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All the usual financial planning advice applies when it comes to a vehicle purchase. Here's my usual checklist of things I've taken into account before ordering the Stingray.
First, you're a small business owner. Look to your California tax preparer for advice on possible usage/depreciation write-offs.
Get a lease. Interest rates are still within points of all time lows. The lease also improves capital usage, defers sales tax and gives you fixed, known cost to exit should you need to liquidate. Looking at lease residuals gives you a very real check on depreciation for any given car. This $72K shiny toy will step off a ledge (or a cliff?) in terms of resale value once the dealers start have inventory and start discounting 2014's to make way for 2015's that will have new features and better reliability, quality, etc.
In my opinion, at least in the way I balance the books, I consider buying a new model car as a decision to pay a high premium for that first year of driving. What you're paying today is not amortized over say five years, it's really a question of "Do I want to drive the new Stingray for 2014 or will I be happier being less of an early adopter, and getting a better deal between 6 and 12 months from now?"
Negotiate a discount. It might be June before there's good discounting.
Defer the purchase till spring or summer. Sacramento gets a "real" winter, even though it's brief, so buying today, or any time before about Feb is paying for a car to sit in the garage and be insured, etc. Spring is also the time to sell your present vehicle in an active market. Unless you're selling an SUV, even Northern California's brief, mild winter can slow down car sales. Personally, I love having a sports car to run through the Sierras and around Lake Tahoe on those crisp, sunny January days. But deferring the purchases brings advantages in purchase leverage, cash flow and things like having an extra quarter to plan and prepare.
Sell your present vehicle privately. Get it in 100% condition, market it properly, get a decent price.
Offset other indulgences. Find other aspects of your recreational life to take a trim. Easy things to cut are unhealthy habits (smoking, excessive and expensive food) and consumerism (aside from cars, of course, but things like luxury goods, electronics, non-essential subscriptions and services, paying others to do things you could do without detracting from your business operations and actual income generating vocational tasks.) Some sensible budgeting can help you do what I call "start now."
My favorite budget tactic: "start now." If you figure the lease, insurance, gas, registration, maintenance adds up to $800 pcm, start putting that full amount away now. Be disciplined. After a few months, you've got a healthy and conscientious "rainy day" buffer so the car never becomes a financial headache. Keeping six months' payments in an interest bearing account will be readily accessible, but not at your fingertips to be used for other purposes, can mean the Vette is a joy and never a source of distress.
With two kids, the Stingray is basically a motorcycle. There's not too many times you and your wife will get to ride together, so it's mostly you, alone, I assume. You only live once, and 38 is a lot, lot more fun than 48, so I say now is the time to enjoy some individual indulgences, in a sort of "carpe diem" sense, so long as you address all the above ideas, you can have the car and the first thing I'd suggest is a day at Sears or Thunderhill to enjoy the car beyond 70mph. : )
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