[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Feel pity for IT guys (myself included). We spend our childhood, our adolescence, our youth, our middle ages working so hard and then we start thinking that will I be ever able to afford that XYZ ever.

And then there are those lucky Real estate builders, brokers, farmers, politicians, who drive around in there White coloured scorpios, BMWs, Fortuners,Audis and for them life is so much easy. Those folks don't even need to think, they just approach the nearest dealer with hard cash, pay the Money, and take car homes. Just like we middle/upper middle class buy vegetables and fruits from market.

Sorry but the grass always looks greener on the other side. Believe me they will also lot of their own worries. And a salaried person, you are assured your salary on a certain day of the month, but as a business owner you'll be worried about making payroll at the end of the month as you have responsibilities of so many livelihoods on you.

Anyways without going much OT, I absolutely agree with Rishi. Its about dreams and taking calculated risks about achieving those risks.

No pain no gain and you loose some to win some!

Cheers

[tsk1979]

It all comes down to courage.
Many regular IT joes have bought houses, which will sell for much more than the outstanding loan.
Sell the house, live on rent and buy that BMW. Say "to hell will the future".

So regular IT joe has 50 lakhs. Its just a choice between that flat, or that BMW.

[supremeBaleno]

^^^Exactly !!! Wonder why it is made out to be so tough when it is actually about one's priority mainly.

To give an example, a colleague with ~15 years experience is now onto his 3rd housing-loan. The 1st loan on a flat at Anna Nagar is fully paid off, the 2nd loan on a flat at Velachery is mid-way through. Not including the 3rd property, the first two themselves are worth close to a crore today. Given this, is a 30L BMW that big a deal if that were his priority ?

He drives an SX4-Vxi BTW.

[F150]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

^^^Exactly !!! Wonder why it is made out to be so tough when it is actually about one's priority mainly.

To give an example, a colleague with ~15 years experience is now onto his 3rd housing-loan. The 1st loan on a flat at Anna Nagar is fully paid off, the 2nd loan on a flat at Velachery is mid-way through. Not including the 3rd property, the first two themselves are worth close to a crore today. Given this, is a 30L BMW that big a deal if that were his priority ?

He drives an SX4-Vxi BTW.

Saar,how many years was he at onsite?
If not is he working for adobe,google,oracle etc..not the usual service companies?

[SDP]

@F150, After seeing this thread started by you, I understand your PM much better.

If you ask me, dream BIG. The limit of your dreams and your aspirations restrict what you can achieve - sometimes even more than your capability and intelligence.

[shivmarwaha]

It's truly a matter of priority. I'm not an IT person, rather in a field that is the epitome of under payment. As an architect I started with a salary of 1200rs per month. When I got married, between my wife and me we made close to 15000 permonth. One fine day we decided to buy a car.We ended up buying a ford ikon worth six lakhs with an emotional of 9000 rs per month. With those six lakhs we could easily have bought a two bedroom house in gurgaon at that time. But we didn't because both of us enjoy driving.

A friend bought house at that time for around similar amount and kept driving his bike. Today he has made money by selling that house for a huge amount. He invested some of it in another property and bought himself a big car. So I guess it's your priorities, luck, and approach. Probably we were impatient. So buying a BMW is not a big deal.If I don't have to pay my home loan, I can easily buy a BMW. Priorities in life too change as one Greys. Children, security, pension, savings etc take the front seat. Though hearts of hearts one does want to buy that car maybe one day. So ambition and dreams still remain, the cloud of realities overshadow them.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by shivmarwaha

It's truly a matter of priority. I'm not an IT person, rather in a field that is the epitome of under payment. As an architect I started with a salary of 1200rs per month. When I got married, between my wife and me we made close to 15000 permonth. One fine day we decided to buy a car.We ended up buying a ford ikon worth six lakhs with an emotional of 9000 rs per month. With those six lakhs we could easily have bought a two bedroom house in gurgaon at that time. But we didn't because both of us enjoy driving.

A friend bought house at that time for around similar amount and kept driving his bike. Today he has made money by selling that house for a huge amount. He invested some of it in another property and bought himself a big car. So I guess it's your priorities, luck, and approach. Probably we were impatient. So buying a BMW is not a big deal.If I don't have to pay my home loan, I can easily buy a BMW. Priorities in life too change as one Greys. Children, security, pension, savings etc take the front seat. Though hearts of hearts one does want to buy that car maybe one day. So ambition and dreams still remain, the cloud of realities overshadow them.

Such a true post!
So relevant to those of us who started working around the time that India was taking its first tentative steps along the path of liberalization!
Salaries and expectations were rather different back in the day!
The India in which we live today, quite literally, is a completely different country from the one in which we grew up in our earlier years!

Nor am I an IT person. Started with a princely Rs 5000/- as salary. When I was earning 12000 per month, around three years after starting to work,I bought my first 'second hand' Maruti 800 for Rs. 75K. The EMI was about Rs 3500 per month and the rate of interest was usurious!
That was what one could afford and aspire to at the time, if one were going at it on one's own without parental assistance etc.

When I first moved to Bangalore around a decade ago, I had pretty much burned up a vast part of my then savings on a great experiential holiday around Europe. Had I been slightly calculating in nature, I would not have done that, but would rather have come along and bought a nice little site and today I would be sitting on a big asset. However things are always clearer in hind sight and one does as one thinks best at any given point of time!

Everyone's time will come! Like the old saying about every dog having its day!
No regrets at all though. Life has been good since and IS good now! Thank God for that!

Let us not forget, Life is for the Living! It is not a permanent state of affairs so let us enjoy while we can, while still being prudent!

Ref the Beemer, the fact remains that all these vehicles are severely over priced here in India when compared to the prices abroad. For that reason alone, I would not consider one here in India, at least until the duty structure and road taxes change - which indeed may never happen! Perhaps a second hand one? Yes, perhaps!

[praful]

I think if one can dream/plan/work hard it is very much doable!

Though I am in no position to make the statement true with just 6 years in IT and being paid almost 40% below market level (So I'm still in the dreaming phase). But I do look up to the leader of my organization who with little more than 12 years of experience does own a shiny 3 series, and is an inspiration for all of us.

I think one needs to plan what they want to do with their lives and this cannot happen in day or even a month, I believe its a culmination of years of planning, hard work and dreaming.

So here's wishing all my fellow motorhead's all the best to make their dreams come true!

[F150]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Life is for the Living! It is not a permanent state of affairs so let us enjoy while we can, while still being prudent!

Ref the Beemer, the fact remains that all these vehicles are severely over priced here in India when compared to the prices abroad. For that reason alone, I would not consider one here in India, at least until the duty structure and road taxes change - which indeed may never happen! Perhaps a second hand one? Yes, perhaps!

Yes Shankar. This is what I believe in. I was looking for path breakers like rishi_kapoor and abhi182.

I think, we can conclude that that it is possible if one chooses to buy a BMW, was it prudent decision or not, he/she will know few years down the line.

[Gansan]

When the day average I.T.Joes can easily afford a BMW arrives, the sector will lose it's sheen for western customers and the jobs will move elsewhere!

[shankar.balan]

Ha ha!

That is a fantastic statement!

You know, in the '90's in India, the big IT Majors used to pay big fat Dollar rates to their people at mid-senior levels. Their bonuses and incentives in those days were the stuff that fables are made of!

Why do you think most of those blokes managed to amass such a lot of wealth/ property and assets?

Cheers!

Originally Posted by Gansan

When the day average I.T.Joes can easily afford a BMW arrives, the sector will lose it's sheen for western customers and the jobs will move elsewhere!

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Ha ha!

That is a fantastic statement!

You know, in the '90's in India, the big IT Majors used to pay big fat Dollar rates to their people at mid-senior levels. Their bonuses and incentives in those days were the stuff that fables are made of!

Why do you think most of those blokes managed to amass such a lot of wealth/ property and assets?

Cheers!

True and the fact is that this is the generation which made most out of the IT boom , Now the same guys are at senior levels such as country heads , MDs and are still minting money where as late enterants are slogging .
If the wind is blowing in right direction sailing effort becomes minimal.

Many of these early birds were barely qualified for the job and had very little idea of computing as such but demand was huge and availability was low ( My friends elder brother is one of them and he confessed to us)
Some of these people even moved from IT services to product companies and can be spotted talking non-sense to youngsters.


Earlier average experience level requirement for a Mid / Senior level job was 10 - 14 years now in good companies it has gone up to 20 - 25 years.
as there is an army of 10 -15 years exp guys in every organization.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by F150

Saar,how many years was he at onsite? If not is he working for adobe,google,oracle etc..not the usual service companies?

No long-term onsite assignments in our org. At best it is a 3-4 weeks stint once or twice a year max. None of the companies you mentioned, but can't mention the name here for obvious reasons.
Not that it matters, because it is not really the company or it's size that matters, but the person's aspiration and how he backs it up with the effort needed to achieve it.

[aditya101]

I have a OT/noobish point to make ... and no offence meant to anyone.

Why is it a dream to own a "BMW" or "Mercedes" in the first place? What does this car offer which a say, Skoda Laura vRS, Skoda Superb or VW Passat cannot? Is the difference in driving pleasure and Snob value alone enough to justify a dream of a 50 Lac car?

Ok sure, by that argument we will all drive Maruti 800s (and that was what Indians did till mid 1990s) - but till a certain price point there is something tangible provided with every extra rupee - larger engine, better transmission, internal space, larger boot, fancy gadgets and safety features etc. These are instantly recognizable benefits that can be linked to a price.

I mean, how many people out there can actually judge whether Audi A6 drives/rides better than a Skoda Superb?

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by aditya101

I have a OT/noobish point to make ... and no offence meant to anyone.

Why is it a dream to own a "BMW" or "Mercedes" in the first place? What does this car offer which a say, Skoda Laura vRS, Skoda Superb or VW Passat cannot? Is the difference in driving pleasure and Snob value alone enough to justify a dream of a 50 Lac car?

Ok sure, by that argument we will all drive Maruti 800s (and that was what Indians did till mid 1990s) - but till a certain price point there is something tangible provided with every extra rupee - larger engine, better transmission, internal space, larger boot, fancy gadgets and safety features etc. These are instantly recognizable benefits that can be linked to a price.

I mean, how many people out there can actually judge whether Audi A6 drives/rides better than a Skoda Superb?

Its human nature to aspire for bigger brands and pamper his/her materialistic cravings. People who are used to these brands (BMW, Mercedes) will definitely be able to differentiate – whether it is on comfort or driving pleasure.

When it comes to cars, sometimes the brand aspiration take precedence over size, space etc. One my friend recently traded off her comfortable VW sedan for a BMW 1-series.

This happens with all consumer products right? I also dream to own a BMW - in a few years time