Sold fancypants car - achieved FI (simultaneously)

[LifesABeach]

I've been a lurker on here for a few months and thought I'd share my good news. 

A little about me: 31yo male.  I worked for a few years as an engineer for an oil company, then was a manager a storm restoration company and traveled the US, and most recently was a residential construction superintendent (was being the operative word, as I am now technically retired).

Upon my discovery of MMM, I realized that I was already very very close to FI, and the only thing holding me back from true FI was my fancypants car with $1000/month payment (I've facepunched myself enough already, so please only dish out body blows).  Anyway, so after having my car listed for sale for over 2 months without offers, I received 2 offers around the same time and last week it was finally sold for full asking price. 

The car was a 2013 Audi TT RS.  There are only 1000 of these cars in the US, which is why I think I was able to get full asking price for it.  I purchased it new for $61K in August 2012 and sold it for $55K last week with 4900 miles on it.  Purchasing this car definitely goes down as the worst decision I have ever made, but I still smiled all the way to the bank with my big ass check. 

Photo of biggest mistake of my life is attached. 

Now as far as my FI, I quit my full time job in April and have already found job opportunities falling in my lap.  I have taken on a couple part time gigs, but for the most part I am taking it easy until I get un-burned-out. 

A large portion of my current income is coming from a rental town house in uptown Dallas, and the rest from a taxable Vanguard. 

I have lined up a couple of jobs building homes for my parents and a friend's parents.  I expect this to be a cakewalk compared to the 20+ houses I was building at a time at my former job, and it will easily cover my yearly expenses.

My main focus now will be to buy more investment real estate in the coming year(s).

Thanks for listening.

Stephen

[Philociraptor]

Freakin' awesome! I'm also an engineer in the DFW area, started my career about 3 years back, I would love to pick your brain a bit when it comes to career opportunities in the area.

[Gone Fishing]

Great story!  You'll tell your grandkids about the fast car you gave up so you didn't have to be a slave to it.  What did you replace it with?  Or was it already a 2nd car (judging by the miles)?

[LifesABeach]

Thanks guys.  Phil, send me a PM.  I'll be glad to talk; I've had 2 job offers in the last 8 days to which I replied, "mmmm...no thanks."

SC, it was a 2nd car.  I can't imagine the reactions I'd get if I pulled up to a construction site every day in that car - it was a real head turner.  No one at my work knew I had the car.  I still have a very un-mustachian Chevy Silverado.  But, to be fair, I'm looking around and test drove a Mini Cooper and Chevy Volt yesterday.

[Johnny Aloha]

Congrats, that's great!

[shotgunwilly]

What led you from engineer, to the manager position of the storm restoration company (sounds interesting that you got to travel), and then to the residential construction superintendent?  I work as an engineer for a large company, but I hate the corporate world.

[LifesABeach]

What led you from engineer, to the manager position of the storm restoration company (sounds interesting that you got to travel), and then to the residential construction superintendent?  I work as an engineer for a large company, but I hate the corporate world.

Well, I have found that I too hate the corporate world, but more than that, I found engineering incredibly dull.  In 2009, I was a little over 2 years into my engineering career, and I was planning my escape route for when I would quit my job (after my 3 year vesting date).  Then I got laid off with a sweet severance package.  It did throw a wrench in my plans, as I wanted to have another job lined up before I quit.

I was unemployed for 18 months, mostly because I was looking for a job in residential construction, and 2009-2010 happened to be a bad time for that (recall the GFC).  I already had some FU money, so I didn't consider another engineering job.  Then, out of the blue, I got an email from a storm restoration company that was owned by 3 guys from my alma mater, and they were looking to hire fellow alums.  I interviewed, took the job, and traveled 100% of the time until I worked through enough promotions to become a director at the corporate level.  Then 6 months later, the company went out of business due to poor business decisions by the owners.

I took about 6 months off due to burnout; there were times I was working 100 hr weeks for months at a time at the previous job.  I took a job building houses, because that's what I'd really wanted to do since college.  Except I was working for the largest builder in the US, and it was all about the numbers for them.  They really knew how to take the fun out of an otherwise cool job.  Some time during this job, I found MMM and figured out how good my finances really were, so I quit.  I decided to take the blog post "first retire, then get rich" to heart.

Really, as an engineer, you could get either of my non-engineering jobs tomorrow, if you like.  I wouldn't recommend the storm restoration industry to anyone, but there are some people who really enjoy it.  I think I read that you're in Houston, right?  I was building houses in Houston before moving to Fort Worth after quitting. I have some connections that I could refer you to on the North side of town.  You'd probably still have to deal with the corporate BS, though, at all the places that I know people.

[dude]

Hell yes, LAB -- that's awesome!

[etrat]

Thanks guys.  Phil, send me a PM.  I'll be glad to talk; I've had 2 job offers in the last 8 days to which I replied, "mmmm...no thanks."

SC, it was a 2nd car.  I can't imagine the reactions I'd get if I pulled up to a construction site every day in that car - it was a real head turner.  No one at my work knew I had the car.  I still have a very un-mustachian Chevy Silverado.  But, to be fair, I'm looking around and test drove a Mini Cooper and Chevy Volt yesterday.

One solid vote against the Mini. I got a 2007 Cooper in '07, and had to get rid of it in Dec '13 due to terrible engine problems. Maybe it was just my luck, or maybe just that year model, but I'd had engine problems with it off and on over the course of owning it, and it didn't even hit 70k miles. Compared to my wife's '07 Versa which, until it got crunched up on 635, never had any issues and only ever needed oil changes and one new tire.

[hexdexorex]

I to vote against the mini. The volt has done really well reliability wise...who knows what it will be like in 10 years but currently its above average according to consumer reports.

[Bob W]

I would suggest an older Toyota Camry.   Our 2001 has 375K on it with little trouble.   You can pick up 01s,02s,03s relatively cheap with like 120K on them.  They get 30+ mpg and are great to travel in.   You could probably find one for 4 or 5K.   

Hands down the best car I will ever own. 

[TurtleMarkets]

The car was a 2013 Audi TT RS. 

I read "1000 a month for a car payment" and think stupid SUV. Read "The car was a 2013 Audi TT RS" I understand. Those cars are so fantastic. I can see how you were loured in to buy it.

[LifesABeach]

I read "1000 a month for a car payment" and think stupid SUV. Read "The car was a 2013 Audi TT RS" I understand. Those cars are so fantastic. I can see how you were loured in to buy it.

Yeah, it's a truly impressive car, but sooooo unnecessary. Before selling, I thought long and hard on what I was going to do with it. I could have just paid off the balance and still been FI, but decided I'd much rather have the money than the car. I really got to where I didn't drive it much at all, and when I did, I didn't enjoy it.  I also didn't like the attention I received by driving it; it looked even more expensive than it was.  I could tell people were looking at me differently, as though I were extremely wealthy, and I HATED that. I can honestly say that the day I sold it was one of the happiest days of my life. If nothing else, at least owning/selling that car taught me that things really don't make you happy.

As for what I am going to do about my current vehicle situation, I'm really torn. I see we have a couple votes against the mini, and I really didn't like it that much anyway. I liked the volt, and I can get a used one with 25k miles for about 20 grand.  That's really more than I'd like to spend, though, now that I fully understand how money works (thanks MMM). I hadn't considered the camry; I'll have to look into it too - "hands down the best car I will ever own" is quite the endorsement from Bob.

However, The fact that I will be contracting the construction of 2 homes in the near future is kind of making me consider keeping the truck at least until that is done. I'm really not driving it much right now, anyway, and by using some hypermiling techniques, I've been averaging 22-26mpg with mixed driving. I know that's still not good, but it's much better than the 14 city/20 hwy rating.

[oldtoyota]

Just as an aside. The Audi would not turn my head and is not impressive to me at all.

It is cool you are done and can do what you want now! Congratulations!