Americans love new cars and eating out

Americans love new cars and eating out

I remember interviewing a very wealthy mentor of mine and he said that many Americans trade retirement savings for being able to drive a new car and go out to eat. He explained that just by making the sacrifice of not always driving a new car and eating at home, it is so much easier to get ahead and build wealth.

Over the years I can say that I can’t agree more – particularly when it comes to cars. The average American spends way too much money on car-related expenses. From paying for the car itself, interest charges, insurance, maintenance and repairs, and taxes some people end up spending over 30% of their income for car-related expenses. All for something that quickly depreciates and typically sells for a fraction of what you pay for it new.

Eating out

I still love eating out, but my wife and I have chosen to make it more of a celebratory event – rather than a daily occurrence. To save money when we do eat out, we often use our Entertainment Book cut our our bill by just about half.
So anyway, while cars and food are two great places to start saving money, there are countless other ways to save some bucks…