K. WOODWARD PERSONAL FINANCE
  • Start
  • Bio
  • WealthBlog
    • Books
    • Random Thoughts
    • Femail
    • GirlBanker
  • MyBooks
  • MoneySpot
  • Coach

Is A Car Obsession Keeping You Poor?

10/6/2015

10 Comments

 
Picture
I’m just going to come out and say it: I think too many men prioritize cars over so many other things that are needed. And, because men generally have a bigger say in how the household budget is divided between different priorities, money goes towards nice cars over other things like private education or that pretty new kitchen or bathroom that the wife wants or even before buying a house.

I have had the discussion on cars, houses and spending with so many friends, so many times.

I don’t know why I am obsessed with property but I love to know prices in different areas even when I’m not buying.You will often find me pulling out my phone as I pass down a random street to see what prices are like in that area.

So, as you do, we went down to visit a friend and I pulled out my phone to check prices in their area. I wasn’t secretive about it. I started asking if they were planning on buying in the area; if they had started saving for the deposit, etc. etc. It was one of my close friends so I’m interested in her family’s financial success.

They said they did want to buy but hadn’t saved for the deposit yet or set a plan for saving that deposit. That’s all well and good but a few weeks later the husband was debating which upmarket car to drive. Go figure.

Yes, we all like nice things but if we plan and have a proper vision we can build a significant wealth base without having to forego all nice things. Unfortunately this means you might have to live with more standard things in the short term.

Picture
What’s the point in leasing a luxury car – BMW, Mercedes, Audi, etc. – if you don’t own your home? In many parts of the world buying now is better than buying later because house prices tend to rise faster than wages.

I have another friend who spent his first bonus from work on a brand spanking new Mercedes Benz only to tire of it a year later.

Cars go down in value the moment you buy them. They are not a real investment.

Yes, I will admit I once bought a new car myself and although I don’t regret it, I doubt I’ll do that again any time soon. I bought it outright (no ongoing payments) and I had my property portfolio already going so I convinced myself I deserved a reward. Would I make the same decision again? In hindsight, probably not but I’m glad I don’t have an outstanding debt to remind me of my not-so-great decision. I could have paid a deposit on another house with that money! Uuuurrrgh

Anyhow, the point I am trying to make here is that, if you or your partner are obsessed with cars, this love could keep you in the rat race a whole lot longer than you need to be.

If you invest wisely you can have your fast car and an investment portfolio that generates all the money you need to pay for your lifestyle. Plan now. Invest now. Have more options later.

Picture
Want to Build a 6-Figure Beauty Business from the comfort of your sofa? Then my course is designed for YOU! 

"Beauty" includes a WIDE range of products from the not so obvious non-perishable foods and crafts to the more obvious hair, makeup, fashion, health & fitness.

10 Comments
Duni
10/6/2015 10:37:16 am

Heather, while I generally love your blog and have got a lot of useful info from it. Can I please ask you not to generalise black men? All of the black men that I grew up around, fathers, brothers, partners etc do not prioritise cars over other things and in fact work extremely hard to support their families. Let's not label people....especially when it coming from the same race.

Reply
O
10/6/2015 02:08:51 pm

Duni,

I agree with your sentiments exactly. While I find the information in this blog helpful...the personal opinion offended me.

Reply
Heather KW
12/6/2015 08:36:19 pm

Fair point. I probably added that because the inspiration for this blog was actually one of black friends. I still feel conspicuous wealth is given more credit in the black (and Asian) communities than it is in the white community.

My personal experience or rather the people I surrounded myself with for 17 years in Malawi vs. 13/14 years in the UK led to the generalisation. Perhaps I just need more exposure.

Reply
Amg
10/6/2015 03:17:59 pm

I agree wholeheartedly as well. Most of the African American men that I know strive to own property and their own businesses, while some already have these things. I was highly offended by this comment especially being married to a black man who owns his house and is in the process of starting a business.

Reply
Heather KW
12/6/2015 08:39:15 pm

Sorry! I've edited that bit out.

Reply
The Lady link
10/6/2015 09:06:42 pm

Black men cannot be generalized or put into the same category. Every black man comes from a different background and the ones I know own businesses, their own house, and yes they have nice cars to go with it. Why not? Some of them havefamilies that are very well taken care of. It seems that when a black man has property, he gets scrutinized. Im proud of my hardworking brothers. I feel that people who have not experienced the successful brothers are the ones who scrutinize them the most.

Reply
Heather KW
12/6/2015 08:44:50 pm

Okay, I will generalise to "men" as I don't have enough data to separate this incidence out into different races.

It is definitely correct that men spend money in less sensible ways than women and this observation has led to a lot of aid to developing countries being targeted towards women because they find that the money is more likely to be spent on children for instance leading to a great impact than when it is given to the men...

...I would still be interested in seeing the incidence of of overspending on luxuries by race or culture because some cultures seem to definitely value visible wealth more than others.

Reply
Nokuthula
13/6/2015 11:50:39 am

When I read the statement about people buying fancy and expensive cars before they own homes I could not agree with you more. In South Africa where I live I think we are guilty of that. I also have friends who would rather drive the latest car but send their kids to a public(government) school. I am a black African and so are most of my friends. What you said happens in my part of the world and its mostly done by my black brothers and sisters. I dont think this is a race issue, its just the way it is in some countries. We can only correct mistakes if we acknowledge them first.

Reply
Heather KW
7/7/2015 08:00:21 am

To be honest even the smartest guy I know (my dad) says a fancy car is higher priority that a nice house because "hardly anyone sees his house and people see him in his car daily" - but as people took it as a race comment I couldn't ignore their complaint...I have quite a diverse group of friends and I observed that my African brother and sisters just love cars more...

Reply
Amg
7/7/2015 10:18:57 am

I don't mean to offend you because I think your articles and information are great! However, maybe next time you should say something like "among the African men that I know personally" instead. I can't speak for any other countries in the world and how things are because I have not been there and therefore cannot make generalizations. I think it is a sensitive issue, especially for black people in the United States, because we are already so stereotyped and these statements do nothing to help others' perceptions of us.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Heather on Wealth

    I enjoy helping people think through their personal finances and blog about that here. Join my personal finance community at The Money Spot™.

    Categories

    All
    4% Rule
    About
    Accounting
    Action
    Admin
    Airbnb
    Amazon
    Ask Heather Katsonga
    Assets
    Attitude
    Beauty Industry
    Black Culture
    Black Economics
    Branding
    Budgeting
    Business Cash Flow
    Buy To Let
    Careers
    Cars
    Cash Flow
    Change
    Children
    Content Creation
    Credit Karma
    Credit Score
    Critical Illness Cover
    Dave Ramsey
    Decreasing Term Insurance
    Defined Benefit Pension
    Diversification
    Earning More Money
    Ebay
    Education
    Emergency Fund
    Energy
    Entrepreneurship
    Equity Release
    Estate Planning
    Etsy
    Experian
    FAQs
    Fear Of Risk
    Fidelity
    Financial Crisis
    Financial Freedom
    Financial Independence
    Financial Planning
    FIRE Movement
    Freelance
    Graphics Design
    Habits
    Halifax
    Hargreaves Lansdown
    Health
    Implementation
    Income
    Initiative
    Insurance
    Investing
    ISA
    Iweb
    Jobs
    Junior ISA
    Legacy Business
    Liabilities
    Life Insurance
    Life Story
    Lodger
    Luck
    Mindset
    Mompreneur
    Money
    Money Mistakes
    Money Spot Program
    Mortgage Insurance
    Mortgages
    Net Worth
    Nurture
    Office Of National Statistics
    Online Selling
    Opportunity
    Organisation
    Parents
    Passion Business
    Patience
    Pensionbee
    Pensions
    Personal Balance Sheet
    Planning
    Poverty
    Priorities
    Priority
    Productivity
    Property
    Racism
    Refunds
    Relationships
    Rental Insurance
    Renting
    Resources
    Retirement
    Risk Taking
    Rule Of 72
    Sacrifices
    Saving
    Self Discovery
    Self Employed
    Self-Improvement
    Side Hustles
    Single Parent
    SIPP
    Sleep
    Social Norms
    Spending
    Stamp Duty
    Start Up
    Start-up
    Stay At Home Parent
    Stock Market
    Tax
    Teenagers
    Time
    Unemployment
    Vanguard
    Wage Slavery
    Wealth Protection
    Will Power

    Archives

    December 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    November 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    May 2019
    June 2018
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014

Picture

Podcast Links

Wealth Blog 

  • Children
  • Financial Independence / FIRE
  • Pensions
  • Retirement
  • Saving
Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee
Picture

© 2007 - 2021, The Money Spot™ ~ Make Money, Change Lives!
Heather Katsonga-Woodward, a massive personal finance fanatic.
** All views expressed are my own and not those of my employer ** Please get professional advice before re-arranging your personal finances.
Photos used under Creative Commons from Got Credit, www.hickey-fry.com, focusonmore.com, Francisco Anzola, SortedForYa, Prachi More, osipovva, Got Credit, focusonmore.com, Free For Commercial Use (FFC), Cory M. Grenier, jerseytom55, Got Credit, wuestenigel, trendingtopics, EpicTop10.com, mikecohen1872, mrmatthogg, focusonmore.com, jijake1977
  • Start
  • Bio
  • WealthBlog
    • Books
    • Random Thoughts
    • Femail
    • GirlBanker
  • MyBooks
  • MoneySpot
  • Coach