Levels of Wealth (Car Edition)

Your car tells the world how well you're doing in life. So in this video, we'll break down what different levels of wealth drive around. Let's see how high of a level you've made it to. Here are levels of wealth: the car edition. Welcome to Alux, the place where future billionaires come to get inspired.

So starting at level zero, you've got no car, right? You're still a student. You still live with your parents. You live in a dorm or in a cheap rental apartment. You walk, you take the subway or bus to get places; now and then you might take an Uber, but these have gotten so expensive you would rather walk. You've been thinking of getting a bike and dream of having a car at some point, but there's not enough money for you to get one. The idea of maintenance, insurance, and dealing with parking kind of puts you off. You can't afford another thing to take care of because you can't even fully take care of yourself just yet.

Then you move on to level one: a cheap old car. The price tag on this is around $10,000 or less. This is your starter car. You practiced driving on your parents' car, but this is when you become a real driver. It's not flashy, but hey, it gets you from point A to point B. Your friends ask you to drive them places, and you split fuel money. Your gas tank is never full; you put in like $20 at a time. You probably got the car passed down to you, or your parents spotted it off of someone else. It doesn't have any of the modern bells and whistles, but you still found ways to make it your own, usually by applying some sort of sticker. You clean it yourself and you've got no right to complain. You look at other, more expensive cars and can't think of ways to justify a higher price tag since, in your words, they all have the same four wheels. It's fine, though, because the cheapest car is still better than the most expensive walk.

But after a while, you skip on over to level two: an older second-hand car with a leather interior. Price tag: somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000. This is the first upgrade you do in life. The old car had too many issues, and you're no longer a starter driver. By this point, you've got a job and a fairly predictable income. You can't afford to buy a house yet, but you can afford a much better car. You pull together some savings and spend the nights browsing internet listings. You know exactly what you're looking for; you know what you want in order to feel like you're making some progress. Well, the comfort needs to go up a little bit. So you're fine with a 10-plus year-old model as long as it's got some leather seats and you can still get Apple CarPlay to work. A sunroof is a really cool bonus. The car has a sporty vibe; it's a cool car. You use it to impress potential partners. You take pride in riding around in it because you bought it yourself. You look down on people who got theirs handed over to them because you remember our quote: the kid who buys their own Toyota is more successful than the one flexing in Daddy's Range Rover.

Level three: under 5-year-old car plus a second car for the spouse. Price tag: $25,000 to $40,000. So you're beginning to mature financially, and it's time for that second upgrade. Since you're still playing catch-up with the Joneses, you buy a 5-year-old car, and it feels like a spaceship. It's probably the largest one-item purchase you've ever made so far, but tomorrow looks brighter than today, so you splurge. By now, you've established yourself in the workplace, and maybe you've got a partner or even a spouse. You've been sharing the same car because you were thinking of getting a mortgage together, but with housing prices the way they are, you postpone that decision. You rent a decent place, and because you don't have any kids yet, you've got disposable income. So you decide to buy a second car for them to use. If your car is paid off or almost paid off, the second car is most likely a loan, and you'll be making car payments on it until you eventually pay that one off as well. You take pride in seeing two cars in that driveway. Sure, they might not be your dream cars, but you remember the days when you used to take the bus, and you feel great about yourself.

Level four: luxury second-hand car or brand new mid-range car. Price tag: between $40,000 and $70,000. Now this is usually where the middle class peaks in terms of car acquisition power. Because you're smart with your money, you know that spending over $100,000 on a car doesn't make sense unless it's a truck you use for work. This is your main family car. It's either a minivan that you drive your kids to school in, a Ford F-150, or something like a Volvo, a mid-model Mercedes, or a Tesla Model 3. If you really pushed yourself, you could have gotten something even more expensive, but you played it smart. You're in a management position, and you didn't want to send the wrong message. Plus, there are a bunch of other expenses in your life that require a good chunk of your budget, such as your mortgage, your kids' travel, and hobbies.

But after a while, you hit level five: a brand new luxury car. Price tag: between $100,000 and $150,000. This is the first time when you feel like you're spending a lot of money on a car. You either go with an SUV—think Range Rover Sport, BMW X5, Volvo XC90, Porsche Cayenne, or Tesla Model X. Now this is usually your dream car, moving up the car ladder; at least a dream you can justify by buying it through your company, not as an individual, usually an operating lease. It's when you get your Beamer, your Lexus, your Escalade, even a Porsche 911 with a few miles. You buy it because it signals to everyone else from your past that you've made it. It reads successful, and you look at it as a big reward for all the hard work you've put in. A mistake we see poorly educated people make is they buy the car before they buy the house. Let's get you educated, okay? The value of the car should be between 10 to 15% of the value of the home you live in. Very rarely should it exceed 20% of the value of your primary residence or 10% of your entire real estate portfolio. Or to put it in simpler terms, you shouldn't get a $100,000 plus car if you're not worth over $1 million yet. You see it often, where people drive cars more expensive than the home they live in. These are the same people who, more often than not, end up broke in a five-year window after that purchase.

But if you make it past this, you hit level six: brand new luxury his and her cars. You now own two cars: a big car and a fun car. You drive one; your partner drives the other. Put together, you paid over $200,000 for the pair. Your family says you're rich, and you kind of believe that about yourself now too. Life is good! Gone are the days of "vondo." You now live in a house, and the cars are parked in your garage. You probably even got a pool. Your friends are passionate about cars, and you're already thinking about what the next upgrade should be. Recently, you've been thinking about older cars and the idea of starting a car collection if the opportunity ever presented itself. But you postpone those thoughts because you're focusing on upgrading your main drive just once more.

At level seven: the G Wagon, Maybach, Bentley, or the cheapest Ferrari. Price tag: $175,000 to $300,000. So this level carries one of two names: either comfort or flex. You always wanted a G Wagon, and now you can comfortably afford it. For the sophisticated city life, you choose a Maybach or a Bentley. If it's a Bentley, a Continental GT or a Flying Spur will do. If you can afford a driver for Maybach, you're a millionaire. Your net worth is between $2.5 to $5 million. But you're not afraid to buy the cars because things are looking good. You've earned over $500,000 in the last year alone, and if you're going to sport this route, you're probably looking at a Ferrari Roma, an Aston Martin, or a Porsche GT3 RS. These are the cars that popular financial influencers lease to shoot promos for their scam courses. Something like a 2019 Lambo—they're loud, they're flashy, rigid to drive, but they do get the attention you're after.

Then there's level eight: Rolls Royce or supercar. Price tag: between $400,000 to $1.2 million. If the journey starts with a Lamborghini Urus or a Rolls Royce Cullinan for the luxury SUV slot, it gets really expensive—really, really fast. You can afford a proper Ferrari. You run an established business that's printing cash, and you're involved in a bunch of projects. You've got a reputation in your geography. You live in one of the best zip codes in your country. People know who you are, and they recognize the car in traffic. You're not in the Bugatti or Pagani territory, but you've got a lot of options. Your net worth is between $1 and $25 million, and you probably earned over $1 million last year.

And now level nine: supercar collection. Price tag: $5 million plus in cars. Although $5 million in cars might sound like a lot, the truth is you can get there with just two or three cars. One McLaren P1 is approximately $2.5 million; one Bugatti Chiron approximately $3.2 million; buy another Koenigsegg for $4.4 million, and we're already over $10 million. Okay, to get to level nine, you're in the "I sold the company for over $100 million" club, or you found that money glitch in the simulation. You're on TV, in magazines, and people know your brand. You're an athlete, a celebrity, a club owner, or a popular business owner. You've made millions and are certain you can keep this up for the next decade. People know you or use your products regularly. Every kid wants a car collection when they're young; that's why Hot Wheels are so popular. But as an adult, you realize just how expensive the maintenance of that collection is on a yearly basis, not to mention that every mile you put on a car lowers its value. Sure, you can do it as a business, but more often than not, you have to realize this is a passion project.

But wait! Okay, there's one more level above this. Level 10: one-of-a-kind bespoke. Price tag: whatever you're willing to pay that car company. If you're an elite client of a brand like Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Koenigsegg, or Ferrari, they'll float a custom offer your way on a one-of-a-kind piece of automobile history that will be built just for you. That's how you get the $23 million Rolls Royce Boat Tail or the Bugatti Chiron Aires Edition, owned by friend of the channel Manny Khoshbin, or our all-time favorite modern car, the Vision Mercedes Maybach 6 Cabrio.

But you know, sometimes at this level, the cars might not even be road legal. For example, you could buy an F1 car for around $15 million and see how fast you can do a lap. These are the cars that appreciate value like crazy over time because they're more similar to art than automobiles. They're collectibles; they're exhibition pieces. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be a billionaire to get one of these ultra-rare cars, but you do have to be a genuine fan of the brand, so much so they're willing to offer you something like this.

So how far up the levels of wealth in the car edition have you made it? Let us know in the comments and also mention what car you're currently driving. If there's enough demand, we're thinking of turning this into a series—the next video might be watches, then homes, then travel. We'll see! And since you stuck with us until the very end, of course, there is a bonus waiting! That bonus is no car. If there was a level 11 on this list, it would probably be this: you don't own a car, you don't drive a car. Anytime you need a car, you know there's one waiting for you. You don't know what the car is or where it's parked or if the oil's been changed recently. You just get in, and it drops you off. It's not an Uber; other people haven't been in it before. Think the royal family, the heads of state, or elite business tycoons. They're not driving; they're being driven everywhere, all the time. The only time they mention the car is if, for some reason, it wasn't as comfortable as they expected it to be, which in turn makes the entire machine around them find viable alternatives.

Now, we thought it was funny how at the very first level you start off with no car, and at the absolute peak, you've come back full circle, but from a different perspective. If you believe this is the circle of life, write the word "Circle" in the comments. Let's see how many of you will complete this circle going from no car to never needing a car ever again.