How Broke people STAY BROKE

Broke AF Decisions I made. 

CARS – BRO what is your freakin’ deal?!

Here is the list of cars and their prices and years purchased. 

  • Chevrolet Nova – 1985 – $600 ($100 paid by my mother or grandfather I forget who) 
    • SCRAPPED
    • Purchased 2001 or 2002
    • Price $600
  • 2000 Nissan Altima
    • TRADED IN FOR 
    • Purchased 2003
    • Price $10,000
  • 2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac
    • Purchased 2003
    • Price $16,000
  • 1996 or 1997 Audi A4 Quattro! (I’m not sure of this price. THe guy sold me a lemon and the title had a different year from the registration!)
    • I owned 2 cars at once – IDIOT
    • Purchased 2003
    • TRADED THEM BOTH FOR
    • Price $4700
  • 2000 Dodge Neon (for my wife)
    • GIFTED TO MY SISTER
    • Price $4000
  • 2004 Mazda 6
    • Purchased 2005
    • GIFTED TO MY SISTER (yeah again)
    • Price $27000 (Thanks to the negative equity that rolled over from the Ford and Audi trade-in) WTF
  • 2005 Suzuki Boulevard M50 – MOTORCYCLE
    • SOLD IT – Damn Dangerous here in MD
    • Purchased 
    • Price $4500 – but sold it for $3500 only lost $1,000
  • 2004 Nissan Maxima (for my wife)
    • Transmission went bad (That was a bit of a lemon too)
    • Purchased 2007
    • Price $7000
  • 2008 Toyota Sequoia
    • STILL OWN
    • Purchased 2010
    • I grew up here…this was my family vehicle. 2 kids at the time and they needed space! 
    • Price $35,000 BIG SPENDAAAAA
  • 2005 BMW M3
    • STILL OWN – THIS IS the TOY that I daily drive.
    • Purchased 2015
    • Price $23,000
  • 2014 BMW 328i
    • STILL OWN – HER CAR
    • Purchase 2016 or 2017
    • Price $25,000

I’m just saying. I don’t know what your vices are. At one point in time mine was cars, as you can see. 

How STUPID I was to make so many bad investments. I achieved NOTHING and lost….

Let’s do the math

$156,000 DOLLARS on some DUMB FREAKING CARS, over the span of about 18 years. And I’m still paying. 

GTFOH. What is WRONG WITH ME?!

Let’s pop this through a compound interest calculator and see what would have happened if I put my AVERAGE Car payment over that length of time into a high-interest savings account that would ONLY YIELD 2%.

$156,000 / 18 years = $8,711 per year. Or $725 per month. (216 months) 

Let’s invest $725 per month over 18 years and see what I would have earned.

$725 month one, and every month after would have netted me a cool $29,000 in profit. 

I would have contributed a total of $157,325 and after compounding at ONLY 2% over 18 years I’d have roughly 30K.

DAMN

But hang on let’s be realistic. I was a broke dad back then. I had no money and a young family I was trying my best to support. So let’s get realistic, and see what we’d have if I only invested $100 per month, for that same $216 months.

If I invested $100 a month for 18 years, I’d have a $4,137 profit after that. Money that I didn’t work for. That’s a nice vacation. Several Really.

WOW. 

That’s a lot of money and that’s $156,000 that I didn’t spend on cars. GONE. No interest, just GONE.

Let’s say I purchased 2 cars for 20K each…that’s only 40K in cars $116,000 less than I SPENT AS A YOUNG IDIOT.  

Can you imagine, if I didn’t stop buying these cars? I’d stay poor. 

Ask Yourself

What is your equivalent – to my AUTOMOBILE LUNACY?

  • Do you online shop?
Image result for online shopping
  • I do…
  • Latte yourself to death?
  • I used to…I’ll probably do it again
  • Shoe Fetish?
    • YES. These dang Magnanni’s and Jack Purcel Converse!
Image result for jack purcell converse
Image result for magnanni
  • Jewelry?
    • I did buy that watch! I still ‘feel guilty’.
Image result for omega seamaster planet ocean 600m
  • Latest Tech
    • I try NOT TO KEEP UP, but it’s hard. 
Image result for apple watch series 5
  • Luxury Watches?
    • AGAIN WITH MY WATCH
Image result for omega seamaster planet ocean 600m
  • Spa Days?
    • I love massages, and getting pampered. Doesn’t happen often so I have to treat myself. 
Image result for spa day
  • Drinking/partying
    • UH…yeah. It’s a thing. #drinkreponsibly.
Image result for drinking alcohol
  • Clothing
    • Yeah, it’s a thing. Even though I’m trying to do the whole minimalist thing. It’s hard.
Image result for buy clothes
  • Custom Suits
    • I’ve gotta off my suits and re-up everything soon.
Image result for bespoke suit
  • Video Games
    • I’m LITERALLY adding static videogame time to my PERSONAL calendar. I need to make video-games, one of my favorite past times, a bit of escapism I indulge in. It’ll be a weekly thing.
Image result for video gaming .org

POOR POOR POOR

IF I DO ALL OF THE ABOVE…I’LL BE HOUSE POOR, LOTS OF CLOTHES Poor, FAT, WELL DRESSED, GREAT AT VIDEO GAMES, GETTING MASSAGES. With no money or purpose in my life. 

#moderation 

What’s your drug? What could you stop doing or do modestly, and invest the other portion of your funds on yourself?

  • That’s the question…what are you doing that’s keeping you broke? 
  • What SERIES of things are you doing to keep you broke?

MOST PEOPLE DO IT ALL

  1. They buy too much car ($500 a month)
  2. Drive that car to the coffee shop each day ($5 x3 per week)
  3. Head out to fast food lunches ($12 a week)
  4. Enjoy Happy hour once a week ($40)
  5. Eat out for dinner 3 times a week. ($60)
  6. Catch a movie or other social events ($100)
  7. Indulge at Amazon or their clothing store of choice ($100) 

What does this look like each month?

$839 BUCKS each month…hmm Invested for 5 years at that same 2%

5 Year profit of $2,141 at the end of that…

I guess it’s hard to…

  1. Adult
  2. Delay Gratification
  3. Pause
  4. Wait
  5. Plan

But I guess we gotta do it…what’s the alternative?
I dunno, but I am still shopping for a Tesla…maybe I’m no better than you! HAHAHA!

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