[Image Source: Tom Strattman for The New York Times]

By Gunnar Heinrich

Good old J.P. Morgan. He knew what was what when he said, "if you have to ask, you can't afford it." But apparently, plenty of the well-to-do ask anyway and then find ways to take the sting out of the acquisition.

The New York Times reported that almost one quarter of those who drive exotics lease their cars. They sited the example of one Timothy Durham who put down $400,000 and set up a month payment plan that has him signing cheques at the rate of $20,000 per month for the next five years on a $1.5 million Bugatti Veyron.

"In Mr. Durham's case, there were two important benefits: he had other uses for the money and, by stretching the payments over several years, he could put off paying some of the sales tax. For a car in this price bracket, taxes alone can run to $130,000 or more, depending on where the deal is struck," NYT's Patrick McGeehan reported.

Still, something ain't kosher when you have to finance on such a high ticket item. And indeed that just might be my own New English fiscal discipline coming to the fore (old man Morgan himself lived in Hartford).

"[Some] feel that to own a toy like this, if they can't write the check, they shouldn't own it," [Premier Financial Services Mitch] Katz said, "That's more the prevailing feeling in the Midwest and New England."

[Source: NYT]

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