Long-term readers know that when we renovated our house last year I had the garage wired for electric car chargers. Well, my old Sequoia finally broke down (RIP) so we bit the bullet and got one. It is super fun to drive and the acceleration is unreal. The need came up all of a sudden at kind of a bad time for us cash flow wise (big tax payments coming), so we had to get a little bit creative.
The first thing we considered was just taking out a loan from the whole life policy we bought as part of our estate planning process we're doing this year. We're real believers in banking on ourselves but we just didn't have enough cash value in there to cover the entire price of a Dual Motor Model S with Autopilot, the model I wanted. So we had to get a little creative.
This was all going on at the same time as all the excitement with my last post on Bitcoin. I figured all the HODL (hold on for dear life) zealots would keep a floor under the price of a Bitcoin so I opened up a RobinHood account (super easy to buy and sell options and cryptocurrency) and bought a couple of Bitcoins (and a little $Doge just for fun) at a slight dip a few weeks ago. Sure enough, BTC came roaring back (and Dogecoin really took off, should have bought more of that).
Then the whole Wall Street Bets thing hit the news. It was sure fun to watch, but by the time GME hit $300/share (remember it was trading at $3/share a year ago) and AMC started pushing $20 a share it became pretty obvious how this was all going to end. I didn't know exactly when it would end, but I knew how it would end. So I decided to short them both.
Unfortunately, it turns out that you can't short stocks at RobinHood. I did buy a few puts on those two stocks there but had to go back to Vanguard to actually short them. My new Vanguard margin account was approved surprisingly quickly. I wanted to do the same with Ethereum while the Redditors were pumping it, but the only way I could figure out to do it was to short the ETF Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETH), so I did that.
The license plate is a nice touch, right?
While I was waiting for GME, AMC, and ETH to drop in value, I thought it would be pretty cool to actually pay for my new Tesla with Tesla stock. Elon Musk was in the news almost every day (don't think I didn't appreciate him buying $1.5 Billion in BTC at just the right time for me) so I figured Tesla wasn't going to crash any time soon. Besides, I had this new margin account. So not only did I buy a hundred shares of Tesla, but I bought it at 50% margin!
Well, a few weeks later GME, AMC, and ETH were all down, BTC, DOGE, and Tesla were all up and it was time to get that Tesla. I cashed it all out. Thankfully I had a lot of tax loss harvesting losses I had carried over from the pandemic-related crash so there were no capital gains taxes to pay and we went down to the local Tesla dealership to order one. It turns out some other guy wanted out of his order because he had lost a lot of money in some hedge fund debacle, so I was able to assume his order. In less than a week, my new Tesla S was carrying me and my snowboard through a storm to ride 12 inches of fresh powder!
Some of my neighbors are giving me a bit of a hard time about it, but I usually just ask them why they hate the planet so much and they back off. Honestly though, I didn't buy it for the environment. I just really admire the company, the technology, its founder, and frankly, I'm a car guy. So a lot of it is just a consumption item for me. I bought it because it's fun to drive and because I could afford it. I hope you get the chance to drive one too.
What do you think? Do you drive a Tesla? Why or why not? (i.e. What do you love about it or why do you hate dolphins so much?) Did you short GME or AMC when it was obvious to do so? What have you done with your Bitcoin profits this year? How are you “celebrating” April 1st? Comment below!
I got to the whole life part and i KNOW this is an april fools joke.
“…dolphin hater…..” ROFL
I have 2 Teslas, and I had them long before April Fools Day. Actually, these 2 Teslas are my 3rd and 4th Tesla to date.
I drove Honda’s and Toyota’s earlier in my career, and we always flew in economy. All those Toyota’s and Honda’s and all those economy class tickets catch up with a doc after a while. Our accountant told us to continue flying in economy and to continue buying Honda’s because our kids will sure appreciate driving Teslas (as in Tesla roadsters) and sitting in first class.
Well, I listened to the accountant, so when I want a new Tesla, I just write a check and I am done with it. They know me so well at the local Tesla shop that a personal check is fine.
Nice work. Congrats on your success.
Well, time to sell out.
When doctors & dentists are day trading & blog-bragging about it, the top is in.
…………
That’s 55 seconds off the edit clock before realizing what day it is.
Cancel the sell orders.
The genius of Elon Musk is this: he figured out how to power personal transportation using America’s most abundant fossil fuel: coal
This was hilarious. I was thinking “wow, good job buying the tesla with your usage of the 5% play money you advocate”. But the whole life thing gave it away. haha..
My inability to figure out that this was an April Fool’s joke until I got to the comments concerns me greatly.
Hilarious, best part of my day! you rock!!!
Via email:
You absolutely win. Since following closely near the beginning of WCI… I was completely caught off guard. I had to stop reading a few sentences from the end. I’m in the middle of a string of 6 nights in the ER, and I can’t even figure out what I’m reading. I had so many thoughts racing through my head. I know the blog is doing well and you’re rolling in it which will bring some different investment strategies… but how can this be?!? You built the website and the podcast… but this is OUR community. I was triggered to say the least. If you want to speculate with some money, that’s fine… you have plenty. But how could you put this vitriol out for the students, residents, and young attendings who are already wading through a toxic sea of water cooler talk? This betrays the foundations of OUR movement that is empowering doctors. The movement that had me from -250K to student debt-free millionaire in 4 years. Two days later, while driving into my shift and thinking about the CMG and hospital system I work for and simultaneously loathe… I thought about the post again and how disappointed I was. Then like an ice pick piercing my frontal lobe the thought finally hit. When…. did he post that? Now flooded with a weird combination of embarrassment and relief, I finally got it. As a self proclaimed connoisseur of stand up comedy and a lifelong practical joker… I applaud you. You’ve said it many time and I agree that you aren’t a super humorous guy. That’s ok. But this had me wondering if you’re whole “I’m not that funny” bit was just a ruse you had been prepping me with since the mid 2000’s just to blindside me with this banger. Maybe it was sleep deprivation and having no contact with any other April fools joke, but this was Andy Kaufman level trolling.
You absolutely win,
Ha! The picture almost fooled me until I read the post. Good one!
Fun comment by email:
Hate to add to your inbox but I’m so curious to hear your thoughts on your Tesla. I’ve been contemplating getting one for awhile and recently test drove the 3 and the Y. I am frugal and have a 2015 basic Toyota Tacoma. There’s not a thing wrong with it but I still have the Tesla bug. I’ve got a nice chunk of change sitting in my “high yield” savings account and could easily pay cash for one, but the frugal brain can’t seem to take the plunge. Do I get rid of my truck (2 cars seems so silly for one person)? Do I sit tight and wait to see if the federal tax credits return (hate that I missed the bus on that one)?
So…which model did you get? Do you have any gripes? Is it all that you thought it would be and more? I am a very safe investor and follow your guidance, but I love the idea of buying some Tesla stock, sitting on it for a year to see if it grows, and then using it to purchase the car. From what I recall, you used Tesla stock for your purchase, right? The frugal saver in me is screaming don’t buy it! Throw 60K at your mortgage! The successful doctor in me is saying I have earned this, I commute a lot, and I deserve to be in a nice car. HELP!
I almost felt bad letting the doc down. Now I feel like I really do need to get a Tesla.