For fun today, let’s have a look at what car you could buy if you only have R150,000. In cash. Because you must change your view of buying cars to being only what you can pay cash for.
I have written of this before and found another journalist who wrote about it last week. He called it ‘the comparison trap’. About people adjusting their spending based on what’s happening around them in society and their social circles. With a desire to keep up.
One area where this is very prominent is the desire for a car that you shouldn’t buy, with the excuse that you must buy a new one – or almost new – for the maintenance plan or the safety features when it’s often really about looking cool and showing the ability to buy it. I would bet that most cars on the road under 4 or 5 years old still belong to the bank.
So, what if all you had in cash was R150,000. I looked on Auto Trader this week and went straight for one of the best cars in the world: Toyota Corolla Quest. I found a 2018 model in Sandton with 134,000 km on it for R149,900. This car will last another 300,000 kilometres. It will be more reliable all the way than many newer cars, has enough safety features and will cost you less on maintenance and insurance. It’s all most people need. And if you don’t have R150,000 there is one for R85,000 with 270,000km. It will last another 200,000km.
Am I writing about cars today? No, but I should a bit more one day, because they’re a wealth trap.
I am writing about the danger of material wealth being a dangerous non-verbal way of communicating achievement. To remember that real wealth is not about the items other people can see, but rather in the quiet accumulation of savings and investments that provide you with options in the future.