[download2live]

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

At that point I would be around 42 years. Well I guess yes one can buy but when he would be in a position to buy such a thing his age to enjoy that thing would have passed. Thats the irony...

There is a saying "God gives nuts to monkeys who have no teeth'.

A regular IT Joe will NEVER BE ABLE to purchase a BMW.

And why???

1. Key word is regular. That means NO ONSITE. And for every 1 person who goes onsite there are 20 others who just keep slogging it out. And never get a chance. And only these guys should be considered regular. Like it or Hate it. A person who goes to Onsite from companies like Infy, Wipro or Satyam are considered successful.

2. The person who goes onsite usually saves every penny so that once he comes back he will buy a house. There are exceptions. But 90% of the guys slogging it out there have one aim. To buy a house or some other form of real estate.

3. The person who never gets a chance to go onsite, he also plans his life even tighter than those who went onsite. And guess what? Buys a house.

4. 10 yrs gone repaying the EMI.

5. But hey the kids are grown up now. Time to donate blood to the educational institutes. Indians no matter what, never compromise on education. BMW can wait.

6. 10 years more. And hey its time to pay for the college fees.

7. And now the fellow is old.

And we are back to where we started from.
God gives nuts to monkeys who have no teeth.

The only way a regular Joe can buy a BMW is to somehow go onsite. And buy a car there. The cars are cheap there. Drive around. Then sell it off while coming back to India.

In fact many have done so. I know of an IBM guy who did not save even a penny there. He bought a second hand Hummer. And lived his life.

But then he is also not a regular Joe. He is the enlightened one.

Sorry for pessimistic post. But facts are facts. Ok. Now flame me.

OT: Does Google campus in Hyderabad has Beemers?

[roadie_swift]

Originally Posted by Rachit.K.Dogra

Well I guess yes one can buy but when he would be in a position to buy such a thing his age to enjoy that thing would have passed. Thats the irony...

Well said, indeed!

Reminds me of an old joke, when one Mr. Smith comes running home and excitedly tells his wife - "Honey, I've finally managed to save enough to buy what we were planning for since 1968!!"
The wife happily gushes, "What! A brand new Cadillac?"
"No Honey, a 1968 Cadillac..."

Coming back to the topic, I agree with most of the posts above, in that we can, at this stage, afford buying let's say a 3-er or equivalent, but maintaining it will definitely be a stretch. Buying it at all costs Right Now could perhaps be done - but the purpose of buying would more or less be defeated if we are not financially equipped to carry it off - to bend it to our will, to use it like we would use our present daily rides. Remember the peasant who married a Princess?

Because in this case, the philosophy of "It is better to have owned and suffered, than never to have owned at all" doesn't quite appeal to me.

I think the basic question is not "Can I buy it?" but "Can I afford it", which is an entirely different ball game, though we sometimes use the terms interchangeably.

But what the heck.. We'll strive for it, till we get there, or die in the process. Here's to many more Beemers and luxury cars on the forum...


Cheers,
R_S

[vivekiny2k]

why specifically BMW?

Is the question whether one can afford a 35 L car? you can easily calculate EMI and see if it can fit in your (salary - lifestyle)

regular IT Joe can have a very varied career path 10 years down the line.

[tsk1979]

IF a regular IT joe can afford a 50 lakh house, why not a 20 lakh car?
ITs all about your priorities.

[DukeSan27]

Originally Posted by download2live

There is a saying "God gives nuts to monkeys who have no teeth'.

A regular IT Joe will NEVER BE ABLE to purchase a BMW.

And why???

1. Key word is regular. That means NO ONSITE. And for every 1 person who goes onsite there are 20 others who just keep slogging it out. And never get a chance. And only these guys should be considered regular. Like it or Hate it. A person who goes to Onsite from companies like Infy, Wipro or Satyam are considered successful.

...

Sorry for pessimistic post. But facts are facts. Ok. Now flame me.

OT: Does Google campus in Hyderabad has Beemers?

Never been onsite. Next point?

[supremeBaleno]

Lets not include the BMW/Merc bought onsite, which is way easier.

Originally Posted by download2live

A regular IT Joe will NEVER BE ABLE to purchase a BMW.

While I agree with most of your points about EMI, edu-cost etc, you are wrong here. An IT Joe can buy a BMW, if that is his priority, like tsk put it so well. Let me give a real-life example of a guy, who I hope is not on tbhp :
This regular Joe joins my orgn. straight from college. At 21yrs, he already has a steady GF that he is committed to marrying. In the 1st year itself, he has put down money on the ultimate Indian muscle-car - a 2nd hand Contessa and is bleeding maintaining it, apart from putting out fires in the engine-bay(literally). He sees something, he has to buy it - so understandably is neck-deep in debt in a couple of years, by which time, he has a wife and a sweet kid. Has all the credCards you can imagine and has maxed out each of them - has the agents at his door every other day. We work out a deal with the card companies and he closes the accounts paying a settlement amount. Moves to a job that pays more. Along the way, wifey also takes up a job - disposable income increases. His latest car is a Captiva. Not too far from a Merc/BMW CE. Is he still in the red ? I have no clue. But his motto is "Live life king size" and if that is your motto, a Beemer is much easier than you imagined.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

IF a regular IT joe can afford a 50 lakh house, why not a 20 lakh car? ITs all about your priorities.

Well put, tsk. That basically answers the query from OP.

[neoranjit]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

IF a regular IT joe can afford a 50 lakh house, why not a 20 lakh car?
ITs all about your priorities.

May be its because, he can get a 15/20 year loan for a 50 Lakh house but not on a 20 Lakh car.

[F150]

Yes the discussion is about owning a BMW new one and that too in INDIA.

Very valid points made by SupremeBaleno,download2live and roadie_swift.

DukeSan27 - Please let us know the secret of your success.

MODS: Can we edit the title of the thread to OWN a BMW from purchase a BMW ?

[Pallavi]

Will he be able to afford?
Probably yes.

Will be purchase?
Nope. Other high priority expenses will take precendence.

Life is not just about cars. There are other expenses which take precendence: own house, kid's education, wifey's shopping

[DukeSan27]

Originally Posted by F150

DukeSan27 - Please let us know the secret of your success.

Now that would be off-topic

Seriously though I am not services side, so if that's a criteria, then I may not fit.

I think the point about about priorities one factor, being comfortable in spending a huge sum of money is another one. So even though one may have financial capability, he may not comfortable in using it. In all this assume that basics needs are taken care of...

[blue_pulsar]

I don't think an average IT Joe can buy/maintain a BMW unless he has a rich father and/or a rich father-in-law. :-)

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by download2live

OT: Does Google campus in Hyderabad has Beemers?

Don't know about Google Campus but Deloitte Campus has many 3 series Bimmers and a few S-Classes.

And I have seen Mercs and Bimmers being given to the senior professional management of quite a few tier-1 automotive vendors like Motherson Sumi Systems et al.

And yeah lotsa bankers/traders (salaried ones) under 40 drive Bimmers, Mercs and Audi.

Originally Posted by MCR

OT : Nice thread. But the title should be " Can a Salaried person buy a luxury car?" though. I know many bankers who earn more than any Tier 1 IT managers. So gone are the days when the IT companies used to set the benchmark for the salaries.

+1 to that.

In order to buy a 50 Lac house (appreciating asset, interest rate on loan is income tax exempted) and 30 Lac car (Depreciating Asset with no IT exemption and a lot of added Taxes) one atleast needs to be in the 40 lacs salary bracket. To earn this kind of money before one is 40, one needs to be either in the middle or senior management of an organisation. How do you get there? You get there like this e.g: In one of my previous organisations (light engineering $2B conglomerate, the COO when he joined was 41 (I was 26 then). He had 0.5 Cr salary and was on 0.5% EBITDA commission. ( These are 2006 numbers). What did he do to achieve this kind of salary?He was an IIT-M and Kellog's MBA. Had a rapid career growth and there he was.

Recently appointed CEO of HCL Infosystems, Harsh Chitale is 39 years old and am sure he can afford even a 7 Series or S-Class. Many VP's or Head of Deptt's in various FMCG or Consumer Product companies are below 40 and can definitely afford luxury cars. And so can various professionals like Lawyers, CA and Bankers under 40.

The point am trying to make is being a techie, one will reach a glass ceiling beyond which there is no growth. Whereas a Business Side guy will have better career growth and has a good shot to reach the top of the organisation.

So MBA or not, one needs to be on either business or finance side to earn big bucks fast!

[shuvc]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

But his motto is "Live life king size" and if that is your motto, a Beemer is much easier than you imagined

Very true. It's down to priorities. Some save 30-40% of their income, some save <5% to nothing.

Take an approximation of salaries after 15-20 years of work-ex in a Tier 1 services org. Calculate the amount you can 'save'. Then put it largely into an EMI. A 30L car will not seem that difficult.

Buttttt .. people have priorities. I've seen quite a handful of my peers returning to India after decade long stints abroad, loaded with cash, but settling for sub-10L cars. People who are used to owning Germans abroad.

Then again I presume this question comes up due to the aspiration value attached to, say a 3-series here in India? A car priced equivalent to annual salaries of pretty senior 'regular' Tier 1 IT guys.

Why not ask the same question of a regular IT guy abroad? How many regular IT guys end up buying a $100K car in their lifetime?

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

The point am trying to make is being a techie, one will reach a glass ceiling beyond which there is no growth.

I think this is implied in the Q raised by the OP. That given the current IT salaries (or the lack of it ), will they ever be able to afford such cars.

[dot]

Of course it is possible to buy a Beemer (certainly a w124 or preowned ones). I can buy a BMW tomorrow. But I dont think I will be able to maintain it. The ORVMs cost 80000INR. Cost of the adaptive CC's IR camera is more than 5000$ in US. And this list goes on.

Originally Posted by F150

I am just trying to figure out if a regular IT guy working in a Tier 1 IT services company say Infy or IBM will be able to buy/own a BMW in his/her lifetime ?

Maybe someone like noopster can answer this.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by shuvc

Why not ask the same question of a regular IT guy abroad? How many regular IT guys end up buying a $100K car in their lifetime?

regular IT guys usually are in upper middle class at least in US. And even then most of the car sales for IT guys probably fall between 20K-40K range. You have to be really rich to get a 100K car.

If you really want a nice car, the other option is leasing a car. I know many who like new cars and keep changing their cars every 3-5 years on lease. a 3 series will be around 360$ a month and 3000 down payment. If it's in you priorities, definitely affordable, since a new purchase will run to an EMI of about the same.

I think another factor is rising salaries and (cost of living) in India. Over 20 years, a regular IT guy in US may only see his salary double, unlike in India which may see a 10 fold increase.