10 most & least expensive cars to insure

Not surprised by the least expensive list, save the Wrangler.  I figured the party boy/girl demographic I associate from watching too many 80's/90's movies would lead to more wrecks, rollovers, and stuck vehicles.  As for the most pricey, I'm not totally shocked by the German/ English mix, but figured some Italian may show up, or perhaps the GTR, since you know some little prick got one for his 16th birthday.

Top 10 Least Expensive to Insure:

10. Toyota Highlander ($1,154.02)

9. Ford Escape ($1,150.26)

8. Toyota Sienna ($1,142.94)

7. Honda Odyssey EX ($1,138.16)

6. Jeep Wrangler ($1,131.27)

5. Nissan Murano ($1,127.84)

4. Honda Odyssey LX ($1,114.62)

3. Toyota Sienna LE ($1,107.70)

2. Toyota Sienna ($1,100.66)

1. Chrysler Town & Country LX ($1,091.80)

Top 10 Most Expensive to Insure:

10. Mercedes-Benz G55 AMG ($3,086.49)

9. Aston Martin DB9 Volante ($3,088.96

8. Porsche 911 Carrera S ($3,092.31)

7. Mercedes-Benz CL600 ($3,114.28)

6. Aston Martin DB9 ($3,120.45)

5. Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG ($3,220.86)

4. Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG ($3,263.46)

3. BMW 750Li ($3,280.70)

2. BMW 750i ($3,280.70)

1. Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG ($3,543.81)

from insure.com stolen from autoblog.com

I said I was gonna talk about money right...

So I need to let the cat out of the bag for those of you that don’t know me. I’ve worked in various areas of finance for a while, both in banking and brokerage.  I’ve heard damned near ever scheme, fraud, trick, professional personal finance expert, investment expert, and charlatan.  I’ve read Robert Kiosaki’s rich-dad poor-dad, and I know neither even existed, and I’ve gotten yelling-mad at Suze Orman touting herself as a deity of personal finance.

I’m not saying all of what they spout is rubbish.  The basics; multiple streams of income, living within your means, and being mindful of expenditures and expenses are great.  Then again even a broken clock is right twice a day.

But a word of warning, if the multiple streams of income are from hocking various personal finance books, and if you are a registered broker who speaks to millions and you were utterly clueless and continued to give bad advice during the financial meltdown of 2008, you hold no water and should not be trusted.

A bit of an outburst on what’s mainly a car/project blog… but I said I’d mention finance a bit, and I came across one too many ads for the two of them today.  I’ll wax poetic about finance more another day, but I figured what better introduction to the subject than a rant.

PS. Ben Stein sucks too, and should be ashamed for schilling for the scam credit monitoring services.

PPS. Jim Cramer sucks too, but at least he’s smar

Gimmicky Finance Articles: And how I hate them

Came across this a few days ago.
http://www.barefootinvestor.com/free-cars-buying-plan/
Click it if you want, but I'll tell you right now it's crap.

I have been meaning to start writing more financial posts, about 6 are started at this point, but it takes a bit more than just saying 'OMG this car is amazing' or 'I'm selling this xyz item'.  So the article above was a great impetus.

The idea was to buy a less expensive auto, in the article they mention a Holden Commidore, and sock away money, and purchase some miraculous investment that nets almost 10% per year, and replacing the car they sell with one that never goes up in value.  I'm pretty sure finance doesn't work like the toilet swirls and the Northern and Southern hemisphere have the same financial rules.

Another really horrible assumption here is the rate these folks would get, 11.25%.  Things here could be different in Australia, but finance is generally pretty international with LIBOR and the US Fed rate moving most of the world.  At any rate here in the US I see rates for a used 2009 vehicle at or below 5% for good credit.  I really doubt rates would be that much higher for loans, and that much higher for interest in a savings account.

Now we have the same problem that I had with the DARE program as a kid, they explained how bad pot was by saying once it's lit it turns in to thousands of chemicals (and chemicals are supposed to be scary).  Being a wiseass I realized that was oxidation, and you light the contents of your lunchable and there will be gobs of chemicals too.  (for the record, no, I don't smoke pot, but have nothing against it)

You peddle me a bunch of bullshit as an appetizer, I'm gonna walk away from the meal.
It is good to save, and it can be good to pay cash for a vehicle rather than take a loan.  But that isn't always the case.  What I really want to drive home is think about what you are doing, don't take these bite-sized bits of advice as defacto truth.