this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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Experts say you should not spend more then 30% of your income on housing (shelter, heat, water, sewer and electricity). If you need a car (live outside a city, have bad city planing, etc.) then this is one more pressure on people.
The current “normal” world exists now only for people making a lot more then the average.
Oh and to better illustrate the gap between prices and wages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_wage Compare to an average price of 48k https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a43611570/average-new-car-price-down-still-high/
Honestly you shouldn't even spend that on a car. Cars lose value overtime and are a bad investment.
Take your money and put it into a emergency fund or retirement
This is bad financial advice I hear all the time. People don't buy cars as an investment, they buy them as a consumable item or a form of entertainment.
Nobody says you shouldn't go to the movies because it doesn't generate a return.
It's not really bad financial advice, and people will absolutely tell you to skip some of the frivolity in the idea of generating a return. I don't think most people think of a car as an investment, but I do think that it's entirely common to spend way, way too much on a car for basic transportation. Giant trucks and SUVs that start at 40k are like the most popular cars in America. Most people probably really do need to be told that they're over-spending on cars. Like, the last time we bought a car, I had to talk my wife out of a monster SUV because she was like "well what if our kids want to take friends [on the two trips we take a year]?" Like, the other 50 weeks of the year, she's solo commuting 10 miles... I'm not making fun of her, this is sort of the default mentality in this country. In the end we settled on a smaller crossover for half the price ( < $20k) and the agreement if we wanted we'll use the money we save to rent an escalade or whatever if we want to take a big trip.
I have seen entire families with kids going to school on a moped. Mom dad and three little ones. You don't have to take it to that extreme but you are right. For all but the biggest families a regular sits 5 car is enough.