Use this PowerPoint when convincing your spouse to let you buy a Corvette

Thu, 14 Feb 2013

When you are not the one in charge of the purse strings, creativity is a must when trying to get the string-holder to bankroll that next shiny object you just can't live without.

When I was a kid, I decided that life wasn't worth living if it weren't in pursuit of owning a GMC Typhoon. My 12-year-old self crafted a fiscal strategy that, when combined with my offer of a 49-percent share of ownership in the car in return for my parents' contribution of 80-percent of the purchase price, would see me behind the wheel of a Typhoon by the time I hit college. They walked away from the negotiating table and, the economic climate of the 8th grade being what it was at the time, another partner wasn't found before the Typhoon was discontinued.

Roy El-Rayes, however, has succeeded where 12-year-old me failed, and he did it by using the sort of professionalism that only a PowerPoint presentation can provide, along with some humor and bold-faced flattery.

Roy's object of desire was a C6 Corvette Z06, and while his wife had already agreed a Corvette would be an okay purchase to replace their Jeep, he had found one a little over budget. No worries, as sound fiscal reasoning, pledges of personal sacrifice, strategic placement of kittens and admiration for the lady's arrears were more than enough to swing the decision in his favor. He reports in the comments on this Reddit post that she said yes. Click here to flip through his pitch.

By John Neff