What do You Love?
Monday, June 14th, 2010I have an aunt that made the decision to be a minister at the ripe old age of 4; she is now is a retired minister with many happy years of service. She is a proponent of finding out what you love and then figure out how to do that and get paid for it. I couldn’t agree more!
Three years ago a good friend of mine was trying to decide what to do with her life. Once she got this same information from another friend, she went on an exploratory journey and discovered what she loved and is months away of earning her degree in that field. She is also doing some freelance work and an internship and she eats, lives and breathes the very thing she loves and it’s a beautiful thing.
One of my best friends has a 3 year old son that is the same way about cars, trucks and literally anything that moves through the air, seas or over land. I have never seen anything like it as he calls out the make, model and name of every car and truck that drives by. He watches CD’s that show how to put a big rig together and how they make airplanes and such; he eats it up and never tires of cars. I think we all know what he loves and while no one would say that he is “called” into transportation, we are all waiting to see what he ends up doing. Whatever it is, I hope he loves it as much as he does those cars!
Buying a Car
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010Buying a new car has become a symbol of wealth and prosperity. It raises your self-esteem and makes you feel good. Your friends are sure to comment and are envious of your new ride. But the truth is that buying a brand new car is a terrible thing to do.
As soon as you drive that car out of the car lot, that new car is going to plummet in value. Before you know it you will owe more on the car than the vehicle is actually worth. Then you will most likely have to sell the car and by a cheaper, used car, which is what you should have done in the first place.
The thing that I would say is worse than buying a new car is leasing a car. This is probably the absolute worst way to finance a vehicle. When you lease a car you are pretty much renting it. So after all the money you spent renting it, if you want to buy the car you have to pay for all of it to. The best thing to do is just buy a used car with some age on it.
Producing New Cars
Saturday, March 13th, 2010Have you ever noticed that the big car companies release a new car every year, but, in fact, it is not a new car at all. They just use pretty much the same design that they always use. They might make some slight changes here and there but it is nothing that big. They even call it the same name. It will be called a 2009 Taurus, for example. I for one am not impressed with this total lack of real innovation.
Of course, eventually, the car companies will have to make serious changes to the designs of their cars. This usually happens when the number of sales from previous years has greatly dropped. They have to make a new look and design in order for the car to seem new and fresh. They do this in the hopes that people will continue to buy the new product.
In my opinion, you should never buy a brand new car any way. Cars drop in value like a rock. Within four years, a brand new car will be worth 60% of what it was purchased for. So it is a bad idea to buy a brand new car anyway. It is a better idea to just buy a used car with some years and miles on it. It may not feel as fresh but depending on the car, you might be driving close to the same thing as the brand new car on the lot.
The New Chevy Malibu
Friday, October 2nd, 2009I recently took a 1500 mile trip and decided to rent a car so I wouldn’t put additional miles on my truck. The car I ended up with was a new Chevrolet Malibu that has about 25,000 miles on it. I wasn’t sure whether I would like this car or not since I have driven Fords for the last 20 years. What I discovered is this car is a clear winner and if these are the kind of cars that the new General Motors Corporation is dedicated to making, they just might be on the right track!
Once I found out how to adjust the lumbar setting in the driver’s seat, the trip became a very enjoyable one. The Malibu handled very well in heavy traffic as well as in the open road. The only thing I found irritating was the steering wheel tilt. There wasn’t enough room and movement to make it easy to get in and out of the car; though I have to say I am kind of weird because I sit almost straight up in the seat due to an uncooperative back. However, other than this one small issue, I had a very enjoyable trip and will consider purchasing the Malibu on my next car purchase. BTW, what would have cost me an easy $300 plus in gas in my truck cost less than $150.00, which was a great surprise as well!