The average car loan today is $48,000

Yes, young people today have NO idea what living in the 80's were like, economically. 30-something at work complains bitterly when gas is above $3.00 and/or his mortgage is above 5%. Laughable to the max.
The absolute value of something is irrelevant. Its the cost of something compared to how much you make.

In macro economic terms, its Price to earnings, or cost to median income.
 
Bought a 24 F-150 powerboost 1.9%/60 had about 10K worth of trade in’s. 1K in trade in allowance 63K sticker minus my D-plan for being an employee bought the 6/100K comprehensive Zurich warranty. $844 payment starts feb 13th and says balance of 48K on the ford credit app.

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You bring up a good point, we are buying more... however, it's hard to buy less when lesser houses are not being built. To get that level of "lesser" housing requires one to buy the land and drop down a modular, or just about that path, and deal with all the issues of building to taste. All the power to someone who wants to do that, and build to their desire/need, we could use cheaper housing in this country.

Two bedroom house? Was that a real thing in the past? Most families through the years had multiple kids, which means decent odds of having both sexes, and a real need for having 3 bedrooms. In retirement 2 bedrooms is fine, but for the family man (or aspiring family couple), 3 seems like a better number. [And in full disclosure, my first home was 2 bedroom that I bought--geez, has it been that long?--20 years ago, and I regret going that small now. For various reasons I took a bath on selling. Its only positive was that it was cheap and I was able to weather the financial crisis because it was cheap and didn't constrain my budget.]
In the neighborhood where my parents' live, a lot containing a house destroyed by fire sold for 3x more than the lot with the unburned house sold for in 1995. Just land with ashes.
 
Well people must be in dire need of a car payment cause I see perfectly good running paid for cars being traded in for a payment
Perfect! I need more people like that to increase supply in the used market.
Bought a 24 F-150 powerboost 1.9%/60 had about 10K worth of trade in’s. 1K in trade in allowance 63K sticker minus my D-plan for being an employee bought the 6/100K comprehensive Zurich warranty. $844 payment starts feb 13th and says balance of 48K on the ford credit app.

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So $58k, and the 1.9% interest rate is nice.
I guess it depends on your lifestyle, age, other financial commitments, but spending more than 20% of our gross yearly pay on a vehicle seems crazy, given we have two kids doing some sports and plan to go to post secondary school, and we want to retire early.

Pre- covid inflation we were looking pretty good, new decent cars were cheap enough, and used cars were a great buy, sports were cheap, travel, food, was all pretty good. Now its a bit tighter and the kids are getting nearer to university!
 
Though, you have to admit it’s a nice change from “thick versus thin,” or “should I go all in on 0w-40 in all my engines, and maybe even use it in my fireplace and dishwasher, or just go with the manual spec’d 0w-16??!!”
 
Its a false narrative to say one generations home cost more (adjusted for income) without defining the home differences. You can't compare a 1300 sq/ft., two bed, one bath, 50's model sitting up on cement blocks with old vinal tile floors, formica counters, and window A/C units, with todays 2500 ft. slab built 4/2/2 with valulted ceilings, granite counters and 2 car garage with out taking into account the massive upgrades the new home has.
My wife and I were both raised in houses that were probably 800 - 900 sq ft. Both were made from 2 shacks pulled together and fixed up to be pretty nice (if small) houses. No-one else's house was any nicer.

When we built our first house, I was the general contractor. That house was 1150 sq ft and quite well appointed (very high quality carpet, oak cabinets, tiled entry, etc). One of my family's friends from my home town came to visit us and said, "This is your house." It was probably the nicest house she had ever seen. The mortgage rate was around 11%. We paid off the mortgage in 5 years.

Today's ideas of what a house needs are totally out of touch with what is actually necessary. If you can afford a large, luxurious house, that's fine. But then don't complain about your monthly payments.
 
the norm . Doesn't include insurance , gasoline cost and maintenance . 🤯



Some folks can easily afford a new car in the $48,000 price range.

Lots can NOT afford a new car and still finance them for 84 months with zero down.
 
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