In an effort to build my asset base, I am always on the lookout for finding good safe investments as well as finding ways to reduce or maintain my expenses to a reasonable level. After all, the old saying should be, a penny saved is 1.3 pennies earned…..after taxes. I drive a 10 year old car for my daily commute because it runs fine and it would cost a lot more to replace than I care to sink into a depreciating asset. Now, I’m no miser and I enjoy nice European vacations and the finer home amenities like my wall-mounted plasma TV but I just can’t see driving a frivolous car. Anyway, I was talking with my friend, Carlos, who runs the car-wash operation that comes to my company twice a week. We had an interesting conversation. Carlos, is a hard-working guy and while he has a crew of 3, he works harder than any of them scrubbing, waxing, claying, and drying his customers cars. Today, he showed me his brand new BMW 325 with all the bells-and-whistles. I mean this thing was loaded. His lease is “only $800 a month”. So, I told Carlos how impressive it was and that it must be useful for impressing the ladies. No, he said, his lady doesn’t care. He bought it because he was already leasing two other vehicles for a total of $1100 a month and he had to trade one in to change (I didn’t fully understand either). I went on to tell him I was looking to “retire” from the corporate world in a year or two and that I needed $2 million in liquid assets to feel safe doing that. I explained that I would probably be driving my old car for a few more years until it gives up so that I can get to that point. After a few more chatty words, I left Carlos and headed for my building. I could see he was thinking about how he could get to $2 million too. I wonder if he is thinking about his car in different terms.