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The worst investment you will ever make

You scroll through Facebook and all of the sudden you stop right in your tracks, this magnificent, brand new truck grabs your attention – it drives through a majestic scenery with incredible mountain views. The sun rays falls perfectly on the brand new polished hood of the car while it drives through a puddle of water showing off its amazing 4×4 capabilities.

Then the scene moves and focuses on the perfect, happy family laughing and having the time of their lives. Okay you get the point...

This ad is perfectly designed to play on our emotions, it shows us what life will look like if we purchase this vehicle. It paints the picture that our family will be happy if we have this brand new vehicle and not to mention all the safety features that comes along with it.

I bet at this point in time you can also find a few reasons to justify having this new toy like “my car’s service plan is expiring soon” or “this car is big enough for my family” etc.

But what happens when you buy a car?

Here's what happens: you lose a ton of money as soon as you drive it off the showroom floor. And then you lose more money every month after that.

Car Depreciation

DO YOU GET THE POINT NOW?

If you want to purchase a house and you see that the house will lose this much value as in the graph above – will you still purchase it?

If you answer yes, then you simply have no clue when it comes to money. A car is a terrible terrible investment and we all know how much money we lose on it – yet we still fall for the ads and the propaganda around it.

Look, unfortunately it’s something most of us need and I get it – everyone’s lifestyles are different but here’s my point:If you make DEBT to buy a car then you are making a big mistake and you are flushing money down the drain.

Am I a hypocrite for owning a nice car and writing this post? Maybe, but my car is paid off in cash, it suits my needs, I owe nothing on it and my family is safe in it (which is a big thing for me since we travel a lot).

Do I also get the urge to buy a new car every now and again? Yes – of course. The ads in the media are designed to provoke that emotion in me but when this emotion settles I usually sit down and ask myself “Do I really need it?”.If I do and ONLY IF I can pay cash for it then I will purchase it.

4 RULES WHEN IT COMES TO PURCHASING A CAR

  1. 1
    Never buy a car as a status symbol
  2. 2
    Never purchase a sports car
  3. 3
    Only purchase a car in cash
  4. 4
    Only purchase an upgrade if needed

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David Bester
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