Financial Advice: Big Ticket Purchases

Here's a quick tip for those times when you're buying something large, like a car, boat, house, or even an expensive vacation. When you're thinking about the price of something, if the phrase "I think I can probably afford that," ever pops up, then the answer is you can not afford it. The reason is simply because if you're contemplating whether or not you can afford something, it means that you're on the cusp of it being too expensive. Now whatever it is that you're thinking of buying, whether it's that new house or a new car, there are going to be a lot of other expenses that will pop up and ruin those well laid plans.

So my advice is to downsize the purchase to something where you don't even have to think if you can afford or not.