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A few months ago I was driving a beat down, raggedy 98 Ford Escort with no air condition (in Las Freakin' Vegas) and would take two tries every time to start. I had this car for up to a year at this point (19 years old - 20 years old). I eventually got a job at a big car dealership.
I think you can imagine what a 20 year old would feel like from going to driving an embarrassing car that doesn't run properly and has no A/C with paint that looks like it's made of wrapping paper coming off the wall - to test driving $40,000 Mustang GT's and $70,000 Platinum F150's. It just so happens by the turn of fate that my cars transmission and clutch breaks down from its 17 years in use and has to be towed. It would cost thousands of dollars to fix, more than its worth to fix. At this point it was over before it started.
The Mustang v6 was pretty nice, so I chose that. And it was oh-so-affordable. I got a base model because I didn't want to overspend right? That would just be silly. And with my new dealership discount; I would get it below what the dealership paid for it! How could I turn down such an offer? I can't afford it right now, but I know it will motivate me to sell even more cars. And why take the risk of getting a used car, so much could go wrong and I would spend so much on repairs. I owed it to myself after driving such a broken down car for so long. And I needed to know the product I'm selling right? What better way to hand out my business cards than after I'm stepping out of a 2016 Mustang? More people will see that I know what I'm talking about and buy from me! I have to represent the dealership!
Etc Etc Etc. There was no end to the mental gymnastics I used to convince myself that I needed to get a new car. Its 2 months later now. I quit my slave work of a job. I'm working my Fastlane business which has made a little over $500 since I started it on November 6th - my most successful business so far. I failed at the online t-shirt business I started last year, then moved to washing cars door to door which did alright ($20 a car), it did minimal. So it feels good to actually get a business that is making profit.
I'm in more debt than I ever thought I would be in at this age now. $3,000 in credit card debt and $25,000 for my financed car. It all started because of that f**king car. I feel like such an idiot. It was such an unbelievable naive and emotionally driven decision that I would slap myself in the face and carry myself out of the dealership forever if I could go back in time. I'm using cash advances to pay my car bills and insurance ($700 a month).
I can't sell it because the car has to be paid off in full before the bank hands over the title. And selling it for the price I owe is a ridiculous request because it's not worth what I owe. Getting a personal loan to cover the difference of what I can sell it for would require a very angelic bank because I don't have a job, and banks don't like the idea of someone asking for money when they just started a business. Its a dreaded circle of debt and depreciation.
Funny thing is, I happened to be on my second reading of the choices chapter in The Millionaire Fastlane . I made the choice to finance a vehicle even when I already had goals and plans to build another business. And now I have to fight 24 hours a day to work on getting more money to survive and thrive so I can get out of this mess that I put myself in. I've cut down on all expenses. The main one moving out of my apartment and moving in with my buddies as room mates (found another person to take over my lease so I'm out of it for free). My main goal with the car is to sell it for a few thousand below what I paid for it and pay the difference with my credit card - if I can find someone to buy it at a few thousand below what I paid for it.
If you've read this far, thank you for doing so. This has been eating me up since I quit my job and I just wanted to tell my story. If you have advice for me, what is it?
I think you can imagine what a 20 year old would feel like from going to driving an embarrassing car that doesn't run properly and has no A/C with paint that looks like it's made of wrapping paper coming off the wall - to test driving $40,000 Mustang GT's and $70,000 Platinum F150's. It just so happens by the turn of fate that my cars transmission and clutch breaks down from its 17 years in use and has to be towed. It would cost thousands of dollars to fix, more than its worth to fix. At this point it was over before it started.
The Mustang v6 was pretty nice, so I chose that. And it was oh-so-affordable. I got a base model because I didn't want to overspend right? That would just be silly. And with my new dealership discount; I would get it below what the dealership paid for it! How could I turn down such an offer? I can't afford it right now, but I know it will motivate me to sell even more cars. And why take the risk of getting a used car, so much could go wrong and I would spend so much on repairs. I owed it to myself after driving such a broken down car for so long. And I needed to know the product I'm selling right? What better way to hand out my business cards than after I'm stepping out of a 2016 Mustang? More people will see that I know what I'm talking about and buy from me! I have to represent the dealership!
Etc Etc Etc. There was no end to the mental gymnastics I used to convince myself that I needed to get a new car. Its 2 months later now. I quit my slave work of a job. I'm working my Fastlane business which has made a little over $500 since I started it on November 6th - my most successful business so far. I failed at the online t-shirt business I started last year, then moved to washing cars door to door which did alright ($20 a car), it did minimal. So it feels good to actually get a business that is making profit.
I'm in more debt than I ever thought I would be in at this age now. $3,000 in credit card debt and $25,000 for my financed car. It all started because of that f**king car. I feel like such an idiot. It was such an unbelievable naive and emotionally driven decision that I would slap myself in the face and carry myself out of the dealership forever if I could go back in time. I'm using cash advances to pay my car bills and insurance ($700 a month).
I can't sell it because the car has to be paid off in full before the bank hands over the title. And selling it for the price I owe is a ridiculous request because it's not worth what I owe. Getting a personal loan to cover the difference of what I can sell it for would require a very angelic bank because I don't have a job, and banks don't like the idea of someone asking for money when they just started a business. Its a dreaded circle of debt and depreciation.
Funny thing is, I happened to be on my second reading of the choices chapter in The Millionaire Fastlane . I made the choice to finance a vehicle even when I already had goals and plans to build another business. And now I have to fight 24 hours a day to work on getting more money to survive and thrive so I can get out of this mess that I put myself in. I've cut down on all expenses. The main one moving out of my apartment and moving in with my buddies as room mates (found another person to take over my lease so I'm out of it for free). My main goal with the car is to sell it for a few thousand below what I paid for it and pay the difference with my credit card - if I can find someone to buy it at a few thousand below what I paid for it.
If you've read this far, thank you for doing so. This has been eating me up since I quit my job and I just wanted to tell my story. If you have advice for me, what is it?
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