Liquidretro t1_j6o5gsb wrote on January 31, 2023 at 6:38 PM

Reply to comment by ThrowawaySF__ in How much car can I afford? Typical rule of thumb doesn't work for me. by ThrowawaySF__

How do you only average $1000 left over a month? Your math in the OP shows you should have more like $8400 a month left. OR were you giving us gross income?

Respectfully it doesn't sound like you guys really know where your money is going currently. That's step one of figuring out what you can comfortably afford.

Personally, I wouldn't try to use all your remaining money, I would want a buffer. It's never a great approach to buying a new car or house by looking at what's the maximum amount of car/house can I afford. Given your username, income, and description of where you are, go buy a Model Y and call it good, you an very easily afford it and should fit right in. I'm unsure why your model 3 doesn't work from your thread 5 months ago. Lots of people in history have gotten by with a sedan and 1 kid.

ThrowawaySF__ OP t1_j6o6wt2 wrote on January 31, 2023 at 6:47 PM

Totally agree with you and sorry I wasn't clear.

The 8400 per month is after fixed expenses but doesn't include the unfixed expenses: groceries, kid stuff, restaurants, travel, vacations, gifts for family/friends, weddings, clothing, etc.

Re: one car vs 2, we used to be able to be on a WFH/hybrid work schedule but now I have to go back into the office.

Liquidretro t1_j6o7xr9 wrote on January 31, 2023 at 6:54 PM

Sounds like you should add a high end suv payment into that list of optional (I would out groceries on the necessity side) priorities and see where it falls.

We have don't have a very complete financial picture to really assess how much you can afford. IMHO part of having a higher income to me means less financial stress when things come up that might give a family with a more average income cause for great stress and concern. I think the easiest way to do that is to live under your means and have a more than adequate emergency fund.

ThrowawaySF__ OP t1_j6oa1ef wrote on January 31, 2023 at 7:07 PM

Agreed (again).

My wife and I had a bunch of things happen all at once. We used to be renters in a much lower COL city with somewhat comparable income. Then, we had a layoff + a new job, so we moved, rented for a bit and then bought a house, and had kids basically all in the span of around 18 months. We used to live with essentially zero financial stress and while I'm fully aware that we still have it pretty good, we have never had to pay as much attention to personal finances as we do now.