Tag Archives: Xbox

Automobiles, Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Investing, Retirement, Saving, Wealth

Expensive Cars Are Masquerading Around As Signs Of Wealth

Gallery 7 Comments
Venice, Mask, Red, Carnival, Italy

You ever drive by a neighborhood that ends in Estates or Hills and look in the driveway?

There are usually enough European cars around for these folks to start a dealership down the street and give Audi a run for their money.

You figure places like Beverly Hills, Miami Beach, and New York are places that can afford these types of cars, but what about places you would think those people may not make the type of money it requires to have those vehicles?

Unfortunately, in my few decades on this earth, I have seen things that you would not believe.

Since, many of you out there know my absolute fiscal pet peeve is new car ownership, you understand my ire as I write this.

I can teach you to get rich without having to sign a car loan document or sell your soul. I’m not Ursula. I will give you back your voice.

Related image

I rejected that notion that I must own a luxury car to feel good about myself and feel important. I paid off over $50,000 worth of debt so I could start investing more money in Mr. Market.

The goal was to try to always be increasing my investment portfolio by $20,000-$25,000 or more per year. It took me a decade, but I hit that goal. It’s raining dividends right now. All from just rejecting new car ownership.

I am going to share with you a few car buying horror stories that may very well give you nightmares. So hide the wife. Hide the kids. This is the part in the movie theater where you turn your heads, close you eyes and take a deep breath.

I am about to lift up the hood on the numbers behind what buying new cars will be in opportunity costs in this series of posts on rejecting new car ownership. So buckle up, sit back, and enjoy the ride.

Drip so hard or broke so much

First let me explain what drip is.

It is a slang term many rappers use and there are more or less elaborate definitions of “drip.” Offset and Cardi B use the term to refer to their diamonds and wealth, while Atlanta rapper Gunna told Billboard that “drip” refers to fashion: Drip is your attire, the clothes you wear.

But as rapper 50 Cent has shown us with his bankruptcy filing, looks can be deceiving. Fifty says money in Instagram photos are fake.

For instance, he doesn’t own like 50 Rolex watches or chains, but only rotated the same like three on Instagram because on the world of gram it’s all about appearances.

He also has stated he had $8 million in Bitcoin, but really he owns $0. He just made up $8 million out of thin air! Why put on this show? For likes of course, what else?

Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Digital, Money

This is nothing new. People inflate their salaries, income, accomplishments, and credentials all the time. What makes this case so sad is that he is telling the world, not just a few friends having a round of drinks while playing a poker game down at the local watering hole.

I have noticed that once you actually stop looking and start listening to what people have to say about their finances, that is when you uncover the truth. Behind all the expensive cars, clothes, and homes most people are stressed and broke.

What is wealth

I gave my definition of wealth in a previous post. Really it means you can meet all your basic needs and have some left over to last you several decades without you sweating whether or not the bills get paid.

For regular folks, a good week looks like this – there’s milk in the fridge, none of the kids got into a car accident or ran over any mailboxes this week, and all the bills got paid on time.

Image result for milk in the fridge gif

For the wealthy, a good week looks like this – enough food in the cupboards to feed an army, you taking the Rolls to work this week cause the Jag is in the shop being detailed, and you earned more in dividends than you spent last month.

Wealth is every bit as good as it sounds. Let us see the other side of the coin and how the lack of having enough coins can cause despair.

Dream cars are only for those with money in the bank

Here is where the horror stories are about to begin folks.

Brace yourselves.

I knew a guy who loved his dream car so much that it was keeping his bank account in the red. Let’s call him Edgar. Edgar grew up without a father. At one point, he was living in a shelter. After years of toiling in the salt mines, he was able to get an apartment and get on better financial footing.

At the ripe old age of 28, he decided to “treat himself” because he “deserved it” to a $30,000 BMW convertible and eventually he got a girlfriend to ride in that car beside him.

He felt that he had paid his dues so he should have a nice car.

Image result for bmw driving gif

I don’t know about all of you out there, but I look at paid dues as 10, 20, 30, or 40 years of busting your hump to build a security and a solid foundation for your future self and family. Buying a luxury car that costs $500 a month is not the way to having a life of abundance.

How else could he have spent that money?

Let’s say he saved up the $30,000 ($6,000 a year over five years) by taking public transportation to work and invested that money instead of trying t impress people with his wealth…er uh I mean debt that is masquerading as wealth in the form of a nice financed luxury vehicle. He could have also saved up a few tax returns and got a beater to get back and forth to work.

If you save $100.00 per month your savings may grow to $731,411.74 after 30 years. This includes a starting balance of $30,000.00 and a 10% annual rate of return.

Starting amount$30,000.00
Years30 years.
Additional contributions$100.00 per month
Rate of return10% compounded annually
Total amount you will have contributed$66,000.00
Total interest$665,411.74
Total at end of investment$731,411.74
YearAdditionsInterestBalance
Start$30,000.00 $30,000.00
1$1,200.00$3,064.06$34,264.06
2$1,200.00$3,490.46$38,954.52
3$1,200.00$3,959.52$44,114.04
4$1,200.00$4,475.46$49,789.50
5$1,200.00$5,043.01$56,032.51
6$1,200.00$5,667.32$62,899.83
7$1,200.00$6,354.01$70,453.84
8$1,200.00$7,109.45$78,763.29
9$1,200.00$7,940.38$87,903.67
10$1,200.00$8,854.41$97,958.08
11$1,200.00$9,859.87$109,017.95
12$1,200.00$10,965.86$121,183.81
13$1,200.00$12,182.43$134,566.24
14$1,200.00$13,520.67$149,286.91
15$1,200.00$14,992.74$165,479.65
16$1,200.00$16,612.02$183,291.67
17$1,200.00$18,393.24$202,884.91
18$1,200.00$20,352.54$224,437.45
19$1,200.00$22,507.80$248,145.25
20$1,200.00$24,878.59$274,223.84
21$1,200.00$27,486.45$302,910.29
22$1,200.00$30,355.08$334,465.37
23$1,200.00$33,510.59$369,175.96
24$1,200.00$36,981.65$407,357.61
25$1,200.00$40,799.79$449,357.40
26$1,200.00$44,999.79$495,557.19
27$1,200.00$49,619.76$546,376.95
28$1,200.00$54,701.76$602,278.71
29$1,200.00$60,291.92$663,770.63
30$1,200.00$66,441.11$731,411.74

Back to Edgar’s story.

One night while going to see his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend, he was so tired (he would get tired doing like two sit-ups) that he fell asleep at the wheel. He got into a major accident, the car was in the repair shop for months, BMW lent him a loaner, him and the girlfriend broke up (she may have been with him for the car) and he got to drive that DREAM car for all of like 8 months!

He did eventually get it back, but I noticed that every couple of months or so the car would have an issue and need to go in the shop.

He bragged how he was so smart to get an extended warranty or the repair bills would be like $2,000 or more. However, what he is failing to realize is that when that warranty runs out, you will be the one paying those expensive repair bills because luxury comes at a price. A very expensive one.

Last time I laid eyes on him; he still had that car, was still single, and had moved into a more expensive apartment. Instead of investing money, he spent every dime and his bank account stayed on empty.

If he would have been willing to give up the car, he could have saved a small fortune. I tried to run the numbers with him, but he wasn’t really interested. Little did he know that his dream car was turning his life into a nightmare.

After he lost his job, he couldn’t afford to make the payments. His mother had to step in and help him. Maybe if he put the money he spent on those expensive Xbox video games in the bank instead, he might have had the money to pay his bills himself. He needs to keep that devil-may-care attitude in the video games where it belongs.

Related image
Dante in Devil May Cry for Xbox

And his motto was “live for the day.”

Image result for nightclub dance gif
Related image

If living for the day means being broke for a lifetime, I’ll pass. He may have had a great car that made him feel like he had arrived and look like he had money, but he was really BROKE.

Do cars really equal freedom or are they a debtor’s prison on four wheels

I have owned only two cars in my entire life.

They are expensive money-pits with all-wheel drive.

I have seen people spend so much money on car repairs that it makes me want to cry. I have also seen people own three, five, or even seven cars by the age of 25!

Many people never even go on to pay the car off. They just roll over negative equity onto the latest new car purchase. Putting them in a never ending spiral of debt payments.

And do not even think about not purchasing gap insurance.

Gap insurance is an optional, add-on car insurance coverage that can help certain drivers cover the “gap” between the amount they owe on their car and the car’s actual cash value (ACV) in the event of an accident.

Even this can be something only the well-heeled can afford.

Gap can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars additional on top of what you are paying to purchase your vehicle. It must be paid for up front at the time of vehicle purchase. If you cannot pay out of pocket, they will add it to your loan. You are now paying interest on this insurance coverage.

Why do you need gap? I have a friend. Let’s call her Pam. Pam likes nice cars. However, Pam is in-between jobs right now, is several months behind on mortgage payments, and has been in two car accidents in two years.

At one time, she owed an Audi. When a maintenance issue arrived and the repair bill came in at $3,000, she couldn’t afford it so she sold it.

Speaking of repair bills, I have heard stories of people leaving the Jiffy Lube or car dealership after getting the repair quote, which they cannot afford, then go on to say, “I know someone that will do it for cheaper” or “I’ll fix it later” or “I’ll take it to my mechanic.” All just mean the same thing: Broke.

When you cannot pay the repair bills on your car, then how can you possibly afford to save for retirement?

Getting back to Pam, she ended up with gap insurance from a third party. Therefore, she was going back and forth trying to get the money for the car for over four months!

I don’t know many folks that can go without a car for this long. Her quality of life immediately went down. You could feel it with every passing month when you were around her.

One word. I will give you one guess. You give up? It rhymes with repair. Of course I mean despair.

She also has no cash savings and no retirement.

She was very young at the time. Maybe 22. This is what she could have done if she saved up that money and invested it instead.

If you save $100.00 per month your savings may grow to $1,464,646.73 after 40 years. This includes a starting balance of $20,000.00 and a 10% annual rate of return.

Starting amount$20,000.00
Years40 years.
Additional contributions$100.00 per month
Rate of return10% compounded annually
Total amount you will have contributed$68,000.00
Total interest$1,396,646.73
Total at end of investment$1,464,646.73
YearAdditionsInterestBalance
Start$20,000.00 $20,000.00
1$1,200.00$2,064.06$23,264.06
2$1,200.00$2,390.46$26,854.52
3$1,200.00$2,749.50$30,804.02
4$1,200.00$3,144.46$35,148.48
5$1,200.00$3,578.92$39,927.40
6$1,200.00$4,056.80$45,184.20
7$1,200.00$4,582.47$50,966.67
8$1,200.00$5,160.72$57,327.39
9$1,200.00$5,796.80$64,324.19
10$1,200.00$6,496.47$72,020.66
11$1,200.00$7,266.12$80,486.78
12$1,200.00$8,112.74$89,799.52
13$1,200.00$9,044.00$100,043.52
14$1,200.00$10,068.42$111,311.94
15$1,200.00$11,195.25$123,707.19
16$1,200.00$12,434.76$137,341.95
17$1,200.00$13,798.25$152,340.20
18$1,200.00$15,298.06$168,838.26
19$1,200.00$16,947.87$186,986.13
20$1,200.00$18,762.67$206,948.80
21$1,200.00$20,758.93$228,907.73
22$1,200.00$22,954.83$253,062.56
23$1,200.00$25,370.31$279,632.87
24$1,200.00$28,027.34$308,860.21
25$1,200.00$30,950.07$341,010.28
26$1,200.00$34,165.09$376,375.37
27$1,200.00$37,701.60$415,276.97
28$1,200.00$41,591.74$458,068.71
29$1,200.00$45,870.92$505,139.63
30$1,200.00$50,578.02$556,917.65
31$1,200.00$55,755.83$613,873.48
32$1,200.00$61,451.41$676,524.89
33$1,200.00$67,716.54$745,441.43
34$1,200.00$74,608.19$821,249.62
35$1,200.00$82,189.02$904,638.64
36$1,200.00$90,527.91$996,366.55
37$1,200.00$99,700.71$1,097,267.26
38$1,200.00$109,790.79$1,208,258.05
39$1,200.00$120,889.85$1,330,347.90
40$1,200.00$133,098.83$1,464,646.73

I have actually seen people own multiple cars even though they can only drive one at a time. However, you have to maintain and insure all of them. Just give up the ones you are not using and fund your retirement with that money.

Instead of that money going into a 401k, the lender and insurance company was getting rich off these never ending payments they receive. Put that money to work for yourself by investing it.

Tow truck companies are winning

Image result for parking wars

Have you ever seen that show on A&E called Parking Wars? Some of the saddest things I have ever seen to do with cars was on that show.

The struggle is real in the city of brotherly love. So many people in Philadelphia were getting their cars towed and booted for failure to pay parking tickets it was crazy.

Those meter maids were making like $20,000-$30,000 a year and they were on a mission! Giving out those tickets like gumdrops! And making revenue for the city in the process.

I have seen and heard some stories so heartbreaking it made my eyes start watering. I have seen or heard people lose their jobs, then their homes, and finally get their car repossessed with all their belongings in it.

One guy came out running to his car while they were lifting it on the tow truck. He had almost every valuable possession he owed in that car including the photo albums of his deceased family members.

All he asked is if he could go in the trunk and get his stuff (clothing, personal hygiene, photos, credentials). The tow driver said no.

Unfortunately, once the car is on the lift, it can’t be stopped unless you pay or have already paid and can PROVE IT!

Image result for prove it gif

And that guy went from being homeless and living in his car, to being homeless on the street.

I have seen people give up their cars due to debt, gambling, substance abuse, you name it.

I know someone who saved up $8,000 and sink every penny into a new car just to have a $100 lower monthly payment. Never mind that she was still living with her parents at the age of 42.

I have also seen people have to choose between paying the gas, electric, or phone bill on-time or pay the car note.

I even had an ex-coworker get her car repossessed twice! She just had to have an SUV. She was making like $12 bucks an hour at time and was only 20. She destroyed her credit and the possibility of home ownership for at least a few years just for the sake of looking rich instead of actually saving towards becoming rich.

She was broke. She had no wealth whatsoever! The little she had, she mailed in monthly installments to Chevrolet.

Society would like you to believe that owning a nice brand new luxury car will make you look like you have achieved success.

It really only means someone has allowed you to borrow money from them and pay them back with interest for the privilege of loaning you their money.

Real wealth cannot just been seen by the naked eye in the form of fancy condos, clothes, jewelry, furs and luxury cars. It is usually shielded from prying eyes in the form of investments and inside bank accounts.

For most folks, a luxury car does not mean you have wealth; it means you have debt. Reject new cars like I have and I promise you will actually start to build wealth.

Scouts honor.

Celebrities and Money, Financial Freedom, Financial Independence, Saving, Self-Made Millionaires, Video Games Reviews, Wealth

5 Money Lessons From Maniac Mansion

Gallery 2 Comments
Related image

For those of you out there that grew up in the in the 90’s, then you may remember a video game by the name of Maniac Mansion.

Related image

It was released on October 5, 1987 on multiple platforms such as Apple II, Atari and Nintendo to much fanfare and critical acclaim and was developed by the man who created Luke Skywalker and the Star Wars franchise, George Lucas, through Lucasfilm Games.

Related image

This was long before the iphone was released to worldwide sensation back in 2007, which was developed by another pioneer, Steve Jobs of Apple.

See my post How Being An Outlier Can Make You Rich

What I absolutely loved about this game was the character development. They were so much fun. Interacting with Weird Ed and Edna and the tentacles was a riot!

Even how the characters spoke to each other was hilarious. Let me provide you with this example.

Related image

However, as with anything, you have to look below the surface and take a deeper look. Therefore, I wrote this post focusing on the financial aspects of this game in regards to how you can relate money to the world around you. Even a video game.

And do not even get me started on the price of games today! Growing up we thought $60 a pop for one game was outrageous! Boy, were we wrong.

Today, you can spend $80 or more for a subscription to play your Playstation or Xbox console. Another subscription! Come off it marketing departments across America! You know people can’t afford to barely buy toilet paper out here, let alone video game subscriptions!

Don’t believe me?

When the longest government shutdown in United Sates history, it lasted 35 days, happened people were in line at soup kitchens!

Missing one check caused people absolute panic. And I don’t mean at the disco! One lady said that she was down to $1.26 in her checking account; that was all the money she had and she didn’t know what she was going to do.

You see back in the good old days, you would go to the store, buy an item, do the transaction one time, and like Cinderella’s fairy Godmother’s would say, “bibbidi-bobbidi-boo” and you owed the thing free and clear as the transaction was done, over, finito. 

See my post America Is The Land Of Subscriptions

This post will show you how to save money, get rich, and maybe decide to put a down payment on some property, but it doesn’t have to be a mansion. So here we go.

5 Money and Life Lessons from Maniac Mansion

But first… What is Maniac Mansion?

Maniac Mansion is a 1987 graphic adventure video game developed and published by Lucasfilm Games.

It follows teenage protagonist Dave Miller as he attempts to rescue his girlfriend from a mad scientist, whose mind has been enslaved by a sentient meteor. The player uses a point-and-click interface to guide Dave and two of his six playable friends through the scientist’s mansion while solving puzzles and avoiding dangers. Gameplay is non-linear, and the game must be completed in different ways based on the player’s choice of characters.

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON ONE: MANSIONS COST MONEY

Image result for maniac mansion gifs

It has been over twenty years since a mysterious purple meteor came hurtling out of the sky and made a large crater in the front lawn of a large Victorian mansion belonging to the Edison family. Dr. Fred, his wife Nurse Edna, and their son Weird Ed were reclusive people who left the house very rarely, but the meteor’s arrival brought about a strange change in Dr. Fred. Now, a local cheerleader has vanished without a trace. Dave, her boyfriend, has gathered a few of his close comrades on a mission to invade the mansion and save Sandy!

However, if we just focus on the part about the mansion…basically, big homes costs big bucks! For fun, I looked up the cost of Victorian homes.

The Main House at Skywalker Ranch inspired the design of Maniac Mansion‘s setting, which is reported to have cost self-made millionaire George Lucas around $100 million dollars.

A large white house with black roofing in front of green hills and forests.
The Skywalker Ranch
Related image

So unless you are onstage with your two friends Kelly and Michelle or creating the next new franchise, you may want to stick with buying a home you can afford.

Image result for destinys child gif

Let’s not forget that property taxes are forever! If you can’t pay your taxes, you can still lose your home, even if you own it free and clear.

Taxes are an ongoing expense to owning a home.

Let us not forget that even celebrities have to sell homes for unforeseen reasons and sometimes at a loss.

It was reported that Johnny Depp was suing his management company for $25 million and in the court filing it detailed his spending at at $2 million- a-month! He had considerable property holdings and it was also reported that he was advised to sell a family home located in Paris, France or something along those lines and possibly at a loss at that!

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson was also recently in the news as his Connecticut manse was costing him $70,000-a-month to maintain. That basically is the cost of running a small boutique hotel or miniature bed-and-breakfast. He ended up selling the property at a loss, he paid $4.1 million and sold at $2.3 million, to stop paying the exorbitant cost of owning the place.

Lastly, Mary J. Blige was reported to own a couple mansion-style properties in New Jersey that were unable to be rented. You read that right. She is paying for properties that are uninhabitable, costing her money every single month night and day, and collecting no rent on the properties. In her divorce filing, she was reported to make over $300,000 a month so it is unclear why exactly these properties are unable to be renovated and sold without a closer look at her financial records and proper accounting.

The reason I refuse to buy a big home is because they along with cars can be wealth suckers.

Doing the math, if you buy a $350,000 at a 5% interest rate and take 30 years to pay it off it will cost you around $700,000! Or a $500,000 home could cost you $1,000,000. Yes, twice what you bought the home for.

And most people are working to pay for this behemoth, fancy vacations, and expensive nights on the town with bottle service meaning they are not even home enough to enjoy paying double the cost of it!

See my post American Homes Are $1,100 Per Month Storage Units

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON TWO: PATIENCE

All good things come in time. Building wealth is no exception to the rule.

I started out with a toothbrush, a bag of clothes, and some books.

Now I have a home, paid off vehicle, stocks, investments, and even more books. The point I’m trying to make here is that you accumulate money and things over time. You may not have everything you want right now, but keep working.

Never let yesterday use up too much of today. – Will Rogers

If you are working towards something, the don’t stop or quit for anything. I turned a $450 car payment into $100,000. It took like a decade.

Come to think of it, it usually takes people 10 years or more to perfect whatever it is their doing so you may as well chill out.

The humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935) once told a young John Wayne some sound and simple advice. I will share it with you here.

After John Wayne (1907-1979) complained for a full 10-15 minutes of why he wasn’t being paid more to act on film, he asked Will Rogers what he should do? Will Rogers replied, “Well kid, are you working?” To which, John Wayne replied, “yes.” Then Will Rogers says, “keep working.” And then proceeds to walk away.

So my reply to anyone who wants something NOW, “have patience.” This is me NOW moving on to the next paragraph and lesson in this post, which is my equivalent to Will Rogers walking away. I have given you all the advice you need on that topic. Moving on.

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON THREE: MAKE FRIENDS NOT ENEMIES

One of the best things about the game are the characters. Each have different looks, mannerisms, ways of speaking, talents and abilities. This is part of what makes the game so much fun.

Dave is on a mission. To save his girlfriend Sandy. But he can’t do it alone. He brings along his friends to help him out and watch his back.

This is also sound advice if you want to build a fortune and an empire. Nobody does it alone. Eventually you will need to work with bankers, lawyers, businesses, investment professional, and tax attorneys.

It is always best to make friends than enemies as you never know when it is the next time you will see someone again.

When you are climbing that corporate ladder, those same people you tried to step on on the way up, you may see them again on the way down.

Hopefully, you offered them a piece of the pie instead of one to the face.

Mark Cuban said some great business advice in that if you start a company, then make sure your employees have some stock options invested in it as part of their compensation. That way if the company is successful and gets sold then the employees make money too.

This does two things: 1) eliminates wealth inequality (many of Mark Cuban’s former employees, 300 out of 330, became millions); and 2) encourages people to pay it forward through philanthropy and spend money that gets circulated back into the economy.

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON FOUR: RESCUE THE GIRL OR GUY FROM FINANCIAL DUNGEONS

In the game, if you get caught snooping around the mansion, then you are sen t to the dungeon.

The game is notorious for constantly getting you thrown in the dungeon by almost every member of the household if you are seen.

Fortunately, the game has a cheat in which you can get the dungeon key and let yourself and others that have been captured out of the dungeon. Without this trick in the game, you are toast.

Speaking of toast, avocado toast is not causing millennial’s to be broke. It is the ever escalating cost of education, housing, and healthcare that makes it harder to save.

All wealth building starts with saving. Period. A good cash reserves is a must. Here is a tip for you. Pros have cash. Amateurs do not. Pros are not under any kind of financial pressure. They remove the pressure and make rational decisions because they have money in the bank. Only amateurs allow pressure to get to them. Remove much of the pressure in your life by having cash reserves.

I recommend that being $10,000 or more in savings. That is how you are able to rescue yourself from being trapped in a financial dungeon. Just have cash.

MONEY AND LIFE LESSON FIVE: ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN

The video game Maniac Mansion has 5 possible endings. Depending on what players you chose to play and what actions you take.

The game allows you to have 3 characters for game play out of about 6. These are the people that have your back in case things should go wrong.

In addition, their different talents and unique abilities allow each kid to be an asset to the team. You must too do this in life. You must have back up…plans that is.

For example, I try to keep a minimum of 2-3 months or more of savings in the bank at ALL TIMES! Then I ramped it up to a goal of $10,000.

In addition, if you can save $233,000 in your 401(k), then you do not have to add another cent! After 20 years, with a return rate of 8 percent, you will have $1,001,857.35 in your retirement account. That’s Plan A. Cant’t envision making that happen? Then go to plan B. Save $168,000 in your 401(k), then do not add another penny. After 25 years, with a return rate of 8 percent, you will have $1,001,358.03 in your retirement account.

Are you starting to get the idea?

You can move the finish line and change your actions according to what is happening in your life, but keep the goal. If necessary, you can have a Plan A, B, C, D, etc. The point is to make it so that you are always moving forward by planning ahead.

Just like you have to do when playing Maniac Mansion.

Related image

So let’s get out there, have some fun, and start saving!