Adam spent $27,500 on cars over 15 years, about $153 a month. That's $4,000 a year less than the average American car payment. Invested at 10% return, that difference grows to roughly $145k in 15 years. He argues that skipping the luxury car is one of the fastest ways to build wealth.
Chapters
So like into the plastic. I don't know why, but that's just how it worked. And I took this girl on a date one time and she just pulled it out and the music stopped. And it took me like 4 days to get the radio working again in the exact spot to jab this, this Q-tip. And we didn't go on any other dates. On a recommendation from a friend, I moved from San Diego up to Utah and I begged my mom to buy me a car, any car, the cheapest car on the planet. I didn't care, it just needed an engine and 4 wheels. I just needed a way to get around and to date chicks, but it just wasn't in the budget. So for my first little bit up in Utah, I took the Utah Transit Authority around. I even tried to date in it. I asked a girl out this one time, she said yes. I texted her the closest bus stop, location to her house and told her to be there at 6:28 PM exactly, but she lost her phone because when I got to the bus stop, she wasn't there. My luck completely turned around. I was at a party. I heard this dude talking to his buddy say that his neighbor was donating a car, so I immediately tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Where do you live?" The next day, I went to his street. I realized that I had failed to get his actual address and had only gotten the street that he lived on. And so I started knocking doors and asking people if they were donating a car. Eventually, this nice couple answered the door and said, "Yes, we are donating a car." And then began what at the time was the most important door pitch of my life. And I explained to them, if they were looking for a charitable cause to donate a car to, they would find none more deserving than me. And I told them how I just moved up to Utah and I was broke and I was trying to get a degree and date chicks. And they were saying, yeah, it's kind of weird that you're here talking to us right now. And yeah, we'd probably be more comfortable donating our car to charity like we were originally planning. But I just kept talking and talking and talking until they eventually said, all right, fine, we'll give you the car. And that is how I became the proud owner of a— and what was cool about this car was you didn't have to worry about shifting light turns green. This car was also special because this was the vehicle that caught the eye of the girl that would someday be my wife. Bri affectionately called it the spaceship because whoever designed it in the '80s made the inside look like what I think they thought spaceships would look like in the future. It had all these knobs and buttons, looked like a cockpit. But that car was awesome, and I got it for free. Well, eventually the Eagle Talon died, and I donated it to Cars to Kids, just like the original owners had wanted. But that was okay, because around this time I was getting ready to head out to go knock doors for the summer and sell alarm systems. I needed a way to get down to San Diego, though. So for $500 cash, I bought an '80-something Toyota Camry, drove it down to San Diego. All right. Now the story is about to take a big old shift. I went out that summer and I made so much money. I mean, I made more money than I could possibly conceive could be spent in a lifetime. I'm talking like $50,000. But hey, for 4 months of work for a college freshman with no bills, I felt like I had F.U. money. It was time to buy a car. The thought of owning a new luxury vehicle after a lifetime of driving scrapers felt so good. But thankfully, the finance gods intervened. I had a revelation. The thought came to me, you know, Adam, you're perfectly happy driving the cars that you've been driving. It's all you've known your whole life. You don't really need a new luxury vehicle. Plus, once you get one, you're probably not gonna go back to beaters. So you're gonna be stuck with this high vehicle monthly payment for the rest of your life. Maybe I'll just wait a little bit. So I went and bought a 3-year-old base model Honda Civic, and I brought it back to the apartment and Bri hopped in and she laughed. She laughed not because it was older, basic, or cheap or whatever, but because it had crank windows, which even at this point in time was just not a thing. I hadn't even noticed. I never owned a car that had electric windows. I thought that was like a fancy people thing. So I didn't even notice it had crank windows, but I now had a reliable car with all of its gears. And so the stage was set for me to ask for Bry's hand in marriage. I asked. She said yes, on the condition that we spend the next 13 years doing traveling door-to-door sales. I agreed. We got married. We flew out to St. Louis. We made 6 figures that summer. As young newlyweds, now it was definitely justifiable to buy a luxury vehicle. But again, the finance gods had other plans. I started a 10-year lifestyle freeze. Home, clothes, cars. I committed that no matter how much money we made, even if we made a million bucks, we just wouldn't change our lifestyle for the next 10 years. So I drove that Civic for the next 5 years. Every year we increased our 6-figure income, just kept driving that Civic for, I think, $8,500, $8,000, $9,000. Sold it 5 years later for $5,000 and then bought for $5,000 a even older Mazda 3, and that car was awesome, and I drove it for another 4 to 5 years. Eventually, the 10-year spending freeze came to an end. My business partner at the time was selling his BMW X6. It was maybe 4 or 5 years old. I bought it for $29,000, and awesome. I mean, fully loaded, twin turbo, paddle shifters. It was like driving a race car. Super sick custom HRE wheels. It was rad. And when I first bought it, massive high. It was so cool. And then every time I got in it, it was just so cool, so fun to drive. I loved it. I will say though, it took about a month for that high to start to wane. And after 3 months, and really by 6 months, the high was gone. It was just now my car. I was used to it. Still, still cool, still fun. But it wasn't that like amazing excitement when I first bought it. And the crappy fuel economy and price of premium gas was super annoying. And I had to buy another car. I couldn't use that BMW as my summer work car. So I paid $10,000 cash for a 5-year-old Prius, but that was my 10-year splurge. 5-year-old, uh, $29,000 BMW. It was great. Uh, it was okay. Um, and I actually just sold it this week. So now my primary vehicle is a 2010 Prius with 200,000+ miles on it. Kelly Blue Book, $3,500, baby. Here, I'll show you. Let's take a look at this thing. There she is in all of her— a lot of people look at this and it seems kind of weird. Society has told us that if you have a 7-figure net worth and a high 6-figure income, it's weird to not drive an expensive car. In fact, society has told us that it's weird not to drive a $40,000 to $60,000 car. You're somehow behind or inferior if you're not doing that. Personally, I think that's crazy. Did you know that the average price of a new car exceeds the average American income. It's absolutely insane. Let me show you why I did this and why it's critically important for you to do this as well if you're serious about being financially independent, financially free, and building wealth. Here's what I spent on cars in the last 15 years: $27,500. On a monthly basis, it was $153. You compare that to the average American car payment of $485 $24, and I was saving about $4,000 a year compared to the average American on cars. Here's where it gets— you remember, you live on less and you invest the rest. That's the key to building wealth. You take that $4,000 a year and you just put it in the market, buy an ETF or whatever. Over 15 years, you get a 10% compounded annual rate of return. You will now have $145,000 just from driving crappy cars for the last 15 years. Now let's say you invest that and, and you stop driving crappy cars. You go buy whatever car you want. Now you're 35. Let's do age 55. You just go invest that I'll just acquire a 7-figure net worth and be financially free 'cause I'm a hustler and I make good money right now. But everything is an opportunity cost. You are literally stealing from your future
