Cars. In the words of a family member: “The automobile keeps the average man down.” I believe it. Saw many a car payment help a family get to bankruptcy court.

So why the pic of the old Saab. I’ll get to that in one moment. First new car talk:

               I bought one new car and figured out it cost me $0.45 per mile. Here’s how I calculate that: I owned it 4 years (sold it to buy a minivan). Paid $28,000. Sold for $13,500 plus received pro-rated extended warranty refund of $1300. But for a while I spent $$$ each month on a car payment. Figure $200 on average went to car payment interest for 3 years for a total of $7200 in interest. 28,000-13,500+1300= 13,200 + 7200=$20,400. Owned for 4 years (48 months). 20,400 divided by 48 mo= $425.00 per month.

               I drove the car 45,000 miles. So it cost me $0.45 per mile just to own. Excludes gas, insurance and tags.

               Now for the Saab. It’s a 1989. I had an odyssey looking for a car. I tried leasing but the $300 per month lease either really costs $500/mo when you factor in the down payment or the salesman would upsell me to a more expensive car. Used car prices are ridiculous. Finally, I found the Saab, this is my 3^rd Saab 900. $500. That’s right. So it basically pays for itself in one or two months use. As long as it meets my $1500 per year in maintenance, I’m copacetic.  Two weeks after buying it I replaced the radiator.

               So why a cheap car: 1) can’t lose that much. Cars are utilities not assets. I might even go so far as to say they are liabilities; 2) I have a classic car addiction. Presently I’m feeding that addiction with the restoration of an Austin-Healey 3000. 3) I only drive about 7000-8000 miles per year on my regular car and this $500 beater (the picture is not showing it’s rougher side. The car is a a 20/20: looks decent 20’ away or going 20mph) serves 95% of my need. It gets me from point A to point B and back to A. Really, do I need a Mercedes S-Class to do that?

               Now I don’t go pulling up at the front door of the country club in this baby, at least not until it gets some body work touched up.

               Thanks for reading the Ramblings of the Triad Lawyer

The official site for certification of your “world famous” product or service.

Official documentation coming soon.

Drove the MGB for its last official day as my only daily driver. Driven top down to work on 16th for my new personal cold weather record: 25 degrees. On ride home it sleeted/cold rain briefly on me. Sleet stings. Car is complete now thanks to some good friends. Sadly now my 1962 MGB will be for sale.

My new daily driver became a 1989 Saab 900 SPG. I love those cars. Yes it’s old, but I’ll be doggone if I’m going to buy a brand new car with all the proprietary parts the manufacturer puts on them.

Wife says I should use this more when collecting late invoices and dealing with insurance adjusters.

Note the double pen action in pocket. I’m ready.

Think about this: How many businesses on the Earth have survived 89 years? 

Fact: Most don’t survive the first year.

Those that do, rarely make it past 20 years.

And Snappy’s is on its 4th owner, Charles Dowell.

Founded in 1923 in Mount Airy, NC.

Pictured above: The “World Famous” Pork Chop Sandwich with all the fixings.

Have a good day,

Kirk Sanders

Thoughts from my travels from NC to Upstate NY and back.

Technically, one hoards to accummulate rations for future need. However, hoarding has become synonymous of recent with excessive gathering of items or animals. See reality shows on animal hoarding for an example.

So as my family drove up rural country roads, especially in a particularly impoverished part of Pennsylvania, it was amazing to see hovels with vast quantities of items like riding lawnmowers surrounding the house. It made me wonder this: do the poor folks gather junk in an effort to compensate for not having monetary wealth?

Kirk Sanders

Went to a bank work out session (not for me). Moral of the story: Always think long and hard before you sign a personal guaranty. Deals always look so rosy when you first start the deal. Think about whether you can withstand the business imploding and your left standing with payments on the loan.

The problem is most businesses / people have to much debt that sucks the life out of the cash flow. Also, a lot of people keep rolling their debt over and refinancing instead of working to pay it down. Nail down a fixed amortization loan.

The man/woman with a debt free business can take home a lot more cash without having to kill it to make a lot of revenue.

My favorite is a guy I know who started out pressure washing as soon as he got out of school. No business debt. Boy, I wish I had his networth. He kept branching out into other service and manufacturing ventures. 

Just my two cents worth.

Decided I had enough time cooped up in an MGB with the top up. So I went topless this morning and drove to work. It’s been down all day. I wasn’t bad, only my ears were cool on the ride to work. 

But I got some serious looks. And I don’t think it was because I lack a grill, have overspray on my radiator, and have no bumpers. I overheard a couple folks comment “look at that nut”. Yes we can hear everything without a top and rolled up windows.

Too many people buy convertibles for the idea. I know some folks who hardly ever ride with the top down. That goes for a lot of things, though. I know a lot of people who buy huge homes and don’t need 1/3 of the space, then have to live with bigger mortgage payments, utilities, etc. Some buy cars that have 450 horsepower and go 0 to 60 in 4 seconds, but they never race the car or drive it like a dervish on a race track.

Then there’s people like me who drive a 49 year old car with top down with temperatures in the 30’s, I guess some might lump me in the same group. Oh well.

Now I’ve got to ride home with top down in running shorts.

Ciao,

Kirk