Yea man, too many people make “stupid decisions” like buy a pickup truck and I never ever see them take the tarp cover down (idiot neighbors) who whine about money.
I've been on the verge of buying a model Y but just decided to buy a new house instead that is located close to a city recreation center that has a very inexpensive gym, library next door, a shopping center with grocery store, Kohls, coffee shop & restaurants and a walking trail around a pond. I'll be able to walk/bike to almost everything I need, and I'll keep my 2012 Chevy Volt for now.
Congratulations Billy, that definitely sounds like a better investment than a fancy car! (And your 2012 Volt is a great choice already and still nearly new ;-))
Man, you should make a 15 minute video every week. This was a lot of fun. Pick a topic! Pick old MMM articles and refresh and do them video style. IE: DIY home stuff you've done that is value-add vs. wasteful with examples, smart spending tips for the grocery store with prices for the new to cooking at home crowd (what is a good price for chicken? simple go to meals), camping tips and how to have fun on a budget, etc. Keep 'em coming. Sorry I use adblock!
Great video! Ive been a big fan of the blog for years now and would love to see more youtube content. Regardless, I am grateful for all of the money/lifestyle advice you have given over the years. Thanks to you I am in a much better place than most people my age. Cheers!
I buy a new vehicle every few years (because I am an automotive enthusiast and I love driving a nice vehicle) but I still manage to save at least 50% of my gross income every year. For me it's about deciding what makes you happy and spending your 'joy' money only on those things, while still making sure you maintain a high savings rate at all times. I fell into the typical spending traps early on and didn't start saving for retirement until I was 43 but I will still retire a millionaire at 58. No, it's not 31 like MMM, but it's just fine for me. There is no cookie cutter financial plan that is perfect for every individual, but most of the advice offered here is great advice.
When you wrote the true cost of commuting you actually changed my life - moved within biking distance of work (as a young professional) and ditched the vehicle. I anticipate this saves me $3000 a year between insurance, depreciation, maintenance, gas, etc
My husband is a parts manager at a Honda, I’m sure he’d love this!🤣🙌🏻 Even the coors light! Now if only I could get him to absorb the message and realize what a mistake his $60k truck was. 😏
Great stuff. I was def inspired by MMM and fire community to make the switch. I went from leasing a 20k vehicle to a 13 y/o Prius with 115k miles for $3.5k. Such a weight off and I don't have to worry about keeping it so pristine.
Hey MMM I'm glad to see you are doing well. There are a lot of ways to get things done and there is something to be said for a vehicle that is versatile. Minivans are great although I haven't owned one myself yet. I like my F250 because it can haul a lot in the bed, even dirty stuff. When I trim my trees the branches are piled 5' above the cab. I cut down a whole 2' diameter tree that was in my yard and hauled it away to the landfill in one trip. It is a diesel and gets 20 mpg highway when empty with 6 speed manual with 257k miles now. I also use it to haul a camper which slides into the bed and I go on weeks, sometimes months long trips in it. See my videos of some trips I've done, just got back home from Colorado. I have time for that because I am also FIRED, being a reader of yours since you started the blog and others before that. I used to have a super efficient car, a Geo Metro that got over 50 mpg (and you have been in it). I like to change it up a bit and had a midlife crisis so my smaller car has a V8 now but still gets 30 mpg highway.
MMM, With your blog and videos, you have helped several people including myself from making financial mistakes and appreciate the value of efficient living. Your blogs are a must-read for everyone, preferably before they start working and making money. I wish I found your blog a few years earlier. Still it helped a lot and allowed me to see the wastage of money happening around us. Thank you for the practical advices through your posts and videos!!
Glad you're back! I love my $5k little ford ranger - saves me $40/mo hauling trash to the dump ourselves and has helped myself and others move quite a bit of furniture and building supplies over the 4 years I've had her.
I came across your car buying advice several years ago, and I got a 2004 Caravan. We are a family of 7 so every seat is filled and we use it maximally weekly. At 17 years old, it has 110,000 miles on it (we bought it from a lil ole lady who drove it very little). Having this van has allowed us to save a car payment each month, so that our next car buy will be in cash. It's one of the best financial decisions we've made.
My wife and I made it to F.I. in 8 years following these common sense principles. It was your "The True Cost of Commuting" post that was the catalyst that started us on or path to financial freedom back in 2011.
In the past 5-6 years we've aquired 2 cars. 1st was a $10k, 5 year old (2010), 75,000 mile car 2nd was a $6k, 8 year old (2011), 95,000 mile car The 2nd was bought with the expectation of placing a ton of highway miles on it. It was replacing my daily driver (engine broke down, tried fixing but the machining was going to cost more than the value). Since I'm a 40 mile one way commuter, the requirements we gas mileage, cup holders, and an aux input. Got all of those for $6k. While going through that process, a lot of people (family, friends, and car sales people) basically said I'd be driving a death trap lemon 🍋 that would break down in 1 month and a day... People really need to recognize that cars are supposed to last a good while. Today, "they" were considering a used car as 1-2 years old with 20k miles. TLDR, were keeping our 2 older cars until they can't drive any more.
Thank you so much for your video. Retired 5 years ago, because of the confidence building of your blog. Now your video continue to affirm my choice and life is good, real good. You rock the bad assery!
If my memory is correct, I believe the Honda van suggest a timing belt replacement between 80-120 K miles due to it being a zero tolerance engine. The reason I bought the Toyota Sienna ( timing chain motor)
This scenario only works for a very specific life style and being single. Should of kept it more generic and less about your lifestyle. However i 100% agree never buy new cars or buy every five years if you value your money.
Why do you feel it's only for single people? For most of these van ownership years, I was married and raising a boy. And I can assure you that being a regular bike rider is good for your dating prospects as well! ;-)
I can 100% say that I live this lifestyle, and I am married with two children. We are financially free and independent and my kids are learning about money and the value of hard work, and see the freedom that this lifestyle affords us. For the record they would choose camping/hiking/fishing and other low cost but fufilling activities over amusement parks, etc. any day.
Thanks MMM! I have been obsessed with getting a new Vehicle for about 6 months now. I came to your channel to stop myself from getting into another car payment. Luckily you just released this one! I’m going to hold onto my 10 year old vehicle and make the necessary repairs to keep it going. Great advice and I hope to see more videos from you soon. Thank you -AC
I bought a Scion bc of MMM 2004 xB. 111k miles. Manual. It offers a ridiulous amount of cargo space. Love it. July 2023.....sold my 2014 honda CRV with 134k miles. Had it for 5 years. Was ready for a new vehicle. Was lookin for a 1st gen honda Fit (06-07). Was also lookin at Scions.....and then found and then jumped on my xB. I get laughed at a little from fam n friends but i dont care. I love my 1st gen xB. I even tinted the front windows on my own!
Love you work Pete! Had never heard of you until my early 30s, but started my fire journey at 17 lol. Retired at 39 last year,and sold my 2018 duramax for a 99 subaru outback (30k mi). If you ever want to come to IL you've got a place to hang as long as you want. Appreciate your efforts.
We bought a 1998 model new (I know...) But we've pledged to drive it until it dies. We use it for everything, lend it out for friends to haul stuff, even hauling wood. Such a great video! We love our 100k mommy van!
I was toying with the thought of trading in my 15 year old car for a younger one and I realized through your video that I can drive it for at least 5 more years, so thanks in advance for your tips and money saving 👍
I have a Toyota Sienna 2005 paid 5k had it 3 years now it had just a little over 100k when I bought it. It’s also a limited so it has lots of room and seats warn up lol. Best vehicle I ever bought. I also have a Toyota Corolla it’s a 2010 bought it in 2012 it had 30k miles it cost 9K and it’s still purring like a kitten. 40 miles per gallon in the city. You got a great deal on that Honda van. Love your videos!
Thanks for the video! Bought my 2001 Tundra in 2008 and at 55K miles, it was the newest vehicle I had ever bought. It is almost to 200K and still running strong. Last week I rented a carpet cleaning machine for $30, unbolted the seats, pulled all the trim and gave it a well deserved cleaning. Hoping to get another 5 to 10 years at least.....As a tile installer, a van would have been nice for organization, but tile and thin-set is very heavy.
I dunno man, Vanna barely even notices 2000 pound load of cargo, plus you can always hook up a trailer for even more payload capacity! One thing I wish both vans and trucks offered, is more efficient engines. A 1.5 liter turbo 4 cylinder engine like they use in the Honda CR-V could easily outpull my big thirsty 3.5L V-6, but they are still putting the big old-fashioned sixes in the new vans. If I don't get the Tesla Y, plan B is to wait for a reasonable electric van to come to market, then I would get the best of all worlds (good performance and efficiency plus the giant size and flat cargo floor)
@@MrMoneyMustacheChannel thanks for the reply! I should give you a call next time I have to haul a few pallets of tile 😉. I put overload springs on the tundra and have maxed it out at 3000lbs a few times, but it's pretty sketchy on the brakes at that point. I am a big Honda fan (have owned two Accords, two crv's, a Civic and now a Fit), and was an Acura dealerships tech in my previous career, but for many years I lived in condos so dealing with a trailer wasn't an option.
Yes! I have an 05 Odyssey we bought for $1900 b/c it needed a rear main seal replaced ($1200). So for $3100 we have a low mileage van that is ENORMOUS and coupled with my $400 kit trailer from Harbor Freight I never need a truck. Bonus: it came with hail damage, so I never need to worry when it hails!
Such discipline. We are older. We finally figured out the car thing in our late 40s. We currently drive a 2010, 2013, and 2016. These are older for us. We plan to keep them for quite a while yet. I used to get a brand new car every two-three years. Much improved.
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I sold my car last summer because my bicycles solve all of my transportation needs. At my workplace I see guys that live 45 minuts from work commuting with they're big puck up trucks. Most of them obviously don't use they're truck for part time work because they are grossly out of shape! I mean some of these guys can't see they're own feet because of the size of they're gut! Oddly THEY seem to think that "I" am the crazy one on the bike. If so , I am mush happier since I'm crazy 😄 Thanks for the inspiration to rid myself of my clown like car habit.👍
And of course, most important to buy used because of the shape of the depreciation curve. That's why I bought my 2012 Corvette used. LOL, I know, a stupid car. But we also have a 2009 Honda CR-V that looks like new with 140,000 miles. But we bought that new. Also my son is still driving my 1997 Lexus ES300 that I bought new, now has 220,000 miles. Great advice in the video! But some people can't handle even basic maintenance. I love to work on my cars, but I do have a history of occasionally trying to fix something but actually making it worse and being forced to bring it to a professional. RUclips videos are great. Several jobs were made possible only by the availability of a detailed how-to video on the exact year/model car that I own.
Thank you for snapping me out of it! My mind was trying to convince me I 'needed' a new truck....... Incase I might need to buy a bulky item sometime...lol
home delivery service is great these days too. In a lifetime, you will never spend as much on delivery as even a single year of truck ownership costs, which is why I try to repeat that the main use case for a pickup truck is towing an excavator, if you are in the business of digging. There are very few other use cases for a vehicle with a super small bed yet super high towing capacity!
@@MrMoneyMustacheChannel You are absolutely right :) This summer I've had 3 appliances crap out on me, and that's what got me thinking I NEEDED a truck. But......with a 55$ Costco membership, I get Free delivery on appliances and the extra years warranty I don't need an idiot vehicle! ;)
I ran my cheap cars down to the bone. Saved lots of money. Finally splurged for the Tesla, which I'll keep for a LONG time with minimal fuel and maintenance requirements. Don't regret either decision. Thanks Mr. Money Mustache!
@@parkertrulock Fuel is anything that produces energy (food is fuel for your body). It does not, however, need to liquified, condensed, 500 million year old organic matter that is pumped from the earth, refined and lit on fire just so 15% of its potential energy can be converted into kinetic energy to move a 4,000 pound piece of metal carrying one human being.
Another advantage of keeping 1500 dollar that works is that you know it's history and future potential costs. When you buy a 1500 dollar car on the market, the future costs are unknown.
Vanna seems like a sweet ol lady. But I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm looking forward to MMM's posts about that Tesla. No disrespect to Vanna
I should start cutting and pasting comments like this into a folder somewhere so I can justify the Tesla as a 100% tax-deductible business expense to my accountant (and the IRS) whenever the time comes :-)
Love my Honda Odyssey! 215k and still driving as well as the day we bought it 8 years ago with 80k miles. I’m hoping to keep mine until I can get a Model Y too.
Man.. in recent years I have only been driving Vanna less than 1000 miles per year, which means it will take me about 70 more years to even get to the mileage yours has today! ;-)
every young adult needs to learn this stuff ----wish I learned purchase procrastination in my peak earning years - wasted a few $$ on new cars every 5 yrs.
I bought my Honda Odyssey in 2007, brand new, for $35k then. It still runs great, it’s done several trips around the US and many trips to San Diego from Denver and back, since my daughter moved there., fully loaded. The vehicle runs great, no major issues, since I bought it, accept a few minor repairs. I think the newer models are more troublesome, but at the time, this van and the Toyota Sienna were the Consumer Reports top rated vans in the US. Since then they rated the newer models as less reliable. Mr MMM is right, when you drop those back seats the space you have is unbelievable, no SUV comes close.
The late 1990s Honda vehicles are supreme. I've been driving a 1998 Honda Accord that my grandmother gifted me when she bought a new car for about 5 years now and it's been the best car I've ever owned. 2006 Subaru Forester 2.5XT has been a nightmare (also a gift) burns a lot of oil and something is always going wrong.
Yeah, little MM is still the man here! Getting to work with him is the only reason I started this channel, I am far too retired to sit around editing videos by myself :-) He is kind of a prodigy on things like music composing and video editing (or really figuring out any kind of software), which I think will be good for his future self-employment potential. So my main job as a Dad is to try to get him outside for walks, bike rides etc to balance out all this indoorsy stuff.
Hey MMM, when practicing wheelies on your bike you should keep your arms stretched when the front wheel lifts. It is a common mistake to bend the arms when the front wheel goes up. Just keep em stretched and pedal smooth :-)
Good to know! While these were blooper wheelies in the video, I have been practicing them for so many years yet STILL have never come close to mastering the art of the Infinite Wheelie like I see so many other cyclists can do. It makes sense that my whole technique might be wrong, thus crippling me in this particular art :-)
@@MrMoneyMustacheChannel Haha, I'm in the same boat. My Wheelies are barely good enough to impress my 3 year old son. But since I know from your blog you have been practicing wheelies for a while and I have watched a ton of "how to wheelie tutorials on RUclips" I wanted to give you a hint. Keeping the arms stretched helped me improving my Wheelies as your blog helped me improving my money spending habits. Thanks a lot!
True, I grew up in the Great Lakes/Rustbelt area and the same thing happened there too - brand new cars get rusty, sometimes when they are less than 10 years new! That alone would make it worth giving up car ownership if I still lived there. Also, the citizens should lobby governments to stop using sodium chloride on the roads and switch to calcium or potassium formula instead. A few dollars of extra taxes per year from each driver would save a few hundred or thousand dollars of car destruction. More eco friendly too.
"Purchase procrastination" love it! I use that when I want a new smartphone. Also my sister just bought a 1991 Honda Civic, which makes it 5 years older than her!
Do the same. 2001 Toyota sienna 307,009 miles Use it for my business , renovations and family trips. Never bought a new car in my life. I like taking care of things and wearing things out. I see a lot of new cars on the road today it’s really a sign of easy credit and lack of resourcefulness for many of the drivers.
Your story about the used Honda Odyssey sounds exactly like mine. Don't drive a lot of miles my wife uses it everything is fairly close by and I fix everything myself. I could probably keep it for another hundred thousand miles which would take another 25 years
Agreed on the 'delay the purchase' theory. I've been wanting to replace my car for the last 18 months, but have been delaying it and delaying it. Five and a half years from a $3000 car has been a good run. With COVID affecting the prices of used cars, I'll probably end up delaying some more. Probably better off first looking for a bike that doesn't have a slightly bent frame... Have you had to replace any rubber hoses, belts or bushes? Surely they'd perish with age, regardless of miles driven.
Had an Odyssey as well but they are pretty notorious for having bad transmissions. Ended up getting a 2005 Town and Country for 2k after it died. Got it to over 240k now with minimal issues. Was looking at the Toyota Sienna too, but they seem to be overpriced.
MMM, I'm a long time fan and would love your thoughts on the following. How does the "appreciating asset" aspect of owning a Tesla (assuming you get Full Self Driving software) factor into your decision to delay buying a Tesla? The software keeps increasing in price over time. May go sky high once the program fully works. Plus, you could operate as a robo taxi and generate income. Great to see you back on YT and thanks for the years of thoughtful mustachian content!
I have read all of those arguments for and against, and my personal bet is that will not really happen - although if it does I will be very happy because it means personal car ownership is almost done! Rationale: By the time Tesla's full self-driving is out and useful enough and approved by regulators enough for a Tesla to be making its owner a lot of money, there will be other competing self-driving options as well. I have followed the whole field in fairly close detail since the beginning, and there are a lot of startups and big companies who have pretty similar capabilities to Tesla - we just don't see it since there are no consumer-targeted cars being shipped with the cutting-edge technology besides Tesla. (The whole argument of the appreciating asset hinges on the idea of so much demand and such a shortage of Teslas that they start being subject to waiting lists and scalping/reselling.. such that Tesla would have to start drastically raising their prices rather than lowering them as they are doing now. That would be an enormous change, especially given that they have three new factories under construction to expand capacity further!)
@@MrMoneyMustacheChannel Thank you for the thoughtful reply. If regulators hold them up, then I believe you may be correct in saying by the time Tesla can actually provide FSD, others will have competing products. That said, I don't think that's the most likely scenario to play out. Ol' Elon has one big ace up his sleeve that changes the game. Data. Any FSD operator will need to solve for vision to have a product that can contend with the infinite vastness of real world scenarios. To date, every major competitor I've seen (Waymo, Cruise, Zoox, Rivian, etc...) has relied on a hyper specific, yet brittle Lidar-based mapping of self-driven environments. They use simulation, but so does Tesla who is adamant that simulation alone cannot sufficiently capture what it is to drive in real life. Any unscripted change to the perfect Lidar environment and it breaks down (weather, object - or object in a context - that the car has never seen appears, etc..). Any competitor will need to catch up on vision. Catching up on vision means driving as many billions of miles as Tesla to demonstrate parity. To date, Tesla has ~1 million cars on the road collecting real driving data and is training their neural net for vision. Next year they'll have ~1.75 million and so runs the rabbit as their new factories (and the many to follow) all scale production. My gut says that Elon will start by getting a small number of cities/towns to buy in first based on how safe his cars appear in the data. The FSD experience in those markets will drive more and larger geographies to adopt until it's ubiquitous. In time, there will be competition, but Tesla (I believe) will be first to the FSD party. Crazily, even once competitors catch up, they will have to compete on price-per-mile driven and their costly Lidar sensors will strain their ability to beat Tesla on cost (Tesla's moat of the future!). Either way, we share an excitement for a future where the need to own a car is greatly diminished. As a fan, I'd just like to see you enjoy a sweet sweet Tesla (and the side income it may generate) before the cost of the software is outrageously high. Yours in frugality! (less my Tesla payment) :) p.s. I'd be remiss if I didn't share that reserving a single motor cybertruck for a refundable $100 gives you a ~2 year call option on a vehicle w/ FSD at today's price just in case you want a risk free way to wait and see how it all shakes out.
Great tips. Keep delaying and delaying buying anything new. Bought my 2005 pathy in 2009 as a one owner lease return. Bought with 50k, has 90k on it after 11 years of driving. Looks new and not old at all. Body style still looks new IMO. The Colorado winters make me change the the oil due to condensation in oil pan usually accumulates water in bottom of pan when draining.
Great video. It would have been great to get into the savings numbers more. Driving a cheap car is really a million dollar decision. Saving $900/month like you did for 30 years and putting it in the stock market adds up to $1,020,176 saved.
Good points, E! It sounds like you are talking about the general magic of compounding, which is of course very powerful. In my own life, I'm still too young for it to have played that much of a role - I only worked a nine year career, and saved at a much higher rate (closer to $9,000 per month than $900). The benefit was of course getting to retire at 30 instead of 55 or 60. But over a lifetime, making even tiny decisions like driving less often and having slightly less fancy cars will indeed translate into another million here or there. And even more important is the HEALTH benefits of making tiny daily choices. We haven't even covered that aspect on this RUclips channel yet, but boy is it ever overlooked in this country. Even among MMM readers, I often meet people who are all aboard on the financial stuff, yet politely discard anything to do with the bikes, barbells and salads, which of course is far more important than being a millionaire.
Dude!, where have you been? Missed you and thanks for the video. I would like a new/used car, but am keeping my '88 Toyota Celica alive with 197K. I have been goaling to get to 200K, but hardly drive it. Bike around town mostly. Minivan would be a good next choice for my occasional scrap metal hauling needs and bikes inside. Hope you are doing well and staying safe in these crazy times. How about a video of how your stocks are doing and what if anything, you are doing/will do different going forward? Best!
Bro keep posting the people need you right now!
So thankful I knew about him and started the FIRE movement research long before all this mess
Yea man, too many people make “stupid decisions” like buy a pickup truck and I never ever see them take the tarp cover down (idiot neighbors) who whine about money.
For the holy algorithm!!!!
Been FIREd for almost five years thanks to this guy. 👍🏾
My 1993 Toyota Corolla saved me 1 million dollars because I did not buy a Bugatti Veyron
Looks great. Talk about getting your money's worth! Wish you would post more often... I know, you're busy enjoying life.
I've been on the verge of buying a model Y but just decided to buy a new house instead that is located close to a city recreation center that has a very inexpensive gym, library next door, a shopping center with grocery store, Kohls, coffee shop & restaurants and a walking trail around a pond. I'll be able to walk/bike to almost everything I need, and I'll keep my 2012 Chevy Volt for now.
Congratulations Billy, that definitely sounds like a better investment than a fancy car! (And your 2012 Volt is a great choice already and still nearly new ;-))
Good stuff Pete! Using your approach I FIREd a year ago at 33 and I'm loving it. Thank you! Great camera btw, very clear picture.
Man, you should make a 15 minute video every week. This was a lot of fun. Pick a topic! Pick old MMM articles and refresh and do them video style. IE: DIY home stuff you've done that is value-add vs. wasteful with examples, smart spending tips for the grocery store with prices for the new to cooking at home crowd (what is a good price for chicken? simple go to meals), camping tips and how to have fun on a budget, etc. Keep 'em coming. Sorry I use adblock!
Great video! Ive been a big fan of the blog for years now and would love to see more youtube content. Regardless, I am grateful for all of the money/lifestyle advice you have given over the years. Thanks to you I am in a much better place than most people my age. Cheers!
I buy a new vehicle every few years (because I am an automotive enthusiast and I love driving a nice vehicle) but I still manage to save at least 50% of my gross income every year. For me it's about deciding what makes you happy and spending your 'joy' money only on those things, while still making sure you maintain a high savings rate at all times. I fell into the typical spending traps early on and didn't start saving for retirement until I was 43 but I will still retire a millionaire at 58. No, it's not 31 like MMM, but it's just fine for me. There is no cookie cutter financial plan that is perfect for every individual, but most of the advice offered here is great advice.
Enjoyed the video! Nice to see you back after taking a year off - I hope you will post again soon :-)
When you wrote the true cost of commuting you actually changed my life - moved within biking distance of work (as a young professional) and ditched the vehicle. I anticipate this saves me $3000 a year between insurance, depreciation, maintenance, gas, etc
My husband is a parts manager at a Honda, I’m sure he’d love this!🤣🙌🏻 Even the coors light! Now if only I could get him to absorb the message and realize what a mistake his $60k truck was. 😏
Great stuff. I was def inspired by MMM and fire community to make the switch. I went from leasing a 20k vehicle to a 13 y/o Prius with 115k miles for $3.5k. Such a weight off and I don't have to worry about keeping it so pristine.
Hey MMM I'm glad to see you are doing well. There are a lot of ways to get things done and there is something to be said for a vehicle that is versatile. Minivans are great although I haven't owned one myself yet. I like my F250 because it can haul a lot in the bed, even dirty stuff. When I trim my trees the branches are piled 5' above the cab. I cut down a whole 2' diameter tree that was in my yard and hauled it away to the landfill in one trip. It is a diesel and gets 20 mpg highway when empty with 6 speed manual with 257k miles now. I also use it to haul a camper which slides into the bed and I go on weeks, sometimes months long trips in it. See my videos of some trips I've done, just got back home from Colorado. I have time for that because I am also FIRED, being a reader of yours since you started the blog and others before that. I used to have a super efficient car, a Geo Metro that got over 50 mpg (and you have been in it). I like to change it up a bit and had a midlife crisis so my smaller car has a V8 now but still gets 30 mpg highway.
Best use of Coors Light 👍👍
Good to see you back on RUclips
MMM, With your blog and videos, you have helped several people including myself from making financial mistakes and appreciate the value of efficient living. Your blogs are a must-read for everyone, preferably before they start working and making money. I wish I found your blog a few years earlier. Still it helped a lot and allowed me to see the wastage of money happening around us. Thank you for the practical advices through your posts and videos!!
18 months and counting down to start my FIRE journey...
Whilst I will never be able to go full hardcore FIRE, you have inspired me to keep my old car another 12 months.
Yes, he's back! The world needs your videos MMM :D
finally another MMM upload! Thanks for all that you do. Ive learned a lot from your blog
Glad you're back! I love my $5k little ford ranger - saves me $40/mo hauling trash to the dump ourselves and has helped myself and others move quite a bit of furniture and building supplies over the 4 years I've had her.
Mr Money Mustache changed my life. He shares common sense advice to anyone willing to listen. Thanks MMM!
I came across your car buying advice several years ago, and I got a 2004 Caravan. We are a family of 7 so every seat is filled and we use it maximally weekly. At 17 years old, it has 110,000 miles on it (we bought it from a lil ole lady who drove it very little). Having this van has allowed us to save a car payment each month, so that our next car buy will be in cash. It's one of the best financial decisions we've made.
I will link you for something new and profitable
Finally some content from MMM! I've been waiting for the next blog post.
My wife and I made it to F.I. in 8 years following these common sense principles. It was your "The True Cost of Commuting" post that was the catalyst that started us on or path to financial freedom back in 2011.
In the past 5-6 years we've aquired 2 cars.
1st was a $10k, 5 year old (2010), 75,000 mile car
2nd was a $6k, 8 year old (2011), 95,000 mile car
The 2nd was bought with the expectation of placing a ton of highway miles on it. It was replacing my daily driver (engine broke down, tried fixing but the machining was going to cost more than the value). Since I'm a 40 mile one way commuter, the requirements we gas mileage, cup holders, and an aux input. Got all of those for $6k.
While going through that process, a lot of people (family, friends, and car sales people) basically said I'd be driving a death trap lemon 🍋 that would break down in 1 month and a day... People really need to recognize that cars are supposed to last a good while. Today, "they" were considering a used car as 1-2 years old with 20k miles.
TLDR, were keeping our 2 older cars until they can't drive any more.
Great to see you back making videos, good sir!
Thank you so much for your video. Retired 5 years ago, because of the confidence building of your blog. Now your video continue to affirm my choice and life is good, real good. You rock the bad assery!
If my memory is correct, I believe the Honda van suggest a timing belt replacement between 80-120 K miles due to it being a zero tolerance engine. The reason I bought the Toyota Sienna ( timing chain motor)
This scenario only works for a very specific life style and being single. Should of kept it more generic and less about your lifestyle. However i 100% agree never buy new cars or buy every five years if you value your money.
Why do you feel it's only for single people? For most of these van ownership years, I was married and raising a boy. And I can assure you that being a regular bike rider is good for your dating prospects as well! ;-)
I can 100% say that I live this lifestyle, and I am married with two children. We are financially free and independent and my kids are learning about money and the value of hard work, and see the freedom that this lifestyle affords us. For the record they would choose camping/hiking/fishing and other low cost but fufilling activities over amusement parks, etc. any day.
Good to see you back. Pete. Keep it coming, the FI community needs MMM!
Thanks MMM! I have been obsessed with getting a new Vehicle for about 6 months now. I came to your channel to stop myself from getting into another car payment. Luckily you just released this one! I’m going to hold onto my 10 year old vehicle and make the necessary repairs to keep it going. Great advice and I hope to see more videos from you soon. Thank you -AC
Lol when you poured the Coors light on Vanna. I call my blue 2003 Odyssey the Party Barge, and Party Barge approves your message.
This was awesome. On my way to CO to start my FIRE journey, see you soon!
I bought a Scion bc of MMM
2004 xB. 111k miles. Manual. It offers a ridiulous amount of cargo space. Love it.
July 2023.....sold my 2014 honda CRV with 134k miles. Had it for 5 years. Was ready for a new vehicle. Was lookin for a 1st gen honda Fit (06-07). Was also lookin at Scions.....and then found and then jumped on my xB. I get laughed at a little from fam n friends but i dont care. I love my 1st gen xB. I even tinted the front windows on my own!
So glad to get this reinforcement!! I just changed a parking light bulb in my 9-year-old mini. It was my victory for the day/week!
Love you work Pete! Had never heard of you until my early 30s, but started my fire journey at 17 lol. Retired at 39 last year,and sold my 2018 duramax for a 99 subaru outback (30k mi). If you ever want to come to IL you've got a place to hang as long as you want. Appreciate your efforts.
We bought a 1998 model new (I know...) But we've pledged to drive it until it dies. We use it for everything, lend it out for friends to haul stuff, even hauling wood. Such a great video! We love our 100k mommy van!
This video cured me of my Bronco rage
David, I was in the same boat, I have been wanting to ditch my 2010 Kia for a bronco...not anymore.
I was toying with the thought of trading in my 15 year old car for a younger one and I realized through your video that I can drive it for at least 5 more years, so thanks in advance for your tips and money saving 👍
I have a Toyota Sienna 2005 paid 5k had it 3 years now it had just a little over 100k when I bought it. It’s also a limited so it has lots of room and seats warn up lol. Best vehicle I ever bought. I also have a Toyota Corolla it’s a 2010 bought it in 2012 it had 30k miles it cost 9K and it’s still purring like a kitten. 40 miles per gallon in the city. You got a great deal on that Honda van. Love your videos!
Thanks for the video! Bought my 2001 Tundra in 2008 and at 55K miles, it was the newest vehicle I had ever bought. It is almost to 200K and still running strong. Last week I rented a carpet cleaning machine for $30, unbolted the seats, pulled all the trim and gave it a well deserved cleaning. Hoping to get another 5 to 10 years at least.....As a tile installer, a van would have been nice for organization, but tile and thin-set is very heavy.
I dunno man, Vanna barely even notices 2000 pound load of cargo, plus you can always hook up a trailer for even more payload capacity!
One thing I wish both vans and trucks offered, is more efficient engines. A 1.5 liter turbo 4 cylinder engine like they use in the Honda CR-V could easily outpull my big thirsty 3.5L V-6, but they are still putting the big old-fashioned sixes in the new vans.
If I don't get the Tesla Y, plan B is to wait for a reasonable electric van to come to market, then I would get the best of all worlds (good performance and efficiency plus the giant size and flat cargo floor)
@@MrMoneyMustacheChannel thanks for the reply! I should give you a call next time I have to haul a few pallets of tile 😉. I put overload springs on the tundra and have maxed it out at 3000lbs a few times, but it's pretty sketchy on the brakes at that point.
I am a big Honda fan (have owned two Accords, two crv's, a Civic and now a Fit), and was an Acura dealerships tech in my previous career, but for many years I lived in condos so dealing with a trailer wasn't an option.
Yes! I have an 05 Odyssey we bought for $1900 b/c it needed a rear main seal replaced ($1200). So for $3100 we have a low mileage van that is ENORMOUS and coupled with my $400 kit trailer from Harbor Freight I never need a truck. Bonus: it came with hail damage, so I never need to worry when it hails!
Such a vital lesson. My car isn't quite as old, but it's almost 10 years now! Much older than many would have.
I will link you for something new and profitable
Such discipline.
We are older. We finally figured out the car thing in our late 40s.
We currently drive a 2010, 2013, and 2016. These are older for us.
We plan to keep them for quite a while yet.
I used to get a brand new car every two-three years.
Much improved.
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I sold my car last summer because my bicycles solve all of my transportation needs. At my workplace I see guys that live 45 minuts from work commuting with they're big puck up trucks. Most of them obviously don't use they're truck for part time work because they are grossly out of shape! I mean some of these guys can't see they're own feet because of the size of they're gut! Oddly THEY seem to think that "I" am the crazy one on the bike. If so , I am mush happier since I'm crazy 😄 Thanks for the inspiration to rid myself of my clown like car habit.👍
THIS VIDEO IS A 10/10
Great editing little mmm, great energy all around
And of course, most important to buy used because of the shape of the depreciation curve. That's why I bought my 2012 Corvette used. LOL, I know, a stupid car. But we also have a 2009 Honda CR-V that looks like new with 140,000 miles. But we bought that new. Also my son is still driving my 1997 Lexus ES300 that I bought new, now has 220,000 miles. Great advice in the video! But some people can't handle even basic maintenance. I love to work on my cars, but I do have a history of occasionally trying to fix something but actually making it worse and being forced to bring it to a professional. RUclips videos are great. Several jobs were made possible only by the availability of a detailed how-to video on the exact year/model car that I own.
Thank you for snapping me out of it! My mind was trying to convince me I 'needed' a new truck....... Incase I might need to buy a bulky item sometime...lol
home delivery service is great these days too. In a lifetime, you will never spend as much on delivery as even a single year of truck ownership costs, which is why I try to repeat that the main use case for a pickup truck is towing an excavator, if you are in the business of digging. There are very few other use cases for a vehicle with a super small bed yet super high towing capacity!
@@MrMoneyMustacheChannel You are absolutely right :) This summer I've had 3 appliances crap out on me, and that's what got me thinking I NEEDED a truck. But......with a 55$ Costco membership, I get Free delivery on appliances and the extra years warranty I don't need an idiot vehicle! ;)
I ran my cheap cars down to the bone. Saved lots of money. Finally splurged for the Tesla, which I'll keep for a LONG time with minimal fuel and maintenance requirements. Don't regret either decision. Thanks Mr. Money Mustache!
If your “Tesla” requires fuel, you got scammed. 😀
@@parkertrulock Fuel is anything that produces energy (food is fuel for your body). It does not, however, need to liquified, condensed, 500 million year old organic matter that is pumped from the earth, refined and lit on fire just so 15% of its potential energy can be converted into kinetic energy to move a 4,000 pound piece of metal carrying one human being.
Amen, finally somebody points out the elephant in the room: vans have way more space than SUVs
Our 2013 Toyota Sienna SE I paid cash for is named Van-Essa lol
1 year later? Holy crap.
Inspiring man. Thanks for this. I’m working towards a life like yours. Thanks for bringing this to the world.
"This may seem obvious but its obviously not obvious" hahaha cracked me up!
I have a 2005 odyssey with over 350,000 miles. Use it to haul about 2 tons on a trailer often. ( use 3rd gear)
My car is 2 years younger than me and can start drinking next year :D
Greetings from Germany!
Another advantage of keeping 1500 dollar that works is that you know it's history and future potential costs. When you buy a 1500 dollar car on the market, the future costs are unknown.
Vanna seems like a sweet ol lady. But I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm looking forward to MMM's posts about that Tesla. No disrespect to Vanna
I should start cutting and pasting comments like this into a folder somewhere so I can justify the Tesla as a 100% tax-deductible business expense to my accountant (and the IRS) whenever the time comes :-)
Love my Honda Odyssey! 215k and still driving as well as the day we bought it 8 years ago with 80k miles. I’m hoping to keep mine until I can get a Model Y too.
Man.. in recent years I have only been driving Vanna less than 1000 miles per year, which means it will take me about 70 more years to even get to the mileage yours has today! ;-)
Mr. Money Mustache you’ll have to do an update and call it the million dollar car.
every young adult needs to learn this stuff ----wish I learned purchase procrastination in my peak earning years - wasted a few $$ on new cars every 5 yrs.
I will link you for something new and profitable
I bought my Honda Odyssey in 2007, brand new, for $35k then. It still runs great, it’s done several trips around the US and many trips to San Diego from Denver and back, since my daughter moved there., fully loaded. The vehicle runs great, no major issues, since I bought it, accept a few minor repairs. I think the newer models are more troublesome, but at the time, this van and the Toyota Sienna were the Consumer Reports top rated vans in the US. Since then they rated the newer models as less reliable. Mr MMM is right, when you drop those back seats the space you have is unbelievable, no SUV comes close.
The late 1990s Honda vehicles are supreme. I've been driving a 1998 Honda Accord that my grandmother gifted me when she bought a new car for about 5 years now and it's been the best car I've ever owned. 2006 Subaru Forester 2.5XT has been a nightmare (also a gift) burns a lot of oil and something is always going wrong.
Does your sun still do the editing? If so, he's improved significantly over the past year or so! Always good to see another MMM video too!
Yeah, little MM is still the man here! Getting to work with him is the only reason I started this channel, I am far too retired to sit around editing videos by myself :-)
He is kind of a prodigy on things like music composing and video editing (or really figuring out any kind of software), which I think will be good for his future self-employment potential. So my main job as a Dad is to try to get him outside for walks, bike rides etc to balance out all this indoorsy stuff.
Hey MMM, when practicing wheelies on your bike you should keep your arms stretched when the front wheel lifts. It is a common mistake to bend the arms when the front wheel goes up. Just keep em stretched and pedal smooth :-)
Good to know! While these were blooper wheelies in the video, I have been practicing them for so many years yet STILL have never come close to mastering the art of the Infinite Wheelie like I see so many other cyclists can do.
It makes sense that my whole technique might be wrong, thus crippling me in this particular art :-)
@@MrMoneyMustacheChannel Haha, I'm in the same boat. My Wheelies are barely good enough to impress my 3 year old son. But since I know from your blog you have been practicing wheelies for a while and I have watched a ton of "how to wheelie tutorials on RUclips" I wanted to give you a hint. Keeping the arms stretched helped me improving my Wheelies as your blog helped me improving my money spending habits. Thanks a lot!
I really enjoy how you break down your thought process on your practical choices. Thanks for sharing!
I will link you for something new and profitable
I agree! My Volvo V70 (a k a "Bloody Mary") from 1997 is still going strong. Best spent 15000 SEK (1800 USD) eight years ago.
I will link you for something new and profitable
I'd love a 20 year old Honda, if only Vermont salty road winters didn't eat their frames for vehicular breakfast.
True, I grew up in the Great Lakes/Rustbelt area and the same thing happened there too - brand new cars get rusty, sometimes when they are less than 10 years new! That alone would make it worth giving up car ownership if I still lived there.
Also, the citizens should lobby governments to stop using sodium chloride on the roads and switch to calcium or potassium formula instead. A few dollars of extra taxes per year from each driver would save a few hundred or thousand dollars of car destruction. More eco friendly too.
I have a 2007 sienna- I freaking love it. So reliable. 200k miles- trying to get to 300k.
"Purchase procrastination" love it! I use that when I want a new smartphone. Also my sister just bought a 1991 Honda Civic, which makes it 5 years older than her!
That is a fantastic looking shirt! ;) Nothing wasted. =) Hope you are having a great summer.
Purchase procrastination is a great term. I’m using that for myself here out.
Do the same. 2001 Toyota sienna 307,009 miles Use it for my business , renovations and family trips. Never bought a new car in my life. I like taking care of things and wearing things out. I see a lot of new cars on the road today it’s really a sign of easy credit and lack of resourcefulness for many of the drivers.
Thank you for this badass video - loved it
Your story about the used Honda Odyssey sounds exactly like mine. Don't drive a lot of miles my wife uses it everything is fairly close by and I fix everything myself. I could probably keep it for another hundred thousand miles which would take another 25 years
HAHAHA the beer on the windshield was hilarious.
I will link you for something new and profitable
Not very mustechian though. What a waste of money! ;-)
Thank you for starting your website and movement!
Agreed on the 'delay the purchase' theory. I've been wanting to replace my car for the last 18 months, but have been delaying it and delaying it. Five and a half years from a $3000 car has been a good run. With COVID affecting the prices of used cars, I'll probably end up delaying some more. Probably better off first looking for a bike that doesn't have a slightly bent frame...
Have you had to replace any rubber hoses, belts or bushes? Surely they'd perish with age, regardless of miles driven.
Thanks for talking some sense into me MMM. I was thinking about upgrading my 2010 Kia, i think I'll procrastinate on that a bit.
It's about time you made a new video! Good stuff, keep it up more often.
Your videos are so helpful. Please make more!!
Words to live by.
The lighting and colors are popping in this video! Impressive
Kudos! A very wise man :) Thank you for sharing.
CONDESCENDING PAUSE! hahahah :D such a great video Pete! Bikes are freedom!
I do the same with my car, my friend. You open my mind about vans, now I will think about it. Cheers from Brazil.
I drive a 2005 F350 I paid $1250 for at an auction and it has been the best investment I have ever made!
Had an Odyssey as well but they are pretty notorious for having bad transmissions. Ended up getting a 2005 Town and Country for 2k after it died. Got it to over 240k now with minimal issues. Was looking at the Toyota Sienna too, but they seem to be overpriced.
RIP Vana
Wow learned something new. The battery hack will be useful in our family
Yeah, that’s the best thing to do with a coors light.
Wearing that shirt should make Jillian smile!
Yeah, Montana Money Adventures! My favorite event and also favorite shirt of 2019 :-)
Yep - super-fun event!
love it
MMM, I'm a long time fan and would love your thoughts on the following. How does the "appreciating asset" aspect of owning a Tesla (assuming you get Full Self Driving software) factor into your decision to delay buying a Tesla? The software keeps increasing in price over time. May go sky high once the program fully works. Plus, you could operate as a robo taxi and generate income. Great to see you back on YT and thanks for the years of thoughtful mustachian content!
I have read all of those arguments for and against, and my personal bet is that will not really happen - although if it does I will be very happy because it means personal car ownership is almost done!
Rationale:
By the time Tesla's full self-driving is out and useful enough and approved by regulators enough for a Tesla to be making its owner a lot of money, there will be other competing self-driving options as well. I have followed the whole field in fairly close detail since the beginning, and there are a lot of startups and big companies who have pretty similar capabilities to Tesla - we just don't see it since there are no consumer-targeted cars being shipped with the cutting-edge technology besides Tesla.
(The whole argument of the appreciating asset hinges on the idea of so much demand and such a shortage of Teslas that they start being subject to waiting lists and scalping/reselling.. such that Tesla would have to start drastically raising their prices rather than lowering them as they are doing now. That would be an enormous change, especially given that they have three new factories under construction to expand capacity further!)
@@user-to2rf1rj5v agreed.
@@MrMoneyMustacheChannel Thank you for the thoughtful reply. If regulators hold them up, then I believe you may be correct in saying by the time Tesla can actually provide FSD, others will have competing products. That said, I don't think that's the most likely scenario to play out. Ol' Elon has one big ace up his sleeve that changes the game. Data. Any FSD operator will need to solve for vision to have a product that can contend with the infinite vastness of real world scenarios. To date, every major competitor I've seen (Waymo, Cruise, Zoox, Rivian, etc...) has relied on a hyper specific, yet brittle Lidar-based mapping of self-driven environments. They use simulation, but so does Tesla who is adamant that simulation alone cannot sufficiently capture what it is to drive in real life. Any unscripted change to the perfect Lidar environment and it breaks down (weather, object - or object in a context - that the car has never seen appears, etc..).
Any competitor will need to catch up on vision. Catching up on vision means driving as many billions of miles as Tesla to demonstrate parity. To date, Tesla has ~1 million cars on the road collecting real driving data and is training their neural net for vision. Next year they'll have ~1.75 million and so runs the rabbit as their new factories (and the many to follow) all scale production. My gut says that Elon will start by getting a small number of cities/towns to buy in first based on how safe his cars appear in the data. The FSD experience in those markets will drive more and larger geographies to adopt until it's ubiquitous. In time, there will be competition, but Tesla (I believe) will be first to the FSD party. Crazily, even once competitors catch up, they will have to compete on price-per-mile driven and their costly Lidar sensors will strain their ability to beat Tesla on cost (Tesla's moat of the future!).
Either way, we share an excitement for a future where the need to own a car is greatly diminished. As a fan, I'd just like to see you enjoy a sweet sweet Tesla (and the side income it may generate) before the cost of the software is outrageously high.
Yours in frugality! (less my Tesla payment) :)
p.s. I'd be remiss if I didn't share that reserving a single motor cybertruck for a refundable $100 gives you a ~2 year call option on a vehicle w/ FSD at today's price just in case you want a risk free way to wait and see how it all shakes out.
Welcome back 👌
this is the best car video i've watched. great lessons
I will link you for something new and profitable
Great tips. Keep delaying and delaying buying anything new. Bought my 2005 pathy in 2009 as a one owner lease return. Bought with 50k, has 90k on it after 11 years of driving. Looks new and not old at all. Body style still looks new IMO. The Colorado winters make me change the the oil due to condensation in oil pan usually accumulates water in bottom of pan when draining.
Great video. It would have been great to get into the savings numbers more. Driving a cheap car is really a million dollar decision. Saving $900/month like you did for 30 years and putting it in the stock market adds up to $1,020,176 saved.
Good points, E! It sounds like you are talking about the general magic of compounding, which is of course very powerful.
In my own life, I'm still too young for it to have played that much of a role - I only worked a nine year career, and saved at a much higher rate (closer to $9,000 per month than $900). The benefit was of course getting to retire at 30 instead of 55 or 60.
But over a lifetime, making even tiny decisions like driving less often and having slightly less fancy cars will indeed translate into another million here or there.
And even more important is the HEALTH benefits of making tiny daily choices. We haven't even covered that aspect on this RUclips channel yet, but boy is it ever overlooked in this country.
Even among MMM readers, I often meet people who are all aboard on the financial stuff, yet politely discard anything to do with the bikes, barbells and salads, which of course is far more important than being a millionaire.
Dude!, where have you been? Missed you and thanks for the video. I would like a new/used car, but am keeping my '88 Toyota Celica alive with 197K. I have been goaling to get to 200K, but hardly drive it. Bike around town mostly. Minivan would be a good next choice for my occasional scrap metal hauling needs and bikes inside. Hope you are doing well and staying safe in these crazy times. How about a video of how your stocks are doing and what if anything, you are doing/will do different going forward? Best!
I love my 2005 Honda Accord. it’s pretty good on gas and really reliable, best thing yet I only paid 3k for it cash.