Bit of backstory for this one. Coworker is a single parent with one kid. Makes a decent salary ($75k give or take). She's about 40 years old, has boyfriend, whatever. So when I joined the company, she was house sitting for another coworker about 1:40 mins from work by car. She complains about the drive, about not having much money, so I gave her some advice about how to cut back and stuff (it was ignored). So last week she talked about getting a new car because her current car is ending its lease. Some people said buy a new one instead of leasing (marginally better). I suggest buying one that's just off lease. She gives reasons why that's not a good idea (reliability, etc). It came down to being underwater on the lease (is that possible?). I suggest she get something similar to what she had (Accord) but she wants a CRV because it's better in the snow. I say that snow tires are what make a car good/bad and relay the story of me driving my 2 wheel drive car in 6 inches of snow up and down hills in upstate NY without troubles (no snow tires).
Well she was late to work yesterday because she was picking up her CRV from the dealership... a lease. I have no idea how much that monthly payment will be, but it's not good. She's got a bunch of debt too. She hates her job and is going to try to get a higher paying one. I make about what she does and yet manage to save like $30k/yr... So sad.