Does Frugal Living Allow for Sports Cars?

Does frugal living allow for sports cars? Sounds like a crazy question when taken out of context. When you wrap your mind around everything that frugal living means and is defined as. I consider myself part of Frugal Living movement and yes, I do own a sports car.

I seem to evoke some negative feelings from some in the frugal living and financial independence world when I mention this little fact about myself. Who wrote the Frugal Living rules? I guess I really don’t care too much for that answer. Since my freakish ways make me tend to challenge rules anyway. I challenge the definition of traditional retirement so why not put myself out there with frugal living’s definition too.

I am not writing this post in defense of frugal living sports car ownership as much as I like to present another way to look at things. You see, rigid and strict rules don’t work for everyone in the world of financial independence through frugality. You have to agree that there is no ONE WAY to get and stay there. Life is short. We all have different frugality thresholds before the deprivation pain starts up. We all have different financial means to work with.

Does frugal living allow for sports cars? There’s that thing about lavishness and extravagance

Frugal Living means avoiding lavishness and extravagance

does frugal living allow for sports carsAside from the cost of things the Frugal Living Rule that gets thrown around is Frugal Living means avoiding lavishness and extravagance, being all fancy instead of simple but who gets to gauge what that is. It seems to be a personal value system that decides what is lavish or extravagant.

My sports car is a 1999 Hard Top (FRC) Corvette I bought in 2009 for $15,000 just before I retired early for the first time. It is part of my early retirement automotive hobby and it is also super economical getting over 30 mpg highway at 75 mph all day long. More importantly it is part of what I retired to.

I don’t see it as lavish or extravagant unless of course it’s parked next to a minivan (I kid). Yet most people spent more to buy their minivan.

does frugal living allow for sports cars- this is too far

It is nowhere as wasteful as owning a lavish and overly extravagant Ferrari for crying out loud. Oops, I applied my personal value system to that comment. Just the same judgment that I and many who believe they are part of the frugal living movement would for European vacations, any kind of boat, RV, etc.

Who Defines What is Wasteful?

You can probably see where I am going with this. That is a problem with any movement or lifestyle, people want defined boundaries of who is in and who is out to feel like they are part of something special. Where everyone else on the outside is wasteful and stupid if not just financially misguided. Boundaries that are set by them and their closest like-minded which leads to clusters of people claiming they are the true representation of frugal living or whatever movement they care to be associated with.

Frugal Living – Live well below your means, be a super saver, become financially independent.

I believe there are as many unique flavors of frugal living as there are reasons that motivate people to enter into it. For myself and many others that reason is all about financial independence and yes, early retirement. It absolutely takes living well below your means, saving a high percentage of your income, and becoming and staying debt free.

There is a lot of wiggle room there too because some can handle extreme frugality where others set the bar far less than extreme. It’s all about creating our sustainable long-term lifestyle to reach and stay in the winner’s circle with the financially independent rat-race escapees.

There is no Frugal Movement Referee Calling Fouls

Once you get there and can afford to fund your hobbies or other high-happy-value things of importance in your life, who is to say you are outside of the frugal living movement guidelines. Obviously someone who’s targeted a happy frugal living lifestyle that requires it to be very low dollar may not consider a sports car or worldwide travels. While others may have the funds and the desire to include them.

I suppose that is the crux of what I am writing about. People are all different, different lifetime incomes, savings rate, lifestyle desires, etc. so let’s cut folks some slack. If not, where does it end? Does it come to saying everyone who lives in expensive cities can’t be part of the frugal living movement? They may be more frugal than most people just so they can stay where they want to live.

Part of this life of ours is creating a lifestyle that we can be content living, not wanting and desiring things. I have friends who have bought the new C7 Corvette Stingray and they are awesome cars. Even though I could afford to buy one without debt, I choose to stay with my 1999. I am perfectly content with it and it fits within my frugal living. The same way I choose to stay with my flip-phone and $100 a year pay as you go plan instead of going with a smart phone.

Closing Thoughts

It is always a good recommendation to cut back on automobile costs whether it’s having fewer cars to care and pay for or picking a utilitarian everyday reliable vehicle. If you aren’t into cars then that will be accepted but to a car freak like me I need my retirement toys and hobbies. At least until I am too old to do my maintenance or costly repairs begin to occur. Even though I love my automotive related hobbies I still have to set financial limits. I live off of my portfolio so I have a budget to consider.

What do you think, does frugal living allow for sports cars?

9 thoughts on “Does Frugal Living Allow for Sports Cars?

  1. If you can afford it, why not? Dave Ramsey owns jet skis and lots of toys, all paid for in cash.

    We own a Jeep Wrangler and Audi Q5, all paid for in cash!

    1. Hey Steve, thanks for the comment. That is my point. Once you get to FI and can fit something fun into your budget it should be part of the rewards of frugal living.
      Tommy

  2. “Where everyone else on the outside is wasteful and stupid if not just financially misguided.” Well said! I hear about people at Mr. Money Mustache events trying to outfrugal each other, and I shake my head.

    It comes down to value. You value that 1999 Vette and your funky yellow truck. I value my 2000 Miata. They mean a lot to us. I’d be sad with my car, and I get the impression you’d be sad without those cars. Value!

    1. Thanks for the comment Ron. I experienced sadness when the frame cracked on my long-driven funky little truck. I tried to find a replacement for it but nothing I found or drove could replace it. That’s a big reason why I started looking for a donor truck which took me many months and I resurrected it. I have also seen the “out frugal” mindset. I suppose the competition helps people. You said it, it’s about “value” and sometimes that isn’t measured monetarily.
      Tommy

  3. First of all I wanted to congratulate you for this beautiful article, extremely relevant content and great value, thank you very much for sharing with us Very good article and easy to read, congratulations for the post, and for the beautiful work that has been developing. Hugs.

  4. Indeed, people have different values in life, different lifetime incomes, savings rate, lifestyle and desires. As long as you can afford having one, why not? Owning a sports car is like a satisfaction for others but when you’re living in a “frugal life” you don’t need to own one. Great idea you got here, Tommy “the hulk”.

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