The billionaire businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks has a lot to say when it comes to finances and cars. In an interview with Money Magazine, Cuban gave hopeful millionaires a key piece of advice: aggressively save your money.

One way that Mark Cuban says that he followed that advice was by driving a cheap car in his youth. Here’s why he thinks that.

Mark Cuban’s humble beginnings

Cuban cited a book called “How to Retire at 35” for this piece of advice. In essence, by cutting his expenses and saving as much money as he could, he was able to achieve financial independence. Then eventually make his fortune from investing smartly in the stock market. 

To save that money, he did things that many people are familiar with, such as living with roommates and eating cheap food daily. However, one thing that’s surprisingly extreme was his choice for transportation. Cuban said that he didn’t drive a car that was worth over $200 until he was older than 25. 

Before you go looking for cars that are cheaper than that, remember that inflation exists. When Cuban was 16, the year was 1974 and with the help of an inflation calculator, a $200 car back then would be equal to a $1,000 car today. Still, that’s an insanely cheap car to drive around in and you may not be able to find one.

For that sort of money, the car you’d find would look much like the cars that Cuban was driving. Cuban said that he owned a Fiat X1/9 that was so cheap that it had a hole in the floorboard. Fiat ended production of the X1/9 in 1989 so you won’t be able to find any of those that aren’t considered vintage.

Another car that Cuban owned was a 1966 Buick LeSabre, and before you look it up, it’s also been discontinued. Only vintage and classic versions of it exist on the market today. 

Getting started

It’ll be very difficult to find a car that’s cheaper than $1,000 in today’s market, but that’s not really Cuban’s point. His point is to just save as much money as you can, so it doesn’t matter how much your car costs so much as it’s the cheapest you’re comfortable with. Furthermore, there are other ways to save money on your transportation costs, such as minimizing your insurance premium.

In addition to that, the money that you do save shouldn’t be invested wildly, Cuban says. He recommends SPX stocks, which as MarketWatch explained, are stocks that own part of the S&P 500 exchange. These stocks are safe and cheap. That is certainly why Mark Cuban loves those types of stocks. 

Billionaire collection

After Mark Cuban achieved his financial independence by saving aggressively, he was able to invest his savings into the stock market and that would eventually make him billions of dollars in return. As a result, Cuban has ditched his Fiat and his Buick, and he’s splurged his fortunes and became a car collector.

Like in any other good car collection, Cuban collects vintage cars and he has a 1955 Ford Customline in his garage. The Customline was restored by the team from the motoring show Fast N’ Loud and he appeared on the show to pick it up. Although it’s not clear how much his Customline is worth, it definitely holds a special place in Cuban’s garage.

Cuban also has a $1.5 million Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman Guard. He has the limousine variant and the car is decked out for both luxury and for protection. Mercedes-Maybach claims that the car will protect its occupants from all sorts of dangers, including gunfire.