<prompt> Human: Have you ever considered taking out a 25k car loan 3 for 450 60 months? I have. Lets look at an alternative scenario since youre already willing to throw away 450month:1 Buy a reliable car for 3-5k cash.2 Deposit 450month into a savings account.3 After 60 months, you end up with 27,697 1 APY.or2 Transfer 450month into a mutual fund.3 After 60 months, you end up with 32,421 7 ROI.You gained 32,421 in 5 years instead of giving away 27,940 loaninterestsales tax. Thats enough for a down payment on a house. By taking out a 5-year car loan instead of saving, that 25k loan cost you 186,538 in future wealth over the following 25 year period 7 ROI with no additional contributions.And you still got from point A to point B. Do you how much a new car depreciates in its first year on average? 19. Its a stupid investment. Its just a stupid car.Repeat every 5 years and youll have over half a million dollars, including savingsinvestmentsequity in a home. It doesnt even include what youre already dropping into a 401k. Youll never be broke again if you stop giving away your income.Apart from the above calculations, always keep an emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses in a savings account. You can always save more than 450 per month if the extra money is there. The mutual fund calculations dont include additional money from dividends. Its just an overview of what one could be doing.  <response>: The problem is your step one. As if its magically easy to buy a reliable car for 3-5k cash. Its not. Ive tried multiple times and no matter how careful I am, or how many mechanics I have look over the vehicle before I buy it, it ends up costing me thousands more. The worst incident involved a Honda Accord, supposed to be super reliable. I sold my Acura to get rid of the 350mo payment and paid 3k cash for the Honda. During the six months I owned the Honda, I averaged 750mo in repairs. The next attempt resulted in a car that ran better, for one year, at which time the engine just cratered. Would have cost twice what the car was worth to fix it. I know a lot of people are able to buy reliable cash cars, and I really envy those people. But for me, Im much happier with my payments for a nicer, newer though not brand new car. 