About Fengshui’s observation that “I don’t think that paying cash for a $20k car is very “realistic”: au contraire. When I first began my financial journey, it took me 18 months to pay off a $23,000 Camry that I’d bought on a five-year note. I then started stashing the amount of the payments in Vanguard’s short-term corporate bond fund. Didn’t take long to accrue enough cash to cover the full cost of the next car, a brand-new Sienna–I gave the Camry to my son and paid the full fare for the new vehicle. That minivan is now eight years old and still running trouble-free. I have enough to buy a new car in cash, but am deferring that purchase because I don’t want to cash out a mutual fund in recessionary times. And because the car is in excellent condition: I don’t need a new car.

I was earning less than $40,000 when I bought my first car in cash. I also was earning less than 40 grand when I paid off the mortgage on my house. I had no husband or partner to help with a second full-time salary.

When I sold my first house and purchased the nicer place I’m living in now, I paid for the new house in cash.

So…. My guess is that if you’re part of a couple and both of you are closing in on a hundred thousand, paying cash for a dinky $20,000 car is well within the realm of “realistic.”

Any day I’d rather spend less of my energy chasing dollars, feel less trapped by enslavement to debt, and enjoy more of my time doing anything but working to pay creditors.

Tim, you are cracking me up!!!