In today’s Friday Roundup we discuss the True Cost of Car Ownership, how to maximize your travel rewards points plus a big announcement on a new in-house ‘expert’ for ChooseFI!
Podcast Episode Summary
- Episode review of our podcast Episode 22 on The True Cost of Car Ownership
- Your best-case scenario is buying a 5 to 10 year old gas sipping car
- Even a low cost car is going to cost you at least $2,000 per year
- Your fixed structural expenses move the needle significantly on your path to FI, and the car is the easiest one to change.
- Comment from Matt on how he introduced this to his algebra class on why buying a new car is a bad decision and what it amounts to when compounded
- Second generation Fire: Starting out right and not buying an expensive car (plus house hacking) will set people up for Financial Independence by 35
- Question on Saverocity about living close or far from work and how that impacts your path to Financial Independence
- Is bicycling a pillar of FI or is it unrealistic for the vast majority of people and might even turn people off from pursuing FI?
- In a post-FI lifestyle, does bicycling make more sense?
- Comment from the audience on Cargo Bikes
- Voicemail from Rebecca on what to do with her car situation
- Our thought is that it makes sense for Rebecca’s life and financial situation to move towards the Honda Fit
- Our final thought on cars: Don’t buy a new car; buy a used car and drive it into the ground
- Choose FI is bringing on in-house experts on real estate, taxes, business building and all things number crunching
- Alan’s brainstorming ideas for helping the community build businesses
- Should building a side hustle be a Pillar of FI?
- Travel Rewards question from Noah: Should he cash in his miles & points and invest them in VTSAX or save them for future travel?
- Brad’s advice is to save them for future value where the value can be 2x-4x or more
- How the Millionaire Educator takes his rewards points to invest in an ESA fund
- Travel rewards question from Satya on travel to India using points
- Feedback from the audience: Kevin’s follow up to Friday Roundup 18. He spoke with his wife and she just wants to spend more time with him where she gets his full attention
- Human connection is the most important aspect of happiness
- FI in the news: Our upcoming guest ESI from ESI Money was featured on the Washington Post
- FI in the News: Article that Brittinni sent in about net worth being the key to wealth, not income
- Frugal Wins of the week from the audience
- Aaron’s feedback about the true cost of car ownership and he teased us with how he sells boats for a profit
- Final word on Jonathan’s pull-ups
- Itunes reviews and book giveaways
Links from the show:
- Xtracycle Cargo Bikes
- Coach Carson
- PopUp Business School
- Early Retirement Now
- Money Metagame
- Millionaire Educator: How We Generated $2,000 of Free Money to Fund Our Son’s College Account
- Budgets are Sexy ESI article: 10 Things I Didn’t Expect in Early Retirement
- Washington Post article about ESI: He Retired at 52. The 10 Things that Surprised Him About Early Retirement
- Slate article from Brittinni: Who Gets to be “Rich?”
Books Mentioned in the Show:
