You don't need that: Average American spends almost $18,000 a year on nonessentials

Are cars non-essential? I’d say they are essential in 90 percent of the country. Then again my car has been paid off for four years and I’m driving it into the ground.

 

Cars are essential, car loans are not IMO. Financing a depreciating asset is counterproductive for long-term financial success. Financing a brand new car over five, six, seven years on the average journalist’s salary is borderline lunacy.

 

My biggest takeaway from this is that a Gannett newspaper produced it, and that seems disgustingly appropriate.

 

Buy a reliable car that’s 3-4 years old. 48-month loan. Plan to drive it 5 more years after the loan.