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Before we started going out, my DH had purchased an old ugly green 1973 Malibu (this was in 1997) with a vinyl roof and the original oxidized avocado green paint. It had a broken gas gauge but was otherwise very sound. It was butt ugly. He'd bought it for $500 after his other car conked out unexpectedly and he needed to find a ride fast, and cheap. He drove it for 8 years, maintained it regularly himself at minimal cost, and sold it for $950 in one day. He put a sign in the back window when the gas costs became uneconomical for his new longer commute from my home. Since he got almost twice what he paid for it when he sold, he made back most of his ownership costs, essentially reducing his transportation costs, other than gas, to nearly zero for 8 years. Fortunately for both of us, I don't measure a man by his car.
To each their own. I can honestly say I've never fantasized about a car, or a drive, but you do you.
Everyone has their own criteria. Mine involves reliability, gas mileage, cargo room in the rear, stable and consistent handling, comfort, how well I can see out of it, and then things like aesthetics. I do care about the look, but it's way far down my list, and if it looks good but fails on even one of my higher priority criteria it's not going to happen. It's certainly made my life much more affordable. It saves on purchase costs, gas, repairs, insurance, maintenance, even registration and sales taxes. I've always lived to a tighter budget, so over the years, life cycle costs have factored heavily into my decisions, and good habits like that are hard for me to break. Now that I can afford to buy whatever I might want, I find that I actually want is to save money on transportation. Go figure.
But to bring it back to the topic, watching costs like this as I have, was part of being able to retire early, as I was able to put more into investments/saving, and I know that my transportation costs in retirement are minimized. Fewer expenses in retirement makes for an easier early retirement.
I grew up below the poverty line... And I played with free cars. I've never had a problem growing my career to mid six figure range, raising a family, and now head toward retirement in a couple months, while playing with fun cars (and you can see the kinds I've had). My wife is a car girl too, and while my son was growing up, he'd help in the garage with me and when he got to driving age, he and I built his hot rod truck together. A lot of sweat equity in it for him meant he respected it and took care of it. Something that doesn't happen when you hand a kid a cheap car that NO one (especially the kid) cares about.
According to my dad, when I said my first word when I was ~1 year old in '64, it was "Mustang" when pointing to a new one driving by. I grew up immersed in the west coast hot rod and custom car scene and, like I said, was building models of custom cars starting when I was 5 or so (at the same time that my dad taught me to drive). As I got into my teens and saw the factory concept cars, I started drawing them.
After I got my license, I started racing with the local sports car club. Started with a free car that I put about $150 into to make work for that and went from there. By the time I was 21, I already had moved up the ladder, with my own money from working in a vintage car restoration shop (and eventually opened my own), to old Porsches and that black convertible Ferrari I built up (both pictured in that photo montage). Every car was nicer when I sold it than when I got it, and each one paid for the next one up the ladder, using sweat equity to take a cheap version and make it better and nicer. Because I grew up below the poverty line, I had learned how to work on them myself. Same with household projects/repairs and more. THAT saves more money that simply eschewing cars/houses altogether, and allows me to have nicer things for less money. It amazes me how many homeowners don't even know what end of a screwdriver to hold... Talk about saving money? I did every thing you see in this kitchen remodel myself, from the flooring to installing the appliances, cabinets, crown molding, lighting etc. Saved myself about $30k. (I had gotten a quote to just reface the cabinets and paint them for $24k. No counters, floors, anything else. Just those old cabinets with new doors and paint). I can imagine what a complete gut and remodel would have been if I had to have someone do it for me...
So yeah, I'll do me, thank you. I'm going to continue to enjoy driving fast, fun, attractive cars that *I* like. And I'll wonder about those that have to have everything done for them, so that in order to save money, they simply forgo anything that might simply make them happy. I mean, I've saved enough money by doing all this myself to go to Scotland twice, go on a number of Caribbean cruises, and get an RV to travel the country in. And still have fun cars, a wonderful family and a home with a ton of equity in it.
To each their own. I can honestly say I've never fantasized about a car, or a drive, but I know some that do, so you do you.
Everyone has their own criteria. Mine involves reliability, gas mileage, cargo room in the rear, stable and consistent handling, comfort, how well I can see out of it, and then things like aesthetics. I do care about the look, but it's way far down my list, and if it looks good but fails on even one of my higher priority criteria it's not going to happen. It's certainly made my life much more affordable. It saves on purchase costs, gas, repairs, insurance, maintenance, even registration and sales taxes. I've always lived to a tighter budget, so over the years, life cycle costs have factored heavily into my decisions, and good habits like that are hard for me to break. Now that I can afford to buy whatever I might want, I find that I actually want is to save money on transportation. Go figure.
But to bring it back to the topic, watching costs like this as I have, was part of being able to retire early, as I was able to put more into investments/saving, and I know that my transportation costs in retirement are minimized. Fewer expenses in retirement makes for an easier early retirement. And I don't consider that to have been a sacrifice on any level.
If you want to retire early, and you can't rely on the lottery or inheritance, you need to do the math.
Too funny, my #1 priority is the look...if the look isnt there, nothing else matters.
/\ /\ Same here!
Reliability and gas mileage are all I care about. That's why I drive a Honda. I have no need to impress myself, family, friends or people on the street with the brand/prestige of any car.
Hubby is in sales. Drives a lot. 2014 Honda Civic with 235,000 still going strong. I have a 2018 Honda. About 110,000 miles. When we retire we will get a Honda CRV for our planned road trips. Hopefully our last car.
When married and taking road trips we had a Honda accord which was very comfortable. We also had a Toyota Corolla that I kept and it’s 16 years old with 71k miles. It’s never needed a repair except for brakes so probably my last car. I don’t take road trips anymore.
Seems like kind of a non sequitur; satisfaction with retirement isn't really the topic. But posting on C-D must be high priority, because a lot of these busy retirees sure find the time to post here regularly! I readily admit that whenever I do so, it's out of boredom.
Same here. That's why I simply don't believe the brag: "so busy, how did I find time to work" trope. Just as hacked as the "drop dead at work" trope.
If I was a rich retiree, I'd be out DOING stuff every day, traveling, etc. Not being on social media, lol.
Back to topic: We did try to work a couple more years in TX before settling down here. Could not even get a low-end Home Depot-type job due to age and not being bi-lingual. So we retired earlier than we planned. I'm glad too, since we already had the "go-go" phase and are now in the "slow-go" phase. Dreading the next phase, yikes.
There’s cheap places to retire to in the USA. I wouldn’t leave the country as many cheap countries inevitably end up being unstable and dangerous.
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