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More Than 1 in 5 New Car Buyers in the U.S. Are Taking Out Loans of 84 Months or Longer
(www.roadandtrack.com)
this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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Yes, that's so true. I remember coming into a small amount of money and had been saving a little bit, and had just paid off a ridiculously long car loan on a used car - still one of the dumbest financial decisions I had made in my youth - 5.5 years on a used car, WTF was I even thinking, LOL.
Anyway, I was itching to buy some new car possibly, as I had never bought new. Someone handed me a book about finances and the author reiterated what my parents had always tried to drill into my head - about the only worthwhile debt is real estate.
For cars, he had this notion of "paying yourself" the car payment once you pay off a car. Do that for many years, and use that savings for your next car, preferably used, about 2 or 3 years old, after which the depreciation has had the steepest drop.
So I skipped buying something new or used. For so many reasons, I am glad my co-worker lent me that book at that particular time.
What book?
This one - Live Debt Free, by Ted Carroll
https://archive.org/details/livedebtfreemake00carr
Even reading this in the early 00s was kinda wild when it came to some of the talk of house prices. Most of the principles still hold, though, especially when it comes to deferring gratitude and so on.
The notion of moving somewhere low-cost is probably more relevant than ever, though, given the idea of remote work having been broken wide open because of Covid. Prior to that, most companies viewed it as something slightly scandalous to even ask about.