henrypaget.com

I learned how to drive back in 2016.

My grandma sadly passed away in 2012. God bless her, but I got her car when she passed away.

It was a red Fiat Panda, and I loved it.

It wasn’t swanky or fancy, but I liked it because it felt like I was driving a small 4×4. It was Front Wheel Drive, but the car’s shape made it feel like something worthy of off-roading. The picture at the beginning of this post is the same model Fiat Panda I had.

Anyway, I remember the day I passed my driving test, I drove to McDonald’s and overtook one of my friends on a 30mph road. He had a much better car than I did, and that just made it funnier when I overtook him.

I drove to college, and when I went outside to play football (soccer for you Americans) with some of my college friends, I’ll never forget what I saw on my car.

There was a ring doughnut placed through my car’s aerial on my roof.

I was a bit annoyed, but it was funny at the same time. 

I mean, when have you gone to your car and seen a doughnut placed around your car’s aerial?

Anyway, I’m digressing. The point I want to make is that leasing your car is a waste of money.

Buy a red Fiat Panda if you have to, but don’t lease/ rent your car

I drove my Fiat Panda from 2016 to 2023. It put in a good shift, and I would’ve kept it if it didn’t sound like it was about to take off like an aeroplane when I was driving on the Motorways.

Honestly, the panda making these weird aeroplane sounds was slightly scary but also funny.

But the panda for those 7 years barely cost me a dime. 

And I managed to save a good chunk of money for my house deposit (the one I’m living in now) during this time.

If I leased/ rented a fancy car during those 7 years, I’d probably still be living with my parents (not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just think it’s good to get on the housing ladder as soon as you can, especially in the United Kingdom, where I’m from).

All cars do the same thing, no matter if you have a Nissan Cube or a Bugatti Veyron

If you’re thinking about forking out money to lease a car, don’t do it.

What I recommend instead is setting up a safety fund in case you need to fork out money in an emergency, like when your ceiling falls down (like mine just did).

Put money toward your house/house deposit, because it won’t depreciate as a car does.

For example, after a car leaves the showroom, it loses around 15% of its value.

After year one, it can lose up to 30% of its value.

And after 3 years, it can lose up to 60%.

Compare this to buying a house: your house price generally rises with inflation, so you essentially lose 0% of the money you put into it, and you might even gain some if you improve it.

This might seem controversial, but I invest in the stock market through the Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity Fund. This means some of my money is invested in the top 8860 companies worldwide.

And as it stands, I’m gaining over 10% in interest every year.

I only recommend investing in index funds (the fund I invest in is made up of index funds) when you’ve paid off a good chunk of your mortgage and have a safety fund. In the meantime, if you need a car, buy one that is good value for money.

Why index funds have generally been a good investment

When you put money into index funds like the S&P 500, your money usually goes up in the long term because, as a whole, the economy normally grows. By putting your money into the top 500 American companies, it’s diversified, so you don’t put your eggs in one basket like you would if you put all your money in one company’s stock.

Of course, the stock market goes through bull and bear markets, but overall, it usually recovers, companies start doing even better, and the fund hits new heights that you profit from.

For example, if you put $1 in the S&P 500 in 1926, then that $1 would’ve been worth $5940 in 2016. (I got this figure from Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John C Bogle).

Click here for my Quora answer on how compound interest can make you wealthy.

The most important thing I’m trying to say

When you lease a car, you’re throwing your money away because of how much you are forking out monthly for a car that isn’t yours. 

And when you buy an expensive car, it loses its value so quickly (vintage cars are the exception to this rule), so you’ll be throwing your money down the drain.

When you spend money, try to be frugal, don’t be wasteful with it.

Make sure that most of the time when you spend your money, it either holds its own by not depreciating or, even better, actually makes money for you.

This is just my 2 cents on the matter, and this advice has worked well for me, but what do I know?

I just don’t want y’all to be broke.

Not that I’m rich.

I’m just saying.

Hope this helps.

And stay tuned for the next money-saving tip I’m going to post next week. 

God bless.

Get my best essays delivered every Thursday. Join 207+ readers for free:henrypaget.substack.com

This post was the 05/03/2026 edition of my newsletter.