Goodbye friend

One last picture of the Miata before it was sold. 12/3/07

When I was in college, I always admired a dark green Mazda Miata that one of my professors drove. I had in mind that some day I would own a car like that. Nearly three years ago, I bought one and when I had the chance to drive it around, it was always a joy.

Just last month I was driving it with the top down on a particularly warm day. "Jumper" was on the radio and I was singing it as loud as I could while cruising Suscan Rd. on my way back home. I had one of those rare moments of pure joy that you wish you could re-create at will. If you asked me then if I thought I would be selling the Miata barely a month later, I probably wouldn't have believed you.

But, in my reading of Robert Kiyosaki's books, I have been learning a lot about financial strategies that help build wealth long-term and I realized that I needed to make a few changes. You can read about some of the changes I have made in previous posts. In essence, I have re-structured my monthly budget by cutting out unnecessary expenses (needless financial liabilities) and I'm in the process of re-investing my monthly savings (currently up to $1,070 / month) in real-estate with a positive financial return.

So I sold the Miata. I had paid cash for it and didn't owe anything on it. Now I'm saving money every month that I would have spent on insurance and upkeep. I'm going to use the money I made on its sale as a down-payment on a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom home in Luzerne County.

My family loved that car so I assured them that I would buy another one someday when finances allowed. Daniel in particular was a big fan of the Miata, so I let him ride in it one last time as we delivered it to Endicott, NY where its new owner lives. He fell asleep during the drive, but it was still fun.

Daniel sleeping just before we arrived in Endicott.

I searched through my archives and found this post from when I first bought the car. http://www.pastor.us/2005/02/name-that-miata.html.

Goodbye friend.