Trade a cell phone (eventually) into a Porsche?

I recently read an article on Yahoo! Finance about a person who over the course of two years made multiple trades off of Craigslist and turned an old cell phone into a used Porsche Boxster.

I applaud his efforts, but here is my point.  It states that he spends five to six hours a day looking for possible trades for two years.  The value of the car was $9,000 and it reports that he later decided to get rid of it because maintenance was too high.

I am just wondering what would have happened if he had just worked for two years and bought the $9,000 car outright?  I know someone reading this will throw in that it is a poor job market and that it would be difficult to get a job, and on and on...   At the Federal Minimum wage of $7.25 per hour at five hours per day and 250 days per year for two years, he would have earned (before taxes of course) $18,125. Of course if someone would be able to get a job paying more than the minimum wage or worked more than 25 hours per week, this amount would be higher.

Was it worth it?

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