I was nearing my 16th birthday, and knew that I needed to have my own car. I mean, I couldn’t share with my brother, right? Well, I may have been able to, but that’s beside the point. I set out on an exploration for a used car that would fit my needs, which were be reliable, and get decent gas mileage.
I made the purchase for $3,995 of a 6 year old Pontiac Grand Am, with around 90,000 miles on it. That was paid for in cash with the jobs I was working at the time (making a solid minimum wage of $5.15 for a short period). My wages had increased by then, and with virtually no expenses I was able to save up while contributing $250 monthly to mutual funds.
I drove that car for ten years, and had minimal maintenance costs. That allowed me to continue with monthly investments, and also saved me enough in payments that I was able to fund my college expenses with no student loans (BS and MBA). As a result, straight out of college my money could go to investments, not to student loans and car loans.
What made a difference for your investing?