Today I purposely drove further than normal to get groceries. Then I took the really long route home.
I can't get over this car: it's nuts. It's so beautiful to look at from the exterior, but when you climb into it and drive it...well, it's the nicest car I've ever owned and it's a pleasure to drive and at the mall I parked far away from everyone else so no one would ding it, and when I came out, laden down with groceries, I didn't see it immediately and was sure it had been stolen.
But then, as I was driving the long way home, I really found myself paying attention to the cars on the road. And I passed several replicas of my car. They were driven mostly by middle aged looking women that weren't seemingly stricken by glee and exuberance like what I am.
I actually had to pop into my condo for something and, walking down the sidewalk to my place I passed two or three Porsches and even more BMWs. This was in a one block stroll.
What I took away from my little jaunts around my neighbourhood today was that the car that I just bought, which is the shiniest and prettiest thing ever, is really just par for the course. It's the standard issue car for the middle class. And likely they bought it brand new off the lot, something that I am incapable of doing because of the very structure of my DNA.
It goes back to what Michael said when I bought my condo. About how much things have changed, economically, in one or two generations. My first condo had laminate flooring and granite counter tops. This is the status quo now. Michael ruminated that after his parents bought their first house they didn't have any money to put furniture in it.
So it seems now that the car that I am feeling somewhat guilty for buying is just a standard issue car. It's weird. It's like an article I read on Attiwapiskat a some months ago, where that community was said to be totally beleaguered and without adequate heat or running water in some cases, and yet I noticed there was a flat screen television in the background of one of the afflicted.
Our standard of living has changed so much in my lifetime. What people consider "doing without" is laughable.
I'm glad I'm worried sick about my recent purchase. I'm glad I think it's extravagant because it is. At the end of last year Canadians' debt to income ratio was over 150%. Economists have been warning people to reign in their unseemly spending habits (all while keeping lending rates low to encourage more borrowing, naturally). But we don't reign it in. We finance everything. We tap into the perceived equity of homes. We seemingly have no concept of self-restraint when it comes to spending.
I'll admit that I did finance the full value of my car yesterday. That's because I wanted to drive it off the lot that day. I confirmed with the loan officer there that I would be able to pay the loan off in full the following week with no penalty and he said I could.
This whole process has been quite eye-opening for me. Some of the cars on the lot where I bought mine retailed at over $50,000. For a car. That will depreciate by 10% the minute you drive it off the lot. And then to think that I had scored some sweet deal on some penultimate car only to see that I've upgraded to what the Joneses would consider "the norm" (not that I care about the Joneses).
Insert hilarious Steve Martin financial advice video here.
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