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I’ve become a big fan of saving and learning to invest. Because of some bad medical advice when I was a teen, I didn’t expect to live past 39. That seemed an eternity then, but I can’t even remember it now. However it made me more of a grasshopper than ant, if you remember the parable.
I’ve sung the new car song so many times I’ve lost count. I know I’ve had over 30 cars, maybe over 40, including wife-mobiles. Most used but a few new. In retrospect, I could have retired 10 years earlier if I’d saved all that money instead of trying to find joy in inanimate objects. Only one or two of those cars are memorable for me, the rest have faded into the past.
I started saving late, although I’ve always put the max into a company 401(k). I gave up my first one in my divorce because I valued it at a discount (tax consequence of withdrawing) but my now ex valued it at full value. So I kept a house and she kept the 401(k). I started a new 401(k), sold the house with no tax consequence and began investing. In 11 years I was able to retire, so that is some power saving and aggressive investing (and expense reduction).
The only downside to having saved more from a young age is my ex would have received half of that, so I would have half of the money. Having spent a lot on cars, I at least got 100% of the fun of those cars, although it was fleeting.
Now I view cars not as assets, but as liabilities. Very few appreciate, fewer appreciate enough to cover the insurance, maintenance and carrying costs. The cheapest reliable car that meets my space, etc needs is the best one. If I want to get a car fix, I go to Cars-and-Coffee or somewhere that I can watch cool cars cruise by. Owning them no longer does anything for me.
Shit, I guess I’m old
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