1. In 1987, in my 4th year of university, a salesman came to our fraternity to sign upperclassmen to join a buyer’s club (CBN: The Computerized Buying Network) for all sorts of household goods. For the bargain price of a $1,000 lifetime membership, we were assured of dramatically reduced prices on furniture, major appliances, kitchen wares, you name it.
The pitch went something like, “You guys will be graduating from school and starting to earn some real money, and you’ll be moving out of University housing so you’ll need to furnish an apartment/house soon.” And we were like, “Hell yes, we’re about to be making bank; this totally makes sense; we would be stupid NOT to join.”
A dozen of us signed contracts and started making monthly payments. Immediate regret. Especially for me because I wouldn’t be graduating for another year (and my first post-college job would end up paying $5/hour), so $1,000 was a shit ton of money for me at the time. One of my classmates actually did start at a well-paying job and went to place an order for furniture: “Ok, your couch and chairs will be delivered in 24 months.”
2. Several years into my next job, my salary had increased quite a bit. I bought a house (just paid it off last year—no regrets!) and was tired of parking my big-ass Ford F150 pickup. My girlfriend (now wife) had finished her master’s degree and wanted to upgrade from her utilitarian and rattling Toyota 4Runner, so we both went to the Infiniti dealership. Ugh. I got a black FX35 SUV (because at my salary, I deserved it and could afford it [face punch] and she got a red G35 sport coupe. Each about $40,000 at the time. At least we both got 0% financing. I bet the salesman went out for a celebratory dinner that night. I have to credit the FX35 for making me realize that owning expensive shit wasn’t improving my hate for my well-paying job and what I really wanted was freedom from the obligation to work. I traded it in for a Subaru Outback which I still happily drive 12 years later. As for the G35, it was a blast to drive and it looked very sexy. When we got it home we discovered that it sat so low that the undercarriage scraped the driveway! She had to back it in (after I took a grinder to the cracked high spot of concrete!). The proverbial last straw came when she went to replace the thin, wide sport tires –designed to wear quickly for maximum traction -- and shelled out about $2,500.
I’m happy to report that today I am debt free and about 7 months from fat FIRE.