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 ex-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 ex-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?

• 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!

• Jewelry?
  • I did buy that watch! I still ‘feel guilty’.

• Latest Tech
  • I try NOT TO KEEP UP, but it’s hard. 

• Luxury Watches?
  • AGAIN WITH MY WATCH

• Spa Days?
  • I love massages, and getting pampered. Doesn’t happen often so I have to treat myself. 

• Drinking/partying
  • UH…yeah. It’s a thing. #drinkreponsibly.

• Clothing
  • Yeah, it’s a thing. Even though I’m trying to do the whole minimalist thing. It’s hard.

• Custom Suits
  • I’ve gotta off my suits and re-up everything soon.

• 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.

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!