Читать книгу Millionaire Teacher - Hallam Andrew - Страница 9

Riding shotgun as a 15-year-old in my dad’s 1975 Datsun, I thought we were traveling a bit fast. I leaned over to look at the speedometer and noticed that it didn’t work. “Dad,” I asked, “how do you know how fast you’re going if your speedometer doesn’t work?”

My dad asked me to lift up the floor mat beneath my feet. “Fold it back,” he grinned. There was a fist-sized hole in the floor beneath my feet, and I could see the rushing road below. “Who needs a speedometer when you can get a better feel for speed by looking at the road,” he told me.

The following year, I turned 16. I bought my own car with cash that I had saved from working at a supermarket. It was a six-year-old 1980 Honda Civic. The speedometer worked, and best of all, there wasn’t a draft at my feet. Because it was the nicest car in the family, I always felt like I was riding in style, which leads me to one of the greatest secrets of wealth building: your perceptions dictate your spending habits.

The surest way to grow rich over time is to start by spending a lot less than you make. If you can alter your perspective to be satisfied with what you have, then you won’t be as tempted to blow your earnings. You’ll be able to invest money over long periods of time, and thanks to the compounding miracles of the stock market, even middle-class wage earners eventually can amass sizable investment accounts. Thanks to my dad’s car (which also leaked), I felt rich because I had a road-worthy steed that didn’t leak from the roof and windows when it rained. Instead of comparing my car with those that were newer, faster, and cooler, I viewed my dad’s car (which you could start with a screwdriver in the ignition slot) as the comparative benchmark.

Buddhists believe that “wanting” leads to suffering. In the case of the boy I tutored in Singapore, the family’s insatiable appetite for fine things will only lead to pain. Their suffering will accelerate if the head of the family loses his job or wants to retire. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I once saw, parodying the infamous line of Snow White’s dwarves: “I owe, I owe, it’s off to work I go.”

Why the Aspiring Rich Should Drive Rich People’s Cars

If you want to improve your odds of growing rich, you don’t have to drive a piece of junk. Where’s the fun in that? How about driving the sort of car driven by the average US millionaire? At first it might sound counterproductive to dole out many tens of thousands of dollars for a BMW, Mercedes-Benz, or Ferrari while expecting to grow rich. But most millionaires might surprise you with their taste in cars. In 2009, the median price paid for a car by US millionaires was US$31,367.10 In 2016, they would have paid a bit more as a result of inflation. But one thing is clear. If you want to grow rich, forget about expensive European darlings such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar. When Thomas Stanley polled US millionaires, the most popular brand of car was the humdrum Toyota.11

Many of the wanna-be rich try to outdo their peers in the car-spending department, easily parting with $40,000 and upward on a luxury vehicle. But how can you build wealth and reduce financial stress when you’re paying far more for a car than an average millionaire? It’s like trying to keep up with a pack of Olympic sprinters but giving them a 50-meter head start.

Image is nothing if you lose your job, can’t make your car payments, or if you’re stuck having to work until you’re 80 years old.

If you want to keep pace with the millionaires, begin on the start line or give yourself the biggest lead you can. It doesn’t make sense to spend more than most rich people do on a set of wheels.

Paying More for a Car than a Decamillionaire

In 2006, Warren Buffett, one of the three richest men in the world, bought the most expensive car he has ever owned: a $55,00 °Cadillac.12 The average decamillionaire – a person with a net worth of more than $10 million – paid $41,997 for his or her latest car.13 If you find yourself at an upscale mall, check out the parking lot and you’ll see many vehicles worth a lot more than $41,997.

Many will be worth more than Warren Buffett’s car. But how many of the car owners do you think have $10 million or more? If your answer is “probably none,” then you’re catching on fast. Many have jeopardized their own pursuit of wealth or financial independence for the allusion of looking wealthy instead of being wealthy.

Whatever money you save on a car (not to mention the savings from interest payments if you can’t buy the car outright) can go toward wealth-building investments.

Cars aren’t investments. Unlike long-term assets such as real estate, stocks, and bonds, cars depreciate in value with each passing year.