[csu87]

I am going to base my car choices off a 36/48 month loan vs the typical 60 month loan. Usually can get better interest rates this way, and you arent paying forever on an older car.

Scenario 1
Buy a cheap reliable car or one with a good warranty. I would recommend Hyundai Elantra/Sonata. Once those student loans are paid off, upgrade. I would also recommend making double and triple payments on the student loans till they are gone.

Scenario 2
Buy a cheap, reliable car again. With just over 50% available for misc expenses, you dont want to have a $500/600 car payment.

Scenario 3
No offense, but my married income is similar to this, but I am just over half their age with a much better savings/retirement accounts. They dont have enough to even put a down payment on a car, so they will have to look at a used cheap car from a less than desirable dealership that takes a $0 downpayment. Time to search late night TV for commercials.

Scenario 4
Monthly income vs bills is enough to justify a $50k car imo, but they dont have the cash available to use towards a down payment. less than 6 months of bills in savings, terrible retirement amount. Save half that paycheck for several months until you have built up enough in savings to live for 6 months and to afford a 10% at minimum down payment. That is your typical depreciation as soon as you drive off the lot, so at least you wont be completely upside down on your loan.


Bonus Question
IMO, and this is what I have based my big purchases off of, my total loan payments I keep below 30% of my income before taxes. This includes mortgage, CCs if there are any outstanding balances, car payment, etc. I also do 3-4yr car loans because I do not want to be paying on something that is either out of warranty, or is an older car. This way you can keep ahead of depreciation.

I keep my emergency savings (if I get laid off/hurt/etc and cant work) as a cash savings at an amount where I can pay all my bills for 6months, have a decent amount extra for 6 months for misc expenses, as well as a couple grand extra for a major house/car expense. Once you have this amount set, you dont withdraw any, and can add a small percentage of your savings/month to it. The rest of savings are put into different investment accounts ranging from long term to short term. Short term are where I pull money out if I need it, long term I tend to let it sit and accrue interest.

One question I have, is the Monthly Bills including all health insurance, car/home insurance, utilities... or just what is listed? That will also change what exactly they can afford to buy and save.