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Comment by ones_and_zeros | Hacker News Reader

I think there is something to be said about living beyond their means but, to me, a new car and home for my family is a fair middle class lifestyle. (You can quibble over the 40k price tag, but buying a 40k car and making it last doesn't have as much of a financial difference as a 30k car over the long term)

I think this article is speaking out against this narrative that techies are incredibly well paid while in reality we mostly work in over priced cities with awful commutes and have a government and industry openly trying to suppress wages.

Any time one of us says "hey, we aren't that well paid" there is always someone to say we should move further away from work, or downsize, or skip having a family, or stick to rice and beans and it's getting old.

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When you support an entire family on a single income, spending 30% or 40% of your annual pay on a car is irresponsible.

No "ifs," "ands," or "buts." That's just bad financial planning. It's a totally unnecessary luxury that holds the potential to burden the entire family.

Additionally, your definition of "middle class" is quite peculiar. The median wage in the United States is less than $30k. The median household income is less than $60k. Do you really think "middle class" families are buying cars that cost as much as one of their salaries?

Again, missing the point.

The narrative is that we are so well paid that we should be able to do that. But we obviously can't.

I'll concede that software engineers are overpaid and in such high demand when that is the case for the median case.

Just caught your edit. Middle class is relative to cost of living. Most of us work in cities where the CoL is much higher and so is the middle class income. It'd be better if we can both stick to comparing apples to apples and I think in this case sticking to cities is our best bet. SF median income is 100k [0]

[0] http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/california/san-francisco...

Spending 30% or 40% of your family's income on a car is bad financial planning.

If "the narrative" indicates you "should" be able to spend that much, you need a new narrative. Ideally one that will not send you into penury.

Does no one here buy cars? I forgive you. A $40k car will likely come with a 5yr loan that's cheaper than student loans. That'd actually be $8k/yr+interest... which is not 40% of your salary. Find something else to judge the guy for.

You could also by a nice used car for 10-15k or so, pay cash, and have no payments for many years. People who can afford better will willingly do this to save cash for other things. If you refuse to play the game well it's probably because you have weird ideas about what you "deserve".

Definitely. Also, getting a new car that prioritizes reliability is a smart move as well. The author didn't do this though. A nice(imo) new car can be had for less than ~$25k and his $40k tells me he wanted something a little more flashy. I agree these overextended purchases usually come down to someone's ego getting in the way. A direct consequence of our "what you buy defines you" culture.

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