<prompt> Human: Ive just finished at uni and have a job lined up to strt in August. Ive never worked before yes privileged I know, up til now always been funded by student loands and my parents, and have no idea really how it all works.Ill be starting work on an approximately 17k salary; itll be going up to about 20k in Aug16 and 23k in Aug17, all after tax. In addition Ill have to pay my student loans back which will be approx 500 for the first year.As a student my annual outgoings are around 6,000 a year which includes all food, bills, rent, travel etc. Im fortunate enough to have found a job which will provide me with free accommodation inc bills etc for the first year. I have a 1,500 overdraft to pay off interest freeDue to the nature of my job I will inevitably have to pay some form of insurance currently no idea how much; Ill say 5000 which is highly unlikely to be that much but lets be safe rather than sorry!Other than that I dont think theres anything else Id have to pay for, which leaves me with something like 6,500 to take home at the end of the year, which seems ridiculously high to me?! I must be missing something...?My question is, if I wanted to buy a 12,000 car with 1,000 insurance and, lets say 500 other stuff. My parents are giving me 5k towards it graduation present : and Id want to pay for the rest monthly on finance for about 18 months. Realistically, can I afford this?  <response>: Can you find a less expensive car? I wouldnt buy a car that costs more than half my income. In the US if your salary is 17000, taxes reduce that to about 13000 take home. Less 500 loan pmt less 6000 expenses less 1500k overdraft less 5000 insurance 0 Not sure how you pay for a car payment, insurance and other stuff. Plus you need to think about savings and retirement savings. 