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- My Apartment Gave Me Something That Money Can’t Buy - August 4, 2026
This week, we are doing a guest post with….the one, the only, “Godfather of the FI movement”…Jim. L. Collins! As you know, I’ve been obsessed with Jim’s blog and this whole notion of “F-U Money” ever since we first came across the concept of FI. So when The Godfather of FI himself reached out to us and ask us to guest post on his blog, of COURSE we had to do it.
So here it is…
Buy Your Freedom; Rent the Rest
What’s the most dangerous thing on the road?
A drag racer?
A hummvee?
An 18-wheel tractor-trailer?
Nope, nope and nope. The real answer?
A white van.
Let me explain…
And just because I absolutely love love LOVE this video he made, here it is again.
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Carrrrrrrgoooooo van – install a bed and just enough space to install a jug of water, a solar-powered battery, a kettle, and a thermos to cook with. And then visit all of BC, go north to the Yukon, and then if the Americans are crazy enough to let me across the border, travel across the US.
Oh yeah, this is the thing I wanna do with my FI. RE not so much. But see all of Canada, starting with BC, oh yeah.
… instead I gotta rent a car for only a week and then boogie back to work …
“if the Americans are crazy enough to let me across the border, travel across the US.”
Let’s hope Trump doesn’t win and decide to put up a Canadian wall along with the Mexican wall.
I wish more of Canada’s cities were larger and had a greater force of carshare programs!
Hopefully they will expand to more cities. Where do you live?
Victoria BC
*blushes* I did not know a white cargo van is your nemesis! So, my cargo van will be a brilliant neon yellow cargo van, and its nemesisness will be neutralized!
Yes, perfect plan!
“So, my cargo van will be a brilliant neon yellow cargo van”
Oh good. We can still be friends 😉 #whiteVansAreEvil
I really, really wish we could get rid of our car. It’s one of those things that you know is burning a hole in your pocket, but is so hard to live without. We are the ideal prospective user as well. We live in the middle of downtown Vancouver and both work within a 15 minute walk of home, and there are countless car shares surrounding our apartment and obviously ample public transit. By all intents and purposes we do not need a car, which currently is costing us around $6,000 a year including payments, insurance, gas, parking and depreciation.
I would be willing to try it out, sell our car and move to a car share program, but unfortunately I don’t think I will ever convince my wife. We also have a dog, and anybody who has a dog knows that they need driving around to various places. Dogs cannot go on public transit and most car share programs have strict limitations (most dogs wouldn’t be welcome). We do use the car every weekend to visit family, buy groceries, go to our favorite pet store, take our dog to the beach/forest etc. Yes living in the city is great, but so is leaving the city as and when you want without restriction.
The MAJOR drawback for me would be that we do vacation a lot using our vehicle. This year we drove around the Rocky Mountains for 8 days visiting Banff, Jasper and several other places. We also take several weekend trips to various places throughout BC, visiting family on Vancouver Island, as well as driving down to the US on occasion. You can’t do that in a car share (though you could rent a car) and it might become more expensive to rent/share than own at that stage. Baring in mind once the car is paid off (soon), our annual cost will drop to closer to $2,500-$3,000.
I haven’t done the math but I’m pretty sure we would be ahead by having no car until the point of which we owe nothing on it. At the point we own the car outright it might actually be better to own it.
Once the car is paid off though, you have that for many, many years. I do think there is value in buying a second hand vehicle and running it into the ground. Our car could last another 10 years no problem before we need another.
At the end of the day you have to analyse your situation. We could manage without the car but life would be far more complicated, especially since we have a dog. The convenience of hopping in your own car and going anywhere at any time is hard to give up. I personally despise the public transit here and avoid it at all costs, and so does my wife.
You have to ask yourself, would I rather retire earlier but have to travel on public transit my entire life, or spend that extra cash and live a more convenient, comfortable life? I think there is a middle ground in FI whereby you can aim for early retirement but still enjoy SOME of life’s luxuries. Some people eat out three times a week, some people like going to bars with friends every Friday, some people like going to every Canucks/Jays game. I think you have to give yourself some luxuries, but hold back on others. I guess the car is one of ours.
Well, life is all about trade-offs 🙂 Can’t have everything so you have to pick and choose. If the car makes your life easier because you have a dog, than maybe it makes sense for you.
The good news is that you do live in a city with convenient public transit, so if the car ever breaks down, you do have the option to switch to transit or car-share. And you can also use that occasionally to reduce the wear and tear on the car and gas costs.
I’ve never seen that movie before. When I saw the “parody” clip, I actually thought it was from the movie.
I don’t want to see the movie cos somehow I feel the real scene will be a letdown! =D
To Nicolas in Victoria BC.
There ARE 2 car-share programs here: Modo and ZipCar.
I have been using Zipcar for a while now and it is pretty great, they have a variety of cars from cargo van to VW Beetle.
You might have to take a bus to the pick-up location.
I have a folding bike so I bike – pop the fold-up bike in the trunk and off I go!
To Firecracker & Wanderer, thank you so much for this blog, my wife and I are just getting started on this path.
Cheers!
Do you agree that you should also rent living situations like homes too instead of buying them? I think so if you want to be location independent but real estate can be some of the most passive income you will find!
Our car recently broke down. I’m now more convinced on not buying another one. We don’t have a car share program here in St. Louis though. However, lyft and Uber every once in a while is not that expensive as well due to high supply of drivers. We recently walked around after our office visit and I really enjoyed it because I don’t think of a car that is parked that I need to go back to. We can just walk far and then uber to go home. We are expecting a baby as well and it seems that we can make it since I work from home and we don’t go out that often anyway. If needed, a rental car place is nearby. Being carless is liberating. Thanks for sharing this info even though it was a long time ago, it is sti very encouraging! Keep it up!
Your post still rings so true. We recently adopted the “rent the rest” mindset for our longer trips, and it’s been a game-changer for our travel peace of mind. For our last national park adventure, we used a service like autorentals to get a comfortable SUV for the week. Having a reliable, familiar-feeling vehicle waiting for us at the airport completely removed the usual pre-trip rental anxiety and let us just relax into the vacation from the moment we landed. Thanks for sharing a philosophy that keeps proving its value- it really does help buy your freedom.
I love your article!
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