Your post may be tongue in cheek and I will not apologize for people living paycheck to paycheck on $250k/year, but at that income the income taxes will be $30k/year, even contributing a good bit to tax advantaged retirement. Another $20k in healthcare costs with an HSA for a family, plus doctors’ visits (if you’re lucky the HSA will be enough each year to cover the deductible and copays), dental care, etc. never any money in the form of stimulus/gov help, no help from FAFSA or scholarships that look at fafsa’s EFC and with a kid or two in college it’s easier than most would think to burn through everything coming in. Government policy appears to be of the impression that once you hit about $200k you’re freaking loaded and can afford anything.
I don’t know how anybody does it on single income 50-60k a year. God bless them. 100k used to be ALOT of money now it’s getting by.
Wasn’t being sarcastic but your numbers are hitting shockingly close to home.
Don’t overlook property tax which depending on your state can take another 12-20K chunk.
Oh, I sure didn’t overlook it 
My Property taxes were $11k last year. Our town just went through a historic reassessment, and I’m hoping they do not increase by more than another $1k in August.
Without getting too political there are things that the middle class in this country should be pushing for but due to stubbornness they refuse to do so. Refuse to admit that the rest of the western world has already solved certain issues they struggle with on a regular basis.
Opportunity cost to expand or replace business vehicles is still lower than the profit potential. Plus a lot of sales today are just fulfilling orders made months ago.
I’m looking at June inventory and it’s worse then ever. That being said pricing might start to rise again to meet demand….not looking good at all.
haha what a 
take that comment was
On the bright side, maybe we can finally get rid of the f*#@ing pennies. I literally just throw them out.
I have a 5g jug full of Pennies and one 3-4 full of silver change. Eventually I’ll get around to sorting them out for pre 1964 silver coins and at the same time solve the coin shortage.
it actually costs more to produce the penny than its worth.
Yeah that was as hot and ignorant as they come.
What is the best course of action with less chance of taking a bath when things stabilize?
Buy used and overpay 5-10k, Lease and overpay but be free and clear in 3 year… Or pay MSRP and be upside down likely in 3 years…
Looking gloomy for me folks… Ehhh
Ask 10 different people and you’ll get 11 different answers.
If you end up in a negative equity situation, the only solution is to dig a hole big enough to bury the negative equity: either write a check or roll it into something more expensive.
Some people are going to tell you that the new car over MSRP is the better value, but it also requires a bigger hole to bury.
Is it better to pay $20k for a $15k or $45k for a new car that is $40k MSRP? There’s only $5000 difference in both examples, although you’re going to pay more tax and fees on the bigger purchase almost everywhere, but (absent a check for $5k) you’re going to need to dig a bigger hole to bury the equity on the new one then you are on the used one.
There are definitely used cars that have not inflated nearly as much as 5-10k
Think we should stop using the word ‘bury’ to describe negative equity. Burying implies that it’s gone, done, dusted. Out of sight, out of mind.
Rolling negative equity is the exact opposite of burying anything: it continues to live on and haunt the poor soul who pays more interest and tax on top.
Recently sold my ram for 49k my payoff was 41k I believe and they have it listed for 57!
The crazier is I sold Kia back a 6 month old k5 with an MSRP of 29k, and they have it listed at 37!
I just don’t understand any of this anymore 
Don’t be picky. There are options out there to ride this out. Wrangler 4XE, Frontier on 18mo lease. Alternatively, if you’re going to pay MSRP, buy something that generally isn’t discounted heavily, like a Porsche (probably have to order and wait to avoid ADM). Avoid vehicles that traditionally have heavy incentive. Multiple ways you can play to minimize your loss. Or buy a plug in hybrid like the X5 and collect your $7500.
The bigger problem right now are interest rates. We’re seeing 4-5% on leases that we’re half that a few months ago. Until inflation is under control, I don’t expect the rates to get better. With the current state of the stock market, I’d try to finance as little as possible (if any). Before it was easy to say you could make money by borrowing at 1-2% and just invest, at the current rates and volatile market, it’s much less of a sure thing.
In many major cities you can’t even get approved to rent a 1 bedroom apartment on your own if you’re making $60k a year. Most apartments require 3x income to get approved and finding a 1 bedroom in a large city for under $1,600-1,800 per month is very difficult unless you want to live in a not so nice area. Figure $1,700 per month times 3 is $5,100 times 12 is $61,200 per year income requirement to even qualify for a 1 bedroom apartment.