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Liquidretro t1_j6o7xr9 wrote

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

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.

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ThrowawaySF__ OP t1_j6oa1ef wrote

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.

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