We Did It!

Hey Y'all! It's official! We did it! Megan and I have been working towards our goal of paying cash for a new (used) car and we finally pulled the trigger. We were ready to move up in car after I spent 10 years in my Pontiac G6. We purchased a 2017 Toyota RAV4 after watching the market for the last few months. This will be our new 'family' car that we use on weekends and primarily the car I drive taking Laney to daycare each day. We're working towards replacing Megan's car in the next year or so and will continue to be intentional about that being our next goal.

First photo with the new (to us) car. Photo credit to our salesman, Edwin.

I had said three to four years ago that I would never have another car payment in my life. While I believed it, there was still maybe a 10 percent feeling that made me think I would because of how normal and common car payments are. It would have been easy to have a car on payments or dip into our emergency fund to justify needing this car. For example, both dealerships we visited and discussed pricing, did recommend putting the car on payments which is 'easier,' 'not a burden to pay a small amount each month,' and 'something everyone does.' We stuck to our goals, reasons, and bigger picture, worked together and made it happen. This was a challenging task, because the desire to 'have nice things' can creep in and make you behave in ways you know you shouldn't.

The process of our day included going to follow up in person about a few cars we inquired about earlier in the week. Megan contacted the dealer earlier this week and setup a time to stop in Saturday. We knew we wanted to purchase a car, but if we didn't like the car, couldn't get a price reduction, got pressured into a monthly payment, or just generally didn't feel right, we weren't going to make a purchase. We went to the dealer, did a test drive, asked more questions about the vehicle and process and planned to leave. The dealer countered with a reduced price and we still decided to go to lunch and talk about the possible purchase. After we had a few hours to make sure we were making the right decision, we went back and wrote a check for the car and left with it about an hour later. So technically, we paid with a check, not cash. Part of me wanted to slide a briefcase full of Benjamin's across a desk, but thought that may not be our best bet.

Lunch photo where we talked about if the car was the right one for us. Laney thinks it was a good idea during our lunch meeting.

This blog about buying our new (to us) car was a topic I wanted to share for a few different reasons. First and foremost, this is not a bragging point, more of a goal completion point. I want to list the reasons, because each of them has value in different ways:

• Achieve and accomplish a goal with your spouse
• Do something that seems radical, but follows OUR principles (keeps us out of debt and our whole paychecks coming home)
• Share the story to provide structure and hope for others who are going down this road (nice pun!)

Every time we accomplish a goal, it makes us realize our plan continues to work and provide us structure. We don't deviate, and this keeps us feeling really good about the next month, year and five to ten year plan. Megan and I do have small 'adjustment periods' where our plan changes a bit and maybe we do some things in a different order because our priorities have changed. When we feel this happening, we sit down together and talk things out. It helps us list, then prioritize, and stay motivated to make it a reality. It also provides the structure to know what are working on and where our money is going to go before we even have it. One thing we have not deviated from during all of this is saving for retirement. We have continued to contribute monthly and see continuous returns. Our amounts aren't large (yet), but it is paying our future selves and knowing that every dollar we put towards this is working hard to grow larger than we could make it become on our own.

Goal update:

1. Book - Finished reading 'Love Your Life, Not Theirs' by Rachel Cruze
2. Journal - not yet (have February still)
3. Blog 2x/month - 2/2 done
4. Mentor - Contacted
5. Mentee - Completed
6. Accountability Partner - Completed

Getting personal:

While reading the book 'Love Your Life, Not Theirs' this month as part of my goals, things really started to click with me. The author, Rachel Cruze, talks about different money habits, but also personal habits. One of money habits she mentions is to exercise the giving muscle. Megan and I do participate in some giving, but it has been irregular, and at times, not as much as we would like. Because of how much this book aligned with my goal for 2020 of 'Being Intentional,' we decided to be more intentional about our giving. Our first directed giving is going to be purchasing 'Financial Peace University' for one of the readers of this blog. The individual or couple will need to comment on the blog with one financial goal they have for 2020 to be entered in a random drawing. We took this class through the online portal as premarital counseling to make sure we were on the same page. It helped facilitate conversations with us to help us dream together and develop a plan of how to get there.

I've included the 9 lessons from the class. We definitely recommend that a couple takes the class together, not only one of the two participating. This course simplifies the entire financial plan we are utilizing, but shares enough to give you clear reasons why each part is important. We hope to hear from you in the comments!

One of the personal habits she mentions is waking up early to be intentional with her time. I've been waking up at 5:30 a.m. a few days a week to get a morning workout in, and I've really enjoyed this. It has freed up some time after work to spend with my family, but not take away from staying active. I have also been more productive at work on these days with my brain operating after being awake 2.5 hours instead of about 75 minutes.

I had another couple reach out about some retirement funding questions. They are a younger couple so it is exciting to hear them getting interested in retirement savings, understanding it better, and realizing how much money they could have at retirement and how to get there, taking advantage of matching contributions and compound interest.

If you're interested in getting an email when a new blog is published - email Nick @ Nich.Phal@gmail.com