EconoMe Conference

After a year of research and overthinking, I bought a 2023 Mazda CX-9 this week! But that's not even the most interesting part of the story...

Here's what I've been teaching our 13-year-old about how we think about money:

We don't buy new cars. Not because we can't afford them, but because it's way too much fun to let the first owner take the biggest depreciation hit. I bought a 2023 CX-9 with 40k miles for $29,000 out the door. New, it would have been $44,000. That's a 33% discount on a car that was leased and meticulously maintained. The first owner did me a favor.

We don't take loans on depreciating assets. The exception would be a 1-2% rate where we could park the rest in a high yield savings account and come out ahead. Even with near perfect credit, the best rate I could get right now is around 5.5-6%. We pay cash for cars.

We don't let life dictate our big purchases. My 2010 Mazda 3 with 120k miles still had life in it. But I knew eventually we'd need to replace it, so I decided to control the timing rather than wait for it to break down and scramble. I identified exactly what I wanted, figured out the price I was willing to pay, set up alerts, and then waited patiently for over a year. We did the same thing with our water heater and HVAC. Replace before it's urgent and you make a much better decision.

Our 13-year-old has heard me talk through every step of this process in real time. Which is why it was hilarious when I asked what he wants for his first car and he said... a Tesla. 👀

The deal we have with him is that we'll match whatever he saves. So if by some miracle he saves enough to buy a Tesla with our match, more power to him! He currently has $138.

But here's what I actually want him to understand: The reason I could drop $29,000 on a car this week is because I bought my first car at 17 for $7,000 and my last one at 31 for $6,000. The reason his dad can be gainfully unemployed right now and pursuing his dream of stand-up comedy is because of the intentional decisions we both made over many years.

I get why his starting line looks confusing when he's only ever seen our finish line. But I'm hopeful these conversations are planting seeds!

I think our case study workshop at The EconoMe Conference got such an overwhelmingly positive response because we’ve had years of monthly local case study meetups to help refine the process and template.

Here’s how it works: one brave soul (affectionately known as the “willing victim”) walks us through a presentation of their financials: income, spending, investments, and future plans. Then, the group chimes in with ideas, feedback, encouragement, and the occasional reality check.

Case studies are so important because they provide a foundation for us to learn from each other. While the presenter typically walks away with new perspectives and ideas, they are not the only one benefitting. I see the same people come back every month because we are all walking away with actionable tidbits and mindset shifts.

Our next free Cincinnati local case study meetup is Monday Sept 16th at 5:30pm at the Madeira library. Join the local Cincy Choose FI group (search on FB) to see all the dates for our monthly meetups. I’m currently scheduling them on demand… so if you want to present a case study, please DM me.

And special thanks to Jackie Cummings Koski () who ran the case study workshop at EconoMe and created a new badass template for us! The new template is even more comprehensive, flows really nicely, and the design/readability is *chef’s kiss*.