<prompt> Human: I recently was fortunate enough to come into about 50,000. Im 26 and have a great job, and have been making progress on my student loan debt currently about 35k. Ive read some of the excellent posts here and feel confident in using most of this money to establish an emergency fund and pay down debt. This will free up nearly 1000 each month that I was paying towards it, and I felt like it would be wonderful to use some of this money to help my parents lease a car they currently drive a 200k mile van that is constantly having problems and cant afford to replace.A friend recently chastised me for the decision, that at my age the money has far more value as a nest egg to grow over the next 30 years than as a car that will depreciate massively.Would the 10k-20k or so in payments now be such a significant impact on my future finances? I cant help but feel like this is free, almost unearned money, and that my plan before it came in to my life was solid - so why not help out. However, my parents would want me to do what is best for me, so Id appreciate another opinion.  <response>: If you came into 500,000, Id say go for it. But since its only a tenth of that, Im going to agree with your friend. That said, if they really need a new to them vehicle, Id look for something used and nice. You can find something in this category a few years old, 50,000 miles, luxury sedan for less than 20,000, still leaving you with a hefty portion to invest. For example. 