Car ownership

“Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror.”― Colin Powell

Car ownership is the second common mistake people make during their early working career ! Owning a new car in Malaysia is a wasteful obsession every Malaysian has!

Owning a New Car in Malaysia is a Mistake

It is crazy to own a new car in Malaysia and almost insane to do so if you are a Singaporean.

During our early working career, most Asians have two things in mind to buy- a car and a house .Both are a lousy investment and slow you down in achieving your financial independence!

I owned an old Proton Iswara back in 2001 during my internship ( housemanship) .Car ownership is an necessity for us as a practicing doctor because we need to go back to the hospital during wee hours attending to emergencies.

I always wanted to get a motorcycle instead for commuting to save money but was turned down by my mother. The painful experience of my mum losing her husband in a road traffic accident ( motorcycle vs lorry) reminded her that her son must use a car.

Malaysian government imposes very high excise duty for cars either imported or locally assembled. It is shocking to know Malaysians pay over RM10 billion in car taxes every year.

The problem of working as a doctor is people always think car is a status symbol, therefore doctors must own a luxury car to be successful.

I was harassed almost every year by my family to change my car and finally decided to change to a brand new Proton Persona back in 2008. I remembered that car dented a big hole in my pocket of a sum of MYR40K.

Never Own a Depreciating Asset with Loan

Never own a depreciating asset by getting a loan, that is the first lesson you learn in investing. I have no choice but took up a 50% loan because of my pathetic pay. My extra cash was kept for my property purchase instead.

After starting as a private practice physician, owning a good car is a must for us to be called successful. I ignored that for a long time.

For me, driving my Proton Persona was good enough. However, it started to give me problems and was sold finally at MYR13k in 2015. I bought a second-hand Honda City from my sister at MYR15K after that.

I save more money from 2012-2018 and bought extra three properties during this period- a luxury condominium , a landed semi d house, and an Auckland apartment.

Ride a motorcycle or bicycle if you can

I don’t go to the extreme of riding a bike or motorcycle to my workplace. I really wish I could do so. Road traffic in Malaysia is horrible and dangerous. My patients were teasing me back in 2018. I was driving an old Honda City and they thought I might need help.

My mum was asking me whether I was making enough money to practice medicine.

I finally gave up and bought a second-hand Mercedes with cash. Not because I wanted to show off but rather get a peaceful day not being harassed by my mum and patients again.

Saving you extra bucks and if possible, try not to own a car during early stage of your career. You can use public transport to go to work and save all the money and be on the highway to your financial independence.

If you are an American, Mr MM has a nice picture showing what car you should be buying. But only remember one rule, buy your depreciating asset ONLY with cash!