very loaded Roush F150), a fully funded retirement nest egg, an emergency cash account and enough life insurance. The Roush is the only extravagant thing we own, and we intend to keep it a long time (and I wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't had gotten a great deal on it). We wait before we buy any vehicles. Only when a 0% - 2.9% deal comes along do we buy new but only if there are other pricing incentives. For example, my wife's 2005 Freestar stickered at $34K and we got it for $23K. We keep our vehicles until they are pretty much worthless to get every penny of use out of them. As we say in our house, we drive them until the wheels fall off.

A big saver, as mentioned, is buying used. 5 of the 10 vehicles we've purchased since my wife and I met were purchased used. The 2004 Powerstroke Crewcab King Ranch was purchased for $19K, with a $26K blue book value when we got it this past February. I shopped for 6 months until I had the right deal come along. Given the longevity of the diesel engine and the low number of miles we drive I'll probably still have it when I retire!

The best way I've found to find out how much money a household wastes is to track literally every single penny spent for about 2 months. It's shocking how much lunches at work cost if you don't make them yourself, coffee at the convenience store adds up, dining out in the evenings (that can be huge), etc. Another shock.... go outside and watch the electric meter. Have your spouse turn on the AC and the dryer and watch the meter!

Every penny I spend on performance parts for the Roush comes from selling stuff I no longer need on Ebay, the FTE classifieds and Craigslst. I also barter when I can. I spent $950 yesterday on tires for the Powerstroke. I used a $50 coupon to help save a little there (large AT tires cost a lot!) and the guy knocked off another $25 if I promised to take him for a ride in the Roush (did that today while running errands near his shop). The old tires will go on Craigslist to sell as used tires. Not only that, but I also saved by not having to pay for tire disposal fees. I also never get the tire road hazard warranty, over the long haul it costs more than if I had to replace damaged tire (haven't had a damaged tire in 15 years). I change all the fluids on my vehicles myself and do all the maintenance work myself when practical. I purchase oil filters and oil in advance and in bulk when they go on sale (I purchased 4 oil filters for the Powerstroke this spring for $7 each, they normally go for about $20 each).

A big saver for us was consolidating all our insurance (home, health, life, auto, etc.) with one company. It saved about 20%. We raised deductibles on all our insurance to the maximums and keep a hefty savings account at the bank should we ever need to use them. After doing that our policies dropped almost another 20%.

We also have a nice little trick we do with the mortgage. We send a payment every 4 weeks instead of every month. It adds up to 13 payments per year instead of 12 and knocks down the principle much faster. No PMI on our mortgage because of that. We're only paying 1/13th more each month for the mortgage which isn't felt in our budget because we're used to it. When we sold our old house and bought the current home it was only after looking for the perfect home at a well below market price (very motivated buyer, retired to Florida and needed to get rid of it). We shopped for 3+ years before I bought it. We also negotiated down the real estate agent commission and shopped several mortgage companies for the best deal (fixed rate, ARMs usually aren't the deal they appear to be).

I purchased a Scangauge II and use it to monitor my driving habits. My mileage has gone up about 30% and it paid for itself in 2 months.

Tax returns... we try (not always successfully) not to have them by adjusting our with-holding. Why give the government an interest free loan for the year? We prefer to owe just a little each year to the IRS, and in essence they give us an interest free loan for the year! When we do get money back we throw ALL of it at debt. Not a penny of a return goes towards "goodies". Instead we use it towards extra mortgage principle. Our 30 year mortage is on track to being paid off around 15-17 years into the 30 year term. When its paid off our plan is to keep making "mortgage" payments from our budget, directing the money to retirement accounts.

Another thing with taxes... receipts. We keep every receipt and categorize them in files. A portion of mileage to doctor's visits can be deducted. Anything that is a legit business expense gets deducted. Every penny given to charity is deducted as is mileage to charitable events. We have a CPA do our taxes (they can usually find things that the tax programs like Turbo Tax can't and the CPA's fees are deductable as well). Did you know that if you eat a meal out because of the distance to a doctor's office it can often be partially deducted?

When attending the SEMA trade show, I shop for the best airline deals (I get several emails from various web site that announce sales) and I stay off the Vegas strip. It cuts my expenses in half and leaves plenty left over for eating steak dinners at some of the finest places in Vegas! I also get a rental car. By shopping for the right deal I usually pay about $15/day for a rental car. Its quicker than the monorail and parking is free at all the casinos. Do I gamble? I budget $20 for penny slots and nickle pocker. Once its spent I stop and consider it cheap entertainment ($20 in a penny slot machine can last hours). Two years ago I hit $200 on a penny slot so I consider myself well ahead but I never count on winning, that's how people lose a ton of money in Vegas.

I highly recommend the book "The Millionaire Next Door". Its a real eye opener about budgets, income and how money is spent. The interesting thing is people who eventually rack up $1 million or more for retirement usually make less than those who save virtually nothing! I've pretty much adopted as much as I can from that book (in areas where we weren't already doing so). I came from a family and background of meager means and learned to apply it in my life. I prefer to live with the mentality of the ant instead of the grass-hopper!

Our lifestyle, less than your $100K combined income and we have the added expense of paying for our health insurance out of pocket since we're self-employed. There is more we can cut out of the budget if we needed to if we're willing to reduce lifestyle. Mortgage and all debt first, retirement second, household neccessitie third, lifestyle fourth and toys are very low on the priority list. Funny thing is that by having our priorities in order buying toys (when justified) isn't a big hit on our wallet.

 

if u want to afford all these things dont get married.i have quite a bit of money working concrete.but i dont need the crew cab ranch pws,nor do i need 35 inch tires to get me to work

 

not all marriages are like that! Im married!

 

Married here too. Def got more money spare now than before i was married. Used to go out thursday night,friday night, sat daytime, sat night, sunday lunch and sometimes sunday nights. That used to be my weeks money spent on beer in about a weekend.


Advantage now is i buy what i want and still have money left over because the swmbo earns the same sort of money as me. Lifes to short to budget for everything. Gonna enjoy doing what i can until i have kids then i will rethink my plans. Feel sorry for our next door neigbour as he has saved his whole life and is about to lose his house due to the problems recently with economy. Makes me want to save up even less when i hear he's been saveing for 50+ years and now he may have nowhere to live. Lucky he got familey to look after him.

 

Its not about what you earn that builds a nestegg, its about what you save. Budgeting and saving doesn't mean I don't have fun and I don't buy things... it means I can retired a lot earlier and when I buy things I can take enough out of savings, not retirement (or financing), to buy them with cash. Heck, I have Roush F150 with well over 400 RWHP loaded with all the options in the driveway, and I haveall the material pocessions I want, and have a great time with the family and kids, friends and my community.

If one is not putting away at least 15% of one's pre-tax income away for retirement they won't retire well, early (the average person, setting aside that much will retire a millionaire) or even retire at all. Living off SS pensions... that's poverty, not retirement.

If your neighbor saved for 50+ years he'd have a few hundred thousand set aside for a buffer, have his house paid off long ago and would have zero debt and could make it through rough times. He said he's saved his entire life, but its obvious he hasn't saved, at least not like he should have. I'm not saying he's a liar, but you can tell a tree by it's fruit.

Life's too short to not budget. I'd rather be retired at 50 then working at 70.

 

I spoke to him today and he said what happend was his pension is now worth half what it was worth 6 months ago and he also bought a new holiday home closer to his familey so he could visit more. But he paid top $ for that house and his current house and now he may have to sell the holiday home for far less than he paid for it. his current house is also worth less than what he paid for it. My parents also have the same problem with the house they have in the US. They bought it as a retirement thing so that they could either sell it for a profit or rent it out every week. Well that has back fired on them. House is now worth 25% less than when they bought it and rent dont cover the payments every month. Looks like they will have to sell that now because it costing them to much money.

Im a nightmere at saving. Everytime i get any money saved i go and buy a new toy. Me kids better earn loads of money when they grow up because i gonna be borowing a lot from them if i carry on like this lol

 

Seen on pickup trucks.com they will be offering 2000 rebate or 6.9% on new 150.

 

See this yesterday and i am not at all impressed by these fugures. Do they really think that 6.9% or $2000 i a great deal??? The economy is in a bad way and they need to lower these % rates more than 6.9%. Even toyota are doing 0% apr now.

 

But that 0 is not on a brand new model with old models on the lot.