A Tale of Two Cars

One memory from childhood with my dad is watching the car chase scene from the iconic 1968 movie, Bullitt. The film, starring Steve McQueen, is widely regarded as a classic but one of its most enduring legacies is the groundbreaking car chase scene that redefined action cinema.

The chase begins with a tense game of cat-and-mouse in the streets of San Francisco. Frank Bullitt, played by McQueen, notices he’s being tailed by two hitmen in a menacing black 1968 Dodge Charger R/T. Driving his green 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback, Bullitt subtly turns the tables, transforming from prey to predator. The ensuing chase weaves through the streets of San Francisco at high speeds, with the cars leaping over crests and landing with screeching tires. The city’s tight urban streets heighten the tension as the drivers maneuver through traffic and narrowly avoid collisions. The chase culminates in a fiery conclusion as the Charger crashes into a gas station, resulting in a massive explosion that takes out the hitmen and seals the scene’s place in cinematic history.

I was eight years old and I was hooked by the sound of a roaring engine, screeching tires, and the curves of 1968 Fastback.

Cars play an interesting role in our own financial journey and offer up two “bookend” moments. The first occurred when I was a student at Pepperdine University, circa 2008. While sitting in the financial aid office, the kind hearted financial aid officer informed me that in addition to the scholarships and loans I had received to cover tuition, I was also eligible for an additional loan to cover living expenses. She told me I could use this money to pay for rent, buy books and supplies, or other items necessary for living while in college. My response? FREE MONEY! I took the loan and one week later spent it all on a major living expense: a lifted Jeep Wrangler. Definitely a college necessity when living in a beach town.

Several years later, Cecily and I (married by then) realized a first step towards getting our finances in line was to eliminate our debt. The first thing to go? The Jeep Wrangler. We sold the Jeep and paid off a loan. Over the ensuing months, we would go on to pay off over $85,000 in debt accumulated by yours truly on credit cards, student loans, and yes…that Jeep Wrangler.  

We made our final loan payment in mid 2013 and by this point, we were making massive payments in order to knock the debt out quickly, over $5,000 every month at that point. But it was merely a few weeks after becoming debt free that the smell of gasoline and rubber would attempt to ruin everything we worked so hard to accomplish…

The moment in question occurred while driving from Malibu to Calabasas and passing the car dealerships on the 101. At the time, there was a luxury car dealership sitting to the right of the northbound lane. A large billboard offered up an advertisement with details on leasing a new Ferrari. After running the numbers in my head, I realized that for the $5000 a month we had been forking over to pay off student loan debt, she and I could BOTH lease a new Ferrari. Instantly, I had images of the two of us chasing each other through the canyon and down Mulholland Highway, living our own modern car chase scene. My rationalizing mind considered how much work we had put into paying off our debt of the previous two and a half years, sending over 50% of our income every month to our loans. We deserved a break, right? We deserved some fun. We deserved two leased Ferraris.

And it was in that moment I realized I had a choice. I could continue the cycle of spending, saving, falling behind, and attempting to catch up that I had known or I could use the discipline we had cultivated in the previous two years to completely change our financial future.

We didn’t lease the Ferraris. Instead, we aggressively contributed to our retirement savings and anything left over went into savings to buy rental properties. We repeated this process each and every month and continue to prioritize financial responsibility over momentary passions.

This doesn’t mean we live a monastic lifestyle. Instead of Ferraris, we’ve chosen to enjoy used Porsches that often have a decent number of miles and for which we can pay cash. We spend more on tires and oil changes than we would if we had a Honda, but buying used is our own way of living into some joys and pleasures without breaking the bank. Currently, our cars account for 2% of our net worth. We are happy with this figure, and although we could financially “afford” more and nicer, it would be in conflict with other things we value more: significant travel, generosity, and continuing to invest for the future.

On occasion I’ll search the used car market for a 1968 Mustang Fastback. And maybe one day I’ll have one. But I have also learned that chasing cars and money has the same fiery conclusion as it had for that ’68 Dodge Charger in Bullitt.