Morning Blend on Mater Dei Radio: “How Much Car Can You Afford”
How do you decide how much you can afford when it comes to buying a car? The first step when looking for a new car is understanding the car market, your budget, and what your options in this range are.
When you’re talking about affordability, the monthly payment is top priority. You should also consider how much of your take home pay your car expenses take up. This isn’t just your car payment, but also the cost of gas, car maintenance, etc. Your monthly car expenses should range from 10%-15% at most.
It’s important to stay disciplined when it comes to picking out and purchasing a new car. It is hard to ignore the fancy bells and whistles or simply buy what you need in the current car market. Although it is difficult, the answer should not be spending outside of your means. Keeping your monthly car expenses to around 10% of your take home pay will ultimately help you in other areas like saving for retirement, large purchases you may make later in life, and more.
Finally, leasing cars has become increasingly popular among consumers. While this can seem like a good idea in the big picture, when you get into the numbers and overall costs, you need to make sure it isn’t exceeding your budget.
Listen to the interview
About the Morning Blend on Mater Dei Radio
Mater Dei Radio is a Catholic broadcasting apostolate dedicated bringing souls to Jesus through the Blessed Virgin Mary. We hope your faith will be inspired and deepened through our 24-hour radio broadcast, original shows and podcasts, community calendar, social media, and more!
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