the painful money mistake that's keeping most people broke

If you don't want to be like everyone

else, then you have to avoid the number

one wealth killer that nobody talks

about. Take a look at this chart. It

shows how the average person spends

their money each month. And believe it

or not, one of these categories is

quietly killing your chances of building

wealth. So, let's uncover it together.

First up, housing. This is the biggest

slice of the pie. So, it's definitely

the wealth killer, right? Well, although

paying rent or a mortgage is expensive,

at least it provides you with a place to

live. Next,

taxes. Nobody likes these. Well, unless

your name happens to be Gary Stevenson,

but let's not get into that. Next,

utilities and household expenses.

They're not fun to pay, but you can

easily get them down by calling around

for the best deals. How about all of

these? There are so many of these little

expenses, but most of them are flexible.

So, that leaves us with one section

left. Can you guess what it is?

transportation, car payments, insurance,

fuel, repairs, parking, all for

something that goes down in value every

single day. The average new car costs

nearly $48,000.

It's not an investment. It's not

building your wealth. And in most cases,

it's just a financial black hole on

wheels. That's why out of all of these

expenses transportation specifically

your car, is the number one wealth

killer. And it's only getting worse.

There's been an absolute explosion in

the amount of money people owe on their

cars. It's honestly getting out of

control. Let me show you what I mean. In

2005, total auto loan debt was sitting

at $720 billion. 5 years later, it

reached $850 billion. Fast forward to

2020, it's rocketed all the way up to

1.38 trillion. And in 2025, we're sat at

an all-time high of $1.62 trillion. This

has led to more people than ever being

what I like to call car poor. This is

when you're making just enough to cover

your car payments, but not enough to

build wealth at the same time. It's like

you're trapped on a treadmill that never

slows down. But why get on this

treadmill in the first place? Well, more

people than ever care about their image,

and driving a nice car is one of the

quickest ways to impress other people.

The car industry spends billions of

dollars convincing you that a new car is

going to transform your image,

confidence, and maybe even your love

life. They don't show you sitting in a

traffic jam on a rainy Tuesday after

getting slapped with a $600 repair bill.

Clever marketing makes you feel like

success is finance, but really, it's a

lie you're being fed to keep you

trapped. Look at the Cyber Truck. That

wasn't sold on practicality or daily

use. It was sold on the image of power

and looking like you're straight out of

a sci-fi film. Social pressure fuels

this, too. Nobody claps when you drive

an old Honda that's paid off and running

smoothly. But if you roll up in a brand

new BMW on finance, people tend to give

you approval and assume you're doing

really well for yourself. I see so many

young lads these days trying to look

successful rather than actually trying

to be successful, especially in cultures

where car ownership gives you

credibility. This need to look rich is

what's causing this to happen. It makes

people stretch their money so thin that

the car actually ends up owning them.

This car poor trap gets even worse for

some people as they borrow more than the

car is actually worth. It sounds silly

and you might be thinking, why would

anyone do that? But it's actually very

common and it's called being in negative

equity or upside down on the loan. In Q4

of 2023, nearly one in four people were

in this exact position. So, this could

result in you owing $40,000 on a car

that's only worth $30,000.

This means you're $10,000 in negative

equity. I've actually had a lot of

people email me after reading my free

weekly newsletter saying it helped them

avoid traps like this and even make a

bit of extra money with some of the

strategies I share. It's something I

just do for fun and I really enjoy

reading the replies. So, if you want me

to send you those emails, too, I'll drop

a link in the description. Anyway, if

you want to avoid being car poor like

most people, then you need to understand

the true cost of that so-called

affordable car sitting in the showroom.

I feel like a lot of people don't

understand that the sticker price of a

car is far from the true cost of owning

that car. Let me explain. Take a look at

this Honda Civic. It's the most commonly

purchased car by people aged between 18

and 24 in America. And on the surface,

it looks like a sensible choice. The

sticker price is

$27,867,

which seems reasonable. However, let's

dig into the true cost to own this car

over 5 years. First up is depreciation.

And on this car, that's $10,999.

This cost starts the second you drive

your new car off the lot as it drops 10

to 15% in value before you even make it

home. Over 5 years, you'll lose nearly

$11,000 to depreciation alone. Think

about that. $11,000

just gone. All because time passed and

your car got older. It's like paying

$2,200

every year for the privilege of watching

your money evaporate. Next is insurance.

This is nearly $12,000 over 5 years, and

that's a conservative estimate. This

figure is based on a 40-year-old with a

perfect credit score and a clean record.

If you're a young guy, then this number

is actually much worse. You're probably

looking at double that. Sure, you can

get this down a bit by calling them

every single year, negotiating, and

never staying loyal to one company, but

it's still going to be a high cost. Even

if you do manage to get a bit of a

discount each year, then there's fuel.

$6,415

just to keep the thing moving. This is

actually getting so expensive. Now, for

financing, this is the cost of not

having cash up front. $4,719

over 5 years assumes you've got a decent

credit score and put down 10%. But if

your credit score is bad, then you could

be looking at 15 to 20% interest rates

instead of the 6 to 6 1/2% I'm showing

here. That's why I always drill home the

importance of building up a good credit

score by having a credit card and

putting small monthly expenses on it

that you pay back in full at the end of

each month. This means you avoid paying

any interest and prove that you're a

responsible borrower. Next up is

maintenance. $3,224

[Music]

over 5 years for oil changes, brake

pads, tires, the list goes on. However,

you can do this a lot cheaper if you

learn a little bit about cars. I used to

race in car championships, so I know the

ins and outs of how to fix stuff on my

car. This has saved me thousands over

the years. I mean, if you learn to

change your own oil, you'll save $30 to

$50 every single time. And if you buy a

basic OBD scanner for 20 to 30 bucks,

you can diagnose most problems yourself

instead of paying the garage $100 just

for them to plug it in and tell you

what's wrong. Then taxes and fees. This

is just the government's cut. Road tax,

registration, and inspection fees will

come to around $2,800 over 5 years.

Finally, we've got repairs. We'll budget

$1,790

for this over 5 years. These surprise

expenses are killers if you're not

prepared for them. Even reliable

vehicles like the Honda Civic will

eventually need repairs beyond normal

maintenance. This is exactly why you

need an emergency fund of 3 to 5 months

of your living expenses. Without it, a

single major repair can derail your

entire financial plan. With cars, it's

not a matter of if something will break,

it's when. So, let's add all this up.

Drum roll, please. Your affordable

$27,867

Honda Civic actually costs you $46,821

over 5 years. But it gets even worse

than this, as this doesn't even consider

opportunity cost.

This is where it gets really painful.

Let's look at a 5-year comparison

between someone that chooses the car and

someone that chooses to invest. If you

decide to choose the new Honda Civic in

our example, then after 5 years, you'll

only be left with $19,295.

This is, of course, after reselling the

car at its current market value. That's

assuming it's been wellmaintained with

minimal damage. That's a loss of over

$27,000 in net worth. No wonder it's

such a wealth killer. However, if you

choose to take that same $780 monthly

payment and stick it into an S&P 500

index fund based on the historical

average return of around 10% per year,

after 5 years, you'd have approximately

$60,16.

Of course, past results can't guarantee

future returns. However, if it followed

the same historical pattern, then that

would be a gain of over $13,000 in net

worth. That's a price difference of

$40,721.

That means by choosing a car over

investing, you could be giving up

$40,000 of wealth. Most people repeat

this cycle every few years for their

entire working lives. This is just one

example of putting your money to work.

You could choose to invest in starting a

side hustle, buying a rental property,

or even launching your own full-blown

business. The key is getting your money

working for you instead of against you.

That's not even mentioning individual

stocks and crypto. Although they are

riskier investments, but to put it into

perspective, if you'd invested that same

$46,821

in Microsoft stock 5 years ago instead

of the Honda Civic, you'd have seen a

$224%

total return, turning your money into

over $150,000

today. Think about that for a second.

The same money that bought you a

depreciating car could have bought you a

small fortune in one of the world's most

successful companies. The point isn't

that you should never own a car. It's

that every financial decision has an

opportunity cost. Every dollar tied up

in something that loses value is a

dollar that's not compounding in your

favor. You might be thinking, if this is

true, then why aren't more people

investing? And to be honest, I think

it's because they don't understand how

to actually do it. Back in my day, it

used to be very difficult as you had to

phone up a stock broker. However, now

you can use platforms like trading two

and two right from your phone. You can

set up an account, deposit some money,

and then search for SNP

500 if you want to keep it simple and

away you go. As I was planning on

talking about Trading 212 anyway, I

reached out to see if they'd be

interested in sponsoring this portion of

the video. They agreed and are also

offering a free fractional share worth

up to £100 to anyone using the code

Tilbury

in the promo code section of the app.

Now look, I get it. In many places, not

having a car means losing opportunities.

A study by Capital One actually found

that 67% of people said owning a car

opened up income opportunities they

wouldn't have had without a car. So that

shows that sometimes there is a clear

opportunity cost of not having a car. So

I'm not against getting one, but if

you're smart about it, you can still

free up hundreds per month to invest. So

if you want to buy a car and invest,

then here are the three steps I'd

recommend following. Step one, buy in

the sweet spot. This is when you buy a

car that's 3 to four years old with 30

to 40,000 miles on the clock. This is

great because you dodge the brutal

firstear depreciation hit, but still get

modern safety features, reliability, and

often remaining warranty coverage. A car

that costs $35,000 new might be $24,000

at this age. So that's $11,000 in

instant savings you can invest instead.

Step two,

follow the 15% rule. Your total

transport costs, including monthly

payments, insurance, fuel, and repairs,

should never exceed 15% of your monthly

income. If you earn $3,000 per month,

that's a maximum of $450 for all car

expenses. Push past this and you're

getting dangerously close to becoming

car poor. Step three, keep it for more

than 10 years. This is where you

actually build wealth. Most people trade

in their cars every three to five years,

which is financial madness. Instead, buy

once and maintain it like your financial

future depends on it, because it does.

If following these steps saves you $300

per month compared to buying new, that's

$3,600

every year. Invested at 10% annual

returns, that becomes more than $118,000

over 15 years. That could be the down

payment on a house. all funded by making

smarter car choices. If you want me to

walk you through how to set up an

investment account step by step, then

I'm going to leave that video right up

there. But don't click on it just yet.

Make sure to subscribe if you want to

grow your wealth. Okay, I'll see you

over