Personally, I would say the two things that have most allowed me to build a high net worth portfolio of real estate is avoiding student loans & then making super economical car choices. I drove a beater hand me down for a couple of years in high school & then was gifted a truck that was purchased cheaply with bare bones options. After I drove 120,000 miles on that mostly while hyper-miling to college a couple hours away & back while building my portfolio of house hacks & later rentals. That truck also ran a very successful lawn service for me & helped with construction products. After college a few years later I bought a Ford Focus for under blue book from a friend facing a second car repossession & potential bankruptcy. I was unable to manually get the title released & unlock his nearly $5k in equity while getting a car that’s very easy to park & gets excellent mileage. I would say with liability only insurance, gas & no car loans thus no interest I’ve spent no more than $2,500 per year driving around car necessary DFW mostly on gas although the repairs have been heavy this last year or so but nothing compared to a an average or even low payments. I buy wipers & spark plugs & brakes online & any other part I can & use local mechanics who work from their homes or an occasional shop for oil change, etc. You can cut car costs significantly have pretty reliable transportation & get around while building wealth.
One final thing I’m starting to embrace more is buying a car from an insurance auction & having a mechanic friend repair the car decently so you own low mileage with no car payment or the best of both worlds. We are doing this for my new wife when we return to Texas!
