I did it. I bought the dream car.
Custom ordered, shipped from England, spotless when it arrived. It was a Land Rover Defender, and I was proud. It felt like the kind of car that said, I’ve made it.
Growing up, both of my parents were doctors. They worked incredibly hard and gave me the best of everything, from great schools to amazing trips to every opportunity to succeed. I’ll always be grateful for that. But somewhere along the way, I formed a pretty unhealthy relationship with money. I started to believe that success meant living a certain lifestyle, and that peace came from having nice things.
When I began making my own money, I kept chasing that same feeling. My Camaro turned into an Audi, then the Audi into a Land Rover Defender. Each time, I told myself this was the one that would finally make me feel accomplished. I put my identity in the car I drove.
Then one day, sitting in a Chick-fil-A drive-thru, the guy taking my order said, “Nice car! Is it the V8 version?”
I hesitantly smiled and said, “No, it’s the one below that.”
He nodded dismissively, took my order, and that was it.
At that point, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was chasing validation through things that would never deliver peace. The truth was, I wasn’t driving toward fulfillment. I was spinning my wheels. My social media feed, the car shows, the constant comparing, all of it fed into an image that wasn’t really me.
So I sold it. We bought Toyotas, paid in cash, and I can’t tell you how freeing it felt. These days, I still love cars, but they don’t define me anymore. I joke that I’m a recovering car guy. Because what I was really looking for all along wasn’t horsepower or prestige. It was contentment. And I finally found it, not in a car, but in finding my identity in something far bigger than material things.
As Morgan Housel puts it "The best measure of wealth is what you have minus what you want-- and by this measure some billionaires are broke."
If you’re ready to take a step toward finding your "Defender" in your life and discovering that sense of sufficiency in your own finances, our team at Humble Wealth would love to help you get there. Book a quick intake call with our team today!