At my previous job, I had a vendor that often had a sales engineer with him. The SE drove a King Ranch F150, had a small sheep farm, new Harley, big fancy house, and a nice boat. None of his stuff impressed me, and I figured it was all financed. I remember the look of disbelief on his face when I said that I paid cash for my car. However, I knew that he had to make a pretty decent salary in order to qualify for that much debt. I was fed up with my employer, so I asked the vendor if they had any open positions, and a week later I was putting in my notice.
On my first day of work, I asked where the other SE was, and they said that I was his replacement. The last I heard, the bank now has a King Ranch, Harley, and boat for sale. On top of that, I found out what his salary was. I was shocked that not only would someone put themselves in that much of a bind, but the banks would give that much credit after knowing his debt/income ratio.