My Personal Finance Story- Buying a Dream Car!!!!

I am Ken by name and I have loved cars since my childhood days, even though toys cars then were not cheap, I improvised by making cars from every carton I could lay my hands on. I know quite a number of us will remember the sugar cartoon and soft drinks cover (counter’s) cars. Back to my storyline, my Dad drove a beetle car, which was a great car back in the days. I loved the car; I remember washing it always not because I loved to but because I wanted to play with the car.

I could go on and on as I had a great child hood. My dad and I quarreled a lot over his car; I know I am not alone in this also. So I made a resolution to buy my first car while in the university.  and because of this I saved, and spent my savings as it was not enough to buy a wiper talk less of a car, thinking through now, I realized one major error was to save the money in my box and not the bank, so it was easy to take and spend with the hope of returning it which never happened. I gave up the idea of a car purchase in my year three at the university believing that I did not earn enough so I cannot save.  This is another pit fall, no matter how much you earn you should save something. 

Then I reached a resolution, deciding to buy the car during my service year.  You know what NYSC did to me; I was posted to a far village in Anambra State. And that was when I had my first bank account opened and then real savings started for the car, it was exciting as I did not touch my salary, I studied engineering back in school so I did lessons and extra morals on science related subjects, I also taught in other private schools in the area so I could get more funds, which I did and two months to the end of the service year I bought my first car, a Volkswagen Golf. I became a mechanic immediately, another lesson learnt; do not buy a second hand car without the help of a trusted mechanic! I soon discovered I had been sold a car with many issues. Soon services year ended and I had to travel back to Lagos. I spent two days on the road no thanks to my jalopy. I had to sell it at a ridiculous price which was so painful. I started work and I resumed savings again. I worked as a sales representative which gave me a truck to drive thus, saving me the pressure to buy a car. Having learnt my lessons from my previous experiences with buying a car, today, I drive a Camry and I am saving towards buying a Venza.

I am Ken and this is my personal finance story.

  Quick pointers from Ken’s story:

-          Savings is key as he never took loan to buy a car.

-          To get the best deals when it comes to buying items, consultation is important.

-          I love Kens’ Resolution in buying a car, it drove his saving culture.

-          Never save money where you can easily access it.

Thanks Ken for sharing your story with us, you can also share yours our email is babat09@gmail.com. follow us on twitter @pistis03.