John Salley spent 11 seasons in the NBA and was around plenty of wealthy people during and after his playing career. But one piece of financial advice completely changed the way he looked at luxury cars.
During a conversation with Natasha Graziano, Salley revealed Will Smith’s father once told him something about his car collection and explained why owning several expensive vehicles didn’t make financial sense.
“Will Smith’s father told me that when I was collecting cars. He goes, ‘You got five cars and one ass, and you on the road 200 days a year. So you have 165 days, and then 65 days of that is snow. So you’re driving those cars, not all of them, maybe a hundred. So what are they doing?’ He said, ‘They’re depreciating assets. They’re not getting better. It’s going to cost you money.’ You know what the real floss is? Not having a $300,000 car, but having a driver in a $70,000 car.”
“That way you can be dropped off at the door, picked up when you want to. You don’t have to worry about parking. You can do more business not driving, by just sitting there. Think about it. It’s going to cost you $40,000 to have a driver, but it costs you $300,000 to have a Lamborghini. And it’s nice, but I’ve been around billionaires that don’t drive Lamborghinis. Matter of fact, every billionaire I’ve been around doesn’t drive. And you can be handling business.”
The point was pretty simple: Salley could own five cars, but he could only drive one at a time. Even worse, his schedule meant that most of the vehicles spent most of the year sitting in the garage.
That conversation changed Salley’s definition of what represented wealth. Instead of spending $300,000 on a Lamborghini, he believed that having a comfortable $70,000 vehicle and paying someone to drive him around was far more valuable.
His reasoning goes beyond saving money. Having a driver means getting dropped off directly at the entrance, avoiding the inconvenience of finding a parking spot, and being picked up whenever needed.
More importantly, the time normally spent behind the wheel can instead become productive time.
Salley even broke down the financial difference. In his example, paying a driver might cost around $40,000 a year, while purchasing a Lamborghini would cost approximately $300,000 before considering other ownership expenses.
Of course, Salley is not saying that having a Lamborghini isn’t enjoyable. His argument is that once someone reaches a certain level of wealth, convenience and time are bigger luxuries than simply owning a luxury vehicle.
That is an interesting perspective from someone who made over $15 million during his NBA career and has a net worth of about $14 million.
For Salley, the biggest lesson wasn’t necessarily that people should never purchase luxury vehicles. It was understanding the difference between looking wealthy and using money to make life easier.
A Lamborghini might attract plenty of attention, but Salley thinks that having someone handle the driving while you conduct business in the back seat can be something more valuable.
The luxury car is the luxury that everyone sees. The time saved is the luxury that Salley believes actually matters.
